K-Content News

As indie music, known for its sophistication, increasingly appeals to the public, investors are diving into the indie band market, and indie bands like Hyukoh and Daybreak are being reborn as ‘star bands.’

Many institutions, namely the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), host annual contests for the purpose of promoting indie music and supporting indie artists. Through these types of events, many bands have been introduced to the world and have been supported with prize money.

The indie band I’ll be introducing in this issue is the talented Surl, winners of the Excellence Award at the ‘2018 EBS Hello Rookie of the Year with KOCCA’ and the Grand Prize at the ‘2018 Shinhan Card Rookie Project.’ I met with the band’s members to hear more about their band, music, and goals for the future

The band Surl is a group of friends, all of whom were born in 1998. The group’s leader Seol Ho-seung, is on vocals and guitar, Lee Han-bin is on bass, Oh Myung-seok is on drums, and Kim Do-yeon is on guitar. The friends became a band when member Lee Han-bin called up the band’s leader Seol Ho-seung and suggested they start a band. The two friends formed a band and then invited Oh Myung-seok, who they met at Ahyeon Polytechnic School, to join their group. After a jam session one day, they felt that they could achieve a fuller sound by adding one more member. They set out looking for a new member and met Do-yeon, the last addition to their band.

Once the group was formed, Surl started to earnestly explore different styles of music to find their own sound. Seol Ho-seung explained, “When you keep playing music, you eventually find the music that suits your taste.” He added, “We went through a process of testing everything—from our music to our ensemble method and even our clothes. We now feel like we are wearing the right clothes.”

What music genre does Surl want to pursue? Seol Ho-seung says, “I don’t want to classify our music,” and ambitiously declares, “Surl is its own genre.” He added, “We all like British rock, so it could naturally be infused into our music.” Happy Robot Records, the band’s official agency, states that their music is founded on British rock and blues

A distinct feature of the band can be found in its name. The name Surl comes from the Chinese character for ‘word(s)’. When naming the band, all the members agreed that they wanted to include a word in the band’s name that had to do with ‘story.’ They chose the name Surl to convey the idea that they’re a band that tells stories.

Seol Ho-seung said, “When we gathered to name the band, we first decided what kind of band we wanted to be.” He continued, “We looked for a word that was related to ‘story’ because we wanted to tell stories that many people could relate to, and we ultimately decided on the Chinese character ‘surl.’

As is common with many indie bands, Surl had a humble beginning. Things for the band started to improve after they signed up with their current agency, Happy Robot Records, in January. They had experienced many challenges prior to working with the agency. The most difficult thing about not belonging to an agency was finding a place to play. The members had to scour different locations to find temporary spaces where they could practice.

Lee Han-bin said, “In our early days, we would sometimes practice in Ho-seung’s rehearsal room, which was a little over three square meters.” He added, “On the days we couldn’t practice there, we had to search all over town to find a place to rehearse.” In an effort to improve their situation, the members eventually started collecting a rehearsal fee from each member to rent a proper rehearsal space. Lee Han-bin noted, “We each spent about KRW 50,000 a day in rehearsal fees.” He added, “If I think about the money we spent on a year’s rent of rehearsal space, it’s tremendous.”

They realized that they couldn’t ignore finances if they wanted to continue as a band. After agonizing over what to do, they settled on a strategy of doing public performances and joining contests that offered prize money.

Kim Do-yeon said, “We tried our best to participate in as many concerts and contests as possible.” He continued, saying, “The Hello Rookie program was the most popular one, so we really tried hard to be part of that.” He continued, “We were able to take part in the Shinhan Card Rookie Project through the nomination of a friend.” He recalled, “We aggressively joined these contests and much more.”

Surl won the Excellence Award at the ‘2018 EBS Hello Rookie of the Year with KOCCA’ and also won the Grand Prize at the ‘2018 Shinhan Card Rookie Project.’ These are some of the huge rewards that the band reaped after it was formed.

After making themselves known by winning awards at big competitions, Surl started getting calls from various entertainment companies. However, their hearts were already set on a particular one. They signed a deal with Happy Robot Records, the agency that was home to musicians like Daybreak, No Reply, and Soran, which were their musical idols.

Winning the competitions not only provided the band with an agency, which, in turn, provided stability, but also gave them an opportunity to grow. By winning in the Hello Rookie program, they received band mentoring for the first time. Thanks to the mentoring experience, the band is now able to manage their careers in a more systematic way.

Lee Han-bin said, “There were many benefits to winning in these competitions, such as receiving funding for our album and music video production, funding for our rehearsal space, and mentoring.” He went on to say, “Support like this feels like an oasis in the desert; it’s such a great help for an indie band like us.” He added, “I hope that there will be more competitions and support programs.” Seol Ho-seung chimed in, saying, “Our rehearsal space is taken care of right now, but it would help us a lot if we could rehearse in different regions of the country.”

Surl hopes that their music can be a comfort to many people. Oh Myung-seok explained, “There are more lonely people around us than we realize. I hope that our music can give them some consolation.” Leader Seol Ho-seung also shared his hopes for the band and its music, saying, “I like to think that we are indirectly conversing with people through our songs. I want to send out the message through our songs that ‘you are not alone.’”