Abstract
The song named Assemble from Sons of Liberty, thrash metal band was dedicated to Thai protesters and young generation who fight against dictatorship in Thailand, and to show the legacy of Thai democracy that should have been preserved as cultural treasure heritages for next generations to come. Therefore, the song is not easy listening, it is made in thrash metal elements in term of subgenre in heavy metal music. This music genre is presenting aesthetic of resistance with aggression, which is normal in political term and lyrical theme o thrash metal music. This song is composed as ABAB song form and after recording session and complete recording process and full production of music video, it has been uploaded on Youtube since the first of April and meeting positive feedbacks as 43 comments as compliments with 5530 views and 79 subscribers within a week as the result.
Introduction
Thailand should have been considered as one of democratic countries in the world but under the military control and following by coup d’etat several times recorded in Thai political history. This makes Thailand not so well reputation in international perspectives in political views. The word “democracy” can never be true because the elected governments in Thai history have always been overthrown by the military, which stops the development of the country and leave the stable status as developing country and poverty for many decades. Therefore, all issues of political system leave the question that when will Thailand be the first world country? When will Thailand be great as it should have been? Sons of Liberty, the thrash metal band that would like to expose the true of Thai politics as it is known as dirty business. This song is another example of freedom in music that has duty to express the emotion based on situation and help people wake up to face reality. Let people stand against injustice in every case that we are all facing these days.
Objectives
This song aims to show how we should not let military control happening in any countries and coup d’etat being acceptable activity in Thai society, and how democracy is important for us based on international point of view in politics due to economy system under military control. As the matter of fact, it causes poverty even worse than usual that Thai people must face it, especially, during the Covid-19 crisis. What we all need is the best system of health care than we ever needed but it is impossible under military control these days. The budget that comes
from our taxes was spent to something else, not for Thais and other foreigners who live here in the country. We all need support from good managements and authority is very necessary. However, the song called “Assemble” is speaking for people who are suffering from losses of management failure in Thai political system. When we are not allowed to speak of anything that matters, it is not related to the concept of new normal that we are living today.
Clarifying Creative Cognition
The process of composition started with drums on purpose to make masterpiece of thrash metal music and being representative of aggression in Thai politics. The guitar and bass riffs are composed following the structure of drums session with pinch harmonic designed to express the aesthetic of resistance. The tuning is in D and the chord progression is in key D harmonic minor and mode. Moreover, the guitar solo is based on neo classic rock style and pentatonic scale in the way of thrash metal composition. The song structure is ABAB, which has a verse
and chorus with aggressive lyrics based on true events. Especially, the outro is fading out and there is real shout out from Thai protesters in the real event recorded by the vocalist of Sons of Liberty who attended the event of protest. Therefore, we manage the shout out from protest to be in the same line of rhythm from all instruments in the outro. However, lyrical theme in thrash metal music is mostly based on political criticism, which is common ideology among thrash metal bands such as Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Sepultura. Then recording process in Ableton Live 10 in the following picture.
Result
This song “Assemble” in heavy metal music is completely done with all processes of recording to mastering and video to make full production of music video and debut single release of the band “Son of Liberty”. It has been uploaded on Youtube since the first of April and meeting positive feedbacks as 5530 views and 79 subscribers within a week as the result.
Discussions and Suggestion
Heavy metal music or any kind of music with lyrical theme in politics should be presented more in Thai society. It can be presented in term of poem, poetry, story of wisdom, etc. It can be the platform to make further discussions and suggestion and to help improving the society and political systems to be better for everyone. In addition, people always associate music and arts with aesthetics. However, it is not about only beauty, it could be so many things based on individual experiences to evaluate. It can be aesthetics of resistance of something in our lives, we
don’t have to agree with everything and finding the beauty in every step of our paths. Moreover, Thai education is the main idea and key to present aesthetics in various ways with political ideology and preventing political unconsciousness or ignorance in Thai society. For instance,this song, “Assemble.”
References
• European Parliament. (2019). Thailand: from Coup to Crisis. European Union
• Huron, D. (2008). Aesthetic. The Ohio State University.
• Stanley, S., (ed). (2001). “Popular Music: Form”. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. New York: Grove
