The Darkest Romance

What is your name and role within The Darkest Romance?

Hi, my name is Max, I’m vocalist and bassist of The Darkest Romance.

Where are you currently based?

We’re in Bangkok, Thailand.

Recently you just finished a gig that that was organized by “RAP IS NOW : THE WAR IS OVER III” the biggest underground hip-hop community right now in Thailand, what were the highlights of this show?

That gig was awesome, it’s one of the best experiences we’ve ever made. Lots of crazy stuffs and surprises were happened in that show. Highlight of the show, for us, is, as you know by the name RAP IS NOW it means they’re actually all 100% rappers and hip-hop cultures there but we were the first metal band that played in this hip-hop scene. Oh, we have a lot of special guest too, one of them are TAO, vocalist of Thai famous rock band, SWEET MULLET. His appearance was very cool and people went crazy at the time.

You’ve introduced Heavy meal songs to your shows, how has the crowds response been to the heavier sound?

I think most of the audience loves us! We’ve successfully made a “wall of death” and a “circle pit” in the hip-hop scene too (LOL) and it’s very chaotic but so much fun!!

You’ve been re-arranging FUKKLING HERO’s songs into your own style, how do you approach the re-arrangement of songs? What programs do you use?

It’s start from scratch. Fukkling Hero (FH) is one of the most iconic rapper in Thailand. We known each other about few years ago and I worked with him many songs but this is the first time we collaborated. He listed the song he want to perform and we go for the re-arrangement process.

I used Logic Pro X for music making and stuffs already. So when the rehearsal began at that time, we designed and recorded all the ideas into them simultaneously. All instruments had been recorded at the same time. We’ve done all demos from my house then go to the rehearsal room with FH crews. The result was very satisfied for all of us.

Right now you’re working on your 1st English language album and your 4th Thai language album, what are the greatest challenges with creating an album in English? Why did you decide to record in English?

The greatest challenge for me is language, of course. I listened a lot and practice speaking, writing and listening skill by myself. It’s like I just want to challenge myself to get out from my comfort zone, writing in Thais is what I do in normal way but in English it’s new for me. I still have to work a lot about metaphors, idioms, grammars and more and more.

Another reason I want to wrote in English is, we want to go outside. We talked to each other so many things and one dream we used to share together is go aboard, play some gigs outside Thailand. So we think it might be better if we have songs in English too.

What can we expect from both albums?

One thing for sure you can expect from us is the best. We always promise to everyone that we’ll do everything like there will be no tomorrow. We’ll play every show and make every song like the last time of our lives.

How did you start playing music?

I started at 12, I think. First instrument I seriously started with is Acoustic Guitar. Since I saw my cousin played it and I thought I can play it too. I spend about 7 months for self-taught myself to play it good enough to joined a band. Then I moved to Electric Bass, drums, Electric guitar, more and more, time after time because it quite fun to know how to play all of them. I don’t have a lot of friends at that time (lol) so I spend a lot of time listening many songs and it helps me so much for understand how to play many instruments, and many of genres.

Who are you listening to at the moment?

Right now, I’m in love with ARCANE ROOTS latest album, ‘Melancholia Hymns’. I think it’s the best album of 2017, and of my lifetime. But, you know, it’s only my opinion (lol). But I recommend you guys go try them, It’s worth.

What equipment do you use?

I use IBANEZ SOUNDGEAR GIO 5 strings bass. It’s an old model that I got since 2006 and still strong (lol). I use this for THE DARKEST ROMANCE mainly. The funny thing is I don’t have my own amplifier, cabinet and effects. When I making songs I often use simulation amplifier plug-ins in my laptop, such as Positive Grid’s BIAS FX and BIAS AMP, Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig 5 and more.

What is your favourite food and place to hangout?

I love omelette with minced pork and fried chicken with sticky rice! (lol).

I quite not hangout in specific places actually, but me and my girlfriend like to go travel in many places. Sometime we stay in cat cafes, go to shopping malls, watching movies. But recently we both like to stay at home (lol). Maybe it’s because we work a lot and have not enough sleeping time (lol).