Shaking up the grapes
Pattaya's Silverlake Vineyard invites some hot American rock bands for the first big fest of 2012
The cool season usually has musicians and audiences heading for the hills, but this year it’s the seaside town of Pattaya that’s hosting the first big music event of the year with this month’s Silverlake Music Festival serving up a storm of sound led by the California rock band Incubus.
“It’s a kind of a contemporary music festival featuring a diverse array of musical styles from rock and pop to blues and jazz,” says Siripol “Bob” Samithisawad, managing director of Silverlake Entertainment and director of JSS Production. “We want it to be a music community and to feel a little like the UK’s Glastonbury Festival.”
The one-day fest will have two stages – “Earth” and “Solar” – that will feature both Thai and foreign artists.
Performing on “Earth” are Scrubb, Slot Machine, T-Bone, Akira Jimbo, Anti-Flag, Moderndog, Owl City, Seether and Incubus, while “Solar” features Stamp, 25 Hours, Mild, Singular, Brandnew Sunset, Silly Fools, Franko, Young Guns, Tattoo Colour, Gray Gregson, Joey Boy and DJ Spydamonkee.
“We started by looking for a magnetic band and we came up with Incubus. The rockers have just released a new album and their vocalist was really excited about performing here after seeing pictures of our beautiful site,” Bob says.
“For the pop-music component, [American electronica project] Owl City has been on tour in Asia and ‘Fireflies’, a single from ‘Ocean Eyes’, is most downloaded song of all time in the UK. It’s very catchy.
“Seether is a multiplatinum rock band that is very popular in America,” Bob continues. “Here, they are best known for their single ‘Broken’, on which Shawn Morgan duets with Evanescence’s singer Amy Lee. Anti-Flag is an American punk rock band with a reputation for a striking live performance.”
Akira, the former drummer with Japanese jazz fusion band Casiopia, will jam with the festival’s Super Jam group, which features Infinity’s bassist Viroj “Pap” Satapanawat and Thammarat “Jack” Duangsiri, the winner of the Guitar Idol 2009 competition.
“It’ll be a special and interesting session,” Bob explains. “Grey is a songwriter in Tennessee, who plays blues and rock ’n’ roll. He’s performed with Willie Nelson and Hootie and the Blowfish and received a lot of awards for country songs. He a great musician.”
Originally planned as a three-day event, the festival was scaled due to last year’s flooding. However, it is planned as an annual fixture continuing over two or three days with camping facilities provided on site like Japan’s Fuji Rock and England’s Glastonbury.
“We’re focusing on toilet facilities and car parking, while for the music content we want to have a similar atmosphere to Woodstock or Fuji Rock. Fuji Rock is great because people come from all over the country to share a passion for music. I would like to have a community like that in Thailand,” Bob says.
Uncorked
_ The Silverlake Music Festival is on January 28 at the Silverlake Vineyard in Pattaya. The show runs from noon to 3am.
_ Tickets are Bt1,500. Call (02) 262 3456 or visit www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.
_ Find out more at www.SilverlakeMusicFestival.
com, “SilverlakeMusicFestival” on Facebook and @SilverlakeMF on Twitter.
