“We want to wave the flag for the Thai alternative scene”: How Defying Decay are risking trouble and going global

Backstage at Rock Alarm – the biggest rock and metal festival in Bangkok, Thailand – the country’s alternative scene is out in force, but Defying Decay have just raised the bar. Opening the main stage, an hour before they meet Kerrang!, they deliver a set that feels less like an early slot and more like a coronation, stepping out with the confidence and aura of a headline act, not least because they bring out a 32-piece orchestra with them.

At the centre of it all stands vocalist Jay Poom Euarchukiati, dressed head-to-toe in black, Matrix-length leather coat hanging from his shoulders, a fat Cuban cigar in hand. He looks every inch the rock star. More importantly, he seems like a man thinking far beyond this stage, and to global domination.

For UK audiences, Defying Decay aren’t entirely strangers. They’ve already tested these shores supporting Ice Nine Kills and Motionless In White, and Jay still talks about playing London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town like a kid recalling their first-ever gig. “I studied in the UK. I did my GCSEs there,” he recalls. “So even just opening those shows was surreal. I grew up with this scene.”

Breaking out from Thailand, though, requires more than big riffs. “The scene is great, but it’s small,” he admits. “If you sing in English, major labels won’t sign you. They say it’s not for the market. Outside Bangkok, people want Thai-language songs. If you want to go international, you must do it yourself. Invest and tour abroad, even if the flight is killing you.”

That stubborn self-belief fuels Synthetic Sympathy, the band’s long-gestating new album – but one that Jay confesses almost stayed on the hard-drive.

“We put so much into it,” he says. “But I’m not a business guy. I just want to make music. People told me, ‘You’ve invested this much, release it properly.’ So now we are, and I want to wave the flag for the Thai alternative scene.”

Indeed, Defying Decay already sound like a band with arenas in mind. The riffs are widescreen and metallic, the choruses built to ricochet off the back wall of somewhere enormous. There are progressive detours, electronic undercurrents and, most strikingly, a full orchestra woven through a lot of these tracks.

“Maybe it’s hard to digest,” Jay shrugs. “But that’s what I love.”

The result is cinematic in a way few modern metal bands dare attempt: think the scale of Bring Me The Horizon’s Royal Albert Hall experiment baked directly into the DNA of the songs. And there’s thematic weight, too. The Law 112: Secrecy And Residence references Thailand’s lèse-majesté law – a subject that it isn’t always easy to discuss, because criticising the royal family is punishable by up to 15 years in jail. In 2020, however, calls for royal reform – once completely off limits – spilled onto the streets through youth-led movements.

“My father, before he passed away, was the [former] King’s – Rama IX – financial advisor on everything,“ reflects Jay. “And I honestly don't have problem with Rama IX, but when it comes to Rama X, I guess a lot of the new generation don’t respect him.”

Rama X is thought to be the wealthiest royal in the world, with an estimated net worth between $30 and $40 billion, and a lifestyle to match. Justifying the song, and not getting into trouble with the law, is something Jay can back up with solid reasoning.

“I just talked about the law, you know? Thats technically not illegal,” he says. “If you read the lyrics, I'm not taking any sides. It's like a more bird's-eye point of view because, as I say, ‘Shut your mouth now / Listen up / All you fuckers gotta back it up.’ The royalist could be saying it to the protestor, the protester could be saying it the royalist. I try to keep it in-between.”

For a metal band to even reference the law is bold. Even so, there's an element of flippant danger to it.

“That song was a bet!” he laughs. “I bet my friend we wouldn’t get in trouble. I said, ‘We’re a metal band. We’re not going to get big enough for anyone to care.’ So I did it anyway. I don't give a shit.”

Elsewhere, ambition meets fandom via a guest spot from Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens, a collab secured after Jay spotted a tweet offering feature slots and took a chance. “I was fanboying,” he admits. “I’d already recorded the parts. I just sent it for fun. And he accepted.”

For a band operating thousands of miles from rock’s traditional capitals, Synthetic Sympathy feels less like a gamble and more like a declaration. An album that that they’re hoping makes them go global.

“I do want to break into the UK and global scenes someday. It’s a dream for me,” smiles Jay. “My next step, to be honest, is just to tour the UK – even if it’s The Underworld or [Camden Assembly]. I think people would go crazy for it, because the thing in Thailand is that people support you only when you start breaking internationally.

“That’s a weird habit,“ he ponders. “And I’d love to be the one to break it.”

Synthetic Sympathy is released on March 26

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