From classroom to moshpit, from late-night YouTube deep dives into ’90s hardcore to forming one of Saigon’s most promising young punk bands, happyco. are turning everyday boredom into raw energy.
Formed by a group of high school friends who met at local shows and bonded over the sound of Turnstile, The Strokes, and My Chemical Romance, happyco. brings a rare kind of sincerity to Vietnam’s fast-evolving punk/hardcore scene. Their debut EP, entirely self-recorded and mixed, carries the charm of imperfection and the fire of discovery, both musical and personal.
We sat down with the full crew — Thịnh, Tè, Tấn Đức, and Trúc — to talk about their origins, their unlikely influences, the Vietnamese scene, and the small victories that come from doing things your own way.
From School Halls to Show Floors
Ethos:
Explain why you named your band happyco. ?
happyco.:
(Thịnh) Well, I used to work a part-time job in an office building, and every day, I saw people clock in and clock out. Pretty boring and, depressive. So I wanted to form a band in a set direction. So we named our band Happy Company to give some kind of corporate feeling, but coming from positive emotions.
(Tấn Đức) That name comes from our university life. We were just students going through the university, not knowing if we would work for some companies or not. So we made our own company.
(Tè) Also, company means friends. And that’s what we are first and foremost.
E:
How did you guys meet each other?
HC:
(Thịnh) We went to the same high school.
E:
Public schools here have thousands of kids. How did you get to a point of “Ohh these guys are cool, I want to hand with them?”
HC:
(Tè) It started with me. Tấn Đức and me were in classes next to each other. So, we kind of knew each other. Then with Thịnh, I went to a Bloody Sunday show. I posted a story on Instagram and he saw the story and asked me if I want to go with him to one of the shows later. Me and Tấn Đức already shared the same music taste at that point so I invited him too. So we basically met at the shows and were all hyped about the music and we decided to start a band.
E:
Did any of you know how to play an instrument before you started hanging together?
HC:
(Thịnh) Back in 2017, I started picking up the guitar and almost immediately wanted to play punk. And I wanted to form a band, but I got no one to form a band with. So, I was listening to a lot of punk songs, and when this guy (TèTè) told me about heavy punk and hardcore shows, I just went to the show with him to learn.
(Tè) Around the same time, I started getting into bass. So it was the right time for us to start a band.
(Thịnh) When we started, I could only play some chords. We didn’t have any musical background.
(Tấn Đức) I bought a guitar a week before we started the band! (hahaha)
Discovering Punk Through the Past
E:
This brings us to the next question: What’s your music background? Not necessary playing experience, more your listening one?
HC:
(Tấn Đức) For me, it was my dad. When I was in secondary school, he played some Scorpions songs for me. When I heard the guitar solos in the song called “Still Loving You,” I fell in love with that guitar sound. In Vietnam, acoustic guitars are more popular than electric guitars. So at that time, I just discovered something new. Then in my high school, I started listening a lot of Queen, My Chemical Romance, after my EDM phase (hahaha). Once I was in the university, I decided to buy a guitar.
(Thịnh) I always had an old guitar in my attic. One day I just decided to restring it and play some music. I was playing some punk songs on that acoustic guitar and that’s what eventually got me into heavy music.
(Tè) When I was very young, I listened to nu metal. I was influenced by my older brother. Later on, I listened to EDM, also rap and everything in between. And there was this “sister” in my high school, and she invited me to a hardcore show. I didn’t remember exactly what it was. It all started from there and I kept going to the shows and I invited all these guys to join. I also remember I was idolizing Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers.
E:
When did you start showing interest in this kind of music?
HC:
(Thịnh) I was watching a TV show called “Gia đình tài tử” it was basically a band battle show. That’s what got me into playing in the band. I remember Monocycle was in that show. They are a pretty big band nowadays.
(Tấn Đức) For me it was My Chemical Romance. I saw one of their live videos and I went “Wow, that’s so cool! I want to be that guy, the guitarist of MCR.
(Tè) For me it was Turnstile’s show here in Vietnam. After that show I was really inspired with their energy. I started slitening to more similar bands and was inspired to start our own.
Finding Their Own Sound
E:
Your sound is very different from other local hardcore/punk bands. Most young bands are leaning more to the metal side of hardcore, quite heavy and aggressive. You, on the other hand, sound more “dated”, leaning towards the ‘80s or ‘90s hardcore. How did you land on this sound? Was it a research and a deep dive into that older scene, or did it somehow develop as you were making music?
HC:
(Thịnh) We were a bit different when we started compared to how do we sound today. My main inspiration back when we first started were rock bands like The Strokes. Very different from what we’re playing now. That has a bit of influence in our sound most definitely.
(Tè) We started as a cover band. We played The Strokes mixed with Turnstile and some Artic Monkeys as well. So we covered a lot of genres. All of that mixed into our own sound.
E:
What was your favorite cover to play back then?
HC:
(Tấn Đức) “Real Thing” by Turnstile because every time we played it people would go crazy.
E:
Is there a Vietnamese band that influenced you in any way?
HC:
(Trúc) Gỗ Lim an all-female punk-rock band from Ha Noi. Unfortunately, they’re not around anymore due to the passing of their vocalist. One of their guitarists (Trang Chuối) became a bassist of Windrunner.
(Thịnh) One of my favorite Vietnamese bands is Quái Vật Tí Hon, an indie band. Very solid, you should definitely check them out.
E:
Since you do this differently from your peers in the scene, do you ever feel “pressured” to change or adapt to be more in line with what the rest is doing?
HC:
(Tấn Đức) I don’t really care. We maybe are a bit “softer” than the rest of the scene, but that’s the style we choose for ourselves, that’s the sound we love, and we are sticking to it.
(Thịnh) To be frank, we’ve always been sticking out of the group and I love we’re different. We are aware of how different we are but we embrace it and we want to stay that way.
E:
What’s your writing process now that you’ve more or less defined your sound?
HC:
(Tè) One of us comes up with a riff and then Trúc and I come up with the rhythm parts. Lately, we go a bit deeper into our work so we don’t base everything around the riff. We try to find key moment and then work to improve it together, change some parts.
E:
How different is the original idea from the final product?
HC:
(Tè) Maybe some 40% from one to another.
(Thịnh) Most of the time I don’t have a clear picture of the final product. I just introduce the idea and we let it take us where it should be.
E:
You were the ones who mixed and did all the post-production on your current EP. With this experience and knowledge, do you look at your upcoming work from a different perspective? For example, you have better ideas how to write certain parts knowing how you’ll produce them later on.
HC:
(Thịnh) We have more experience now most definitely. But our work is mostly in the sphere of tone not so much writing-related. We know how we want our guitar to sound, what sort of tuning our drum should be in.
(Tè) We still like to keep it raw tho. Not to affect the way it sounds in a live setting.
E:
Have you considered doing a “on the floor” recording for one of your upcoming releases?
HC:
(Thịnh) We actually tried that before recording this EP. We tried to keep it as raw as possible and do it all in one take, but that didn’t go as we’ve expected. Several things didn’t really work for us.
(Tè) Basically, we suck! (hahaha)
(Tấn Đức) We rushed it in the studio. We didn’t really went into it with the right mindset. We just wanted to make it, so we went in the studio and we were done in four hours.
(Thịnh) Yeah, and we also tried to do it all with no metronome or anything, so it didn’t really sound great. That’s why we did it in a “traditional” way, one by one, tracking our instruments.
We may consider it for one of our next releases now that we know what we did wrong the first time. (hahaha)
Influence Beyond Sound
E:
Do any other art forms or media affect your writing?
HC:
(Thịnh) Yes, of course. For me personally, great inspiration is this anime called Fooly Cooly. The whole soundtrack to that anime is done by this band called The Pillows and music combined with the story and all was very inspirational for me.
(Tè) For me it was Scott Pilgrim VS The World. I love that movie and the music in it. Everything sounds pretty raw and it’s been quite inspiring. Our band’s logo was directly inspired by that movie. And it actually have similar vibe to Fooly Cooly. So they both shaped our direction in a way I’d say.
E:
Ok, let’s check what you’re listening to now. Can you share what artists are on your playlists at the moment?
HC:
(Tè) Mudwayne, Honeydip, and Cortis for me.
(Tấn Đức) Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Turnstile, Locked Shut and Pain of Truth.
(Trúc) The Night Thieves, Flawed Mangoes and 21 Pilots.
(Thịnh) The last thing I listened was Deftones “B-Sides & Rarities”
So, that we, we, can, peak a lot into the, final product we wanted. We want the guitar or that problem to sound this way or that way in.
Scene Talk and Solidarity
E:
What do you think are the biggest bottlenecks in the Vietnamese scene?
HC:
(Tấn Đức) Well, the first “issue” is our roots. Vietnamese prefer to listen to softer music. Like Bolero. This style was developed for a long time and it’s been around for a long time. So it’s a bit hard for an average listener to adjust to some heavier stuff and to have a clear understanding.
(Thịnh) I think, particularly in this scene, that we are lacking unity. Back in the day, there was only one big name, Hardcore Vietnam. Now we have several factions with different views and different goals. That’s okay, but if we are more unified, that would be better.
(Tè) The old Vietnamese rock and metal scene got lost. People “got over” that music in a way and stopped listening to it. And hardcore scene here is new. More and more people are getting into it but it’s still very hard to get attention or get into the mainstream media. Also, singing in Vietnamese can sometimes be a problem. It’s hard to make your voice sound right. I think it’s more suitable for melodic music like ballads or traditional music.
E:
Are there any bands from the local scene that you would like to collaborate with on the project?
HC:
(Tè) For me that’s 9xacly.
(Tấn Đức) I’d like to make a collab with our crew, called Minority Crew.
E: Can you tell us more about this Minority Crew?
HC:
(Thịnh) The crew is newly formed, just two months ago. The members of the crew is our band, Empathize, and Grudgebound.
E:
Since you’re dropping names; are there any local bands you’d like to recommend to our readers?
HC:
(Thịnh) Usually, when people ask me for a recommendation for some heavier band my first go-to bands are Cút Lộn and 9xacly.
(Tè) I’d add 9xacly.
(Tấn Đức) Quái Vật Tí Hon
(Trúc) Gỗ Lim, The new band of Vui Qua (Cút Lộn & 9xacly), RUOK.
Five-Year Plan
E:
Since you’re a company, here’s one very corporate question – where do you see yourselves in five years from now?
HC:
(Thịnh) I would love to see us touring abroad and constantly releasing new music. In general, our name needs to get bigger.
(Tè) It would be great if we could tour the US. That’s sort of a dream of mine. But in next five years it would be great if we could tour the whole of Vietnam and make our name known to everyone. Stay indie but more recognized.
(Tấn Đức) Since the US is our “far dream,” I’d be happy if we could get on tour with a Korean band called Slant.
(Thịnh) In a closer future, as we mentioned, we started this new crew recently. The plan is to work with these bands on different projects – releases, song collabs and shows. New merch is coming soon and we’ll make a video for one of the new songs for sure.
E:
Final question, same as for every guest – What’s your advice for the up-and-coming artists/musicians?
HC:
(Tấn Đức) I think the most important part of forming a band is that you find someone you can stick with, not just to play music with, but to be able to sit and talk and feel relaxed.
(Tè) Finding a good drummer! (hahaha) It’s pretty hard to find any drummers, but finding a GOOD one is very very hard. It’s important to stay open-minded for different genres and art forms – photography, movies, whatever ticks for you.
(Thịnh) I agree with Tấn Đức, you have to find someone you understand and can work with with ease. People need to share the same vision. It should not feel like you’re working, but we share the feeling of creativity.
Another thing is to stay focused and dedicated to what you’re doing. Learn more about your instrument, listen to a lot of music, and get inspired.
(Trúc) Also, finding someone with the same or similar mindset and lifestyle to your own. It’s easier moving forward.
There’s something refreshing about happyco. The band that doesn’t try to be heavier, faster, or louder than everyone else. Instead, they’re carving their lane with honesty, friendship, and curiosity. In a scene obsessed with intensity, they remind us that punk’s real power still lies in connection and a little bit of noise between friends.
