[K-CONCERT REVIEW] SeoulSonic 2013: Korean Indie Bands Rock Hollywood

After wowing the audience at SXSW, SeoulSonic 2013 made it’s final stop in the heart of the entertainment capital of the world Hollywood, California on April 6, 2013.  K-rock Indie bands like GalaxyExpress, LowDown30, Goonam and No Brain rocked out the famous Din Mark Studios to the pleasure of Korean rock fans from around Southern California. The 18 and over crowd were ready to rock out and SeoulSonic hosts, comedian Walter Hong and dance choreographer Aimee Lucas kicked it off by getting the crowd enthusiastic over the special performances that they were about to witness.

First band up was GalaxyExpress, which was formed in 2006 and won the 2011 Korean Music Award: Musicians of the Year. The trio is made up of members Lee Joonhyeon – bass/vocals, Park Jonghyeon – guitar/vocals and Yoon Honggu on the drums. Their music can be described as a combination of alternative and punk rock; they have won high praise from the New York Times for their high energy beats.

With the crowd truly pumped for the night, Indie K-rock band LowDown30 (2013 Korean Music Awards: Rock Album of the Year- Nominee) was up next.  The trio rocked out the stage with their combination of blues/rock that was reminiscent of Eric Clapton and could fit in any Blues club, hands down.

The third group to perform that night was the 2012 Korean Music Awards: Modern Rock Album of the Year nominee Goonam band. They are also the only band to contain a female member on the keyboards for the SeoulSonic 2013 Tour. Goonam can be described as funk punk with a psychedelic sound that had the audience imagining a smoke filled room and hallucinating to the giant mirrored disco ball hanging over the band.

Of course, the most anticipated K-rock Indie band of the night was No Brain (2007 Korean Music Award: Band of the Year).  No Brain has been around since the mid 1990’s and they’ve been associated with Big Bang and have done well on KBS music show “Immortal Song 2” for the past few years. The bands style of music was brash, cocky, loud and had the crowd fist banging and jumping to their sounds. One thing that got the crowd so excited was when lead singer, Bulldaegal promised a concert again next year for all the fans that attended.

At the end of the event, the band members who participated in SeoulSonic 2013, were taking pictures and instantly converting people into life long fans. Thanks SeoulSonic 2013 for bringing Indie K-rock to Los Angeles and showing us all that Rock N’ Roll is truly headed in the right direction. As one fan said, “it was the best concert they has ever been too.”

Check out more photos HERE.