Ground control to Major Foet

Thai rock band Slot Machine has long been fascinated by outer space and indeed their 13-year voyage through the music industry has read like a science fiction novel, with all four members playing at extraterrestrial life and their albums and concerts hinting at life in an alien word.
“Our first full-scale concert ‘The First Contact’ was all about human and alien communication. We created a story about four aliens – us – coming to Earth and making friends with humans, the loyal fans who have followed Slot Machine for a decade. For this new and second large-scale concert, ‘The Mothership’, we aliens have become more human after learning Earthlings’ language and culture. So we’re coming back to Earth to collect our fans in our spaceship and take them to our galaxy,” says vocalist Karinyawat “Foet” Durongjirakan.

“Our set list too is harmoniously arranged with our journey beyond time. The stage will be designed like a spacecraft, with a state-of-the-art audio and lighting system that will allow us to interact with the audience in our spaceship.”
The show tomorrow night will see Impact Arena’s auditorium transformed into a spacecraft, though one, Foet is quick to stress, that has nothing to do with movie “Star Wars” but is nearer to Egypt’s historical region of Mesopotamia and Aryan “with a little Thainess through in,” he laughs. 

“Religions are the eyes of wisdom. We are not really taking our fans out of the galaxy but into our mind-like universe. There’s a hidden story behind the concept,” says the vocalist. “I would like to make our stage similar to Coldplay’s. But that’s impossible so instead I would like our fans to dress up for our spaceship so we can create the same ambience.”
“We have been in the music scene for 13 years and we’ve taken care to link the art of our previous albums from ‘Mutation’ in 2006, through ‘Grey’ in 2008 to ‘Cell’ in 2011. This is repeated in the stage design, with the floor covered in a spaceship-like pattern and symbols and the large screens strategically placed,” adds drummer Settharat “Auto” Phangchunan.

Slot Machine will perform some 30 songs combining them hits with less-played numbers and a few that are making their Thai debut, among them “The Land of Himmaphan” from the rock band’s English-language album “Spin the World”.
“This concert is divided into three acts. One of them is a kind of acoustic session that moves from our traditional rock sound to electronic and easy listening. We don’t want to disclose the content of the other two acts. That’s a surprise,” says Foat.
“What I will say is that we’ll perform new arrangements of our well-known songs including ‘Phan’ (‘Yesterday’) or ‘Ror’ (‘I’m Waiting for You’) and some that are less well known like ‘Sing Nueng Nai Jai’ (‘Little Big Thing’) and ‘Hak Chan Tai’ (‘If I Die’)," says bassist Atirath “Gak” Pintong.

The band too is dressing up for the occasion and unsurprisingly the costumes are also related to outer space, though perhaps less obviously than last time. 
“Our costumes for the last concert were kind of uniforms from a planet in the universe. Three years have passed and we are now closer to humans. I’m dressing like a Mafia boss and Vit (guitarist Janevit Chanpanyawong) is a motorbike racer,” says Foat.
Slot Machine has been out of the public eye for the last three months, choosing to spend the time in rehearsal. 
“We want the concert to be perfect, and special for our fans, who will be expecting a show that’s not only better than the last one but that draws on our tour of North America,” says Foat.

“Preparation has been a challenge because we want to give something to all our fans, no later what age they are,” says Vit. 
“I was amazed when a high-school student told me she liked the song ‘Fun’ (‘Dream’) from “Grey”. The song came out in 2008 before she was even born but apparently her mother used to listen to it all the time.”
“The First Contact” in 2014 featured Palmy. This one the show will open with one of the acts with whom Slot Machine toured in the US and Canada – South Korean rockers Kiha & the Faces.
“Kiha & the Faces made us realise that South Korea isn’t only about K-pop. This rock band is fantastic and plays vintage rock,” says Foat. 
The tour, he adds, was instructive in more ways than one. From fellow artist, the Japanese singer Miyavi, Slot Machine learned about the art of selling merchandise.
“Miyavi was always posing for selfies and signing autographs. His T-shirts and other merchandise always sold out. Our CD sold better than our merchandise though,” says Foat, as bassist Gag proudly holds up a picture from a foreign fan who created a pendant with Slot Machine’s symbol. 

BEAMING UP

- Slot Machine’s “The Mothership” is at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani tomorrow night at 7.

- Tickets costing from Bt900 to Bt2,500 are available at Thai Ticket Major counters and online at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.