Double agents

By Suwitcha Chaiyong, Photographs courtesy of Black Sheep Records

Businessmen by day, the guys from Klerm Samakom enjoy their musical hobby

Did you Know: Before he hit it big as a musician, Elvis Presley was a truck driver.

"Making music helps us to be happy when we go back to our routine jobs"

Listening to music has long been a great way to soothe the soul and ease the stress of living in this busy world. But for two career managers, making music is even better.

Thittapong Daengrasmisopon (Tei), 30, an internal auditor in risk management at PriceWaterhouse Coopers, and Suppavut Varutbangkul (Ex), 31, a marketer at Kimberley-Clark Thailand, may not seem like your typical musicians. But the businessmen are just that, having produced two songs under the name Klerm Samakom (Rapture Society) that were released on the compilation indie album Black Album 3 Finetune: One thing in Common.

�We let the other part of our brains relax for a day or two every week,� Tei said. �Making music really helps us to be happy when we go back to our routine jobs.� Though their first single, �Khrang Raek (First Time)� wasn�t a huge hit, it did get regular play on the radio for awhile. And that was enough for this duo.

�We are happy with our song because we were able to produce it independently � the label didn�t tell us what to do,� Tei said. �And we only expected to have small group of listeners like it, so, we are satisfied with the results. To prove that a song is a good one, it doesn�t have to win a popularity contest.�

YOUNG AT HEART

One thing that surprises listeners about Klerm Samakom is the guys� ages. The song �Khrang Raek� sounds lively, and the lyrics are about their first love. The vocals are youthful, more like teenagers than guys in their early 30s.

So what inspired the guys to write such a teen-style song? �Actually, we are still like teenagers,� Tei laughed. �We composed the song the way we liked it. For �Khrang Raek,� we just wanted a song that was different from others.�

After the success of �Khrang Raek,� Klerm Samakom released �Cheek Yim (Big Smile),� a song with a blend of jazz, electronica and chill out. It is a much more complex sound and varies greatly from the sweet pop of their first single.

HAPPY HOBBY

So with such varying sounds, how do the guys define their music? �Basically, it is pop music, but we add other kinds of music to it,� Ex said. �We just makes sure the songs are made so people can enjoy it and smile when they listen to it.�

While the guys have plans to record a complete album, they said they aren�t ready just yet. �We�re going to take our time to make the album,� Tei said. �There is no rush or pressure to finish it. Besides, we don�t want to push ourselves too hard. If we did, making music won�t be our hobby anymore.�

Vocabulary

soothe (v): to make a tense or painful part of your body feel  more comfortable
rapture (n): a feeling of extreme pleasure and happiness
routine (adj): done or happening as a normal part of a particular job, situation or process
define (v): to describe or show something accurately
rush (n): a situation in which you are in a hurry and need to do things quickly