No fleas on these fellas

MODERNDOG, one of Thailand’s all-time favourite alternative rock bands, will be back on stage next Saturday as its three members toast a remarkable musical career that has spanned 22 years.
“This upcoming concert will be more colourful than anything we’ve done before with chorus singers and a brass section. We originally intended to work with a symphony orchestra but changed our minds. Our songs have gone through massive rearrangements and fans will hear versions that sound very different from our CDs,” says Thanachai “Pod” Ujjin, the band’s frontman, who sat down recently for a chat with XP along with his bandmates, guitarist May-T Noijinda and drummer Pawin “Tong” Suwanna- cheep.
“We’re also working with foreign lighting and stage designers. Our lighting designer, Briton Tellson James, has worked with Depeche Mode, Whitney Hous- ton, George Michael, Phil Collins and Vanessa Mae,” May-T adds.
The pioneers of Thai alternative music during its ’90s boom years, ModernDog has long been a favourite with their live shows and unique musical style. The alter-rock band has never stopped producing quality sounds and introduced its latest album, “Pod Tong May-T” at the end of last year with the single, “Wan Nee Muea Pee Korn” (“Today, Last Year”).

“Songs are like public relations. If the songs go well, the band can survive with live shows,” says Pod. “This song reflects our view. We all have that one important day in our lives that has an effect on our feelings.”
May-T adds that the 10 songs on the album were all recorded in the US. “The remixing is now complete,” he says. “The album won’t be sold at music stores but through our Facebook page. We understand that some fans still prefer a physical CD.”
“They like to read the sleeve notes like they did 20 years ago,” Tong adds.
Pod, May-T and Tong have been friends since they were at Chulalongkorn University. They formed the band in their student days along with bassist Somath Bunyaratavech and won the Coke Music contest in 1992. Their show also won over Kamol “Suki” Sukosol Clapp, who had just set up his indie label, Bakery Music and later became the producer for ModernDog’s first album, “Serm Sukkapap” in 1994. The album was surprisingly successful, spawning such hits as “Korn”, “Busaba”, “Bang Sing” and “Mod Wela” and pushing the lads into the big time.
“I think the music scene at that time was waiting for an alternative and by accident we were that alternative. Suki asked me how many copies the first album would sell and I told him I’d be happy with 5,000,” Pod recalls.
“It was a lot more.

“We worked on our first album with Suki and it was a major learning experience. Suki made up his own riffs on the guitar on almost all the songs and we jammed together in a studio as well as writing the lyrics and the melodies. Our musical influences were Nirvana and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I was also into soul and funk, Lenny Kravitz-style. You can hear the Chilli Peppers influence on ‘Durian’ and ‘Cheewit’ and Nirvana on ‘Busaba’.
“I’d only just started writing songs and I’d finished the lyrics and melody of ‘Cheewit’ before joining Suki. I remember it well as I wrote the song on my 21st birthday. We had just formed Modern- Dog and thought we should prepare our songs before meeting with Suki. The song was about a teenager following his dream. But most of the really successful ModernDog songs weren’t by me but by Suki. Take ‘Korn’ [‘Before’]. It was a smash hit. One day Suki told us that he liked Pry Pathomporn’s ‘Korn’ and had asked his permission to make a cover. After listening to it I also liked it. And it was such a hit that it’s been associated with Modern- Dog ever since,” says Pod.
Tong recalls how hard the band worked in its early days. “We would rehearse at a studio in Siam Square, not far from Chulalong- korn University, after school every Tuesday and Friday, for seven hours a week,” he says.
Had the first album not been a success, Pod doubts that the band would have carried on, at least in its present form. “I would have become a choreographer,” he says.
“About that time, I landed a job creating the choreography for Somchai ‘Tao’ Khemklad’s song ‘Bodyguard’ and Suttida ‘Nook’ Kasemsan’s ‘Thorn Sai Bua’. I never studied choreography. But an older friend from university who was working at RS, saw my dancing style during the ModernDog show at the Coke Music contest. I was also responsible for taking care of a group of dancers on the ‘Loke Dontri’ stage. I think I could have made a career of it if ModernDog’s album hadn’t do well,” he laughs.
But despite achieving mega sales, the first album also |drew its fair share of negative comments.

“At our first TV concert, I remember seeing some members of the audience with their hands over their ears. Critics commented that our music was noisy and a reader of Thai Rath newspaper wrote that our songs were loud and the singer did some strange dance moves on the floor. It wasn’t suitable for children. The reader wanted the programme to censor it,” recalls May-T.
“I wanted everybody to listen to our songs, but I also wanted to do something that would draw their attention. I thought that our songs were hard to listen to at that time, because they were so different from the mainstream. It was a new sound. In addition to my dancing style, we dressed in second-hand clothes and wore scout uniforms and even sarongs,” says Pod.
“In fact it was a friend of Suki’s who came up with the costume ideas. He had just come back from England and had this weird Manchu hairstyle. He sent me to a Lebanese barber who gave me a new look. We went to Sampeng and looked for tight-fitting kids’ T-shirts. Our trousers were made out of pha khao ma. It was a weird look. We’d make fun of each other. I remember telling May-T that he looked like a gecko! I wore a costume that made me look like a Chinese monk at one concert. But the 1990s were like that.”
The band went through a series of changes after the first album. Bassist Somath went off to study, Tong and Pod headed to New York and May-T remained in Thailand. Because of its electronic experimentation, ModernDog has been favourably compared to Radiohead, and they actually served as the opening act for the British band in 1994 at a concert in MBK Centre in Bangkok.
“We used a synthesiser instead of bass,” recalls May-T.
“We decided to work on |our second album by ourselves, because our first album |was so influenced by Suki,” says Tong.
Dispelling fears that the band had broken up, ModernDog was back in the studio in 2001 to record its third album, “Love Me Love My Life”. Their fourth album, “Daed Song”, included the hit “Ta Sawang”, while “Ting Nong Noi” from their fifth album also rose high in the charts. Their most recent album features the singles “Oh Noi Ok”, “Scala”, “Tob Tuan”, “Cloud”, “Cheer” and “Wan Nee Muea Pee Korn”.
Pod feels that seven albums released over 22 years is about right.
“I think it’s reasonable. Each album really reflects our development and change. We understand each other. We have our different ways of life. When we are exhausted, we take a break before coming back to work together.”

Barking Out Loud
- “ModernDog 22” will take place at Impact Arena in Muang Thong Thani on March 18 at 7pm.
- Tickets cost Bt1,000 to Bt3,500 at Thai Ticket Major counters and online at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.
- For more information, go to www.BECTero.com, “bectero” on Facebook, “@BEC_Tero_Ent” on Twitter or “BECTERO_ENTERTAINMENT” on Instagram.