Rock the world

The expat Thai community finally gets something to cheer about this month as the Kingdom’s hottest rock band Bodyslam heads to three continents with its “Sang Sudthai World Tour 2012”.

The rock band kicks off its overseas gigs with a show on Sunday night at Thai Square Restaurant in Trafalgar Square in London before jetting to Australia for concerts in Melbourne on March 16 and Sydney on March 18. They then go to New York on March 21 and to Los Angeles on March 24.

“It’s the first time Bodyslam is setting off on a world tour,” says Sorrakrit Lathitham, marketing manager of Thai Beverage Marketing. “We have more than 50 branches around the world including in the three countries where Bodyslam is playing. We would like overseas Thai fans to experience the rock band’s full-scale concert.

“We’ve partnered together with Bodyslam many times before, for the ‘Live in Kraam’ at Rajamangala Stadium, which draw an audience of almost 70,000 fans and for the recent acoustic ‘Nang Len’ show. The world tour shows are already sold out so the demand is there.”

Asked what he means by “full-scale” concert, the marketing manager explains that the overseas concerts will be “normal”, not acoustic. They’ll also feature the entire band – vocalist Athiwara “Toon” Khongmalai, guitarist Thanachai “Yod” Tantrakul, bassist Thanadol “Pid” Changsawek and drummer Suchuch “Chad” Chaneed along with keyboardist Ohm Plengkham – plus a crew of 15. Each concert will be played in front of about 2,000 fans.

“The overall budget is Bt10 million covering marketing, promotion, the rock band’s remuneration as well as overseas accommodation and travelling expenses. Each venue is costing about Bt1-2 million,” reveals Sorrakrit, who just sponsored for Carabao’s “30 Years World Tour”, which took in Europe, the US, Asia as well as all 77 provinces.

“Toon said on stage that he will have to exercise because of the time change,” he says.

The world tour is a collaboration between promoter Thai Beverage Marketing and GMM Grammy. How does it support Chang branding?

“We support the new generation’s lifestyle and Bodyslam is an inspiration for the new generation. It’s not only Thais who love the band: Laotians and Cambodians are fans too,” says Sorrakrit with a smile.