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Before you step inside the club, you hear what sounds like the Black Eyed Peas’ ‘Let’s Get It Started’. As you pass the door girl, you make out eight grinning figures on a stage dancing to a choreographed routine. The dancefloor is packed. While you order a drink at the bar, the music effortlessly segues into Usher’s ‘Let It Burn’. That’s right, you’ve stumbled across an often misunderstood club phenomenon: the hotel band. Trapped within the confines of the hotel, is it all just a slow conveyor belt to becoming Adam Sandler-like wedding singers? Or is it all groupies, coke and monogramed robes? Brimming with questions, we tracked down Colombia-born Angela Vargow, 27, and Canada’s Tino Constantine, 30. Together, they form one quarter of The All Star Band, resident chameleons at the Novotel’s cavernous CM². 
Bangkok Recorder: How did you first get into the hotel band circuit?
Angela: I like to sing and in Colombia, I don't have the chance to sing in the way I do here. You have to be Shakira to something different and cool. I like to travel around, I like to meet new people, new places, new food, new lifestyles, new cultures. The hotel circuit is a nice choice.
Tino: I really had to get out of where I was living. I was living in a very small city in Canada. It's very cold. So, any opportunity to get away, whether it's the army, whatever... Somebody approached me to join the band. I'd always been a musician my entire life. I thought it was a good opportunity to get away and break free. And I haven't gone back.
We started touring Canada, then our first job was in Shanghai, a very interesting experience. It was obviously a bit of a culture shock and just being that far away from home.
Do you lead a nocturnal lifestyle?
A: I'm a vampire. I wake up at 3-4 in the afternoon. I always try to get as much sleep as possible, but I still don't go to bed until 6am, even though I don't go out partying. As soon as the sun comes up, I go to bed.
T: I know most people think we go out to the next party after show. But for me, personally, I have a very strict regimen of what I do to prepare to do this. Because to do this six nights a week and if you don't take care of yourself, you're going to get really sick or you'll lose your voice. It's a really physical show. There's a specific time you got to sleep, specific time you got to eat, specific time you got to wake up and warm up.  It's like training as an athlete!
T: Yeah, it is actually!
Is touring the hotel circuit a happy medium in terms of doing something you love and getting paid for it?
That's a very interesting point because we always get people asking, "Don't you want to be something big, don't you want to make your own originals?" But the downside to that is like 99% of the groups that do originals are struggling. So this is exactly that, a happy medium. I think everybody in this band really enjoys performing. Whether or not we're playing other people's songs, it doesn't really make a difference. The fact that you can make a decent living doing this, there's a whole lot of motivation to do this everyday.
How do audiences differ throughout Asia?
T: Clients and customers throughout Asia do vary quite a bit. Like, China is very odd. It was anyway six years ago. They're a strange audience to play, they responded differently to what you're used to. The Korean customers are very aggressive. But Thais are great... They're a little bit shy, but if you give them something they like, they grab right onto it. They're a lot of fun to play in front on.
Which types of music do they best react to?
T: Every club in Thailand is different, and we find here it’s mostly pop, hip hop, R&B and dance. But you work in different clubs, it's a different thing. So I don't think it's just Thai people like a certain style, I also think it's the venue.
A: It also depends on the mood on the night. We have schedules, you know sets, every time we go on stage. If we see people aren't responding we change the song and if they respond, we change the whole set, you know?
T: We try to stay flexible because you don't know. But I think overall, pop, dance, R&B and hip hop, the latest. We're not into doing any of the old stuff. But they like the cha cha too!
How long do you normally stay in each city?
A: It depends on the place you work. Some places you have a 3 month contract, or 6 months or a year. But usually I have a 3month contract and then, 6 more months... or it's long-term contract.
The band has actually been in existence for 20 years. They've gone through various name changes over the years, but this group has been led by P'Vit, he's the bass player... This is the newest... [and] most international version of the band. Before it was strictly a Thai group.
I've been in the band for two and a half years... I was traveling around Asia working with an all-Canadian band. We were doing the five-star hotel circuit. Then I eventually met musicians you see on stage and we hit it off. I really love Thailand and Bangkok and I wanted to make a point of staying here. So I was just lucky to join these guys.
Tell us about all-Canadian band.
A: They were originally called The Highlights... That was through an agent. This is the only job I've ever done without an agent just because we were here in Bangkok and we made the connection without going through the middle man. Most of the time, if you're a foreigner band coming over to Asia, you have to go through some sort of agent.  What's so good about being independent of an agency?
T: Well, it's just less hassle. Obviously, you have to give an agent a percentage of your salary, anywhere between 10 - 20%. I think the average is about 15% and that's every month we have to pay them. So, it just made us more affordable for the hotel and that's the part of the reason why we've stayed as long as we have.
It's by far my favourite job. And I've done the Hyatt, the Shangri-La, the Sheraton, like everywhere. I really, really enjoy working there.
Who chooses the songs to play?
A: Every time someone sings a song on the stage it's because they like it.
T: Well, it gets a little bit more complicated than that though. There's a long criteria of choosing songs that we want to play. The first thing is that we want to find something that we like. The second thing is will the people like it? That's actually usually the first thing for me. It's a combination of those two things. When we try a song out, the third thing is whether or not it kills the dance floor. We try everything up there.. and we keep the stuff that works and throw the stuff that doesn't.
So, it's a bit of an experiment up there?
T: That's right, every night is just like one big experiment! [laughs]
The list of the sets every night totally changes. I don't think there's ever a night where we'll play the exact same things. You'll hear a lot of the same songs because we get requests for the same songs every night. We try to take of our guests, give them what they want. It makes us happy.
What’s the most popular request?
T: ‘Dhoom Dhoom’, Tata Young
 What are your favourite tracks to perform?
A: I think I like everything. I really enjoy the work here. It's not like work, it's like going out to party. I actually go to party and I don't enjoy it as much as I do here.
T: I would have to say ‘Dee Dee,’ which is in Arabic by an Algerian singer. The Black-Eyed Peas are always fun.
A: I like ‘Man-Eater’ by Nelly Furtado.
Do you rehearse?
T: I would say four times a week. We have a lot of choreography. Some songs we have one or two steps and there'll be other songs there's a lot of steps. When you play every night, it's kind of like practicing...
Tell us about your outfits, do you coordinate?
A: I do that all the time.
T: Actually we have the most sophisticated system in terms of what we're going to wear. We have three different outfits every night. We actually have a schedule up in our room of what we're going to wear on what day... Jimmy, our guitar player, likes to organise the wardrobe.
A: When I first came to the show, Tino said to me, "You only have one bag?" As soon as I got my first pay, I went shopping. Now, I can't fit the clothes in my wardrobe.
So, do you live here in the hotel?
A: I do. I love it. I love the bed. The only thing I want where I live is silence and darkness so I can just sleep.
Have you seen other hotel bands around Bangkok?
T: Oh yeah. We always go and see the others, of course. It's more like meeting friends, most of us are doing the same thing.
A: And we can learn from the others. We check out what they do, and if it's good, we improve ourselves that way.
Do you rate any of them?
T: In Bangkok or in Asia? Because the thing is it changes in Bangkok like every 3 months. But I'll tell you who my favourite bands are in Asia: Too Close, definitely up there... they're awesome, a great band. There's a few other ones: Common Culture, who are in Jakarta right now. Another band called Solid As from New Zealand.
There's a handful of really, really good bands.
 What makes them really good?
T: Every band has their different strengths and weaknesses. A band like Common Culture, they're an American band. They really focus on the visual, like dance thing. They're really, really powerful and they nail the hip hop and R&B. Whereas Solid As, their level of musicianship is amazing, They don't move or anything. They don't really do anything up there, but just their playing ability alone sets them apart from other bands.
What do you do on your day off?
T: I try and get as much sleep as possible because by Wednesday, the voice is tired. So I try and get as many fluids back as possible and try to do the least amount of anything.
A: I go check out the bands. Otherwise I watch TV, go to the cinema or just have dinner. I don't want to hear anything loud.
How do you keep up with the music?
T: A lot of people I talk to in the other bands say you have to keep up with everything on the charts but the charts don't necessarily reflect what the people like in this particular setting. I think the best thing is to find out what the customers want and give it to them. So if we're getting requests for ‘Dhoom Dhoom’ every night and we don't know the song, we better learn it. So you just look at requests, you talk to people and you just see how the dance floor reacts to different styles and then you look at the charts as well.
A: It also depends on what the DJ plays. When we finish, if the people go crazy to the music the DJ is playing we should play that.
T: We try to complement what the DJ plays too, something different.
Which other hotel bands influenced you?
T: There are definitely some bands that pioneered the kind of style we do. The original Shock Crew totally pioneered the idea. 911, which is a group made up of Thai and American people, were again pioneers in what we do now - a lot of dancing and a lot of energy show.
How long has this band played at CM²?
T: We started the job on a three-month contract and then we got extended for three more months. Then we got extended again and again, like a domino effect. We've been here for a year. Before we were at: Hollywood Ratchada, a huge disco; we were actually the first band to open at Zantika; Orbit; we did a lot of work for Singh Beer and Heineken as well. And in each of those places we stayed at least for a year.
What are your future plans?
A: What I'm very sure about is that I want to keep on working with the band. It's a pleasure, when you find people that have the same thinking as you. People that you enjoy and enjoy working with them.
Who makes the decisions in the band? Is it a democratic process?
T: Pretty much. It's as democratic as any band I've ever worked with. Mostly because the official leader of the group is pretty open-minded to all suggestions. But I think what it comes down to is that we don't really have a boss. Our actual "boss" is the customers. They have the democratic voice.
How do you communicate?
T: It's challenging at times.
A: It's complicated at times, but it's easy. We understand each other even though we don't speak the same language.
T: Well, it's music.
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