A wooden blue house, 20 or so dogs, a couple of squirrels, a tree house, dozens of colored flower petals on the ground, a swing, a hammock, music room, records, smiling faces and sounds of laughter are just among the few things we picked up on during the time we spent talking to Gap. ‘I moved quite often as a child because my father was a policeman who was transferred to many provinces in Thailand, from Songkhla, to Petchburi, and back to Bangkok. I can not speak the southern dialect but can definitely understand the twang. I started school with high hopes from my parents that I would become a policeman one day. I was in the first class of my school at Bangkok Christian College. But when I finished 9th grade, I wanted to join the Arts College after I saw those Arts students walking around with their paint brushes and clipboards and they generally looked happy. After four years of attempt, I managed to study in an Arts College but in my last year, I dropped out! My teachers taught me to love arts but not the institution. At first, I focused on fashion and started screening shirts for Greyhound and Beach Club, respectively. I had begun playing music since I was in art school and T-Bone Band comprised of the following people – Golf (Nakarin Teerapinan), Num (Krid Thammachotika) and me, who were in the same class. We started getting serious about playing and practiced our songs in a recording studio. I introduced reggae music to the band because I admired the music of Bob Marley at the time, and knew of him because my sister bought his album for me. We played from blues, soul to funk music. One lucky night at the Saxophone Club where we performed, I came off stage and was approached by Pi Jik (Prapas Cholsaranont) who asked if I wanted to make an album. He was my hero but I held my calm to patiently say yes, although in my mind I was already shaking his hand! Ever since I started playing music, I thought I would be my own self and had always dreamed that someone would come to me and that I would never make the first move. It was probably my artistic nature! GAP T-BONE In 1992, I released my first album but I only knew how to play without any experience about recording or editing. I had to trade in my preference of music in order to complete that album and I guess it was a win-win situation. But that’s not the case anymore I was knowledgeable of the recording industry. My third album (Lek Chin Sod) partly represented me and the fourth album (Hug) was entirely me. I was with SONY Music at the time, working in a good role and becoming a part of everyday society. I was always fashionably dressed, traveling abroad for business and saving a lot of money. The life changing incident happened when I was producing my new album and they tried to completely change me and I didn’t allow it. It hit me like a flash of lightning and I realized that I almost became like the rest of them. I then decided to do everything on my own, without belonging to anyone or anything. It was during that time that I met Dim. GAP & DIM Dim was the person that changed my life. I had a position to uphold at the time and to maintain good business relations, I was not my true self. I guess you could say that Dim found the real Gap and was able to make me realize it. I was able to change and become a better person because of her. We didn’t have to get married but had kids right away. GAP SRI-RACHA We moved to Sriracha ten years ago ever since Dim was pregnant with our first son. We found Bangkok not suitable to raise kids. T-Bone played less at nights and technology today helped accommodate us in song making. I found it convenient to compose my songs on my computer. We found this piece of land to be perfect – quiet and fertile for growing all kinds of vegetables and fruits. I started cooking and spent a lot of time with my family. We lived simply and sufficiently, eating our homegrown products, such as chilis, lemongrass, bananas and mangos. EVERYDAY GAP I wake up at 3 a.m. every morning to work on my music and then at 6 o’clock, the entire house gets up to get ready to go to school. I leave the house at seven to drop off my son at school and then come back to play with my two-year-old son. I work on my wood furniture and then work on my music again. The whole family spends the afternoon together and we all go to bed at nine. It’s like this every single day. On Friday nights, we travel to Bangkok and I go play at the Saxophone Club and the entire weekend is spent with the kids’ grandparents. It’s been like this for 10 years now. GAP GOOD ENOUGH Bored? No, I just feel that it’s quite tedious. Some people are envious of the lives we live but you just have to ask yourself if you can live with nature and what it has to offer. We prefer to live simply. As for my kids, I raise them like friends and teach them right from wrong. I have plenty of time for them which is good, especially for sons because they’ll be independent and on their own in no time. Then I’ll live happily with my wife just the two of us.