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Having almost died of having to play covers for 10 years or more, Steve Whitby (UK) and Barrie Manso (US) decided to get a Band together to play their own songs, and of friends songs if the songs took their fancy, just as long as they were original. Sounds like a difficult nut to crack at first, but living on a very popular tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand made it a whole lot easier. They started to write new and adopt already written songs to the local environment and to Thailand in particular, and this went down really well with the tourists and with lovers of Thailand elsewhere too.
As Steve Whitby owned a popular resort and venue, it was possible to put the Band on regularly in front of large crowds of several hundred at a time, and eventually their popularity grew. The music is something Thai lovers can relate to, the words and titles, and even political comment, and most of all the underlying humour and criticism.
"The Band wasn't that serious at first, although we all played to our best ability, but we couldn't find non Thai musicians for some of the instruments, so of course we didn't get what we really wanted", says Steve Whitby, "so we tried to get as many people as we knew to join in". The line up included two backing singers, Angie and Jackie (a Geordie & a Weegie), a Thai Guitarist by the name of Gob (Thai for Frog), a Thai bassist named Thep, and a Thai drummer named Nit. Any other guests players were always welcome.
Why did they call it The Big Buddha Blus Band? The stage at Secret Garden faced a massive Gold painted Buddha statue across the bay, and the Band played to it every Sunday...What better name to call themselves?!
Eight years later, with an album under their belt, albeit a locally recorded and printed affair, there is a sense of achievement and pride attached to those who were innvolved at that project, some of which you can hear on this site.
The songs were played on Radio stations as far wide as Southampton in England, West Virginia in the States, and on the regional Web station, Bangkok Radio, strangely enough based in Hong Kong. Articles appeared in several magazines, and friends were made everywhere on the net. Have a listen to the songs above, and enjoy the Big Buddha Blues Band's Tropical mix of Blues, Rock, and Country.
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