Mojos
Three years ago Mojo's (Sukhumvit Soi 33/2) opened. When I visited early in its life I was genuinely impressed, here I thought, is a venue that really satisfied a need with interesting food at reasonable prices and genuinely good music. I wrote about it in glowing terms and unusually had a few emails saying thanks for the recommendation.
Then it all went tits up, rumours of partnership disputes and arrogant management circulated as everything else deteriorated. Whatever the reason, it was clear that the malady would be terminal if there were not a massive management shift…
There was not! Sadly the dying beast struggled on for months before I heard that Bob, from the Office opposite, was involved in a buyout. Once that deal was done the creature was finally and thankfully laid to rest.
Now resurrection is at hand. Bob has also acquired the bar next door adding a pool hall. In the main Mojos bit I am told a better stage will be built, as there are myriad pillars which at present make watching the band a bit of a lottery, as a pillar is likely to be somewhere in your line of site. Food has been reintroduced but it's not the feature it once was. Its now what I call feeding food: in other words you eat when you are hungry not for the epicurean experience. There is nothing wrong with that; what else are pizzas, pies and burgers (if you must). Lets be honest most home cooked food is exactly that!
However Mojos is once again filling up and once again there is real life in the beast. That life has come from one source: the music, or maybe I should say the band!
I must admit to knowing a bit about the Maria band as I know Colin Duggan a one time star of rock and roll himself. Colin was a 60's musician and played with or certainly near some of the bands that I grew up with: like Hobo, the Stones, the Quo et al. Before I venture too far from the Maria Band let me explain that Melissa; Colin's daughter, a full-blown Welsh lady, is the Maria Band's female singer.
However the Maria Band is very much a Thai band, the other five members are locals. Their ages vary but the bass player is at forty the Daddy.
I never went to see the Maria Band play but I heard of their moves around the music venues of this town and more. I began to realise they were a serious band when gigs like the Musik Café in Patong came up, then Lucifer's in Walking Street . Pattaya. Then I heard they had taken a residency at Hard Rock in Pattaya and were booked, to play The Hard Rock in KL, however I had the image of a good band with a contemporary play list (read dance and hip hop).
Howevr as I stood outside Mojos last week; the band was playing a number very much from my era: maybe a number that's a trifle over played in Bangkok , but it was a good version, and boy have I heard some diabolical, Bohemian Rhapsodies! So I trundled in.
Make no doubt about it this is a slick band. Firstly they do not take breaks between numbers: they have a play list that they consume with gusto. Secondly their variety is almost infinite in musical terms: they are as at home in the sixties, as they are in the eighties/nineties and a very competent hip-hop band to boot. They ask for requests and are able to handle almost anything; I am told they can play over 600 songs, with not a songbook in sight!
Melissa fronts the band with the required verve. She has a strong voice and a good vocal range. More important is that she posses a certain humility: she does not think she is the star, because the star is, of course, the band itself, and even when her hairless Dad took over from a very hairy guitar player she didn't miss a beat!
So what ever you want, as long as it's good music, pop down to Mojos and catch this new sensation before they jet off to KL in the autumn. But change can be good, as the band replacing them will be another Hard Rock regular that are just as good (maybe).
None the less the real news is that Mojo's is resurrected.
