SMACKSOFT on SEOUL UNDERGROUND

I’ve been off the radar for nearly 5 months filming and editing the first (proper) episode of SEOUL UNDERGROUND, Stuart Reece’s project. Enjoy. Subscribe on VIMEO too.

Friday April 2nd WNS gig

Haiti Fundraising

IMPORTANT! Haiti fundraiser

Seoul 2 Haiti: Expat Musicians Rock For Haiti Relief

Start Time: Friday, February 5, 2010 at 9:00pm

End Time: Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 3:00am

Location: Rocky Mountain Tavern, Itaewon

Who: WE NEED SURGERY, LASSE LINDH, SOLITAIRE LOVE AFFAIR, and ROAD POP plus others…

For more detailed information, visit the link listed below.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=269302834857&ref=mf

Galaxy Express/Moonshiners/We Need Surgery/The Koxx – New Year Show

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! Freebird and FF battle it out for your New Year’s Eve attention. Club FF are putting up an impressive line up.

Galaxy Express – pure RAWK shouty AC/DC milkers

Moonshiners – sorry, no idea

We Need Surgery – New Wave/Interpol/Joy division-y, but with more keyboards and optimism

The Koxx – Brilliant new band with a lot of covers but a lot of potential.

Let's see. Amps - check, instruments - check, shirts...CHECK.

No idea which order they’ll be playing in (although chances are it’ll be more or less what’s here).

Dec 31st update:

According to Wassereis from the fantastic VIOLET SWEETS blog, DGDB‘s New Year’s Eve line-up includes Guckkasten, Serengeti, Kingston Rudieska, Telepathy and others; Club FF also has Phonebooth, Pony, 3rd Line Butterfly, huckleberry fin; Club Ta has Hi Mister Memory, Ynot, 불나방스타쏘세지크럽 and Playgirls etc.

Thanks for the info

Animal Dads – New Year’s Eve @ Freebird and Indie Shorts

Animal Dads - swinging into 2010

Dec 31st, 11:30pm: Animal Dads will be hosting the countdown to 2010 from the near-safety of the Freebird stage (details are between the woman’s legs), a gig which will no doubt see them playing some of their new songs. A mysterious band member, who has yet to reveal his identity, whispered this in a dark alley…via email:

“We have been writing a bunch of new stuff. Different, more comlex. Not as straight forward.  Gonna record a new ep in Januay…5-6 songs.  After we record we are gonna play as much as possible.”

On the subject of the newer members (see this post), this shadowy typer claims:

“New members have fit in perfectly …we have two new guys with different ways of doing things, different ideas.   We all have different tastes in music but we are all on the same page when it comes to writing new tunes.”

But that’s not all…these multiple pie fingerers are plunging their digits into other media crusts.

“We are trying to write music for a short film shot in korea that shoud be done at the begining of the new year. It’s very strange that someone asked us to do it – We aren’t the kinda band that should be putting music to an ‘indie flick’.”

The singer decides to demonstrate his new Flashlight Belt Buckle

It’s a shame they couldn’t have added their song “Wrecking Ball” to the rope-swinging torture scene in Casino Royale…

Used Cassette, Banco and We Need Surgery – Nightmare (poster) before Christmas

Naked man - check. Massive Phallic symbol - check. Sex Offender eyes - check. It must be Christmas at Freebird!

Foreign fellas WE NEED SURGERY play their last gig (before a special new year show) at FREEBIRD on 19th December. In keeping with the theme 0f the poster (see left), they’ve diddled the old songs to freshen ‘em up for the winter and spent ages grooming a new one to give you a Christmas present.

Others on the register bill are BANCO and USED CASESTTES - who don’t  have a myspace presence yet, so I can’t comment on their style.

Get yourselves down there for some Post Punk you can dance to.

We Need Surgery - avoiding phallic symbols.

Swede Needs Surgery – DECEMBER 12th @ FREEBIRD

FREEBIRD in Hongdae – DECEMBER 12th

Atmospheric New Wave reverb-ophiles  ON SPARROW HILL launch their new CD “The Sitting Choir” with a very special line up indeed.

Word on the street says Swedish singer Lasse Lindh will be making a special up-until-now secret appearance, playing a few songs solo and then backed by other Seoul-based foreign bodies WE NEED SURGERY .

We Need Surgery - in the middle of an alien abduction

Lasse Lindh - errr...they're quietly confident he'll make it to the gig

Plus – and only the greediest human would demand more than what’s already on the bill – Korean Pop Punk 3-piece Look & Listen is the cherry on the top.

W12,000 on the door gets you four – FOUR! – quality live acts, On Sparrow Hills CD and a drink – who could ask for more? In fact, if you did ask for more, I would deliberately spill your free drink to teach you a lesson, you ungrateful sod.

*to hear any of the bands mentioned, click on their name

Nov ’09 News: 토미 키다 – TOMI KITA’s new album

Tomi Kita: a man AND an album

More slashes than a stab victim, Korean/American/Singer/Songwriter Tomi Kita is a talented fella.

For nearly 15 years,  he’s straddled the perilous twin tightropes of writing in English and Korean without splitting his pants or shattering his pelvis.

His last Korean Album, “IN DREAMS“ came out a few years ago. He’s got a new album and this time around it’s an English one – simply titled “TOMIKITA” – as he explained to me today:

“I am currently getting ready to release my new English album internationally through iTunes and it will be available all over the world…not sure of the release date just yet, but…soon”

Can’t wait for the new stuff? Have a listen to some older songs on http://www.myspace.com/tomikitamusic

PONY reject video SHOCKER!

PONY had long been on my list of bands to make a video for. They’re genuinely good with an excellent CD (available in CD shops – if you can find a CD shop in Seoul, that is) and absolutely look the part.

I  played email tennis with them about making a video. After some initial interest, they recently responded with this bombshell:

Actually vocal’s girlfriend has already made the music video hehe. thx you for your interest for our band.

Argh – the pain of rejection! It’s like school all over again.

(However, it’s the first outright (video) rejection I’ve had – usually, I just get the silent treatment. So that’s one good thing, isn’t it….isn’t it!??)

Well, I still like the band and hope that one day they’ll want one of my videos.

Their current videos can be seen here and here (a teaser for the first album), plus the usual lo-fi montage kinda stuff here.