OKB DJ Crew 6th Anniversary
Bangkok's party scene is constantly growing and with it new DJs and crews emerge. One of the crews which is part of this process, almost since its start, is about to celebrate its 6th birthday - OKB (Original King Beat). While most crews focus on a certain style of music and also stick to a certain area of Bangkok, OKB was able to establish itself as allrounder - the 18 people strong team plays various genres - from Hip Hop to EDM and the members hold residencies in all major nightlife areas: from Thonglor to RCA, Sukhumvit and Khaosan Road. Even thou they perform DJing as profession, they refer to OKB as family, which might be one key factor of their continuity and success.
On the occasion of OKB's 6th anniversary Siam2nite sat together with two of OKB's founding members DJ Kinetic and DJ Gift, and two members of the newer generation DJ Kani and DJ Tum, to look back on early days, the present and talk about what's on OKB's agenda for the future.
OKB was initially founded in 2005 by the DJs One3Beat, Kinetic and BDT. OKB existed in this set up for 2 years but was not actively promoted as a brand. It was simply the name they gave themselves as a group. DJ Kinetic's focus was mainly Hip Hop and he was involved with Siam Hip Hop (founded by DJ Ballistic, who is now the leader of CMYK). Kinetic was a DJ for their MC battles and helped taking care and coordinate the technical and infrastructural aspects of the DJ/MC battles they held at MBK and Siam Square.
After the two initial years, Kinetic's two partners decided to focus on their careers and gave up DJing. At that point Kinetic remained, with the plan to push OKB forward and make it a recognized brand. It was then when he met DJ Gift at a Hip Hop party and DJ Oui Siew Por at a DJ competition.
Gift was an outgoing personality, into skateboarding, fashion and street culture and a aspiring DJ with a strong interest for House music and a passion for entertaining. While nightlife was dominated by Thai Pop&Rock Live music and Hip Hop, DJ Gift was into the newly emerging House music scene, which's hotspot at that time was Silom Soi 4.
Oui Siew Por relocated to Bangkok after working as a DJ in Hua Hin, an ambitious DJ - competing at several contest such as Denon DJ Competition and Pioneer DJ Battle - with a strong focus on technique and effects.
DJ Gift and DJ Oui Siew Por joined DJ Kinetic which marked the beginning of OKB's history and gave birth to the brand as we know it today.
These 3 diverse characters laid the foundation for the success of OKB. While conventional event organizers were focused on mass/quantity and revenue and DJs were focused on music exclusively, OKB combined - as one of the first of their kind - both aspects.
While internet did not exist yet as medium to share information, they promoted their events by text messages and by placing flyers and putting up posters at stores in Siam Square area. A lot was mouth to mouth propaganda too.
In this new setup OKB was versatile right from the start, doing Hip Hop events with 600-700 people at Block 9 Ekamai - back then a trendy concept bar and hotspot of the evolving nightlife area - but also smaller House music events with 50-100 people.
OKB remained a trio for the first year, then S, D'Zier (at that time one of the very few Thai female DJs), Remy (from the Phillipines), Nui Legio and PT joined the team. All of those new members were already established DJs - D'Zier was DJing at RCA, S at LIZM, Remy at Gazebo (Khaosan Road) and Nui Legio & PT at Sitnee (Rangsit). The team was then joined by VJ Gift (Lazyhusband).
3 years ago a new generation of DJs integrated into OKB - even though they are an integral part of OKB, they go by the name of L.E.D. (Love Electronic Dancing). These DJs are Kani, Mody, PM and Jessi - all of them having a strong focus on electronic dance music.
Just recently OKB was joined by the DJs GapZ'NoVa, T.U.R.E., Spectrum, Tum and the the two female DJs Helen and Lady Sweety Secret, making OKB 18 members strong.
Additionally a collaboration was brought into being with the female Hip Hop artist Dakotaa Jade - CEO and Founder of the Hip Hop collective Souls Of Siam (S.O.S) and the community Hip Hop Unity Siam. She supports OKB's events as Official Hype MC.
D'Zier, Gift, Jessi, Mody, Kani and P.M. run their own monthly radio show on UB Radio - Bangkok's Underground radio station - where you can hear them spin and even watch them live over webcam.
Currently OKB DJs are holding the following residencies:
Sukhumvit: Levels, Q Bar, BASH, Velvet, Fubar
Thonglor: Funky Villa, Safe House, Wine Republic, Wine Me Up, Seenspace
Khaosan Road: The Club Khaosan, The Cliff Club, Lava, Deep
Rangsit: Virgin, Sitnee
Srinakarin: Itchy
EVENT AFTER MOVIE of WHITE PROM PARTY at ITCHY Srinakarin (Friday 28-06-13) by OKB TV
Song Credit: TONG APOLLO - Fun Land (Original mix)
The upcoming 6th anniversary not only stands for the team's spirit and the continuity of OKB as a brand, but also introduces new objectives: on one hand a focus on media production with their recently launched YouTube TV channel "OKB TV", on the other hand the step up from solely DJing to production of original releases made by OKB artists. The first project in this regard was launched already: EMERGENCY, an EDM live performance act which consists of Gift, Oui Siew Por, Spit Fire and Dakotaa Jade.
The abovesaid makes clear that OKB's anniversary not only celebrates the achievements of the past, but also marks the beginning of a new chapter. Needless to say, OKB is not tired yet at all and hungrier than ever - we can be excited for what's coming next!
The remaining 6 months of 2013 will see a series of monthly events dedicated to the 6th anniversary under the name "Black Project No.6" - aligned with their strength as allrounder, the 6 events will be a journey through various music genres, each event held at distinct venues at different nightlife areas of Bangkok.
The series kicks off with the first event on Saturday 27. July at Route 66 "Classic" at RCA - with a focus on Tech House and Techno and the first live performance of the above-mentioned EDM live performance act EMERGENCY.
In the following 5 months there will follow events at The Club (Khaosan Road), Levels (Sukhumvit 11), Sonic (Ekamai), Safe House (Thonglor) and Itchy (Srinakarin) - each event with a different musical concept: from Progressive/Electro, to Drum&Bass/Dubstep, to Hip Hop, Trap and Mashups.
Stay tuned for the announcements!