Riding the Hot Wave

Ro-see-A take home the top prize and look forward to a bright future

Story By Nuttaya Muneerat
Photographs courtesy by GMM Media Ltd.

When Hot Wave announced its last music competition, more than 365 student bands sent in their demo tapes for a chance to become the next Hot Wave Music Award winner. Out of the hundreds of wannabe music stars, only 10 bands were chosen to compete.

All ten groups got the chance to show its stuff at the stadium normally reserved for proven stars, Indoor Stadium Huamak. While the battle was fierce and each band showed great talent and received the loud support of the audience, only one band could take home the title. That band was the boys from Assumption College, Ro-see-A.

Ro-see-A consists of four members - vocalist Kritsana Phaibulvadhanapong (Beem), guitarist Kongkiet Sermtavisub (Goft), bass player Vassant Limvachairakorn (Ball) and drummer Peam Sirirakarn (Peam). Goft, Beem, and Peam have known each other ever since Prathom 3. At the Mattayom level they hooked up with Ball and the band was complete.

Now this isn't the first time that Ro-see-A tried to win the Hot Wave Awards. Last year they sent in a demo, but were knocked out. at the first selection stage. The guys weren't going to let that happen again and spent the past year rehearsing and getting better.

For their demo this year, the guys sent in their remixed version of Yong's Dokmai Kab Payu. They changed the typical pop song into a pop rock song. "This song wasn't too difficult to rearrange," Beem said. "Plus it sounds different than the other hot tracks we could choose from."

"At the time, the F4 trend was really hot, so we thought we would make it more interesting," Ball added.

For their second song, Ro-see-A chose the rhythm from the Fluke track Ruang Diew and then had Ball write new lyrics for it.

The judges must have liked the songs, because Ro-see-A were chosen for the next round. The guys got the chance to meet with professional musicians and have their work critiqued. The guys were told they needed to work on the entertainment part of their live performance. Pod from Modern Dog told Beem that he needed to singing with a lighter voice. "So before the contest I really worked on getting my breathing right," Beem said.

Practise or not, in the final round the bands breath was surely taken away by the pressure of playing in a huge stadium packed full of fans. "We forgot about the prize and tried to play with all of our ability," Peam said. "I think that having a show at Indoor Stadium Huamak was great experience for us."

And sure enough it was a great experience. At the end of the contest, the guys from Ro-see-A were left holding five awards - Best Rock Band, Best Vocalist, Best Guitarist, the Fresh-Faced Guy award for Goft and, most importantly, the Hot Wave Music Award.

Even though the guys took home the top prize, they admit they had great competition. Most of the guys especially liked Sangrawee Band. "Sangrawee is great, especially the vocalist. He can make all the people in the hall have fun with him. He is a great entertainer," Ball said.

Peam said he like FLICK, because of the way every band member seemed to have complete control over their instruments.

The guys said that the Hot Wave awards were less like a competition and more like a sharing of musical experience between bands.

And it is great experience. Many of the past Hot Wave winners have gone on to be successful bands. The guys hope they can do the same. "Being an artist is a great experience for us," Goft said. "If our chance comes along, we won't hesitate to grab it."

Beem revealed that a record company has already contacted them. So will we see Ro-see-A as the next big stars of Thai music? I guess we'll just have to wait and see how far the guys can ride their Hot Wave.

Vocabulary

demo (n): a record or tape with an example of somebody�s music on it
show your stuff (idiom): to do what you are good at or what you have been trained to do
hook up (v): to meet somebody and spend time with them
knock out (v): to defeat somebody so that they cannot continue competing
remix (v): to make a new version of a recorded piece of music
critique (v): to write or give your opinion of, or reaction to, a set of ideas, a work of art, etc
hesitate (v): to be slow to speak or act because you feel uncertain or nervous