From reconnecting during the pandemic after eight years of separation, making music together from the sanctity of their bedrooms, unexpectedly reaching over a million people with their chill little experiment, and now playing live to thousands of fans in their country and overseas, Alyn Wee and Karn Kasidej have had quite a year to remember. In 2021, when they formed HYBS – which according to their interview with GQ Thailand was born out of a trending Thai joke that led to the acronym for Have You Been Shrimp – the guys had no idea their music would achieve the same virality as the inspiration behind their name. 

Since then, they’ve played plenty of stages in Thailand and have performed successfully in cities across Asia, with their future looking bright as ever. 

The last time Bandwagon caught up with the duo, they had been working on their debut album Making Steak and spoke about wanting to spread good vibes with their music across the world. This time, we spoke to HYBS as they made a stop at one of the biggest stages in the Thai music scene, VERY Festival. 

What we’ve found is that beneath it all, Alyn and Karn are still just two guys who are doing all this because it’s what they feel is the most them, and you can see this not just in their songs, but also their attitude behind the scenes (playful, chill), and their equally charming and electrifyingly fun-filled stage presence. They’re making music the only way they know how: by having a really good time.

How do you feel about performing at VERY Festival? 

Alyn: We're super excited. It's a festival that we've been really looking forward to. It's an honour to be playing, just to be on the same stage with so many international artists that we love. So, yes, we’re pumped. 

 

 

 

 

 

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You two got together at the start of the pandemic and worked on your album then. What’s it like having your music out in the world? 

Alyn: Well, it's unreal, like, especially the way people reacted to it, we did not expect it at all. And everything just happened so fast. 

Karn: At least, we don't have to be two lonely guys in just the studio, right?  

Alyn: Yeah, yeah. For us musicians, it's a dream come true. 

You've taken your music from the bedroom to bigger stages. What’s your process like preparing for these performances? Especially now for this festival? 

Karn: Actually, we didn't prepare that much. We just go up on stage, having a good time, and then we just wish them all, all the crowd to come vibe with us. 

Alyn: Of course, we have our standard set for performing. We just, yeah, we just work on that live performance set and try to polish it up. But when we go on stage, we just try to have the most fun possible, vibe as much as possible. 

So, is there anyone you're looking forward to seeing the most at this festival? 

Alyn: Have to say it was Boy...

Karn: At first it was, yeah, it was Boy Pablo. 

Oh! OK. 

Karn: Yeah, so it's kind of sad [that he couldn’t make it], but it's OK, it's OK.  

Alyn: Yeah, we understand him. 

You understand him. Aside from him, is there anyone else? 

Karn: Well, we just watched brb. playing live. We also went up there with them, to jam with them. I mean, I’ve listened to brb.’s music before, but I didn't expect their live performance was like- 

Alyn: Yeah, so good.  

Karn: So, so good.  

Alyn: They command the stage so well. Phum Viphurit as well, we really want to. We haven't had the chance to watch his full set before. So, we're excited for that. 

In our last interview with you, you'd mentioned that you wanted to collaborate with other artists. How's that coming along? 

Alyn: So far, we've managed to get a couple of artists that we’d liked to collaborate with us. We've got a whole bunch of them that we have in mind. Fingers crossed, we're going to try and make something happen. 

Cool, yeah, good luck! You also mentioned that one of your goals was to tour the world. You've recently played South Korea, and soon you'll be playing Hong Kong. So, how does that feel right now? And where else outside of Thailand can we hope to see you soon? 

Alyn: Well, it just feels great to get to play wherever our fans are. We're super excited to meet all of them. And we had a great experience in Japan, in Korea. Yes, so we’re looking forward to Hong Kong as well. 

Karn: I mean, there's one reason behind why we wrote English music, it's we need to communicate with fans from overseas. So, it is so good to be there. 

Alyn: It's the greatest experience to not only perform there but, yeah, to see their culture and the people there and the food and everything. It's just a whole crazy ride for us. 

Listen to HYBS' Making Steak album here: