Beside themselves

Superbaker stay sweet

By Tatat Bunnag
Photos courtesy of Superbaker

After letting their fans crave some new Superbaker music for quite a while, the celebrated indie pop quartet have finally returned with Beside You, their first new album in five years.

Since their formation a decade ago, Superbaker have been known for their ability to create bright and catchy pop songs. That joyous Superbaker sound can be heard in spades on Beside You. The album also marks a new phase for the band, who are now working independently after ending their long-term working relationship with the Smallroom label.

The first single from Beside You is the tuneful “Long (Infatuation),” which is already popular with fans and doing well on local pop charts.

Student Weekly recently interviewed Superbaker — singer-songwriter Prapop Chomtaworn (Golf), guitarist Wishnu Pumthavorn (Ping), bassist Warangkana Udommana (Fon) and drummer Ittiporn Supreechakorn (Kang) — to ask them about the making of their new album and the inspiration behind their latest hit.

Student Weekly: Can you tell us about your latest single, “Infatuation”?

Golf: It’s our first single since leaving Smallroom. The video for the song received fewer views on YouTube than our previous songs, but when we played it during our campus tour we were surprised to hear that everybody could sing along.

“Infatuation” is faster and more upbeat than our older songs, so I think it works well when we play it live.

Student Weekly: The song is about falling in love with a friend, and the video was shot at a university. Was the song originally intended to be about young love?

Golf: Absolutely. I wanted to bring back teenage memories with this song.

I still love to write love songs like that, even though I’m not so young anymore. I never hear indie bands nowadays writing cute lyrics like that, so I thought I’d do it.

Student Weekly: We noticed that Ping and Fon have dyed blonde hair. Is that your new look for this album?

Fon: Not exactly [Laughs.]. Ping got sick of his dark hair and said he wanted to change his look. I went along to a salon with him and we both decided to dye our hair together.

Student Weekly: Superbaker have always been famous for writing love songs about relationships from different points of view. Where did you get the inspiration to sing about this subject in so many different ways?

Golf: I’ve never run out of ideas when it comes to writing songs about love. I can get inspired by everything around me. Sometimes I get ideas from movies or TV shows, and sometimes ideas come from the relationships of people I know.

Student Weekly: Are you guys planning to release a new single soon?

Golf: Yes, we will release a new single called “Ther Kue Pleng Rak Gao Gao [You Are an Old Love Song].” It’s the fifth track on our new album, and it’s a rock song.

Student Weekly: Do you think that it’s necessary for bands these days to be signed to big music labels?

Golf: Not at all. With websites like YouTube and with social media, everything is much easier for bands nowadays when it comes to promoting their music without a record label. What you need is a strong fan base. You might also have to work a bit harder than before. Indie bands have more venues to play at now, and there are a lot of independent concert organisers who get thousands of people to their events, which is really cool.

Student Weekly: Do you guys have any favourite local bands?

Kang: I love Mattnimare. They’re a really good live band.

Ping: Desktop Error are always great. They’re one of the bands that make the local indie scene interesting.

Fon: Polycat are amazing. They’re so talented and they have really good taste in music.

Golf: I enjoy Solitude Is Bliss a lot. They’re a kind of psychedelic band with elements of old progressive rock in their music. I’m pretty sure they’ll have a bright future.

 

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