Korean Job Discussion Forums

[carelop]

hey everyone, im a heavy metal and hardcore enthusiast and am wondering how the heavy metal scene is in Seoul? does it exist? id love to hear some stories or maybe get some korean band recommendations. thanks a lot

[morrisonhotel]

What kind of hardcore? Minor Threat/Black Flag or more contemporary/heavy stuff (Converge, Cave In, Dillinger, Pig Destroyer, etc., etc.)? Either way, there doesn't seem to be much of a hardcore scene here. I know a couple of people in to similar music and they told me that it's rather sparse in terms of hardcore. If you're more in to grind, then I believe there's almost nothing out there. No idea about what the metal scene is like.

[anjinsan]

I've found that maybe one or two songs by various metal bands are known by a lot of people, but only those particular songs.
The tastes here seem to lag about 10 or 20 years behind the West. Example: Many folks know "Enter Sandman" and "Master of Puppets" but few could name other songs by Metallica. 80's heavy metal ballads are still popular here too (Ex.: Skid Row is still popular here, esp. "I Remember You" and "18 and Life"--see:
http://blog.naver.com/freecg?Redirect=Log&logNo=100093862660)

I've seen live bands (almost all 1st or 2nd year uni kids, before the guys go to the army) play one metal song (usually "Enter Sandman") then
play Abba's "Dancing Queen" then Clapton's "You Look Wonderful Tonight") Sorta weird, but very very common.

Slayer, Sepultura, Metallica, Slipknot, Linkin Park, Nine Inch Nails have all played here, but it all still hasn't sunk in.

As far as Korean metal, from my experience, it is mostly outsdated
80's type of stuff with the Malmstein solos and Flying V guitars.
Go to Nagwon Musical Instrument Market in downtown Seoul, and you'll find every guitar salesman playing Malmstein or E. VanHalen virtuoso solos. Sorta like a trip back in time.

[ZenMoto]

There are some very good metal bands playing around town... Check out RABIHEM sometime... They played last night in Itaewon and I know they play around town on occasion... They are pretty serious.

[soakitincider]

gotta drummer yet?

[Murakano]

Korean Live Metal Scene
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37580459246&ref=ts

Korean Metal
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2236355928&ref=ts

[carelop]

thanks everyone, this is all very helpful! I actually had a metal band in austin tx and would like to find people in seoul to continue the project. check out my songs on myspace.com/thebeneaththehowlingstars i would need 2 guitars 1 bass 1 drums and maybe a keyboard player, i recorded the songs so i also have tabs.

how are the venues btw? are there practice rooms at reasonable prices? thanks again guys

[redaxe]

There are a lot of hardcore bands in Hongdae.

The Geeks are far and away the best one, they're kind of old school straight edge youth crew hardcore: http://www.myspace.com/thexgeeks

Unleashed Anger also rules, they're more of a metalcore band: http://www.myspace.com/unleashedanger

And a lot of the less well-known youth crew hardcore bands are on a label called Town Hall Records: http://www.townhallrecords.net/main.htm

And if you're looking for scene info and underground music-related classifieds to buy instruments or find bandmates or whatever, here's a good site for that: http://brokeinkorea.proboards.com/index.cgi
also for a concert calendar go to http://www.koreagigguide.com/

[hockeyguy109]

You could check out Woodstock in Itaewan. They have lots of different bands. One time I saw a Slayer cover band. Lots of classic rock kind of stuff. Not a huge deal, but a pretty fun small venue to kick it. I recommend getting there around 10 on Friday and Saturday nights. Again, not GREAT but some of them are pretty good and its a lot of fun.

(On the same side of the road as Hamilton Hotel. If you are facing the hotel, walk right and its a few blocks away. Look way up high for a black sign with green writing that just says "Woodstock".