Stirring up a storm

For two decades, local outfit Tornado kept the pedal to the metal, whipping up such a frenzy in pubs and clubs that they quickly became known as Thailand's answer to Black Sabbath.

Now, even though demand for the genre has fallen, the Thai heavy metal quartet are all set to stage their second long-waited concert, the aptly titled "Heavy Metal Special Concert Vol 1", after leaving the recently closed metal pub, Metal Zone.

"I loved Black Sabbath. When I sing, my tone is similar to that of Ozzy Osbourne," says the band's founder and frontman Kamthorn Suthamtarikul, aka Kavin Tornado. "And we've always played the band's covers."

Today, the cover band features Kamthorn, the original drummer, Payongsak Konsup, aka Joe Scorpio and two new recruits, bassist Phatkorn Khuithong, aka Max Zombie; and guitarist Anucha Tohkumpai, aka Randy Wyde. Kamthorn came up with the nicknames for the younger members.

The four will be playing some 30 awesome metal numbers, including "Heaven & Hell", "Children of the Sea", "Paranoid", "Mr Crowley" and "Bark at the Moon", at their two-hour concert, which will take place at AUA's auditorium on Friday at 8pm.

"Our aim is to play a concert every two months," says the frontman. "If Friday night's show is a success, the next one will be at a larger venue, with better stage production and an improved sound system. It will feature many other bands too."

But can Tornado pull in the crowds? Their first concert, held about seven years ago at the same venue with a lot of other bands and cheaper tickets, was a financial failure.

"It was badly promoted so no one knew about it," he says. That's unlikely to happen with Friday's concert, which is being promoted over the Internet through sponsored links so it will come up on any heavy-metal related searches, as well as through music magazines and leaflets.

But Kamthorn is also philosophical. "Who cares, if it doesn't go well anyway?" he grins. "I just want it to offer an alternative to today's music lovers."

When the three-member outfit Tornado formed in the late 1980s, they followed the same pattern as many Thai bands of that era, playing covers by Western hard rockers Deep Purple, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin.

Kamthorn's high and hoarse vocals - similar to those of Osborne - led them to focus on Black Sabbath's covers and they recruited another guitarist.

"I'd been imitating Ozzy's singing style since my teens," he recalls.

Tornado rocked headbangers at several bars and on campuses in and around in Bangkok, and in the early 1990s Kamthorn set up Metal Zone, where the band played regularly until the pub closed a few months ago.

"The lease had come to an end," says the frontman. "I don't have plans to open a new pub. For now, I'll stick to playing concerts."

Catch Tornado live in "Heavy Metal Special Concert Vol 1" this Friday at AUA's auditorium at 8pm. Tickets are Bt400 and are available at the door.

Kitchana Lersakvanitchakul

The Nation