Dabang Band / 다방 밴드  … just another indie band from South Korea…

Park Geunhong’s Indie World: Someone Remembers

August 12, 2014 | Memories & Events | Permalink

It’s nice to know someone out there remembers:

I’m not sure Park Geunhong is, but he seems to be the cohost of an indie music program on Korean radio. Anyway, he mentioned Dabang Band on his show back in February 2014.

He has some of his details mixed up, which isn’t surprising after so much time has passed, though there was plenty of misinformation at the time, too. Anyway, he seems to think I’m a Canadian “from the States”; he correctly remembers that Thai was from the States, and Sung Hwan was from Jeonju, but doesn’t mention that Myoung Jae is from Australia.

He mentions that the band made three albums, and then disbanded just as it was starting to get well-known. He also talks a lot about the novelty of a saxophone in a rock band, which wasn’t very common then, though expanded instrumentation has become much more common in Korean indie music during in the years since.

The discussion finishes with the song “Green Leaves,” from the album Product, which for me is interesting since it’s the only track where any of my flute doubling ended up in the final mix.

A Work in Progress

October 29, 2013 | Uncategorized | Permalink

This site is a work in progress, very obviously. When I told the others I wanted to quit the band, our singer/guitarist/songwriter Myoung Jae commented that it was a bit like breaking up with a girlfriend, when, even if you know it wasn’t working out, it was hard. It’s a bit like that, I suppose, but likewise once one is past the emotional stuff, one looks back fondly on that phase of one’s life.

22-Nov2003clubbbang-1

So I think of this site not as a shrine to a fallen group, but as a memorial of an experience that we shared for several years, not just with one another, but with a whole bunch of people in South Korea. On a personal level, I also think of it as of a certain stage in my own life (and the lives of the other members).  That stage is definitely over, and perhaps ended less ceremoniously than it could or should have, but now I think back to mostly fond memories, and feel like it would be nice to have a place to put those memories, so that others can share their memories.

Camera Roll-3615

I still have some stuff to add, and of course it’s not a complete archive. Anyone out there who has any photos that aren’t in the archive is welcome to sent them in to me. Bootlegs, other photos, memories, comments, testimonials… all welcome. Contact me with whatever you want to contribute, and I’ll do my best to add it here.

Taxi Blues Soundtrack, Features Dabang Band Song “Taxi Blues”

October 26, 2013 | Memories & Events | Permalink

The soundtrack of Choi-ha Dong-ha’s  award-winning Korean independent film Taxi Blues (2005) featured the Dabang Band song “Taxi Blues” from the album Product.

Here’s an official trailer for the film:

Here’s a longer trailer/sneak peek with more of the film:

You can read more about the film here. Updated info link in English here.

UPDATE (1 March 2023): Here’s an extended stretch with our song mixed into clips in the film:

Ssamzie Sori Festival (2002) Show

October 5, 2013 | Memories & Events | Permalink

On 5 October 2002, Dabang Band was only eight months old, when it played at one of the biggest annual indie music festivals in South Korea, the Ssamzie Sori Festival. In a lineup that included Psy (yes, that Psy), the Uh Uh Boo Project Band (in one of its last live performances), Jaurim, Sugar Donut, Cocore, and many other famous and up-and-coming indie bands in Korea.

ssf_main

The “pre-concert” event at Ssamzie Space in Seoul a month before had been very small, and had not prepared us for the scale of the actual festival. It was one of the biggest audiences any of us had ever seen–at least, seen from the stage, that is! It was also pouring rain all afternoon–but the crowd hung tight through the afternoon of short performances by up-and-coming bands. The show that evening, when the big names played, was worth the wait.

The newer bands, like Dabang, were only allowed time for two songs. These were ours:

These extracts from the live concert footage apparently were aired on M-Net, along with interviews and more, but I personally never saw the show. (And I’m not sure anyone in the band did!) There was also a mini-documentary about the backstage experience, shot by a local amateur filmmaker named John Scott, who may or may not still have footage: if he finds it, he’s promised to send it to me.

In my opinion, this was not our best performance ever, as you may be able to hear from the video. However, it was lively and intense, and it got us our start in the nationwide indie scene,opened doors in Seoul, and helped fund our first album project… and that’s gotta count for something.

Also, I think it may be the only footage of us performing as a group that’s available right now, so it seems silly to leave it out.