Rockers return

Liberty make progress

By Tatat Bunnag
Photographs are courtesy of LOVEiS

The name of rock band Liberty may not ring a bell for younger listeners, but fans of Thai rock music from the early 2000s will know that Liberty were one of the most popular bands in the country. Liberty were renowned for their captivating and complex sound, as well as for their skilful musicianship.

Liberty released their critically acclaimed debut album Flying Free in 2003, which led to them winning the Best New Band prize at the Season Awards the same year. The band then took a long break before making a comeback last year with “Fire,” a single released with the LOVEiS label.

Although there have been some changes in the band’s line-up over the years, “Fire” showed that Liberty’s signature sound remained intact, with its blend of ‘80s pop and progressive hard rock.

Student Weekly recently caught up with Liberty — singer Arvin Raviyan (Id), guitarist Seksan Manee (Tui), bassist Anek Isawansalee (Ake) and keyboardist Puris Thongplengsri (Tum) — for an interview at the LOVEiS office, just as their new single, “Naree Rerng Rabum (Dancing Ladies),” hit the top five on the Fat Radio chart.

Student Weekly: For people who aren’t familiar with your music, can you tell us something about Liberty’s background?

Tum: The band was formed by a group of friends who were studying engineering at Kasetsart University. We entered a few music competitions before we started writing our own original music. We released our first album with the Indy Café label.

Student Weekly: More than 10 years have passed since the release of Flying Free. What have you guys been doing in that time?

Ake: We never really stopped playing music, but due to problems like members leaving the band, it took us a while to record new songs. Our original drummer and guitarist left, but we eventually got Tui to play guitar.

Student Weekly: How did you guys end up signing with LOVEiS?

Id: I had a great opportunity to work with Boyd Kosiyabong a few years ago when he was working on his album Rhythm and Boyd 11th. I was a guest singer on the song “Over the Hill.” Boyd also liked our album Flying Free, so we started working with his label, LOVEiS.

Student Weekly: Is that true you recorded an album that you then decided not to release?

Ake: Yes. After our first album, we were all really into progressive metal, which is a very aggressive and complex style of music. We recorded an album in that style, but we knew that it wouldn’t be accessible for most Thai listeners. We decided to write some new pop-rock songs when we started working with LOVEiS.

Id: The single that we released last year, “Fire,” was taken from the unreleased album.

Student Weekly: What do you guys like about progressive rock music?

Id: Back in the ‘80s, we decided to form a band because we wanted to take part in band competitions. At the time, fusion jazz music was really popular. Most bands played the same kind of music, so we wanted to be different. We then discovered American bands like Dream Theater, who combined heavy metal and jazz, and we really liked that style.

Tum: We probably loved complex things because we were engineering students!

Student Weekly: Can you tell us about your latest hit single, “Dancing Ladies”?

Tui: It’s a fun pop-rock song that has elements of dance music in it. It sums up our new direction well. It still has some progressive rock influence, because the song is more than five minutes long! [Laughs.]

Tum: The song is about exploring nightlife and about how the music, neon lights and dancing girls at clubs are like an illusion. I added synthesiser parts to make it sound modern and stylish to suit the mood of the song.

Student Weekly: Liberty were chosen to perform at the recent Sonic Bang Music Festival. What was that like?

Tum: It was amazing. We got to play with many other artists from LOVEiS, which was fun. We also had Mit from the band Cairotera playing drums with us. Our set that night was a bit short, but we had a great time.

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