Musical madness

Boy band monkeys around

By Tatat Bunnag
Photos by Varuth Hiranyatheb
and courtesy of GMM Grammy

With the K-pop invasion showing no signs of slowing down, boy bands have become cool again in the Land of Smiles. As a new generation of local stars like C-Quint, Evo Nine and Vamp dominate the pop scene, many new groups are looking to be the next big boy band.

Mad Monkeys are one of this year’s most promising new pop acts. The five young guys in the group — 16-year-old Thapat Niyommalai (Tee), 15-year-old Pumipat Paiboon (Prame), 15-year-old Tytan Teepprasan (Tytan), 16-year-old Akeburud Sophon (Ice) and 15-year-old Smith Sirisrimungkorn (Bank) — have a fresh, energetic look and free-form dance moves that set them apart from other boy bands.

Mad Monkeys have caused a buzz among teen listeners with their debut single, “Man Man Fan Khon Deao (Be a Man With One Girlfriend),” which has the catchy gimmick of Buddhist chanting in the song lyrics.

Student Weekly recently caught up with Mad Monkeys for a chat about their music, their background and their plans.

Student Weekly: Why did you decide to call yourselves Mad Monkeys?

Tytan: It represents the character of our group. We’re five young guys with a lot of energy. We can’t sit still!

Prame: Originally we were called Bad Monkeys, but we thought that name was a bit too harsh, so we changed it to Mad Monkeys.

Student Weekly: How did you guys get together?

Tytan: Most of us auditioned to be new artists with GMM Grammy. We all then trained together in dancing, singing and acting for three years before a producer put us together as Mad Monkeys.

Tee: Boy bands seem to have made a comeback in the past few years, and we thought we could do it. We’re also fans of many artists from GMM Grammy.

Student Weekly: Can you tell us about your new single, “Be a Man With One Girlfriend”?

Prame: It’s a fun pop dance tune. If you watch our music video, you’ll see that our dance moves are very simple and easy for anybody who wants to dance along with us.

Tee: We want to tell our fans and friends about the new way of being cool. People may think that being a playboy is cool, but it’s not. You should be a man with just one love. That’s a really cool way to live.

Student Weekly: Why did you decide to put Buddhist chanting into the song?

Tee: It suits the concept of the lyrics.

Tytan: It’s a good way to make teenagers aware of Buddhist lessons. We included one of the five precepts about refraining from sexual misconduct and infidelity.

Student Weekly: What can fans expect with Mad Monkeys’ future releases?

Prame: Our next singles will be similar to “Be a Man With One Girlfriend.” Most of our songs will be fun and upbeat. We don’t care about singing ballads at the moment.

Ice: We’re still young and we just want to have fun. We don’t want people to wonder why teens are singing sad songs.

Student Weekly: Who are some of your favourite artists?

Prame: We love listening to pop singers like Ice Saranyu, Chin Chinawut and Bie Sukrit.

Bank: We also enjoy listening to rock bands like Bodyslam and Big Ass when we’re travelling in a van together.

Student Weekly: Where can fans catch your live performances?

Tytan: We play live shows pretty often now. Our live schedule is always listed on our official Facebook page.

Prame: At the moment we have our Bang School Tour and we’ll be playing at high schools and campuses all around the country. We hope to see our fans soon at one of our shows!

 

comments powered by Disqus