Apollo 18
(by Dawn Reed) On a recent Scene Trek, we covered the flourishing underground rock scene of Seoul Korea via the Hongdae district. And in those clubs was where experimental rockers Apollo 18 had their first gig in 2008, before blowing up and touring North America with proper showcases at SxSW, a discography of insanely awesome noise that continues to grow, and recently crowned MTV Iggy's Artist of the Week! These dudes are amazing, and we hope that they tour the states again soon. In the meantime, we got a hold of Kim Dae-inn (bassist,) Choi Hyun-seok (guitar,) and Lee Sang-yun (drummer) who filled us in on cops breaking up SxSW parties, Korean beer, and playing on the moon. One day,... one day.
So what's the story behind your band's name? Are you fans of the space program or perhaps the video game from the 80's of the same name?
Sang-yun: Dae-inn chose the name kind of by accident. Hyun-seok was wearing a T-shirt that said “Aloha ‘76” on it. Dae-inn misread it and thought the T-shirt said “Apollo 18.” He thought that would be a really good band name. He suggested it to me and Hyun-seok and we said any name was fine with us.
In early 2011, you toured North America for the first time. What was your most memorable experience or performance while on the road there?
Hyun-seok: All of the gigs on that tour were memorable for different reasons. We played 16 gigs in the United States in 13 days so that tour was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun too. We had so many great experiences while we were there. We were exhausted before our official SXSW showcase as we hadn’t slept in like three days because of the jet lag. I took a really short nap in our tour van before we went on and then we started downing cans of Red Bull. Our U.S. tour manager was really worried about us being too tired. When it came time to play, though, we felt alive and full of energy. I started shaking my guitar above my head and then Dae-inn and I jumped in the air as our opening song began. There’s a video of it on YouTube and you can hear our tour manager shouting “F#cking right!” in the background. That gig was a lot of fun to play.
So what's the story behind your band's name? Are you fans of the space program or perhaps the video game from the 80's of the same name?
Sang-yun: Dae-inn chose the name kind of by accident. Hyun-seok was wearing a T-shirt that said “Aloha ‘76” on it. Dae-inn misread it and thought the T-shirt said “Apollo 18.” He thought that would be a really good band name. He suggested it to me and Hyun-seok and we said any name was fine with us.
In early 2011, you toured North America for the first time. What was your most memorable experience or performance while on the road there?
Hyun-seok: All of the gigs on that tour were memorable for different reasons. We played 16 gigs in the United States in 13 days so that tour was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun too. We had so many great experiences while we were there. We were exhausted before our official SXSW showcase as we hadn’t slept in like three days because of the jet lag. I took a really short nap in our tour van before we went on and then we started downing cans of Red Bull. Our U.S. tour manager was really worried about us being too tired. When it came time to play, though, we felt alive and full of energy. I started shaking my guitar above my head and then Dae-inn and I jumped in the air as our opening song began. There’s a video of it on YouTube and you can hear our tour manager shouting “F#cking right!” in the background. That gig was a lot of fun to play.
We played a daytime party in a backyard during SXSW too. Just as we finished our set, the police showed up because the neighbors had complained about us playing too loud. That felt really rock ‘n’ roll to us! While we were playing, our tour manager told the party organizer that we were trying hard to be quiet. She laughed and said, “This is them trying to be quiet?”
After our concert in Tulsa, Oklahoma we were hanging out and drinking with the owner of the club. He was telling us these great stories about bands that had played there in the past. When it was time to leave, only us, the owner, and the bartender were still there. We thanked the bartender and she told us we were a great band and then pulled down her top and flashed her breasts to us. We were really surprised by this and didn’t know what to say!
After our concert in Tulsa, Oklahoma we were hanging out and drinking with the owner of the club. He was telling us these great stories about bands that had played there in the past. When it was time to leave, only us, the owner, and the bartender were still there. We thanked the bartender and she told us we were a great band and then pulled down her top and flashed her breasts to us. We were really surprised by this and didn’t know what to say!
Club Spot in Hongdae
The Hongdae clubs seem to be a place where indie rock thrives in South Korea (at least according to the internet.) Would you say it's still that way?
Dae-inn: There are small scenes in some other cities, but Seoul’s Hongdae district is where most of South Korea’s indie rock can be found. We played our first live gig together as Apollo 18 at a place called Club Spot in Hongdae.
What was the key moment in your life when you were like "I'm going to be a musician" ?
Dae-inn: That’s a hard question to answer. I don’t know if there was a “key moment.” We all started playing music in our teens. We first learned how to play other people’s music (as most people do) and then from there started coming up with ideas to make our own songs. I started to learn how to play guitar after watching a live video of Nirvana. I thought Kurt Cobain looked so cool onstage and I wanted to play guitar like him. I only began playing bass when we started Apollo 18.
Dae-inn: There are small scenes in some other cities, but Seoul’s Hongdae district is where most of South Korea’s indie rock can be found. We played our first live gig together as Apollo 18 at a place called Club Spot in Hongdae.
What was the key moment in your life when you were like "I'm going to be a musician" ?
Dae-inn: That’s a hard question to answer. I don’t know if there was a “key moment.” We all started playing music in our teens. We first learned how to play other people’s music (as most people do) and then from there started coming up with ideas to make our own songs. I started to learn how to play guitar after watching a live video of Nirvana. I thought Kurt Cobain looked so cool onstage and I wanted to play guitar like him. I only began playing bass when we started Apollo 18.
Apollo 18
Hyun-seok: A video made me want to learn how to play guitar too. It wasn’t a Nirvana video, though. Instead it was a video of Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman. I thought the things he did on the video were amazing and after watching it I wanted to start playing guitar.
Sang-yun: Watching a street performer playing drums on a TV program made me want to learn how to play drums. He looked so cool and I felt really inspired after watching the TV segment on him.
What or who influenced you musically?
Dae-inn: All members of the band have very different tastes in music. Collectively we really like rock, hardcore, metal, grunge, post-rock, funk, blues, electronica, jazz, psychedelic music, and even a bit of pop music too. When we started to play together as Apollo 18, Hyun-seok said we should try to make music that mixed together all the styles of music that we each love.
Hyun-seok: So many things have an influence on us and the music we make. We’re inspired by everything we see and do, along with music, films, friends, and good beer. Korean beer isn’t very good, so I definitely feel inspired whenever we have tasty beer from other countries too drink!
Sang-yun: Watching a street performer playing drums on a TV program made me want to learn how to play drums. He looked so cool and I felt really inspired after watching the TV segment on him.
What or who influenced you musically?
Dae-inn: All members of the band have very different tastes in music. Collectively we really like rock, hardcore, metal, grunge, post-rock, funk, blues, electronica, jazz, psychedelic music, and even a bit of pop music too. When we started to play together as Apollo 18, Hyun-seok said we should try to make music that mixed together all the styles of music that we each love.
Hyun-seok: So many things have an influence on us and the music we make. We’re inspired by everything we see and do, along with music, films, friends, and good beer. Korean beer isn’t very good, so I definitely feel inspired whenever we have tasty beer from other countries too drink!
Black (LP)
So currently you have 3 amazing EPs (Red, Violet, Black) and a completely rad LP Blue. How would you compare these to each other?
Hyun-seok: “Red” has more of a post-rock influence. “Blue” features harder, more experimental rock music. All the songs on “Violet” are instrumental and the music on the EP is a mix of different styles. “Black” features some post-rock and post-hardcore stuff. It also features the softest song, “Mur,” that we’ve made as a band.
Speaking of your latest release Black, gotta be honest, I can't stop playing it! One of my favorite tracks is "Corpse Flower." What was the inspiration behind it?
Dae-inn: Thanks! All of our songs are created by jamming together in our practice space. We just play together and see what comes from it. If something sounds good, we keep playing it. If it doesn’t we try something else. Things happen pretty naturally when we work on new music together. Nothing is planned out beforehand. If a track has vocals on it, it’s because Hyun-seok and I wanted to sing or scream something. If a track is instrumental, it’s because we didn’t feel like singing or screaming while we were jamming on it.
Any upcoming tours or more albums in production? How about a music video?
Sang-yun: We made music videos for the songs “Orbis” and “Iridescent Clouds” from 2009’s “[0] / The Blue Album.” “Orbis” stars a very talented bellydancer named Eshe. Eshe is from Canada originally, but lives in Seoul now. She’s a very good friend of ours and has performed live with us several times. It’s always a special treat to collaborate live with her.
Hyun-seok: “Red” has more of a post-rock influence. “Blue” features harder, more experimental rock music. All the songs on “Violet” are instrumental and the music on the EP is a mix of different styles. “Black” features some post-rock and post-hardcore stuff. It also features the softest song, “Mur,” that we’ve made as a band.
Speaking of your latest release Black, gotta be honest, I can't stop playing it! One of my favorite tracks is "Corpse Flower." What was the inspiration behind it?
Dae-inn: Thanks! All of our songs are created by jamming together in our practice space. We just play together and see what comes from it. If something sounds good, we keep playing it. If it doesn’t we try something else. Things happen pretty naturally when we work on new music together. Nothing is planned out beforehand. If a track has vocals on it, it’s because Hyun-seok and I wanted to sing or scream something. If a track is instrumental, it’s because we didn’t feel like singing or screaming while we were jamming on it.
Any upcoming tours or more albums in production? How about a music video?
Sang-yun: We made music videos for the songs “Orbis” and “Iridescent Clouds” from 2009’s “[0] / The Blue Album.” “Orbis” stars a very talented bellydancer named Eshe. Eshe is from Canada originally, but lives in Seoul now. She’s a very good friend of ours and has performed live with us several times. It’s always a special treat to collaborate live with her.
Hyun-seok: We’re starting to write music for our next album now. We hope to record it maybe in May and would like to release it in June or July. While we are working on our new album, we don’t plan on playing many gigs. We do have two shows scheduled, though. One will happen on April 14 in a Korean city called Cheonan at a venue named Club Dolce. The other will be an opening slot for acclaimed American indie act Blonde Redhead during their Seoul gig at AX-Korea on May 4. When our album is released, we’d like to tour more in Korea and try to do some overseas dates as well.
Apollo 18
What's your ultimate goal as a band? Gig on the moon?
Dae-inn: I’m really into outer space stuff so I’d love to play on the moon one day! Our ultimate goal is to just keep playing music together forever. We’re all really close friends and think of each other like brothers. We have really good chemistry together and want to keep developing that.
And finally, I always like to find out- what bands are you currently listening to?
Hyun-seok: Right now I’m listening to the new “Torture” EP from Seoul hardcore band 13 Steps. They are one of the best hardcore bands in Korea and I’m a big fan of their music. Their vocalist, Dokyo, has done guest vocals on our song “Manic Depressive” at a few of our concerts. I’m also listening to Seoul band National Pigeon Unity’s new “Molotov Cocktail” digital single. It features a track remixed by Dae-inn. I’m looking forward to hearing the new EP from Seoul’s Juck Juck Grunzie too. The group plan to release it in late spring or early summer.
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