Cynicalista VS. Futon

Coming straight outta the neon streets of Bangkok come...FUTON. Quite possibly one of the most exciting bands to emerge from South-East Asia, like..ever! Bringing together a collective of former DJ’s, a certain ex-member of Britpop sensation Suede (and take it from me, they’re better than the Tears), rather edgy artists and even a popular soap star in Thailand in new Bassist Oh. Drawing inspiration from their adopted homeland (the group actually only consists of two native Thais, Singer Gene & Oh, with fellow vocalist/synth tinkler Momoko hailing form Japan and the rest of the band coming from here in the UK). With their sleazy brand of electro-pop punk causing sensations in their native Asia, I caught up with them to discuss hissy-fits, playing in rather unlikely places and having ‘the KY factor’.

When did you all get together?

Bee - We’ve been together for two and a half years, but at the beginning of this year Simon joined us.

How did you meeting Simon come about?

Bee - Well, he saw us at a Thai pop festival and came and spoke to us afterwards. He said we were good but needed to ditch the drum machine, so Gene (singer/keyboardist) said ‘ join us then!’ and so he said ‘well then let’s give it a try’.

Is it strange having the new members?

Bee - It feels natural, it would feel strange not having them now.

So has having the new member(s) added anything to the sound at all?

Momoko - It’s got a lot harder & a lot more guitar based, definitely a lot tighter.

So what can you say in terms of influences?

David - The thing is, in the band everyone has really eclectic taste, but the one genre we all do like is punk.

One thing I did detect is quite an eighties sound, very electronic. Has that always been in the back of your mind when creating music?

Bee - Our sound just happened really, we didn’t make a point of wanting to sound like that.

So, this being your second show in London (but first with the new members), have you got any expectations, regarding fans or general reception to the music?

Simon - Well, should be quite cool. We’ve invited everyone we know. It’ll be interesting to play London again. I haven’t played here for about three years. (to the rest of the band) When did you play here?

Bee - Last year. We just played in Berlin last week, and if it goes as well as it did there I’ll be really happy.

Is this tour on the back of a release of a single?

Bee - I don’t know how it happened. They just contacted us and asked us to play, and we just thought ‘why not?’

Well, I think Berlin is quite receptive to new music isn’t it? What’s the name of your new album coming out?

Bee - Well, in Thailand it’s called ‘Love Bites’ but in Japan it’s called ‘Give Me More’, not quite sure about the UK yet though. The Japanese name is different because it’s made of the first two albums put together. So rather than using the names of either of the previous albums we just gave it a new name.

What has always been your favourite place to play?

Whole band - Tokyo!

Bee - Although, if we weren’t from Thailand I suppose we’d have to say there, we’re quite spoiled so perhaps we take it for granted. Vietnam was actually really good too, the audience there were great.

Vietnam, perhaps from the European point of view is a typical place to play, how did you get the gig?

David - Not many people go there at all, it had something to do with the French. The French council does a lot of shows and festivals around South-East Asia. We played right in the centre of Hanoi, a very traditionally Communist place, it was quite an experience.

Is there anywhere else on your wishlist of places to play?

Gene - Moscow.

Bee - Peterborough.

David - One day your dream will come true Bee.

How do you keep things fresh? Is it always hard to come up with new ideas?

David - No, it’s not really. I suppose it’s easier as we’re not based in the UK, so we can hear all this music but we’re not bound to it. I think we’re as much East-centric as we are West-centric. We hear a lot of stuff coming out of Japan/SE Asia as well as all this stuff coming out of the UK. For us, we’re not tied down to anything. I think that’s the real problem with music in the UK, everyone is tied down to what’s fashionable & I think we’re a little bit freer than that, it’s just a question of how big is your record collection really.

So where are you all based?

Whole band - Bangkok! We’re all based there at the moment.

Are you influenced by any Thai music? Is there a big music scene there at all?

Bee - I wouldn’t say that there are influences from Thai music, but I would say that there are influences from Thai lifestyle. From Bangkok, our lyrics are influenced by the city.

David - It’s an incredibly interesting place to be at the moment because everything’s coming up, the whole of South-East Asia’s economy is going through the roof. We recently played in Shanghai and it’s like watching the economy grow in front of your eyes, it’s an incredibly interesting place to be. I think we’re lucky in that respect we’ve got a lot of influence flowing from there.

From the previous incarnation of the band, how did it all come together? How did you all meet?

Bee - Well, David and I were doing a club together in Bangkok, that was about three years ago and that’s how we met. We’d both done music before, and we spoke about how we missed doing live gigs and so we thought just for fun to get a band together. I knew Gene and Momoko before so when we thought about getting singers I suggested those two. So we went into the studio to do an audition.

Momoko/David - Like the X factor!

Bee - Well those two had the ‘KY’ factor! We even used the audition tapes to release a single.

Momoko, I heard you’ve recently been working with Maki Nomiya? The ex-singer of (Jap pop sensations) Pizzicato 5? How did that come about?

Momoko - Yes, that was great. Her solo album is coming out next month. She asked Futon to write one song and another song on the album ‘High’ is a cover of one of our songs.

Is there mutual respect there?

Momoko - Oh yeah, she loves us. I love her too! When I first went to America in my early twenties she was my idol. I just thought she was so cool, I’m so glad we’re working together now.

So how are things going in Japan? I hear you’re quite popular out there now?

Bee - The album is coming out there this month, we’re doing shows there in a couple of weeks, we did the stuff for Maki Nomiya and now there’s talk of one of our tracks being used in a Japanese movie which is coming out there, it has some of the ‘Battle Royale’ people in it so I hear.

Momoko - It’s a gangster movie.

How do you feel about your music being used in that way? Would you be adverse to your songs being used in commercials or anything like that?

David - Oh anything! Porn films, ringtones, whatever. I think you’ll find we’re complete sellouts, I don’t think there’s any ideology at all really.

Bee - No morals or principles whatsoever.

What’s your opinion on downloading? Would a future Futon release be exclusively available through the web?

Simon - Well, a download is a download. Even if we don’t release an album online people will download it anyway.

David - People said ten years ago that vinyl was dead, and well if you look at it today its quite clearly not. I just think the fact that you have a choice of formats is brilliant, I don’t think there’s any format that’s dead really…Except maybe 8-tracks.

Simon - To be honest, I don’t think anyone else knows what they are here.

Simon, what’s like to be gigging again? How long has it been now?

Simon - It’s been a while definitely. But yeah, it’s great, fantastic.

Do you find playing with Futon quite a rapid departure from playing with Suede?

Simon - I wouldn’t say it was that much of a departure really, it’s a lot more fun, a lot more make-up.

David - A lot more hissy fits.

What constitutes a normal day on tour for Futon?

David - Hissy fits and make-up.

Gene - Sleaze.

Bee - Too much shopping.

David - Well, Gene and I try and see how long we can stay up. I’m also a bit of a club kid, coming from the dancier-side of music so I always try to find new clubs wherever I am.

Anything else to add?

Simon - That’s the hardest question I’ve ever been asked.

I’ll take that as a no then.

James Williams