Earthcollide and Girls Rock Asia
Bangkok-born music sensation Earthcollide reveals what led her into the always unpredictable world of live music performance and why she established the Girls Rock Asia competition in 2016
BORN into a middle-class Thai family she was named Rapeeporn Anantariyakul (Earth), her first taste of the world that would eventually become her whole life was when her father bought her a Yamaha guitar at the age of nine and sent her to guitar lessons at the Yamaha School for classical guitar. However, her house was robbed and her prized guitar stolen, prompting her to follow the wishes of her parents and focus on graduating with a degree in creative advertising from Bangkok University.
After graduating, she bought a Taylor guitar and her desire to buck the trend and follow a radical career path began to surface. Her father was against her becoming a musician. His desire was for his first-born child to follow in his footsteps and enter the corporate life.
"He could not see a future for me as a musician. But, I have been working so hard to support myself and take care of my family, so I think he must feel better now."
"To be honest, I started to sing for a living purely by chance. I didn't want to get a job in an office, living the same routine. I taught myself to speak English when I became a singer so I could sing western music and earn better money – that's the reality of the music scene here."
Two years later, she started accepting engagements at large 5-star hotels, famous western pubs and top restaurants both in Thailand and overseas. Up until 2009, she performed mainly as an individual artist, though often with an accompanist on guitar. It was in 2010, after accepting an invitation to perform at one of Bangkok's biggest expat events – the Ploenchit Fair, that she engaged a number of musicians to start a band, calling them "Collide".
"I was then chosen in 2011 to be the first ever Thai lead vocalist to perform at the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix, which featured many other famous international artists, including Shakira, Shaggy and Linkin Park. By accident, the organisers announced us at the event as 'Earthcollide', and I found this pretty cool as a new word so I took the name for myself."
Now busy with the Girls Rock Asia – a self-funding organisation aimed to put together the first ever all-female battle of the bands featuring female musicions mainly from Southeast Asia region – she decided to put her own album on the back burner.
Girls Rock Asia 2017
Girls Rock Asia strives to put together the first ever all-female battle of the bands featuring female musicians mainly from Southeast Asia.
"It has been a slow start to 2017, but with a lot of serious planning taking place, the Girls Rock Asia co-sponsor, RSM (Thailand) Limited, has now set us up with a properly registered company called Girls Rock Asia (Thailand) Limited, so all of the Girls Rock Asia patents, copyrights and financial affairs can be managed properly. We have had two successful events recently featuring the Girls Rock Asia bands, with the first seeing appearances by Earthcollide and the Stalkers, The Simple Band and Ms.
Appetizer at the April Fool's Day Rock Festival in Hyde Park (Don Muang) and the second at Molly Malone's Irish bar in May featuring The Grumps, The Simple Band, Earthcollide, the Stalkers, and the Mighty Mice."
Another Girls Rock Asia concert will be held on June 17 (venue to be confirmed) with details on the 2017 battle of the bands being announced to the media and followers at the event.
Girlsrockasia.com