More miles

Pop quintet’s star rises

By Tatat Bunnag
Photos by Varuth Hiranyatheb

Less than a year after the release of their successful debut album, First Mile, quirky pop quintet Sixty Miles are back on the charts with their new single, “Star.”

“Star” was produced by Bodin Chareunratch (Pae) from Mild and is due to be featured on Sixty Miles’ upcoming second album.

Originally from Northern Thailand, Sixty Miles¬ — singer Bundit Tunsuchart (Fluke), bassist Udomsak Kunyotying (Dom), guitarist Supachok Chuemuangpan (Berm), keyboardist Nittayah Maniwong (Peet) and drummer Nutdanai Soongpankao (Beam), all 22 — are well-known for their distinctive disco pop tunes and their fun live shows.

Student Weekly recently caught up with Sixty Miles to ask them about their new single, their upcoming album and the current music scene in Chiang Mai.

Student Weekly: Can you tell us about your new single, “Star”?

Fluke: It’s about a long distance relationship, trying to comfort your lover by saying that if you follow the same guiding star, you’ll never lose each other.

Berm: It sounds like a sad song, but it’s actually fun and positive.

Student Weekly: You guys seem to be busy playing gigs most of the time. How do you find time to write new songs?

Fluke: We often get new ideas for songs while we’re travelling, and we usually have time between tours for recording.

Berm: Being on the road gives us a lot of inspiration for writing songs. I’d rather be out playing music and writing songs in different places than just trying to write at home.

Student Weekly: Has your musical direction changed much since your first album?

Berm: I think the lyrics were weak on our first album. We were still too young when we wrote the words for those songs. We’ve tried to fix that problem for our new album, and we also had some help from friends.

Fluke: Our new album will be more grown-up. We added a lot of synthesisers to the new songs to create a more captivating atmosphere. But we still have our signature disco pop sound.

Student Weekly: What do you guys particularly like about disco music?

Berm: We’ve played different types of music in the past, and each member of the band likes different kinds of music. But we all like disco and funk. It’s what we feel comfortable playing together.

Student Weekly: What was it like working with producer Pae Mild?

Fluke: We’ve known Pae and everybody in Mild for a long time. They’re like big brothers to us. We’ve seen each other’s bands playing since high school in Chiang Mai. When we wanted to work with a talented musician, we immediately thought of Pae.

Berm: Pae gave us all the freedom to write new music and to have our own ideas. He just helped to shape our overall sound and lyrics.

Student Weekly: Pae told us in a previous interview that the Chiang Mai sound has changed a lot in recent times. Do you agree with that?

Berm: I think so. Ten years ago, there was a strong music scene in Chiang Mai, with bands like ETC and Hum playing pop music mixed with jazz, funk and soul. It was a new sound, and those bands were heroes to local teenagers like us and Mild.

Fluke: Back then, everybody wanted to form a band and play similar music, so we called it the Chiang Mai sound. But now the Chiang Mai scene has a lot more variety. Dubstep music is very popular in Chiang Mai at the moment.

 

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