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Phuket Music Scene: Time to take the Thai alternative?
Phuket Music Scene: Time to take the Thai alternative?
Musicians who have worked here a while have told me that it’s getting harder for bands playing Western cover songs to find gigs. Why might this be? Is it because there are too many bands? Not enough tourists perhaps? Maybe there is another reason

Phuket Music Scene: Original music in Phuket
Phuket Music Scene: Original music in Phuket
When I go home to the UK, I am amazed to see so much musical creativity, with ordinary pub bands sometimes playing more of their own songs than covers. Such creativity has served us well, producing the best pop group in the world (The Beatles), the finest rock group (Led Zeppelin) and the world’s most creative solo artist (David Bowie). It is an astonishing achievement for a country of just 60 million.
Phuket Music Scene: Jazz and Blues festival back with a buzz
Phuket Music Scene: Jazz & Blues festival back with a buzz
Phuket’s annual International Jazz festival used to take place every April outside Music Matters Jazz Bar in Chana Charoen Rd in Phuket Town until COVID struck. Started in 2012 by Filipino Jazz pianist Jeffery Sevilla, we saw Jazz musicians jetted in from the Philippines, Indonesia and even the far-off UK. Over a thousand Jazz lovers visited the festival in 2018 before it tragically had to stop as a result of the pandemic.
Bridging the comedy divide
Bridging the comedy divide
Western comedians today just love identity politics, their jokes reflecting what they identify as – black, gay, transexual, feminist and so on. They also seem almost invariably left wing politically, with Boris Johnson, Tony Abbott and Donald Trump preferred targets. 
On the death of Queen Elizabeth II
On the death of Queen Elizabeth II
On the death of Queen Elizabeth II and ascension of King Charles III to the throne, British expat Andy Tong Dee contributes his personal thoughts at the end of an era in his nation’s history. 
It’s time to laugh again!
It’s time to laugh again!
Taipan has been a popular Patong nightclub now for over 23 years. Its events manager, Mark Cameron, kindly invited me to what was to be the first comedy show there for three years because of the COVID pandemic. 
Phuket Music Scene: Rocking in Phuket, Thai style
Phuket Music Scene: Rocking in Phuket, Thai style
I’m sometimes asked about the best places to go to listen to Thai music, to which I reply, “What kind of Thai music?” For, as in Western music, there is a variety of genres including pop, country, protest, rock, Isan and Northern music.
Phuket Music Scene: The Ozone Band – a real breath of fresh air
Phuket Music Scene: The Ozone Band – a real breath of fresh air
Once when teaching English, I had to explain to a class what child “prodigies” were. I said, “They’re kids who do something a whole lot better than most adults.” And if you want to see some playing classic rock at local markets, you need look no further than Phuket’s OZONE Band, whose average age is just 10. They’ve already won the Gold Medal and 2nd Prize of the under-15s 2021 Valaya Alongkorn Music Competition.
Phuket Music Scene: Eurasia PK ‒ Staying alive in Phuket
Phuket Music Scene: Eurasia PK ‒ Staying alive in Phuket
Once upon a time there was a very popular live music venue in Phuket Town called Timber Hut. I enjoyed many happy evenings there soon after I arrived in Phuket over 10 years ago. I love to hear live music and the Timber Hut band was absolutely outstanding, reputed to be the best on the island. 
Phuket Music Scene: Hitting the right note
Phuket Music Scene: Hitting the right note
It is now a year since I first had an article published in The Phuket News about live music venues in Phuket Town. Such venues had been shut for over six months because of COVID and my musician friends had suffered very badly during that time. Some had to sell instruments to buy food, others left Phuket to return home, a few waited patiently for better times. I knew too that live music venue owners were very upset about having to fire Thai staff and reduce pay for any they kept on. We should not forget it has been a terrible time for them and their staff too.
Phuket Music Scene: Rocking around the island
Phuket Music Scene: Rocking around the island
I’ve had a busy few months as I’ve tried to get around as many live music venues as possible post-lockdown, not always easy as my wife and designated driver doesn’t like Classic Rock or Blues music as much as I do.
Phuket Music Scene: Time to get Moody
Phuket Music Scene: Time to get Moody
Moody Paul is well known in Phuket as a gifted Burmese Blues and Rock guitarist and singer, particularly in Patong where he played in the Moody Café for many years before COVID. However, Moody had to return to his home when the pandemic started. Happily, he has now returned and is playing here again, all made possible financially by an online crowd-funding appeal run by his fans. Andy Tong Dee met him to ask him about his life and about why he seems so particularly fond of playing the Blues.
Phuket Music Scene: Having fun for a good cause
Phuket Music Scene: Having fun for a good cause
Phuket’s got talent! A Night at the Popra, held at Underwood Art Factory’s new Junkyard Theatre on Dec 4 was the third of a series of charity shows run by Gary Crause of Legend Music and the Phuket Academy of Performing Arts. This time the show was centered around music from films, covering 36 songs from 34 popular movies. 
Phuket Music Scene: Homecoming at Hard Rock
Phuket Music Scene: Homecoming at Hard Rock
If you have never heard of the Hard Rock CafĂ©, then you must be an alien visitor from another planet who needs to get out more, for there are nearly 200 of its establishments now around the world. Hard Rock Phuket opened on November 29, 2009, 12 years ago now, but the first Hard Rock started up in London in 1971. I can still remember my excitement when I first went there in 1979 just after I left university. So I was delighted to be invited to Hard Rock’s official reopening ceremony in Patong on November 1, arguably the jewel in the crown of Phuket’s live music scene.
Phuket Music Scene: Getting down in Phuket Town
Phuket Music Scene: Getting down in Phuket Town
The live music scene on Phuket was dealt a severe blow by COVID, but happily not a mortal one. We are now starting to see green shoots of recovery, particularly in Phuket Old Town.
The legacy of the British Legion
The legacy of the British Legion
One hundred years ago last May, a small group of ex-servicemen laid a wreath at the newly-dedicated national Cenotaph war memorial in London. The men represented four armed forces organisations set up to care for veterans who had suffered as a result of service in the First World War. This occasion marked these organisations’ amalgamation to form the British Legion, the UK’s largest armed services charity. Within months of its formation, the Legion launched its first Poppy Appeal to raise money to support war veterans and their dependents. The Legion has been working tirelessly ever since to support our armed forces veterans emotionally, socially and financially in Britain. But not only in Britain

Phuket Music Scene: The essence of Dark Fiber
Phuket Music Scene: The essence of Dark Fiber
Gary Crause is well known in Phuket as a music producer, running his Legend Music company in central Phuket. He also heads up the Phuket Academy of Performing Arts (PAPA) which grooms wannabe pop and rock stars for success. What he is less well known for is his own band Dark Fiber.
Phuket Music Scene: When three become one
Phuket Music Scene: When three become one
Having covered quite a lot of music venues in my articles for this column, now seems a good time to tell you about an exciting new band I have seen playing that has come out of the COVID crisis.
Phuket Music Scene: Rockin’ in the real world
Phuket Music Scene: Rockin’ in the real world
Twelve local bands took to the stage at Blue Tree Arena last Saturday (Mar 20) to take part in the Lean On Me Live Fest, for which we need to thank Gary Crause of Legend Music for staging this charity event which served as a showcase for some of Phuket’s leading performers. Funds raised by the concert went to the One Phuket effort to provide food relief to people across the island unable to support themselves.
Phuket Music Scene: Rocking in Rawai
Phuket Music Scene: Rocking in Rawai
In a previous article in The Phuket News, I described how the live music scene in Phuket has changed dramatically as a result of COVID-19. Some live venues have closed, others are hanging on, but some are thriving again and well worth a visit.
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