When most people think of Korean music, names like Big Bang or Rain come to mind. The music here seems to be mostly known for the glitz and glamour of its pop superstars who are taking over Asia and slowly edging into the mainstream American scene.
What most people don’t know, is there is more than just pop, hip-hop and ballads in Korea. While the music market is mostly aimed at the pop-loving masses, there is also a thriving underground rock scene, struggling to prove its worth.
And this has long been the strife of indie band Phonebooth. The five-member group started off as a cover band when four of its members- front man Kwang-sun Hwang, guitarist Tae-woo Kim, guitarist Sang-min Lee and bass player Han Park- were in high school. Then gradually, they added a fifth- drummer Min-suk Choi- and began writing their own music and lyrics.
“After we graduated, we decided we wanted to do music professionally,” said Tae-woo, who does translation for the group’s lyrics for their English songs. All members tend to share the responsibility of writing equally.
“We simply want to be rock stars and change the world with music,” said Kwang-sun.
But it’s been an uphill battle for the group. With a somewhat small target audience, Phonebooth often feels that if they want to fully achieve their dream of being a successful rock band, they’ll have to do it somewhere besides Korea.
“We can’t ignore this scene and market. We have to be our best here,” Tae-woo said. “But we don’t want to stay here, since Hongdae is the only place we can play.” He said they someday hope to go to Seattle, the hometown of many of their favorite bands, for their American debut.
But fortunately for Phonebooth, a high-energy rock band with memorable tunes and a charismatic front man who never puts on a boring show, the rock scene is slowly growing in Hongdae, a popular area of Seoul known for its thriving art, shopping, club and underground music scenes.
Tae-woo said rock is becoming more popular, despite Korea lacking the long history of rock that the US and UK possess. However, he says that sometimes it’s “three-steps forward and two steps back.”
But they have been able to snag a couple of television performances, as well as several radio interviews and spots at university festivals, which often look for pop performers such as After School and Brown Eyed Girls.
In the band’s beginning, Tae-woo and Kwang-sun said they listened to all different types of music to determine what they wanted their sound to be.
“We listened to everything except bad music,” Tae-woo said with a laugh. “No hip-hop.”
Their early work was reminiscent of Oasis and 60s rock, but as the years passed and the group matured in their writing, their music began taking on a sound and message all its own.
Phonebooth sings about everything from rocking the night away in “Rock Me Tonight” to the inspiration of taking every opportunity in “Got A Chance”. However, one of their message-heavy songs is “Time is Over” which vents the groups’ frustration over the mandatory two-year military service that all men in Korea must serve.
It is a fear that most young music groups in Korea face, and often proves to be the end of many aspiring musicians.
“We worry about our two-year break,” said Kwang-sun, “But after, we can still make music.”
The system of military service is something that Tae-woo said many Korean men don’t want to do, but they have to, so the group will deal with it when it comes.
In the meantime, they are working hard on their second album after releasing their first “The Way to Live On” in February 2009. Recording finishes up this month and they hope to release it and their second music video before their military service next year.
They have played in several rock festivals around Asia and even toured Japan, but they hope to hit up either Pentaport or Jisan Rock Festival, the two largest rock festivals in Korea this coming summer.
Phonebooth has big dreams for the future, and with luck, hopefully they’ll come true.
“We want to do a world tour and go to the UK, America, Japan and all over,” said Kwang-sun.
The band hopes to eventually release their albums worldwide, but for now they say they will continue doing their best in Korea.
To listen to Phonebooth’s music and learn more about them, visit their Myspace page at www.myspace.com/Phonebooth or for those who are Korean savvy, check out their Cyworld at http://club.cyworld.com/phonebooth.
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