During my time in Thailand I try to

During my time in Thailand I try to get to know as many different people as possible. It’s always interesting to say the least. This time however it’s far more. In order to show more of the talented people that call Bangkok (or Thailand) their home I added the music & arts section to my-thai.org. Today’s interview guest is the first band that sat down with me. I saw them first on youtube was immediately captivated by their enthusiasm and by the fact that they are, and that’s a good thing, different. They are doing cover songs as well as own renditions and arrangements. Besides having a very girly name this band is not at all a ‘normal’ girl band. Actually they do kick ass with their Vocals, Guitar, Drums, Keyboard and Violin. So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages I’m proud to present: Pretty Please.

Before we start things off let’s check who is Pretty Please and who is behind Pretty Please. So girls, could you introduce yourself a bit to our readers?

Pretty Please Indy Girl Band Bangkok

Alright. Sure. So first let us introduce the band members. We have Toey who plays the guitar, Toey number two at the vocals, Mint at the violin, Ploy at the keyboard and Pakbung on the drums.

We are all from Bangkok and besides making music we all have a ‘real’ life. We are not full-time musicians here in this band. We can’t do that for a living. However we all have side projects where we also play.

I (Toey, Guitar), for example, am a backup guitarist at a music talent show on TV. Besides that I write Thai history books for children and try to find as much time as possible to play with this band here – since that’s the band I like the most :-)

Then we have the latest member to join this band a few months ago. Pakbung: I study architecture at Thammasat University. I’m in my third year right now and play the drums here and with other projects.

Furthermore there is me, the other Toey. I study Communication Arts at Stamford International University and also work as vocal instructor at Rockademy – a music school in Bangkok. I play bass and am the singer in the band.

We move over to Ploy: My name is Ploy and I’m the keyboardist of this band. I just graduated from the College of Music at Mahidol University. By now I also wrote a book about how to play keyboard furthermore I also teach piano and run my own music school.

Last but not least: My name is Mint. I’m the violinist of this band. I graduated at Faculty of Fine Arts at Srinakharinwirot University. Moreover I am the owner of this place where we sit right now: One Ounce For Onion. I play part-time here in this band.

Thank you for that short introduction. Already nice to know a bit about you. So far we can see that you are all from different Universities and backgrounds. So how did you actually meet?

We met three years ago. However it was a bit complicated. The original band consisted of six members. Two of them however left the band already. When the first three members of the and decided to set up the band they were looking for more musicians and invited more musicians to join. But this formation now exists for around two years.

Oh alright. So quite a lot of history already! But the one thing that you have in common is that you are all from Bangkok, as we already know. Do you like it here?

Well. Kind of (Toey, Singer). The traffic is really really terrible. I hate it so much. And it actually affects the band and our performances. (Mint, Toey) We live far away from each other so it’s very hard to find a place to meet and practice. It’s really annoying.

pretty please band

Is there any other place that you’d rather be?

I’ve been to Khon Kaen (Toey, vocals) a few weeks ago. I liked that. Slow life, quiet, relaxed. It might be a bit boring but it’s nice to chill and do nothing.

Well I do like Chiang Mai (Toey, guitar) a lot. It’s also quiet, fresher air, nice people. Nice place.

Alright. But you still decide to stay here. Why is that?

Well we were all born here and our families are here. Furthermore a lot of artists and musicians live here so there are lots of sources of inspiration here in Bangkok.

Makes sense. Where do you usually go to get inspiration?

Usually we go to see concerts. We don’t necessarily hang out at certain venues but rather see international artists perform. That’s cool to see and you get more ideas and inspiration since they bring something different to the stage.



Understand. Let’s talk a bit about how you decide on what you bring to the stage. How does it look like when you are creating an own song? Who is doing that?

(everybody points at Toey, singer)

Aha