Thaiboy aka DJ Billybool: Everything “DYR”

Photo: If A then B

Imagine a world in which the term “EDM” had absolutely zero cringe connotations. A world where Electronic Dance Music was free of its associations with glow sticks, frat bros, and hula-hooping tweakers. This is the reality that Drain Gang member Thaiboy Digital has been dreaming of—and manifesting—as his alternate musical persona DJ Billybool, whose first feature-length album, DYR, is out today. The title is an acronym for “dream your reality,” but also means “expensive” in Swedish.

Created in collaboration with Varg²™ and Eurohead, the record is undoubtedly progressive and experimental, but also resurrects a euphoric, cinematic purity long lost in the more commercial realms of 21st-century dance music. If some of the tracks on DYR don’t already remind you of teenage, MDMA-fueled nights spent telling your friends how much you love them on dancefloors, then I sincerely hope they will soundtrack a similar experience of yours in the near future.

Two and a half years after our last conversation inside a witchtower for the dossier of 032c Issue #42, Thaiboy and I reconnected. Drain Gang’s “legendary member” (also humbly known as “THE GREATEST DJ ON THE WHOLE PLANET” as Billybool) had freshly returned from a Boiler Room show in Hong Kong, and was cozied up on his couch with a glass of red wine and his latest read.

032c Issue #42 is sold out, but you can read the Drain Gang dossier online and buy a poster here.

Cassidy George: I first heard about this album when Varg²™ texted me a Dropbox link with a few tracks and photos, and just said: “new dj billybool.” Beyond doing some low-key PR, what was his level of involvement in DYR?

Thaiboy Digital: It all came together very fast. I had been hearing about this recording engineer Eurohead for a while, and finally got to meet him in Barcelona after our show at Primavera Festival. Beyond the fact that he showed up in Spain at 3AM just to introduce himself, I could see that he had this fire in his eyes. He eventually started sending me these trancey beats he was making, and I liked every single track.

I’d send them back to him with my Swedish lyrics recorded on top. At one point, we were making a track a day, and this went on for an entire month. He and Varg²™ have been making a lot in the studio together, so he shared everything with Varg, who enhanced it all and put his own crazy twist on things. First it was just going to be a two-track EP, then a much longer EP. When I played some of the music for Ecco2K while he was visiting me in Thailand, he said: “Why don’t you just make an album?”

CG: You invented this new artist persona, DJ Billybool, back in 2020. What motivated you to start a new project?

TD: There are a lot of levels to it. These songs really mean a lot to me. That year, one of my closest friends passed away and I also had my first child. Life and death happened simultaneously. I couldn’t put how I had been feeling into words, but when I first saw my daughter’s heartbeat at 138 BPM, it triggered something in me. Up until that point, I hadn’t produced any music, but I decided to download GarageBand just to play around and then started getting more and more into it.

My friend who died was really into techno—he was sort of a pioneer. When we were just 13 years old, he went to this underground venue in Paris and came back [to Stockholm] and said, “They were playing this music called dubstep.” He was way, way ahead of his time. My first DJ Billybool project, My Fantasy World, was a way of honoring him, as a tribute. The sad melodies were for him, and the happy beats were for my daughter. This style of music is very much inspired by Basshunter.

Bladee in the music video for DJ Billybool's "BLOOMSTERTID," by Gustav Stegfors

CG: Speaking of Basshunter, when do you think EDM started to become so cringey—or at least, the perception of it?

TD: I think it was when David Guetta started producing tracks for all the pop stars. Suddenly everyone had a David Guetta song and every producer was trying to be like David Guetta. That’s exactly when Basshunter stopped making those beautiful tracks. That being said, I do like David’s new music. Of course, David is a legend too, in his own right.

CG: Did Thai dance music inspire DYR in any way?

TD: Before we became parents, my wife and I went out a lot. Thai people are very serious about partying—the scene here is extremely hardcore. This is really where I experienced so many new dimensions to dance music and learned about them. At these hardcore Thai EDM parties—specifically the 3CHA parties—I began to understand the true party aura, and it really seeped into my core, like deep into my bones. I could never make it, enjoy it, or even understand it to the extent that I do if I hadn’t had this [Thai] experience. I really want to put that on for the world. When other people hear 3CHA music and it seeps into their bones the same way it did mine, they’re going to love it.

CG: And yet this album is entirely in Swedish! Why did that feel right for this record?

TD: Eurohead, Varg, and I all grew up in Sweden and are very close in age. It’s the language we communicate in. Although they do it in an unspoken way—with beats and melodies—it felt very natural to express what has happened in our lives and how we’ve been feeling in the language we were raised with. I’ve made music in English for quite a while, so I have no idea how this will be received, but I’m very excited about it.

CG: Was the music video for the lead single shot in Sweden?

TD: We took the director of the music video at one of these hardcore parties in Bangkok that I mentioned. He was partying with us in the scene for an entire month, so he just understands me. I didn’t have to explain anything about the music. All I said was: “Can you make a music video without me being physically in it?”

Eurohead was a big creative driving force in the “BLOMSTERTID” video as well. He came to me with all of these insane ideas. He was like, “We’re going to have a spinning car and a Midsommar tower in the middle of winter, and a bunch of people wearing ancient Swedish clothes going HAM around a fire!” Usually when you hear things this insane, you think, “This will never happen.” But all of it did!

Still from "BLOOMSTERTID," by Gustav Stegfors

CG: You’ve lived in Thailand for a decade now, but do you miss Sweden? Does nostalgia for your upbringing play any role in the DJ Billybool project?

TD: I used to feel homesick for Sweden, but now I feel at home in Thailand. Every time I go back to Sweden, it feels better and better. I get to tell my wife about all the places and stories that meant so much to me growing up. I enjoy the feeling of nostalgia—both emotionally and in music—like the feeling I get when I hear a Basshunter song that we used to party to growing up.

CG: You have two daughters now, right? Are they showing any interest in music?

TD: Yes, my youngest—her name is Bella—just turned one on May 1st. I got a small piano for my eldest daughter, Lily. Now Bella is old enough to stand, and she plays the piano alongside Lily. I expected them to maybe start showing interest in music when they were around 10 years old, like I did. It’s nice to see it happening almost immediately!

CG: I’m guessing you make everything at home then?

TD: I don’t have that much free time, so when I’m doing a song, I get really prepared. I have maybe a one-hour window and just knock it out. I think limitations are good for creativity. That’s actually something Eurohead once said. It’s one of his many wise quotes!

CG: So Eurohead is full of wisdom?

TD: Sometimes! Sometimes he just says: “Aight.”

CG: “Aight” can also be a wise thing to say when timed right!

TD: “Aight.” [Laughs]

Yung Sherman in "BLOOMSTERTID," by Gustav Stegfors

CG: You left your previous label, YEAR0001, and will release this under your own label, Bank of Star Sound System. Has it been a stressful transition to managing the business side of things?

TD: Yes, far more than I expected, especially when you hear so many people saying, “You don’t need a label! Do it yourself! Just upload it!” But there’s so much more detail that goes into it. It’s not impossible, but it takes a lot of time. In the beginning, I wanted to own everything I make and do everything my way. But lately I’ve been asking myself what I truly value. Right now, I value my time a lot more than the extra percentage of money I earn from having my own label. I’ve learned a lot of great lessons in the process.

CG: When you all finally went public about leaving your old label, YEAR0001, it was fall 2024—but Ecco2K posted that he hadn’t been working with them since 2023. Why was there such a long period of silence before going public? Were you under some kind of contract?

TD: It was the business and legal side of things. From a professional point of view, we didn’t want to go public without having a reason. I don’t want to say too much, but we just needed to wait until the timing was right.

CG: With everyone breaking away and starting their own labels, did you feel pressure to follow the bandwagon? Was it even an option to stay?

TD: In a way, yes. We were all in our “own CEO” era. I wanted to do it just to see if I could, and I will continue to—until someone has a better idea!

CG: What would be the most ideal setting for people to hear DYR for the first time?

TD: I think on a fjord on a cold, dark, misty morning—or maybe on top of a mountain. A serene place where you can breathe clean oxygen and get into a meditative state.

CG: Where do you breathe fresh air? And do you meditate?

TD: I live in Bangkok, so for sure not! I think I only breathe fresh air when I’m on vacation with my family. I do try to grow a lot of plants and trees in the house, though. Taking care of the plants could be a form of meditation. When I’m in a good routine and start my morning watering the plants, it’s so calming. I even used to play music for my plants because my wife told me it’s good for their energy. Lately, with making this album, I haven’t had enough time for my plants! But I hope to get back to them after this drop.

Photo: If A then B

CG: Would you say you are an old soul?

TD: Yes. Belief in reincarnation is very strong in our culture—in Thailand and Buddhism. I have a friend who says you can always feel if someone is a new or an old soul. One time he pointed to a friend of ours and said, “Yep, that’s life number one––but you and I? We are old souls.”

I would love to come back in the future as something legendary from the past. Like Achilles or Da Vinci—or maybe Mozart or Beethoven.

CG: Are you into history?

TD: Oh yeah, I go back to the Sumerian kings and shit. I’m a wisdom hunter.

CG: What are you reading right now?

TD: I have it right here—The Red Book by Carl Jung. I’m struggling to finish it because it really just sounds like a guy going crazy, but he had to be right about some things. Reading this book makes me lose sight of reality, but the wilder it gets, the more I am hooked. I have to know how everything unfolds.

CG: Right now, a generation of artists who acknowledge Drain Gang as core influences are breaking through. How does it feel to witness that?

TD: Of course you want to make something that motivates and inspires people, whether it’s your goal or your focus at all. That’s how I create—because I was inspired or motivated by others. To hear it in person, I don’t have a perfect reaction. I think it’s hard to show the right amount of appreciation to someone who has traveled very far just to give you a compliment.

CG: I was thinking less about bedroom producers and more about the ones who are breaking into the mainstream quite quickly, like Nettspend.

TD: I don’t know who that is.

CG: Is there anything else you want to say about DYR before I let you return to The Red Book?

TD: I want to say to all of my English and non-Swedish language fans that I will take on the task of making an electronic album in English as Thaiboy. I know this DJ Billybool album will be very special for Swedish-speaking people, but I really like challenges—so I will do this.

CG: Are you sure you want to make that statement publicly? Your fans are infamously… devoted. They will hold you to this for the rest of your life.

TD: You’re right, but I love that they are that way! I think some of them should read more Carl Jung, though.