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| Rain Dogs: A Splendid Kind of 'Stranded' |
| UPDATE : 28 December 2009 |
Youthapong Charoenpan
Tucked away down a dead-end street, Rain Dogs is actually pretty easy to miss unless you happen to be 'in the know'.
Run by and for local and expatriate artists, photographers, and journalists, Rain Dogs has a refreshingly edgy feel about it. On the surface, it looks like an old, unassuming, two-story residence, but there's actually a small gallery located on the second floor, while there's plenty of room inside, as well as an open air area on the ground floor.
Check ahead
Since it can be fairly empty on days when there is no music event scheduled, it's always worth calling the venue before setting out. In terms of music, electronica, garage, grunge and house are popular genres, while hip hop fans may find their tastes better served elsewhere.
A night out at Rain Dogs can also be reasonably affordable since admission for most events is just 200 baht, while alcoholic drinks start from 100 baht.
I visited the venue to mark the first anniversary of Kaos, a regular club run by DJ Bradley Kaos (read more), a well known 'face' on the Bangkok party scene who tends to favor electronica when it comes to his setlist. But it's not just that music that attracts a crowd to Kaos' events, as the flamboyant DJ is renowned for luring a colorful crowd, eager to dress to the nines in various kinds of interesting attire.
I'm really not too sure about the origins of the bar's name. Literally speaking, a rain dog is a dog that gets caught in the rain, the scent of its trail washed away in the downpour, leaving it to try and find its way home with very few clues. In other words, it's a stranded creature, which wants nothing more than to find its way home.
Another meaning refers to people who live on the streets; homeless people living in doorways, or loners knit together through some corporeal way of sharing their pain and discomfort.
The term is used by the legendary American songwriter and singer Tom Waits on his album of the same name.
Inside a broken clock
Splashing the wine with all the rain dogs
Taxi? We’d rather walk
Huddle in a doorway with the rain dogs
For I'm a rain dog, too.
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
Whether it's playing the role of a bar at night, or a gallery by day, Rain Dogs tends to be a meeting place for some of the city's more interesting characters. They may visit because they have a shared passion for music, or they may be in search of a bit of glamor, which the dressier nighttime crowd are more likely to deliver.
Birds of a feather
It's not really 'loners' who visit Rain Dogs, though – many of the bar's customers simply don't want to go home too early and are aware that they'll find other folks here with a similar mindset. If anything, Rain Dogs can seem a little bit scruffy and the little garden located at the entrance seems rather decadent, in my personal opinion – otherwise, it really does provide a nice informal setting for a night out overall.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Rain Dogs is my favorite bar and music venue in downtown Bangkok. While some folks suggest it is frequented by people who have 'an attitude', I'd suggest that conclusion is wide of the mark. It's certainly a Bohemian-style hangout, which has a homely atmoshere with an independent streak and it's that aspect that ensures its customers are free to express themselves – completely openly.
As I head out of Rain Dogs at 2 am, I hail a taxi and head home after another night to remember. But I won't bid the place farewell, as I know I'll likely be paying Rain Dogs another visit again in the not too distant future.
For further information, call Tel: +66 (0)81 720 6989, or +66 (0)81 720 6979.
Transport connections:
The address of Rain Dogs is 16 Soi Phraya Phiren, off Soi Sawan Sawat, off Phra Ram IV (Rama IV Road).
Train: Take Exit 1 at Klong Toei MRT subway station and cross the road under the expressway. Turn left down a small soi ('lane') on your left, and you will arrive to Rain Dogs.
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