This interview started with a tweet. How apt for a band called Tilly Birds.

I was in Bangkok in January this year for a quick holiday, and I was going around looking for Thai albums I could bring home. Having featured them back in 2020, I knew of the band and was looking to get their latest album, It's Gonna Be OK. It seemed to be sold out everywhere, and I ended up tweeting about my disappointment – when guitarist Billy replied to let me know where I could get a copy.

Tilly Birds and Filipino fans make musical memories in first Manila concert – gig report

Since getting in touch, I've been trying to find a schedule for an interview with the Thai indie rock trio. They had been busy making music and playing shows at home and across Asia for most of 2023. It wasn't until the night before The Strokes concert, that I finally met Third, Billy, and Milo. In what would be the start of a truly serendipitous musical trip, I was in town to watch the same show, and they had just gotten back from the Jakarta leg of their tour. We ended up hanging out and talking for almost 3 hours – which made the 30-minute drive from the city to their studio worth it. While those conversations could've been the interview, I thought I'd get to know them as people first, before diving into a sitdown with them as artists.

One month later, we met again, this time virtually – with each member dialling in from their own homes. Just ahead of their upcoming shows in Manila and Kuala Lumpur, Bandwagon reconnected with Tilly Birds to talk about what's been keeping them busy these days, the lessons they learn with each tour leg, and staying connected with their fans through music.

WHO I AM

The Gene Lab act was recently part of the compilation album to celebrate mother label GMM GRAMMY’s 40th anniversary. “That project was like 40 artists, 40 songs, all from the GMM GRAMMY label, covering GMM GRAMMY songs. Third was the one who chose the song. I think just from, I don't know, let me guess, from just like your preference?” Billy asked their frontman. “Actually, I kind of thought more towards the band, like which song would fit us or which song would be right for us. Yeah, so I thought PARADOX’s ปลายสายรุ้ง (End of the Rainbow) was probably the perfect one," Third replied.

Although it was a quick process of Milo coming up with the arrangement in one day, and the band recording it the next day, Billy shared that they had initial challenges in creating their own version of the song. "You know, covering a good song is always hard. But covering a so-so song is a bit easier. You can give your own spin to it. But a good song has a high bar to it. Milo was the one who gave us the idea to just go with it. Just make the song our own." 

Their take on the 2011 PARADOX track also came with an official visual, one which they wanted to make sure was their own, while still retaining the essence of the original. "Most of the bands ended up doing like a video with them playing their instruments, like a performance video. But we decided to just also give tribute to the original music video, which was animated. So we kind of gave it our spin and added some surrealism to it," Billy added.

SAME PAGE

The trio has been working together for quite a while, and even if each one has their own creative outlets and endeavours, they find that they work best when they're together. Third shared how their decade-long working relationship and friendship has helped him so much as a producer and songwriter, "It has given me this systematic workflow that I got from them.  How we see and make music. I've realized that I've worked with other producers, apart from them, and I've seen that the workflow is different. It doesn't mean it's not good, but I'm most comfortable working with them because they're my closest friends."

"The hardest part of [being in] our band is to choose not to create. When we are three of us, we can create almost everything," Milo proclaimed. 

In writing and producing their first two albums, they realised the scope of what they were able to do as a team, as well as how to work more efficiently together. Billy shared that they had three years to work on their debut album and they were able to explore and create music "scattered in many genres and emotions". The result was a reflection of what they thought to be Tilly Birds at that time. For the second album, they had "way less time to complete" – finishing it in almost six months.

"We worked on songs in many different styles. The first album was like a showcase. We put all the spectrum that we feel like in terms of music. For the second album, we came to understand the workflow. It was when we learned what works efficiently within the band. With every song, every project, we understand each other more," Milo added.

Even if they're seemingly content in keeping to their close-knit team of three, the band also shared the creatives they would love to work with if given the chance. Third, who's also a filmmaker, set his sights on OSCAR winner Spike Jonze and esteemed fashion designer and Nocturnal Animals director Tom Ford, who "blew him away" with the "amazing" film. Billy chose "someone who could put me at ease" in the form of superproducer Rick Rubin. Meanwhile, Milo picked Radiohead, simply by the fact that they almost never collaborate with anyone else.

While they're currently working on a brand-new all-English album, the band has also made time to appear on the popular TV show, I Can See Your Voice Thailand. The group emerged victorious on the mystery music game show's sixth episode and got to perform 'Just Being Friendly' and 'Same Page'. 

It was a full circle moment for vocalist Third who appeared on the show in 2016 to perform 'It's a Man's Man's Man's World' by James Brown, as well as 'Unwanted,' a Tilly Birds original. "Seven years ago, I was one of the random competitors, and going back [to the show] as artists ourselves is quite overwhelming," Third revealed.

JUST SO YOU KNOW

Taking part in every single aspect of their craft, the members make sure every aspect of their performances runs smoothly. When they held their first solo headlining concert at Show DC in Bangkok last July, the band started with rehearsals at Milo's Sleeper Studio. 

While some bands turn to jamming out songs to figure out what works best onstage, Tilly Birds start with the arrangement first. "We fix the song arrangements for the show first, and then play it [with the band] in rehearsal a few days later. That's when we start fixing each section," Milo explained. 

Third added, "You know, the pre-production is a part where you have to prepare everything that is computer related or that is system related. So, the four days at Milo's was purely getting all the arrangements and which songs to go on the setlist, and then we got to the rehearsal part."

"We are pretty much involved in every process – from the script to the setlist to lighting to visuals to everything to cueing to special effects as well. We want to surprise the audience," Billy added. "For a run-through and soundcheck before the show, we look at the lighting and pick out colours for each of the songs. We needed to get each beat right, you know, so everything would go as we planned."

When playing live, the trio performs with two more members: guitarist Pariyapas Usaha and bassist Athitat Sornpaisarn, who have been with them for around five years. Aside from their session musicians, the band also works with their sound engineer and lighting director, whom they had terribly missed at the last concert in Jakarta.

IT’S GONNA BE OK

Wanting to make each part of the show as intimate and personal as possible, the band prefers to write down their show setlists by hand. "We feel like handwriting the setlist is more intimate, you know? The fans will keep it. For some reason that setlist that we sent to that guy to write was not complete. Five songs were missing," Billy recalled. 

Since the guitarist also works on the lighting design alongside their lighting director, he realised something was wrong. The cue for the next song was correct, but the lighting was different. Third found himself wondering how fast the show went by when they were barely halfway through it: "We were like, wow, this is almost done." However, Billy was in full panic mode trying to figure out how to communicate to everyone else what was happening.

Each tour leg seems to be a learning experience for the boys, collecting lessons in each city as they went along. Billy shared how in Singapore, they played around three to four songs for the encore, and they figured that was too long and decided to shorten it for the next leg in Jakarta. They decided to move the five songs they accidentally skipped to the encore. "We forgot all these songs, Now the encore is 5 songs long! Even longer than Singapore, certainly. So that was pretty funny."

The experience also taught them to communicate more efficiently onstage. "So everybody can hear," Milo started. Billy continued with "Someone would tell the monitoring engineer, sound engineer, because he has the mic, so he can feed the information into all our in-ears, like, 'Alright guys, five songs are missing, next one, play this song or something.'" 

Fun stories are also aplenty on the road. Third shared how they met one of their fans at the airport as they arrived in Jakarta. "She instantly came to us and she said apologies in advance because she would not be attending the concert as it was her sister's wedding. But then, she did come and she held up a sign saying, ‘I left my sister's wedding for your concert.’" Billy quipped, "I felt bad for her sister". Milo nodded in agreement, with Third saying, "But she did go to the wedding first and then asked to leave!"

UNTIL THEN

When asked about what they were looking forward to the most for their Manila show, Billy said immediately: "We're bringing our own lighting guy this time." Meanwhile, Third, a self-proclaimed fan of "Filipino divas," commented how everyone in the Philippines are "great singers". Billy added: "To hear these beautiful voices coming back to us when we're performing. That's something I've been waiting for."

With technology making it easier to connect with their fans, the members do their part in updating them every now and then through social media and interviews. However, the trio emphasises how they prefer to put the spotlight on the music. 

"Right now, most of our music and content are in Thai," Billy started to explain. "So we try to accommodate English interviews to support the connection with more of our international fans, but we see it as: the band, our music, and our fans. The music is the connector.. It should be the main focus. It shouldn't be anything else."

As the band gets more recognition, whether via Thai BL series or discovery on streaming platforms, Tilly Birds are steadily taking strides on the live music stage. Gaining experience and garnering multitudes of fans with their dozens of local pub shows and festival appearances, plus a handful of overseas concerts, the rising artists are also dreaming bigger with stages they would want to perform at someday. Reflecting his indie rock roots, Billy revealed how much he'd love to play at the legendary Glastonbury Festival in the UK. Meanwhile, Third would want to unleash his inner pop star at the Super Bowl. Milo has more lofty ambitions declaring how he wants to make "the best album," with that record taking them wherever they're supposed to go. 

With the strength of their friendship and neverending stream of creative outbursts, there's no doubt they'll go further with each step they take together.

Tilly Birds are coming to Manila on 9 September 2023 for a one-night-only performance at SM Skydome. Get tickets here.