The annual Fat Festival is now a household name in Thailand, built on a guarantee of cutting-edge music and unusual concepts. For its sixth outing at the Challenger Convention Centre in Muang Thong Thani on November 11 and 12, it's business as usual - party-goers will get to groove through three worlds: Earth, Heaven and Hell.

Fat Radio 104.5 managing director and organiser of the festival, Yuttana "Ted" Boonorm, explains that once inside, audience members have the choice of the "Earth" arena for dance-pop acts like Crescendo, Save Da Last Piece, B5, Squid Animal, Boyd Kosiyabong and Lipta, or the "Heaven" arena for the easy-listening of Yarinda, Calorie Bah Bah, Joey Boy and Buddha Bless. Both arenas, with a capacity of 10,000 each, will be inside the main auditoriums.

If you want a rockier sound, then you'll have to go to "Hell", for Paradox, Blackhead, Slur, Futon, Ornaree, Big Ass, and a gathering of Siam Service Secret, Arai Ja, Apartment Khunpa and Saliva Bastard. The Hell stage and the Away-G stage (for new bands) will be outside the auditoriums.

"Our festival is like a centre for eccentricity," says Ted. "No matter what your tastes or where you come from, you will find what you're looking for."

This year, Fat Fest will feature 75 Thai artists and 14 foreign bands from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Scotland, Germany

and the Philippines.

"Shitdisco is an up-and-coming outfit with a disco/punk sound from Scotland, who I can definitely recommend," says Ted. "Rivermaya, the Philippines' No 1 act, will fly in on Sunday after a concert on Saturday in Singapore. There are two bands from Malaysia: Y2K, a punk trio who flew to Bangkok especially to ask to play at the festival, and Couple, who have a Brit-pop angle and sing in English.

"From South Korea there's punk band 21 Scot, Windy City [T-Bone-like reggae] and Oasis-influenced Phonebooth. Thais are going to see that South Korea's got more to offer than boy bands like Dong Bang Shin Gi or Rain.

"The six Japanese bands are soulful weirdos Doc Holiday, who come complete with skeleton; indie songstress Higurachi Aiha's band Love, who will be making their Thai debut; J-pop indie outfit Velvet Peach 7; the electronic, psychedelic Euphoria; and old-favourites, YMCK, with their distinctive visuals; and The Travellers, with a new album to showcase."

The musical variety on offer looks mind-boggling, but it's been Fat Festival's policy all along to impress us with new sounds.

So what about the design concept, will that follow suit with, say, models of a giant human, angel and devil to preside over Earth, Heaven and Hell?

"No, it'll just be symbolic," explains Ted. "But the arenas will be colour-coded to guide people through the maze of things on offer: yellow for music booths, green for books, red for magazines and blue for movie booths.

There'll also be a big screen to keep festival-goers informed of what's happening where.

"You won't get lost," he jokes. "Actually, that's Fat Fest's charm - organised chaos."

"The festival is a window on pop culture and the young generation's lifestyle - the music they're listening to, the movies they're watching, the fashions they're wearing. And this is where the new vocabulary of dek naew is discovered: a new style of fashion, a new sound of new bands, and a new brand of books."

Tickets for one day are Bt199, Bt300 for two days, or Bt485 will get you the full package of both days, a "Smart Purse" card that will get you a 5-per-cent discount at all booths and the double CD. All are available at Thaiticketmaster.

To find out when your favourite bands are playing, go to www.thisisclick.com for the schedule.

The festival will also be broadcast live on 104.5 Fat Radio.

Kitchana Lersakvanitchakul

The Nation