PROLOGUE

I was standing right in front of the stage. Loop earplugs in, excitingly tapping my feet. The date was February 27, 2026. My friend Pann’s band, Phaya Thai Chord, was playing a 1975 ten year anniversary concert— a tribute for their album i like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet So Unaware of It. It was a special lineup, as they joined forces with another well-known band from Salaya called Anti Tomato Band. Imagine a stage with 7 musicians. Bass, guitar, drums, vocals, keyboard, and a saxophone all present. Conducting all of them is Pann Nuanphak, alternating between guitars and singing his indie heart out. For every song, the backdrop changes to match the song, showing music videos and short films by The 1975 band. The effort, showmanship, and attention to detail riveted me and the packed crowd. I felt a wave of nostalgia and awe wash over me as I knew every word to the song “The Sound”. It was hard to believe this was the same person I went to university with, moving a crowd so intently with his voice. Me and a group of 10 friends all swarmed him after the show, gushing from the experience he and the band had just taken us through. It’s moments like these that keep me coming back to Speakerbox. Where the people in my life can get on stage and transform into rockstars.

THE JOURNEY

Much like the album it was paying tribute to that night, Speakerbox turns ten this year. It’s been a long and winding road, full of different iterations, location changes, and for a certain period, shutting down entirely.

The venue’s journey started in 2016 at Ratchada Train Market, a night market that sold everything from street food to tattoos to second-hand clothes. Running along the back edge of it was a strip of bars built out of converted shipping containers. Speakerbox was one of them. A small unit, a short renovation, and then they opened their doors. It was hardly a cakewalk. A bigger live music bar sat right next door — the legendary Immortal Bar. Volume became a constant battle. What saved them was a single brick wall that blocked most of the sound bleed. The shop was open front, but if you stepped inside, the music found you.

People would come with food from the market, pull up with their friends, drink, and stay for the music. Most nights it was cover bands, as original music events were much less common back then than they are now. Regardless, the energy created here oozed with authenticity. Raw. Inseparable from the noise and chaos of the market around it. Up close, personal, and analog in the best way. Half of going to Speakerbox in those days was the market itself. The other half was what happened when the music started and you stopped thinking about the rest.

In 2017, Speakerbox Ratchada closed its doors. But two years later, it was revived. This time at Liberty Plaza at the end of Soi Thong Lo, in a space that had previously been a blues bar called Nothing But The Blues. “The previous owner had done a wonderful job”, co-founder Eddie Mellor explains. Acoustic treatment already installed, the bar was stocked, and a sound system was in place. Compared to the Ratchada shipping container, the space was enclosed, better sounding, and offered a little more room to dance. It still had the grungy and DIY soul of Speakerbox, but with a setup that allowed for a wider range and higher caliber of live music. This was the location I first visited back in 2020. It had a wooden door that swung inward, with a bar to the left and the stage deeper inside which was level with the audience. This is where I was first exposed to some of the great Bangkok cover bands like The Chocolate Cosmos and Medium Rare.

The place took time to find its natural form. And it couldn't have become what it is without the many people who funded the project through the early days. Eddie has said that if he started naming names, he wouldn't be able to stop. That, in itself, tells you what kind of place this is. Not built by one person, but held up by a community that truly craves a space for live music in Bangkok.

In fact, some of the artists who performed at the original Ratchada location are still performing at the new one, ten years on. That’s how tight-knit the community is. Their newest and current location is their largest yet. You walk into the lounge first where there is a pool table, couches, tables and seating, and dim colorful lighting. There is usually a pre-set playlist playing here, a DJ mixing tunes, or even live stand-up! Once you walk towards the right of the room, you will find the ticket booth, which then leads you into the main performance hall with a capacity of 200 standing guests. The room is usually dark with a spotlight only on the performers. When the room is packed, it feels especially exciting to be there, hushed in the dark waiting for the music to start. The hall leads to the smoking area through two glass doors. Here, they have immortalized the stairs from the last location, a popular smoking spot, into the seating design of the new location. Just like the old location up the road, the conversations I have here are half the reason to show up.

A few weeks ago, before the 1975 tribute and following our rehearsal session for PHAGE, I had a long conversation with Eddie, asking him about the space and how it all came together ten years ago. Below is what he had to say about the origins of Speakerbox and his love for music.

What made you decide to start your own live music venue?

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I've loved music for as long as I can remember. Early memories of sitting in the back of my dad's Audi A4, him belting out She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult. As a teenager in Bangkok I got pulled into the scene through people I met playing football — nights at Dudesweet, SOMA, Arcadia, Trasher. Places like Club Culture, Cosmic Cafe, Immortal, The Rock Pub, and later Fatty's, Overstay, and JAM. A golden era. Chaotic, pre-digital, and very much alive. A bunch of those places are still kicking today.

Then I went to study in Southampton. I was working at a venue called Lennon's, going to punk, emo, math-rock shows almost every week. Against Me!, Basement, Tigers Jaw, Snowing, Cheap Girls — so many bands in basements and small rooms with no barrier between you and the music. Looking back, that period shaped everything. The idea of Speakerbox was growing in me long before I knew it.

It was never a master plan though. It grew naturally from being around shows, meeting people, and always feeling that pull to contribute something to the culture. I have a lot of respect for artists. What it takes to create, practice, and perform. That respect has never gone away.

You also picked up the bass along the way. How has playing shaped how you run the venue?

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It's made me more aware of what artists actually need. During the pandemic I really committed to learning and it hit me how much goes into the whole process. Practicing, recording, producing, performing. I played in a few bands, one with Rob Saltsman, Chris, Kirk, and Mo, where we recorded an EP together. Another called 15 Strange Seconds. And for the past few years I've been playing with PHAGE, a project with my friend Andrew who writes and composes everything. We're on pause right now while he's studying, but those experiences stay with you. When I'm setting up a show now, I'm thinking about how it feels to be on that stage.

Four favorite bands?

Thee Oh Sees. King Gizzard. Fuzz. Kikagaku Moyo. Though ask me again tomorrow and the list might be different.

The sound at Speakerbox is genuinely some of the best in Bangkok for a venue its size. What went into building that?

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About 95% of the production budget went into the sound system. We're running L-Acoustics A10s with KS21 subs. Without getting too technical, I’ll just say it hits the way music is supposed to hit. SM57s everywhere, a Rupert Neve RNDI-M DI box, Turbosound monitors, a Gretsch Renown kit. A lot of the core gear carried over from the previous space and we've been upgrading around it. The mixing desk and floor monitors are next on the list.

On the visual side, two short-throw laser projectors cover the entire back wall. One of our partners spontaneously flew to China to source the lighting rig and runs it all through TouchDesigner. The tech that powers the projectors honestly blows my mind, but what it produces speaks for itself. He's flying back to China soon for stage risers. It never really stops.

What event do you look forward to most?

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Rock The Box is a staple — Friday nights, sweaty, loud, especially when Silly Machine play. But right now the one I'm most excited about is Funk The Box. It's newer, only two editions in, but it's already taking on a life of its own. Built around a family of musicians — Roy, Win, Ford, Pleng, Guy, Tul — all of them doing incredible original work in their own projects like Ford Trio, Varis, Roysenburg, Alec Orachi, Plastic Plastic. OG DJ Freddie Funk on vinyl out front, smoke machines, mirror balls, people dressing up. Dragon Oro comes in and adds their own weird energy to it. It's less of a gig and more of a full night out.

On the shows side, Wildest Youth are bringing Algernon Cadwallader, which is genuinely mad for me given everything I said about that midwestern emo era. Hawthorne Heights is coming too. And the hardcore shows? Those always go completely off the wall. No barrier, crowd on stage, bodies everywhere. Rising Force Unity and Gid Wreck Unit are driving those. The Thai hardcore scene is really something else.

What's next for the Speakerbox project?

Honestly? It still feels like we're just getting started. Better sound, better stage, food in the front room, more local and international bookings. We want to keep pushing what a small venue here can do without losing what makes it feel like this place.

The electronic events have been a revelation too. Last week PhatFunk's 15 year anniversary party had DJs stationed in front of a white sheet stretched across the stage, visuals projected onto it from behind. It felt like a proper underground club! That's opened up a whole new way of thinking about how we use the room.

Long term, I just want Speakerbox to be a place that genuinely contributed to the culture. That helped scenes grow. That gave artists a real platform. That created moments people actually remember.

For now, we’re taking it step by step. Letting it evolve naturally. There's a lot coming down the pipeline, so stay tuned. I hope to see all your readers at the next show!

Speakerbox Livehouse

1000/39 Soi Sukhumvit 55 Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110

Open daily from 5:30pm — 2am

By Ayush Madan