Yes men

Rookie rockers see better days

By Suwitcha Chaiyong
Photos by Varuth Hirunyatheb

Last year, 26-year-old singer Aungoont Thanasapchroen (Utt) was introduced to music lovers with his performance of the song “Won (Circle)” for the Project Love Pill album, produced by renowned songwriter Fong Beer. By that time, Utt had already got together with his three buddies — guitarist Amorn Tantichotimai (Boy), 29, drummer Wasurat Panit (Art), 26 and bassist Weerayuth Wanna (Plug), 25 — to form the modern rock band Yes’sir Days.

This year, Utt and his band have been busy working on an album. So far, the guys have released the fun track “Gan Ma Khon Thoe (Here She Comes)” and a ballad called “Jeb Pai Rak Pai (Falling in Love and Getting Hurt).” Utt also starred in the popular new romantic movie Chob Kod Like, Chai Kod Love (Click Like or Click Love).

Student Weekly recently met up with Yes’sir Days at the GMM building to hear all about their budding music career.

Student Weekly: What does your name Yes’sir Days mean?

Utt: We just played with the words yes sir, which mean that we agree that music is our life. It’s an unusual name, but we all like it.

Student Weekly: What inspired you guys to become professional musicians?

Utt: Like many boys, I started singing because I wanted to look cool and impress girls. But I soon found that I really liked music. I went to see concerts by Bodyslam, Silly Fools, Big Ass and Zeal. I wanted to be like them, so I started to take singing more seriously.

Boy: My brother played guitar and I became interested in learning it as well. I also went to gigs during weekends which inspired me to become a musician.

Art: I went to see bands like Black Head, Silly Fools and Loso. Their drummers were great performers and I wanted to be like them.

Plug: My dad was a bassist and I always liked the sound of the bass guitar. Eventually my dad taught me some music basics and I started playing.

Student Weekly: How did you become great musicians without majoring in music at university?

Utt: We spent all our free time to practising. When I was at university, I practised every morning and evening. If you manage your time well, you can do a lot.

Boy: I used to practise for eight hours a day when I was starting out.

Student Weekly: Boy, can you tell us about your experience at the fourth Overdrive Guitar Contest?

Boy: It was a guitar solo competition. For the first round, the participants had to send in demos of their playing. I was one of 10 finalists and ended up coming second. I was happy with that. It was awesome!

Student Weekly: Plug, is it true that you once participated in the Hotwave Music Awards?

Plug: Yes. Six years ago, I had a high school band and we won the best male band award. It was a great experience for a high school student like me. I leaned that you really have to concentrate on what you’re doing when you perform on a big stage in front of a large crowd.

Student Weekly: Even though you’re all skillful musicians, do you ever feel that you have to make your music less complicated to reach a mass audience?

Utt: We express ourselves with our music. Our first single, “Here She Comes,” came out exactly how we wanted. Our producer Fong Beer often encourages us to add more details into the music. He never limits our ideas.

Student Weekly: Utt, did you have any trouble singing in the recording studio?

Utt: “Here She Comes” wasn’t hard because Plug and I wrote the melody for the song and I was really familiar with it. But when you sing in a studio, it has to be more perfect than when you sing live. Ballads are much more difficult for me to sing because I had to learn how to control my breath properly.

Student Weekly: Do you have a special message for your listeners?

Utt: We’re a new band offering music that we create ourselves. We hope that people listen to our music. You can tell us what you think of our music on our Facebook page, facebook.com/yessirdays.