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Good luck Blaze!

I was sorry to not have a chance to say goodbye to Blaze at the recent festival Lean on Me 2, but I was in the UK. It so happens I bid in a charity auction and got four guitar lessons with him for 1000 baht. Bargain! (..and God, don’t I need them!) But then I was too busy to do them….

That was a shame as, being a nosy amateur journalist, I was interested in finding out more about him before he headed off to the USA to seek fame and fortune. I hope all goes well.

I have to admit to feeling a strange sense of loss as Blaze was not afraid to write and perform his own songs, and there sure ain’t much of that going on here in Phuket. It’s important. Very important.

You see, imagine how impoverished the world would be if the Beatles just played Chuck Berry songs? Or The Rolling Stones ones by Muddy Waters? Or if John Lee Hooker songs were all you’d hear from Jimi Hendrix? If Eric Clapton only played Robert Johnson covers? Songwriters are important.

However, music in a tourist destination like Phuket is inevitably dominated by bands playing other people’s songs, yet creativity is clearly supremely important in music. If someone somewhere doesn’t take the risk of performing their own material, music is forever doomed to stagnation. For original songs can lead to a unique musical style and ultimately, perhaps, to a whole new, exciting genre of music. Who knows, it might happen here with a fusion of rock and Isan dance music!

But it’s not easy being a songwriter these days. So much has already been done before, and computer songwriting software risks songs ending up sounding all the same. Writing hit songs is risky and involves a great deal of self-belief and dedication. Lyrics too are often personal; sharing them publically may not be comfortable, but there’s little emotional connection if you don’t. Only the bravest of the brave write and play their own songs today.

So good luck Blaze. Keep writing and playing those songs, and please keep us musos here updated on how you are getting on.

Oh, and when you become the next Jack White, I’ll be popping around for those four guitar lessons, promise!

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Hats off to Adam Green (again!)

I’m just back from my month-long holiday in the UK, and I still have a bit of jetlag, but see I have not done a blog post for six weeks now. I’m so busy, but I’ve got to write something fast!

Now I’m back home, I’m again closely following the ups and downs of my friend Adam Green’s frustrating efforts to form a band once again. My heart goes out to him – It’s not easy getting a band together and keeping it moving forward, especially if all amateurs and other things take up their time and attention. It takes a lot of time, commitment and energy, which are always limited. I’m experiencing something similar with my efforts, but I seem to be getting more success, perhaps because I’m working as just a duo or trio.

Some musicians insist that bands should be run like a democracy where everyone gets a veto and every opinion must be equally accommodated. This makes things even more complicated for anyone trying to move things forward!

Sometimes it can feel like two steps forward, three steps back. Sometimes it actually is. A bass player decides he doesn’t have time and quits, a drummer gets sick, the vocalist goes on holiday, keys throws his teddy in the corner, the music studio is shut for a month, and so on.

No wonder that musical acts driven forward by a motivated, single personality often have most success – think Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Neil Young and Johnny Cash. When you see how Oasis suddenly blew apart with Noel and Liam Gallaghers’ spectacular punch up, having just two such competing, managing figures can have its dangers.

Bands are all about differing personalities working together as best they can in an atmosphere where their gifts, aspirations and opinions are respected. It’s not easy managing this at times, sometimes it’s impossible, but someone has to do it or the musos just carry on playing in their bedrooms, and nothing ever gets created or achieved. The prize, when it comes, is when you are on stage and you hear the applause (and hopefully some whistles etc too)!

So here’s hats off (again) for people like Adam Green! (Click here for my first blog post.) Keep on at it, Adam, and don’t give up and you’ll win through in the end!

Andy Tong Dee

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It’s a great time to buy guitars, even if you don’t play so well!

This is a great time to buy a new guitar – the design and craftsmanship now is so good and fierce competition keeps prices down. Not only that, the guitar is still prominent  in modern music, despite what they said in the 80s about keyboards taking over. They didn’t…entirely…

So here’s a shout out for Bangkok’s guitar suppliers! In the last 11 years, I’ve used Proplugin, CT Music, Music Boulevard, Boosey, Tone City, Bangkok Music Exchange, Theera and Music City. They’ve all been great. (OK I like to try and buy local, but they only just order from these places anyway.)

And particular thanks today is due for Music Collection who just sold me this (Indonesian) Squire Standard Tele for a mere 9,400 baht. It’s reduced to about the same price as a Squire Affinity as it’s being discontinued, so I thought I’d best hurry up and get one. (I checked three shops before this one, but they had all sold out).

No scratches, clean and the action, truss rod, pickups and intonation are perfectly set up. It’s a fine guitar with terrific playability and sound. But why did I just get a mere Squire Standard?

 1. Is a Squire Classic Vibe Tele really worth 7,000 baht more? 13,000 extra maybe for a Mexican Fender Standard? Or 18,000 more for a Fender Player? Frankly, I can’t see much difference apart from the word “Fender” on the head stock. Maybe that’s why it’s being discontinued. Such bargain guitars are maybe discouraging people from buying more expensive ones.

2.  At 3.2 kg of agathis,  it’s a whole lot lighter than my mahogany 4.3 kg Les Paul (oof!) and nearly half my 6 kg solid ash Chinese tele copy (phew!). It’s a good choice for a smaller or aging  guitarist, shall we say, as wood is not a big factor in electric guitar tone.

3. No one expects lightening, shredding guitar solos from anyone playing one of these kinda guitars. That suits me fine because I don’t want to!

I think that guitars are like clothes. Yes, they need to be functional, but you also need to feel comfortable with them. They need to look and feel right for you. This guitar does that for me, but maybe not for you. Natural wood or antique burst is my thing, maybe electric blue is yours. It’s a great subject for a friendly discussion, especially when amps and pedals get involved.

So if a Squire Standard Telecaster does ring your bells, get online and order one fast while they’re still available…or  (argh!) a Squire Standard Strat if you really must.

We’d best leave THAT conversation for another day!

Andy Tong Dee

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Hats off for Don Mangiameli!

A few weeks ago, I was asked by a local agent I know to fix up a venue for a gig by legendary Bangkok Blues guitarist and singer Yamin. He was playing at a festival in Hua Hin and he wanted to play one gig in Phuket soon after. I had first seen Yamin play in Bangkok many years ago and so I knew of his great talent. He last played here five years ago when he did three gigs, including one on the Lad Yai walking street. I guess he felt he needed to show his face after all that time.

So I contacted Don at Michelangelo’s bar in Phuket Town, and he jumped at the chance to host the event. I just knew he would – he’s just so positive and wants to see things happening, so he was first choice, despite the venue being tiny. I knew it would be a struggle with any other larger Falang – focused bar – there would inevitably be less interest from owners. As for Blue Tree? The arena is far to big and it might well rain. Forget that!

I also made sure to link Yamin up with my friends Roger and Kaely from Gypsy Sun on drums and bass. (I knew they played with him five years ago.) OK, I get a free ticket, but there’s no money in this for me and not much for Don, just HUGE satisfaction for us both when it all comes off. It’s extremely rare to see visiting acts in expat bars here.

However, Thai Bangkok bands regularly play at Plernchit and Ther bars on the Seahorse (Nimit) Traffic Circle. They are smallish too, but they are always packed on such occasions. I am trying my best to market Yamin’s gig to Thais and expats which I hope will be similarly well-supported. Don is taking something of a risk.

And we need people running bars catering for falang like Don to take such risks, to entice bands and musos down now and then and make them feel welcome. Such acts help to break the monotony and help enrich live music here.

So hat’s off everyone – here’s a shout out for Don for making this happen.

And be there, don’t be square!

ATD

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It’s as much a project as a band…

TONG DEE began in January 2022 when Kru “Roger” Rungould Bouthong started practicing with me regularly and working on original songs, some about Thailand. These songs presently cover subjects such as gun control, deforestation, cyber-bullying, road death, and war. However, I have written a couple of lighter ones to balance things out and keep the wife happy!

Thai pop and rock music is quite fantastic, but it’s not so well known outside Thailand. Our intention is to help Thai bands to write and perform their Thai original songs in English. We believe this will help to make these songs more accessible and appreciated by an international audience.

My wife and I have run a small translation company for ten years now so we can easily get Thai lyrics translated into English if needed. I’m a retired English teacher and I have teacher friends who are willing to help train Thai singers to pronounce English words properly.

Roger is a professional drum teacher from Suratani, and he works for Yamaha Music School. He manages the Ozone kids band and plays with Phuket bands Gypsy Sun and the Moody Band. I taught Roger English for three months before we started this project. He’s Thai liaison.

We are already playing low-key in Thai venues, but we hope to perform together at Thai music festivals and events at some point in the future. We may invite some Thai musician friends to help us out when we do.

Oh,…. we have a Facebook page ทองดี, but… sorry…it’s all in Thai!

Best wishes

Andy Tong Dee