Interview with Yellow Monster’s Jae-Hyuck Choi
Back in July I was searching through the internet, like I usually do for Korean rock and stumbled upon the album Yellow Monsters by The Yellow Monsters. I took one listen to it, and fell in love.
That seems to be the general consensus when most people listen to the album, actually. They had me at Destruction, the album’s first song. It’s a hard rock song, with punk undertones, that hooks you into the album with their hard-hitting sounds and vocal harmonies.
The first single off of the album, to which there is a video is titled Late and has a great up-beat punk feel to it, along with great vocals. The three members of the band have extensive experience in the music scene, each is actually currently part of two or more bands. I think their previous experiences contributed greatly to their success, and strength on Yellow Monsters, not to mention how fast they were able to put it together.
This type of rock is one of my favorites, it’s got a great beat, good flow and they don’t scream through the entire album like some of the harder rock bands. The Yellow Monsters is comprised of Yong-Won Lee on vocals and guitar, Jin-Young Han on bass and vocals as well, and Jae-Hyuck Choi rounding things out on drums and vocals.
It is so true that album is so good!
And omg drummer-sshii is so cute!
Why do you think companies like JYP consider boy bands and girl groups a better investment than promoting rock bands like Yellow Monsters?
Easy to sell? I mean boy- and girlgroups are so easy to market. The music is pretty shallow, they look good. It doesn't require you to think that much. You hear the song, bump along to the beat and that is about it.
But I think it laso has a whole lot to do with he society, they have grown accustomed to it being like this (the idols) and don't question it. The music must come with a package, a pretty smile a funny personality. If not it doesn't sell. Which is a bit sad because then groups like the Yellow Monsters don't get the exposure they should be getting.
Then again I'm not really sure, need to ask a Korean that has knowledge of it.
But they can do a pop-punk pop-rock package too! They could, instead of finding 6 pretty boys who can sync dance, they could get 5 that can play an instrument each ;P – not meaning to be demeaning here, but you could have a pop punk wave sweeping Korea, very much like the early 2000s in America. It's like, it doesn't have to only be sync nicely packaged pop.
There are more commercial bands too. I would say that some of the ones that I've even posted on my site are a little more pop-rock and they been used a little more in things like anime openings and such. I know that Guyz are one such band they got a little exposure with their last single and were on some of the weekly music shows as well. They're one of my favorites, and maybe my pre-established love of pop music is why I'm sometimes more instantly in love with some of the more light/pop rock bands than the hard core ones. Some of the bands like Swimming Fish, Guyz,, No Brain, and others all get exposure with collaborations or for being on soundtracks. A perfect example of a pop-rock band that SM actually DID invest in is The Trax. They're sound has changed significantly over the years and they've become a lot more pop than rock recently. No Min-Woo leaving the group was probably a contributing factor in their sound change, as well as probably SM wanting to get more attention/ commercial appeal for the band.
I always thought the fact that Seo Taiji did R&B, rap, Nu Metal, and a mix of everything with pop was awesome. Talking about that… my Seo Taiji Symphony DVD set hasn't arrive yet! WTH!
I'm just surprised groups like Korean-type Panic at the Disco, or My Chemical Romance, or Simple Plan and all the other punk pop groups that came out a while ago aren't more mainstream.
I'd be even surprise to find an Avril-Lavigne like in the K-music industry. :\
I'll tell ya one thing, I want more idols like Daesung to be successful… doing more Korean trot numbers! LOL That'll add variety to the market ;P