The Kosmics

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Tichachati.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the band, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Most people call me Tish (shorter version of my last name), or just my last name.

I was born to Peter Tichachati and Ubol Tichachati, both originally from Thailand. My mom and father both met in Thai Town in Hollywood and soon got married and had their one and only child, me. I can speak all about my childhood and family troubles for days, but that’s a whole different side and story that I’ll include some other time.

Growing up, I always dreamed of being in a fantasy land that I created in my head or a main character of some fictional, action-packed movie. Truth be told, I just loved being the center of attention. Most of it was due to just me feeling like I never belonged, whether it be the four years old preschool Tish or the 17-year-old high school boy, I just wanted to be noticed and respected for something “Great”. I don’t like throwing the word “Great” around as if it were just part of an every day vocabulary and how I felt about what I loved or liked. I think being “Great” is going for what everyone around you deems impossible, so much to the fact you want to prove them all wrong.

Yes… prove everybody wrong. Those words sufficed daily as I got older. I never knew exactly what I wanted to be, but I knew what I wanted. As I got into my preteens, I realized that my life could go nowhere and I can swing by with that college degree and get some job that would make me resent life and the people around me… but I knew that wouldn’t happen.

Stereotypically, Asian families are strict, and that’s no to say mine are different. One of the qualities I’m blessed with, however, is stubbornness. I was always getting into trouble and making my family ashamed. My uncles and aunts raised me more than my actual parents, but they were always hard on me and obviously for the best reasons. They came to America to start a family and have a better life. Their dream was to see my cousins and I succeed and get nice jobs and a nice house.

Maybe to my cousins that was satisfying, but that’s not what I wanted. I realized riding on the backseat of someone else’s dream makes you want them to pull over so you could get off and walk the rest of the way to wherever the hell they are NOT going.

School was fine, I cheated a lot on tests and did homework last minute. I didn’t care about it, and I still don’t to this day. The only reason I thank school is for meeting amazing teachers and friends. I didn’t care about what I was doing to get there, I just wanted to make sure I passed so I didn’t hear my family bitch.

Up until this point I never mentioned anything about music, but yes, it was always there. That rock and roll, whether it be from The Beatles to some modern band like Linkin Park or the Strokes, rock element always compressed my anger or sadness. Loneliness strikes often, so I relied on my ears to harness a melody and lyrics and my imagination to take me into bliss. That’s what it always did. However, I never imagined myself in a music video or being a part of the song’s story. I imagined myself singing that song, and thousands of people singing back to me.

I finally picked up the guitar and thought I wanted to be an amazing guitarist. Listening to music with guitar always made me imagine myself playing to whichever artist I was listening to, as well as being the singer. I never pictured myself playing solos or super extreme intricate guitar parts, just strumming the right chords and having some lead guitarist next to me and the other band members accompanying whatever song I’d play. I then attended Berklee College of Music in Boston to study guitar. I wrote my first songs when I was 18 in the dorm rooms on a street called 270 Commonwealth, and I remember being shy to show people something I wrote, but the response was always great. People were impressed with my lyricism and melody, realizing I had a voice and not only my literal vocals but an emotion or feeling attached to any song I sang. I then realized I didn’t care about the guitar, I wanted to write songs, and that’s exactly what I did.

I ended up leaving Berklee after one year. I came back to LA and regrouped with my old friend Mikey (the drummer), to finish what I had started years ago in high school… The Kosmics.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Smooth roads and easy living is a plan for a boring life (which is totally acceptable). Obviously, there are many obstacles we all faced individually as a band, whether it be with each other or personal matters, this is strictly my point of view, Anthony Tichachati.

I’m the same as every other person who has a shitty relationship with their parents, a stubborn kid who didn’t care about school and got himself in trouble, and a person who takes everything personally because I’ll admit, I love being the center of attention.

There comes times where my ego gets in my way, and I convince myself I don’t need anyone, but after the next day, I just get so sentimental about the past or the way life used to be at some point in my life. I miss a lot of people, I say that with confidence. So many adults and “wise” people like to spit bullshit on me, “You’ll only have less than 5 good friends in your life”, or some crap like that, to lose confidence in relationships and worry about myself, but truth of the matter is I’ve met so many, and I mean SO MANY people who I can call family. I won’t be so specific about each person because there’s too many to count and name, and I would feel bad for leaving one out because I just forgot, so I’ll sum it up by saying I really miss people. I guess being an only child makes you rely on people who aren’t blood relatives to become what a brother or sister should be, and I’ve been allowed that chance in this life.

Half the time I’m stuck in my dream where my head plays a vision of my band and I selling out stadiums, making millions and already famous, so much that I don’t realize I still have to work for that dream (which I do), The other half is doubts and wonder. I love music, but there’s a lot of times where I hate music, in fact, there’s times where life is boring and nothing is satisfying.

I could never focus on the present. It’s always the past or a hope in the future. The present doesn’t exist in my head, or I’m just too hard-headed to admit to what tomorrow or today could bring. It really just makes me want to be a recluse and leave everything. Hide from everyone I know and hope all my friends and family forget my name. I’m still figuring out what is pointless and what matters.

We’d love to hear more about the band.
We are an indie rock band from Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley Area (626). There’s really nothing else that’s different we can say about us from other bands. I’m sure other bands practice just as hard, are doing everything in their best interest to try and make it, or are just having a good time.

The only way to really be relevant these days in rock music is songwriting. I’m the lead songwriter of my band, and I’m confident in my lyricism and melodies to differentiate from the other bands around us. I’ve not a lot to say about us in general, because speaking for my own band is like telling everyone my product’s the best because I made it.

I can’t take too much pride in what I make, so I’d have to let you judge the music.

What were you like growing up?
I grew up an only child. I was (and when I say was, I still most likely am) stubborn, talkative, weird, loud, rude, ignorant, sad, Jesus Christ I was every emotion.

It’s funny to say I remember almost everything from 3 years old – 21 (I just turned 21 on April 30, 2019, so wish me a happy birthday). I loved talking. I always wanted to talk to people and get to know them. I dreamed so much about my future. I dreamed so much about being important and making such a difference. I had many scenarios in my head about how I’d get there, whether it be being a famous comedian, an actor, or even going to the army (I played so many shooter games as a kid), so I always had thoughts about becoming someone Great.

I definitely got made fun of a lot, always humiliated and ashamed. I remember I used to be so ashamed of my last name “Tichachati”, so from Kindergarten to 8th grade, I just hated hearing my last name because people would butcher it, but finally when I was in high school (I went to an amazing All Boy School), everyone just called me by my last name. So much that it really made me appreciate how original and cool it sounded, and now I tell everyone to call me by last name than my first.

My high school years were made of me discovering myself, but finally settling in the fact I didn’t want to be anything engineer related or nursing related, so I decided to choose the art route and see where life takes me from there. - VOYAGE LA