Jack Tatum, Wild Nothing
Audiences in Asia can be unpredictable and tricky to gauge, sometimes to the bewilderment of unprepared artists.
“Every Asian country we’ve played in so far has been pretty unique,” said guitarist Nathan Goodman of Wild Nothing. “The first time we played in Tokyo, I remember walking out in silence to a silent crowd.”
“They’re just like dead silent,” added frontman Jack Tatum. “Because it’s like an anticipation thing or something.” “We were all like, what’s going on?” continued Goodman. “We play, and they’re silent. Then afterwards they clap like crazy for like five seconds, and then it’s dead silence.” “It’s a little unnerving,” said Tatum. “But it’s just a different way to appreciate a show.”
So when Wild Nothing came to Thailand with Last Dinosaurs and Veronica Falls to perform in the kingdom at Thursday night’s Have You Heard? indie rock fest, they had no idea what they were up against. None of the three bands had come to Thailand before, a country not well marked on any map of international indie rock.
It turned out they had nothing to worry about. Thai hipsters are marvellous specimens of the form, and the crowd, decked out in regulation-issue Converse, skinny jeans and all the expected trappings, welcomed them warmly, cheered them loudly and danced themselves silly late into the night.
The show opened with a performance by Part Time Musicians, a five-piece Thai band. They played a mellow set, infusing their indie-folk sound with a tinge of country and a soaring classical violin. The festival’s most novice performers, Part Time Musicians did sound a bit amateur, especially compared with what followed. But they seemed to have potential. Perhaps becoming “Full Time Musicians” would benefit their sound, as one concertgoer quipped.
The first half of the night felt a little lackluster, as Part Time Musicians and Last Dinosaurs played to a half-full room. But the show filled up for Veronica Falls and Wild Nothing, clearly the festival’s top draws.
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Veronica Falls
The highlight of the night was Wild Nothing, who enchanted the crowd with ethereal dream pop for over an hour. Although the band had only been in Thailand for a day, Tatum respectfully greeted the crowd with sawasdee krap, punctuated the setlist with an occasional kob khun krap, and asked the audience if the band should try durian. “This is the last show of the tour, the last show for any of us for awhile,” said Tatum as the night’s end neared.
The band seemed to savor this final show, playing a lengthy mix of newer hits and throwbacks like Golden Haze. After the last song, fans weren’t quite ready to let the band go, fervently clapping and calling them back onstage for the only encore of the evening. Wild Nothing returned for one encore of another old hit, Summer Holiday.
Even Last Dinosaurs’ own drummer, Dan Koyama, geeked out over the headline act’s performance. “Not to fanboy too much, but I’m a big fan of Wild Nothing,” Koyama said before the show. “They have like 70 minutes set aside tonight. A bit of a marathon set, but I don’t care. I’ve probably listened to them for about 75 months of my life.”
After Wild Nothing’s final exit, some concertgoers were so amped up that they just kept dancing around on the Singha-sticky floor under the fluorescent lights.
For a marquee festival showcasing international acts, HYH’s production values seemed a little low budget. The quirky stage set-up included an ethereal, cotton cloud floating over the performers, a tepee, and plastic green floor plants that opened and closed when the music played. There were also large standing tubes with inflatable rainbow streamers that periodically waved around.
The concert space itself was too cavernous to be be intimate, particularly since it never quite filled up, yet small compared to the scale of indie festivals elsewhere. It seemed like HYH wasn’t quite sure how to gauge its anticipated audience. The festival was fairly well-attended, although some may have been deterred by its out-of-the-way locale.
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Last Dinosaurs lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Sean Caskey
The first of three foreign indie bands were the Australian boys of Last Dinosaurs, whose exuberant, indie guitar-pop got the crowd dancing. While fun, the performance didn’t feel polished. The four-piece band recently had to replace their bass player, which may have contributed to an uneven performance. The band also used Thailand to test out new songs for their second album.
“We’ve been practicing a lot, so we’re vibing them on these Asia tour shows,” said lead singer Sean Caskey before the show. “It’s significant in that there are four new songs, and we’ve been playing a similar set for three years.” Old or new, fans seemed into everything they played, even a random cover of Modjo’s Lady. (Caskey nostalgically explained that it was one of the early songs he recorded on a cassette player as a child.) And when he asked for some help singing after hitting Bangkok’s karaoke bars too hard since arriving, the crowd enthusiastically joined in.
Veronica Falls played an upbeat set, laced with jangly guitars, sweet harmonies and a throwback 60s pop vibe. It was a solid performance all around, but the highlight was the energetic anthem Bad Feeling. While it didn’t come off onstage, Bangkok was one of the band’s finals stops of a whirlwind album tour that began in February; they seemed ready to go home and take it easy for a while. “You kind of just want to do normal things, like ride your bike,” said drummer Patrick Doyle before the show.
Despite good performances by Veronica Falls and Wild Nothing, the festival’s production value, sound and early bands could have been better. Still, HYH is making a commendable effort to draw indie bands to Bangkok. For this farang from Brooklyn, I felt transported home for the night.
While there may be a dearth of imported indie rock shows in Bangkok, HYH has been the exception.
Even though Thailand isn’t often an Asian tour stop, bands appear to be receptive to coming here, especially if they’re already planning to play in the region.
“We got an offer to do the show, and we were like, why would you turn that down?” Tatum said. “It’s definitely one of those places that you don’t expect to get offers to play in. So when you do, it’s kind of like a no-brainer.”
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Veronica Falls
Photos: Katrina Kaufman
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