'We're no boy band'

Thai fans of British pop rock quartet Lawson had their dream come true when the troupe finally jetted into Bangkok earlier this month for a small gig at Siam Center to promote their critically acclaimed debut CD “Chapman Square”.
Armed with musicianship, showmanship and genuine passion to make music, the
 four broke into the electropop-infested music scene with sturdy and promising singles like “When She Was Mine”, “”Standing in the Dark” and “Taking Me
 Over”, all of which rose high in
 music charts in the UK, Asia and North America.
After touring a few Asian countries, the band has headed back to Britain for the big music festivals, where they will be playing alongside superstars like Bon Jovi and the Killers.
We had a chat with them just before the Bangkok show.

How does it feel to be here finally?
Pitts: We had a fantastic welcome at the airport when we arrived. There were
 over a hundred people there! It was very overwhelming. I couldn’t believe it.
Brown: Yeah, we’ve heard some amazing things about Thailand. We’ve got a lot of fans on Twitter from Thailand, and they’ve been saying for the last few years that we should come and visit.

It’s great that works gets you to travel around the globe like this.
Fletcher: It’s great, isn’t it? We’ve had a great time so far. It’s a complete dream come true. The fact that our music is doing so well in England is so amazing. To come over here, it’s more of a dream come true! Who would have ever thought that it’d gone this far?
Brown: You hear so many things and a lot of stuff on Twitter about how your music is doing in a country, but you don’t really experience it until you finally get here.

Could we say that you owe part of the success to the social media?
Brown: That was the thing that brought us together. I saw Andy using MySpace and that led me to contact him, and that brought about our whole career. Our videos posted on YouTube got us signed to a label. And I think the main reason we’re here in Thailand today was we spoke to everyone on Twitter and Facebook, and they spread the word about Lawson.

What do you wish people knew more about Lawson?
Peat: There are a lot of people coming out expecting us to sing like a boy band. We’re not part of that really – we’re more of a guitar band. We take lots of inspiration from bands like the Kings of Leon, the Script, Maroon 5 and – you know, real bands.
Fletcher: We’d like people to know our history and how hard we’ve worked to come up from gigs with five or six people and then gradually building up over the years and getting even bigger. We’re really proud of that and it means a lot to us.
Brown: The fact that we are a new kind of band that plays and writes our own songs is quite rare. A lot of established bands out there did it, but for the past couple of years there haven’t been any new bands like this coming out, so that kind of sets us apart.
Andy writes all the songs and they’re very meaningful. They’re songs that a lot of people can relate to around the world – about relationships, breaking up and making it – and there are not really many guys singing about that. It comes from a guy’s perspective.

What’s the songwriting process?
Pitts: Usually I write on acoustic guitar or the piano and then bring it to the guys. We’ll lay down the demo and then make it sound like a proper song.

Have you had a star-struck moment yet?
Peat: Yes, quite a few. One of the big ones for me is Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones – Robbie Williams as well. Who else?
Brown: Taylor Swift. It was at a Christmas show in the UK. We didn’t even know she was there. She came up to us and said, “I really liked your set and ‘Standing in the Dark’ is my favourite song at the moment.” We’re Taylor Swift fans, so it was big for us.
Peat: Jon Bon Jovi is another one. He’s a legend! The big one for me was John Mayor. He’s a great songwriter and an amazing guitarist.
Pitts: I grew up listening to the Beatles. I was born in Liverpool, where the band was from. They’re my favourite band of all time.
Brown: I grew up listening to a lot of Foo Fighters. As a drummer I would say Dave Grohl has the biggest influence on me.
Fletcher: I was always into something like Guns ’N Roses and Bon Jovi.

You got the name of the band from a Dr Lawson, who operated on Andy and saved his life. What did the doctor say about that?
Pitts: We sent him some signed CDs, posters and stuff. He’s a good friend of ours now. He’s a very nice guy, very inspirational, too.
Brown: He hasn’t come to one of our gigs yet. We’re going to invite him to our next concert.