Q&A: Cocktail
Q&A: Cocktail
August 1st, 2008Up-and-coming indie-rock band Cocktail (singer/songwriter Ohm, guitarists Jet and Chao, drummer Ayu and bassist Hlong) has just released their new concept album In The Memory of Summer Romance. The young rockers shoot the breeze on their inspiration, band name and the changing seasons.
BK: So, why the name Cocktail, are you all Mai Tai fans?
Ohm: To be honest, there are two answers. When we were in high school our band had 11 members. One suggested the name Cocktail, because ofthe mix of different personalities and musical styles. But, it later turned out he got the word from his English reading vocabulary list!
Chao: As for drinking, we’re a strait-laced band, really. (laughs)
Ayu: No smoking, excessive drinking and drugs for us.
BK: In The Memory of Summer Romance is your first attempt at a concept album, why did you decide to go in this direction?
Ohm: It really just turned out that way, to be honest. We noticed
while recording that the fi rst few songs had similar themes and it
just snowballed from there. I think that at certain periods of time
you have these ideas that follow the same scheme and they just
organically build-up that way. These songs were all written during
a particular time of my life, and that is probably what resulted in
the theme.
BK: Why did you pick summer as the season?
Chao: The title is actually from one of the songs on the album. As
for the seasons, Thailand only really has three seasons.
Ohm: There’s only one season.
Ayu: No, three is right! There’s hot, really hot and really fucking
hot.
Ohm: The rainy season, winter, and fall—have all been used
as a backdrop for sad love stories. Spring and summer are
more cheerful. The album is from the point of view of someone
who is looking back on a relationship, but with a positive
outlook. Those were good memories, even if they may be
over now.
BK: What question do you hate being asked by the media?
All: (laughter) We can’t be too specifi c, certain people would
recognize their questions!
Ohm: Personally speaking, I don’t really like to answer questions
like ‘what inspires you’ and ‘which bands do you look up
to.’ I don’t think you should have to limit yourself like that.
Inspiration can come from many different things. A person is
a product of all these different ideas and impressions fi ltered
to become something that is intrinsically you.
BK: What really irritates you?
Ohm: People should stop demonstrating so much. It makes
the traffi c worse than it already is!
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