Why has it been a full four years since Blue Dock—Mye (guitar/vocal), Nut (guitar), Pop (drum), Kong (base) and Tunk (guitar)—released their debut album? Possibly because they're too busy performing—at Deep, Bay Tara or Prop Bar. Now they return to the spotlight with My Turn.

BK: How can you play at bars and record an album at the same time?

Mye: We play four days a week at three bars, two bars a night, so it’s quite exhausting.

Nut: The rest of the week we make our own music.

BK: Do you guys have day jobs?

Pop: I teach music at Rock Music School, KPN and Siam Yamaha Music.

Mye: I’m studying for an MBA at Burapha University. And the rest of the band are strictly professional musicians.

BK: Do you play your own songs in the bars?

Mye: We play mostly cover songs because we have to entertain our customers, who might not be our fans. But we play some of our songs from time to time.

BK: How has it been working on this album?

Mye: We met Nick Lee in KL. He’s just moved from the US to live there. We are very lucky because he’s produced for many inter artists and he’s agreed to produce for us.

Kong: He’s a producer and sound engineer who has worked with famous artists in the US like Nicole from The Pussycat Dolls and Eden’s Crush.

Pop: He’s very disciplined and strict, unlike some other musicians. Nick is very into details and he can see what we need to do to make our sound complete.

Mye: He insisted that we practice until we could play the songs live before the recording process. Nick told our two guitarists to practice for two weeks before they were allowed to the studio to record the fi rst song.

Pop: He even flew here regularly to see how hard we practiced.

BK: Many people say all pop rock bands sound alike.

Mye: It’s OK to be similar to someone else. But we are sure—and we are proud—that we never copy anyone. We never listen to somebody else’s song and say why don’t we use this hook to make our song. If our music happens to sound like other artists’ songs, it’s just coincidental.

BK: Which song do you like the most on My Turn?

Mye: Every song. All 10 songs in the album are selected out of 100 songs we wrote over four years. “Mong Mai Hen Duay Ta Plao” is the catchiest. We hope to draw the audience in with this single. We never try to be extreme or too artistic because we make music for ordinary people, for our audience.

BK: Go ahead, plug your album.

Tunk: Whether you're a music critic, a pop fan, or just like to dance, you should give it a try. You just might like it.

Mye: Our songs are not so marketable that you can listen to them once and you can sing along. You need to give them some time to appreciate them. Saransri Prawatpattanakul

Blue Dock performs on the A2 Stage at the Fat Festival on Nov 10.