Rock festival

Stone Free turns four

By: Tatat Bunnag
Photos by Pitiya Anantaprut,
Woramon Pongponrat and
courtesy of Stone Free Music Festival

The best time to enjoy a music festival in Thailand is definitely in winter, and on December 11-13, one of the most anticipated indie festivals is back again.

From the people behind popular events Keep on the Grass and Psych Out, the annual Stone Free Music Festival is now in its fourth year and has been held at various venues around Saraburi province. Stone Free is unique in the local scene as it has grown from a small get-together for friends and independent musicians to one of the most popular music festivals featuring many well-known indie bands. This year, Desktop Error, Yellow Fang, Summer Dress, Inspirative, Two Million Thanks, Monomania, Stylish Nonsense, Aire and Solitude is Bliss are among the acts expected to draw more than a thousand attendees.

Student Weekly recently had a chat with 32-year-old organiser Tokin Teekanun about Stone Free past and present.

Student Weekly: Where is the festival held and why does the venue change so often?

Tokin: The main reason we keep changing the venue is due to the rising costs of organising the event. The rent for the land gets higher every year. We’ve had this problem since the first festival. Stone Free 4 will be held at Khao Wong in Saraburi province. It’s a beautiful place and very easy to find, and less than two hours’ drive from Bangkok.

Student Weekly: With so many new music festivals every year, what do you think makes Stone Free different?

Tokin: Stone Free expanded from another project I was doing called The World May Never Know. I’m originally a filmmaker, and I made a lot of short films and music videos for a few artists. I made a lot of new friends who are artists and musicians. I thought it would be fun to do a small music festival where all these like-minded people could hang out and play music together. Surprisingly a lot of people understood the idea and came to our first festival.

Student Weekly: Why do you refuse to look for corporate sponsorship?

Tokin: We started out as “do it yourself” organisation and we only picked artists that we liked. We focus on the artistic quality of the performers and it’s not our plan to sell the business. We’re quite happy with how things have turned out from the last three events, so right now we want to enjoy this moment.

Student Weekly: Stone Free is known for introducing new bands such as Summer Dress, Hariguem Zaboy, and Yellow Fang. How do you normally pick the bands?

Tokin: We try to choose bands that are happening that year and bands that we personally really like. We don’t care about getting the big names to play. We wanted the festival to be the place to introduce great lesser-known bands. We’re doing this to help develop artistic quality in the Thai music scene.

Student Weekly: What are some of the highlights people can expect this year?

Tokin: The line-up is packed with 56 bands playing over three days and two nights, including three Japanese bands and one from Cambodia. It will be a fun event that music lovers can enjoy around-the-clock.

Student Weekly: Can you tell us about your band Triggs and the Longest Day, who will also be performing?

Tokin: It’s a rock music project that I formed with friends around two years ago. We’ve finished recording our debut album and it will be out soon. We play fun rock with a lot of noise. It’s great, and I hope you can come and see us at Stone Free!

 

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