Musicians' cave

Published on September 7, 2007

Live music by top-flight musicians, such as the Chatree Kongsuwan, Olarn Phromjai and Stu Hamm, can be heard weekly at Overtone Music Cave.

From running a music school and publishing music magazines, to organising rock concerts, opening his own live music venue is a natural addition for Prart Aroonrungsi. "It is kind of a music place - or a musician place," says Prart of his new club, Overtone Music Cave, which recently opened on Royal City Avenue, adding to his Prart Music Group empire, which includes Prart Music School, Overdrive guitar magazine and rock concerts by such axe-masters as Yngwie Malmsteen, Michael Schenker, DragonForce and Dream Theatre.

Overtone actually has a long history. The pub was formerly set up in at 40-square-metre space on the first floor of a four-storey office building on RCA that was also used for the music school. It was open from 2001 but closed in late 2004 because there wasn't enough room to swing a cat.

"It was packed like sardines by all levels of music lovers, from the youngsters to working people who came to listen to good music," recalls Prart.

With the local bar scene dominated by the DJ-spinning trend, live music pubs are barely surviving. Popular jazz and blues bar Saxophone and Rock Pub in Pathumwan are still going strong. Overtone aims to be an alternative place.

Prart studied guitar at the GIT Institute in Los Angeles, California, where he was inspired by such clubs as Catalina and Bake Potato to open Overtone.

"Those pubs usually have their schedules packed with real musicians and professional artists such as Larry Carlton, who played a large-scale concert in our country, but also plays at small, packed pubs in America, to audiences of  fewer than 100 people." says Prart.

"I asked guitarist Frank Gambale about what he got from playing small gigs rather than big concerts. He answered that he was satisfied with 'pocket money', but more important was honing his skills and meeting other musicians," Prart explains. "Those musicians and artists don't look at it as a pub, but a place for music lovers. So, that is why I started Overtone."

Prart has been looking for a new and bigger place for two years. Late last year, he found it on RCA between O-Leng and Route 66 and started transforming it into a new music venue. The cost of the new pub was estimated at around Bt2 million or Bt3 million, but he's now put Bt7 million into the place.

"Just only this set of stereo and loudspeakers went to Bt2 million after giving 40 per cent discount," Prart says.

Officially launched on August 3, the new 200-square-metre venue, with a capacity of 150 to 200 people, stands out with bright colours of yellow and orange. The outside structure features a wall of mirrored glass, which offers a view of the lively atmosphere inside. Murals of many great artists such as BB King, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton decorate the walls. The stage is to the left and 40 tables are on the right and on a mezzanine. Some of the tables are shaped like the headstock of a Fender guitar, while others take on the triangular shape of a guitar pick.

There's even a Hall of Fame, with bronzed handprints of  Thai guitarists Chatree Kongsuwan, Olarn Phromjai, Surasee Itthikul and Prart himself placed in the tile floor. The latest addition is bassist  Stu Hamm, and Prart insists that he'll have more foreign artists' handprints.

Like Hard Rock Cafe, the inside walls are decorated memorabilia and guitars, but here, the items belong to mostly Thai artists, such as guitars from Asanee Chotikul, Chatree, Pop the Sun and Silly Fools, a drumstick from Ekamun Photipanthong and Steve Smith's cymbal. Others are signature guitars of Malmsteen, Schenker and Nuno Bettencourt.

"I love yellow as a colour of light and orange derived from the mixture of yellow and red, both are powerful and bright tones," Prart says. "For the guitar decorations, I would like to pay tribute to more Thai musicians. But, yeah, what if they are stolen? I'm now discussing theft insurance in addition to burglar alarms, closed circuit cameras and security guards.

"Most of our customers come to consume with good and real music, not only drink like other pubs," Prart says.

Overtone plans four artist programmes per month; most notably on Friday and Saturday with such artists as Infinity, Beetle Nuts and Pro Jam. On Wednesday, there is blues and jazz, Thursdays will have funk, jazz and fusion. Sunday is an open night for new bands to show their abilities. All nights start with an acoustic live show or DVD concert video at 8pm.

True to its origins at the music school, Overtone has played host to music workshops and community events at 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. Last Saturday, it welcomed bassist Hamm and Danish jazz vocalist Malene Mortensen, who gave workshops as part of the Colour Your Life European Jazz series held by Nation Multimedia Group and Hitman Jazz. The workshop went quite well, Prart says, with a group of young guitarists and students.

"It is like a community of guitar players, guitar collectors, guitar technicians, or even musicians who come to exchange their knowledge, thoughts and idea with each other," he says. "It will keep going in the long run, whether the economy will be worse or not."

On its guitar pick-shaped menu, there are dishes with their music-related names including "Chicken Pickings", "Metallica Pork", "Beef on the Sun", "Lion Sausage", "Red Hot Chili Beef' and "You Got a Fruit".

Alcohol drinks include the Blue Kamikaze (Bt150), Singha (Bt100), Corona (Bt100), Sawasdee wine (Bt450 for a bottle and Bt160 for a glass), PB Wine (Bt650 and Bt160) and several cocktails (Bt150), whose musical names will be created later.

Overtone Music Cave

29/70-72 Royal City Avenue Block C

Wednesday to Sunday, 5pm to 2am

(02) 641 4283

www.prartmusic.com/

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Kitchana Lersakvanitchakul