In life, in music, best pals forever

FIVE GREAT musical acts – POP, the 2 Days Ago Kids, Friday, the Boy Kor and Yokee Playboy – will share the stage at Siam Paragon’s Royal Paragon Hall on November 11, playing up their long-time friendship and at the same time raising money for good causes.

Part of the proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Saengsawang Institute Foundation and the Rainbow Room Foundation.

“We should have done this long ago!” Notapol “Kor” Srichomkwan says of the “Circle of Friends” concert. 

“We’ve been close friends for ages and are always working on each other’s music projects. You can find all of our names on each other’s albums. But we’ve never done a concert together, not all of us at once. Friday’s been a guest at 2 Days Ago Kids and POP shows, and Nop Pornchamni from POP has appeared with Yokee Playboy, but that’s about it. 

“Whenever we all play together, though, there’s a power and a lot of happiness. We feed off each other’s energy. So this concert is all about our friendship.”

Joining the five at the Royal Paragon will be Popetorn “Two” Soonthornyanakij, Palmy, Lula, Win Siriwong of Sqweez Animal, and Boyd Kosiyabong, as well as a 20-piece orchestra.

“I’m pretty excited about playing together on the same stage,” says Piya “Po” Sastrawaha of Yokee Playboy. “I’ve even started exercising so I’ll be fit enough!

“We are firm friends both personally and in our musicianship. This concert will show our fans just how intimate our friendship is, and we want all the fans to be together too, singing along loudly. I think the show will impress everyone from the first song to the last.”

Kor, who used to be with the Groove Riders, likens their friendship to the five interlocking rings of the Olympic Games. 

“Nine musicians and friends from five groups will be performing together onstage throughout the concert as a kind of ‘semi-acoustic orchestra’,” he says. “Even on the slow songs, it won’t be purely acoustic but rather semi-acoustic, with a sound that’s gentle, mellow and sweet thanks to the string section conducted by Apisit ‘Jack’ Wongchoti. 

“Jack, who was a friend of mine in elementary school, has arranged all of our music for strings.”

Relationships that go way back are typical in this melange of troubadours. Po and Sasis “Jerry” Milindavanij from the 2 Days Ago Kids have been pals since childhood – their parents played tennis together. Nop attended St Gabriel’s College with Trai “Boy” Bhumiratana and Adul Ratchadapisit of Friday. Kor and Zomkiat Ariyachaipanich were at Assumption College together, and he met Montian “Tong” Kaewkamnerd from POP while studying in Boston and Jerry at the Berkeley Music School, also in the US. 

“So there are all these interrelations,” Kor says, “and we’re putting those long-term relationships and our musicianship on the same stage.”

Kor, who’s currently producing a new-wave band and will next year be releasing an EP of electronic music featuring guest vocalists, says the concert will have two distinct parts. 

“The first will be all the melodious, heartfelt hits that fans can sing along to, and the second will have all nine musicians onstage together playing tunes that will get everybody up dancing. Both parts will have many special moments, and the fans will get to hear something they’ve never heard before – us covering each other’s songs.”

 

FRIENDS INDEED

 

- Seats cost Bt1,500 to Bt3,000 at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com and (02) 262 3456.