The fire and the passion

One of the founding fathers of the now-defunct Bakery Music label as well as guitarist with indie rock band Pru, Kamol “Sukie” Sukosol Clapp has spent most of the last decade focusing on projects not related to the music business.

Now he’s back but much to the surprise of those who thought they knew him, the 45 year-old is eschewing rock in favour of the more-fashionable electronic dance music (EDM).

His aim, he says, is to create a genre of music for the new generation, just like he did in the early 1990s with what became known as the “Bakery Sound”.

He’s not walking the path alone. Joining him on his Monkey Disco Boy project are friends and fellow musicians Tanachai “Pod Moderndog” Ujjin, Apiwat “Stamp” Eurthavornsuk, Chalathit “Ben” Tantiwut, Burin Boonvisut, Gene Kasidit, Southside and Boom Boom Cash. 

His first single off the project’s first album, “Forever Young” featuring Boom Boom Cash, was recently released.

“Basically it’s a song about being young and living your life to its fullest,” says Sukie. “The next single will be ‘Desire’ sung by Pod – it’s is my favourite on the album. It is not a radio-friendly song but there’s something special about it. Boyd [Kosiyabong] wrote the lyrics for it. 

“It dawned on me that Thais don’t have their own gay anthem – they still use ‘I Will Survive’ – so I decided to do something about it and wrote ‘Gay Night’ for Ben. Stamp’s song, ‘When We Were Young’ is actually about Bakery.”

The EDM-oriented album is scheduled for release at the end of the year and will be distributed by Warner Music (Thailand), and a full-scale concert is in the works for the middle of next year.

“Its concept is dance music that you can listen to. Lyrically I want it to be uplifting, to be fun. We’ve been through a lot these past few years and I believe right now a lot of people just want to let loose and have fun.”

Just like they did at Bakery, and Sukie admits to a certain nostalgia for the label. 

“The Bakery Sound was basically me, Boyd and Somkiat [“Mr Z” ariyachaipanich). I was the rock-alternative guy, Somkiat was the dance guy and Boyd, the ballad, R&B guy. We never did any market research and basically just did what we wanted and we were lucky people liked what we did. A big part of the Bakery Sound was how we were able to write Western melodies and make the Thai lyrics fit with it – it was a new kind of songwriting. For us feel always came before form. If you listen to a lot of our stuff, there are mistakes everywhere but it feels right.

“Pru was much the same – all about feel. My brother Noi can’t play music so he would sing his melodies live while I listened and tried to find the chords and arrangements that worked. It was about chemistry too, just as a rock band should be. Our drummer, Kanin, was a childhood friend.”

Sukie says his inspiration for the shift into EDM came from his son, Dino, now 20, but points out that synthesiser has never been far away from his music. “I just never got the chance to do a dance record before.” 

The Monkey Disco Boy name, he explains with a grin, was chosen because “for some reason people have always associated me with monkeys”.

“During the Bakery days, my partners would always jokingly call me a monkey. When I did the TV show, ‘Dreamchaser’, my symbol was a retro monkey. So now I’m just continuing the tradition.”

He’s also faced surprisingly few problems in adapting his writing and production skills to the electronica genre.

“The biggest difference is going from live music to a computer. But there are quite a few similarities. With rock I would normally start with the guitar riff; with dance I start with the synth riff. Whether it’s the guitar or synth, it’s pretty much the same approach. The aim is to write a hook or riff that people will grab on to.

“I’m also very fortunate to be working with some very talented people. When choosing a vocalist for a song, I kind of let the song choose them – it’s all about connecting the right pieces together. Pod is perfect for his song but would sound terrible singing Ben’s song and vice versa,” he says, adding that while his collaboration with such popular artists could open a few doors, he believes the project’s success depends more on the songs. 

“For any record to be a success the song has got to connect with the people. The vocalist is delivering the songs and if the songs connect with the listeners, the chance of success will be good.

“Obviously I’d like the project to connect with my son’s generation – ‘generation Me’, as I call them – but I’m already just happy to have my passion for music back after losing it for quite some time.”

Asked about his thoughts on today’s music circle, Sukie pauses to find the right words. 

“The music industry has changed too much, it’s completely different from what I use to know.  Everything is so sensationalised and fickle. There’s less and less substance and it’s also about the flavour of the hour. Everyone attention span is less than 2 minutes. Andy Warhol mentioned the proverbial ‘15 minutes of fame’ but if he were around today, he’d say’5 seconds of fame’. 

“So, in a nutshell I think it’s awful – it’s becoming less and less about music and more and more about what is trending. However, it is what it is and you have to adapt to the change of time.

“I personally still believe in dreams and passion – it’s what drives me, it is what keeps me going. I wanted to be a rock star when I was 12 and my dream came true. When I see young kids I always tell them to follow their dreams, that they have nothing to lose.”

 

On the Web:

www.Facebook.com/SukieClappProject

www.Facebook.com/monkeydiscoboy