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Music
Battle beats
By Suwitcha Chaiyong, Photos by Suwitcha Chaiyong and courtesy of GM Monday
Winning bands express themselves
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Band competitions are a great way for new groups to create a buzz. With that in mind, One-2-Call, U Channel and Spicy Disc recently joined forces to create the U Band Battle Project.
• Did you know • |
 John
Lennon originally wrote �Come Together� for Timothy Leary�s campaign against
Ronald Reagan for governor of California. |
Each participating band had to perform an original song for the contest. The eight finalists won the chance to record with famous producers Pump Apartment Khunpa, Tone Sofa, Tri Poomrat and Tong Save Da Last Piece.
The results have been released on a joint compilation album called U Band Battle Project I. The featured finalists are Over Me, Syndrome, Leading Tone, Better Weather, Dormant, State of the Art, Zubjury and The Groceries.
The Student Weekly office was pretty crowded when some of the winners came to visit. The guest list included Syndrome band members Wat, 19, and Pae, 18, Better Weather singer Dew, 21, Over Me bandmates Fai, 23, and Pom, 23, and Leading Tone members Yo, 25, Ploy, 22, and Pan, 19.
The young musicians were full of energy
as they told us about their album and their inspirations.
STUDENT WEEKLY: What can you tell us about the names of your bands?
Pae Syndrome: Syndrome is a set of physical conditions that show you have a particular disease. Our disease is that we�re crazy!
Dew Better Weather: Our songs cover various moods, just like variations in the weather.
Fai Over Me: We took our name from
the lyrics of The Beatles� song �Come Together.�
Yo Leading Tone: In music theory, the leading tone is the last note of a scale before moving up to the next octave. It�s like our band � we�re ready to move up to the next level.
STUDENT WEEKLY: How do you guys describe your music styles?
Pae Syndrome: Pop-punk. Syndrome never stand still on stage, and we pay a lot of attention to the audience during live performances.
Dew Better Weather: We play British and French-style pop.
Fai Over Me: Each band member has different tastes, so our music has variety. We mix punk, R&B, soul and rock. When play live, we always go to extremes.
Ploy Leading Tone: We play pop with a blues influence.
STUDENT
WEEKLY: What inspired your
songs on the album?
Wat Syndrome: �Nang Man Rai [Bitch]� was written from my personal experience, about a girl I know.
Dew Better Weather: I wrote �Mai Rue [I Don�t Know]� with my bandmate Foong when our car broke down on the way to Chiang Mai. It�s a sad song because Foong had a broken heart.
Fai Over Me: Our song is about a friend who complained that her boyfriend didn�t act like an old-fashioned gentleman. The song says that girls shouldn�t judge men only by their manners.
Yo Leading Tone: Our manager had a broken heart, so he asked our singer to write him a song. �Thao Nan Aeng [That�s It]� says that you should forget about your ex-girlfriend and move on.
STUDENT WEEKLY: Is there anything you�d like to say to your potential listeners?
Fai Over Me: I�d like everybody to listen to this album because it expresses ideas from our generation. We had a great opportunity to express ourselves freely, without rules or limits.
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compilation (n): a collection of items, especially pieces of music or
writing, taken from different places and put together IDIOMS create
a buzz: to create a strong feeling of pleasure and excitementabout
something |
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caption: From left to right: Dew (Better Weather), Yo (Leading Tone), Pan (Leading Tone), Fai (Over Me), Ploy (Leading Tone), Wat (Syndrome), Pae (Syndrome) and Pom (Over me).