How English misery led to one of Thailand's fastest-rising bands

Four years ago Matt Smith was restless, directionless and unhappy. Growing up in Woolwich, a little corner of Southeast London, he had seen his neighborhood come crumbling down due to factory closures and an invasion by discount retailers. 

“I left England to escape the cold and the general miserable-ness that is the English way of life,” he says. 

Fast forward four years and he is the lead singer of The Standards, one of the region’s fastest rising indie groups. He is also the cofounder of Popscene, the largest regular indie social in town.

But when he first came to Bangkok he didn’t have a fixed idea of what he wanted to do.

“The original plan was to come for six months and see what was out here.”

During those six months Smith got by with the odd job here and there, at the same time expanding his network through that tried and tested Bangkok method of heavy partying. After one night of particularly heavy drinking, he had a chance encounter with a lanky Stevenage lad named Paul Smith. They quietly formed a band in the summer of 2007 which only managed to pull together for one gig and quickly disbanded. His six months up, he returned to Woolwich. 

“Lying in my bed at my flat in Woolwich, my mind kept drifting back to Thailand. The more I thought about it the more certain I was that I could make it out there doing what I wanted.”

A triumphant return

He came back to Thailand later that year determined to succeed, hooking back up with Paul Smith to start a new band, which would become The Standards. Their line-up has remained unchanged for the last three years with Smith at vocals, Paul as lead guitar, Mac at bass, Ayu at drums and Nit at keyboards. 

“Usually with bands starting up here they are either all western or all Thai; we certainly didn’t mean to make our line-up unique or anything. We didn’t go into it with the mindset ‘oh we’re in Thailand we need to have Thais.’ Rather we needed a bass, a drummer and a keyboardist and these guys were better than anyone else Thai or otherwise, they are musicians first, nationalities comes far behind.”

It was also around this time that Smith started Popscene. The first ever show was at the now defunct Immortal Bar on Khaosan and drew a good if small reception. The monthly indie party eventually grew and shifted from Khaosan to RCA to its current location in Sukhumvit. The crowds grew as well and eventually The Standards were recognized by Mind-The-Gap, a live music promoter who signed them up to a regional tour that would see them play at events like the Live at the Waterfront festival in Singapore.

Gradually their music and their name spread further, culminating with The Standards playing at the Koko music festival in Sarawak with a crowd of well over 2,500 people.

“The best part about Sarawak was that people actually recognized our songs and sang along and reached out to them. We were no longer some unknown band, people were there to see The Standards play.”

'Thai rock is pretty awful'

When asked how The Standards differ from the local Thai bands, he gives a little smile and says nothing more. Only when pressed about it does he go on a little tirade.

“Thai rock is pretty awful. I mean don’t get me wrong there are some good bands out there but they are underground and will probably never make it to the mainstream. When I say awful I mean those big bands that play at every music festival and every event, they are mass produced, they are terrible, no passion, no songs, no belief in what they are doing. They are everything that is anti rock’n’roll.”

Next up for The Standards is this Friday's Popscene party at Bangkok Rocks on Sukhumvit soi 19 and the Big Mountain Music festival in Khao Yai on February 5. To learn more about The Standards visit their Myspace  or Facebook pages.