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“Being good with the chopsticks won’t make me eat; no matter how good I am. I don’t eat much.

Breaking prejudice will lead to the creation of another one…”

Lyrics from Wetter’s “Ggondae”

“Ggondae” is a single that was released by the rock band Wetter in April of this year. Wetter's music is straightforward, as evidenced by its song titles and lyrics. This straightforward attitude can also be seen in the introduction the band wrote for the release of the “Ggondae” single album.

“This is dedicated to those old folks who want to cut off others in their cowardliness, ignoring the values and beliefs of others. If you say that this is wrong, if you start crying to us about us being immature, then this is dedicated to all of you too.”

The members of Wetter, influenced by British rock, have no fear when it comes to singing what is in their hearts. Throughout the interview, they showed a stubborn pursuit of their own style of music and a commitment to expressing themselves with complete sincerity.

Literally translated from English, the band’s name means “a person who makes you wet.” Lead Vocalist, Choi Won-bin explained the band’s name, saying, “At a festival, I saw all of these sweaty people in the crowd, enjoying the music they were listening to. I want people to listen to our music and get wet with emotion, so I chose the name ‘Wetter’ for our band.”

Wetter’s honesty is what stirs the emotions of its fans. The band’s songs feature many straightforward lyrics.

There are also a lot of songs that talk about the band members’ feelings and their feelings of loss while creating music.

Wetter is as honest with itself as it is with its music. Choi commented, “There is a standard in Korea’s music market. If you deviate a little from this standard, it is not easy to gain fans.” This remark was about the censorship that is well and alive within the Korean music market. In fact, the single, “Ggondae” was actually scheduled to be released last year. However, the band had a disagreement with its former agency about the release of the song. Wetter eventually left the agency and released the song themselves. Wetter is currently looking for a new agency that understands who they are as a band.

How was such a unique rock band formed? Wetter began when leader Choi Won-bin tried to recruit Jung Ji-hoon, a fellow high school alumnus, in 2014. At the time, Choi was active as a musician, but Jung was a bit distant, choosing to focus on his studies. Fortunately, the two were both interested in movies and fashion, and had similar musical tastes.

Choi finally succeeded in recruiting Jung as a member after four years of trying. Choi also recruited Heo Jin-hyuk as the band’s drummer. “I had to get him [Heo] to join the band since he reminds me of Ringo Starr," Choi said.

Choi met guitarist Chae Ji-ho by chance at Wetter’s former agency. Originally, the band had three members plus a different guitarist, who had to leave the band to complete his required military service. Without a guitarist, the band was in danger of breaking up; however, as luck would have it, the band members met Chae, who was a guitarist at their former agency. After meeting Chae, Wetter had four members. In November 2016, Wetter released its single, “WHO” and made its official debut.

Wetter's debut song, “WHO,” received a warm reception soon after its release. Wetter sold out performances at major Hongdae clubs, including Club FF. The band was then featured on the soundtrack of the popular web drama, “Yellow,” in 2017, helping cement the band’s newfound fame.

Wetter is an authentic rock band influenced by British rock. Nowadays, fusion music, which incorporates a variety of genres of music based on rock, is gaining popularity.” Wetter, however, pursues greater authenticity. The band said that they hope their fans will remember them as a true rock band. “We hope the public recognizes us clearly and distinctively as a rock band. There are many genres under the rock umbrella, and we want to be the band that explores them all,” Choi remarked.

Indeed, Wetter's music maintains a classic rock sound, while the melody follows the latest trends. This makes it easy for people who are unfamiliar or inexperienced with rock to enjoy their music. Wetter is a fascinating group that preserves the colorful characteristics of rock while continuing to evolve.

Another selling point of Wetter is the band members’ appearances. When asked what Wetter’s charm is, Choi confidently replied, "All of us are handsome." He added, “We tend to care a lot about how we look. It could be an edge that we have over other groups." Wetter members put a lot of effort into fashion for photos and album jackets, as well as for their live shows at festivals and clubs.

They have worked with model Park Hee-soo to perfect their style. Wetter is outfitted by VU, a brand owned by Park Hee-soo.

With the support of the Korea Creative Content Agency, Wetter traveled to the UK for 23 days. There, they performed a joint concert with the British band Wooze and got an even better feel for the British style of rock that has so heavily influenced their band.

Bassist Jung Ji-hoon said, “Rock is not a popular genre here in Korea, and I was worried that it would be similar in the UK. But when I actually went there, I felt that at least over there, rock will never lose its popularity.” He added, “Going on this tour of the UK gave me more motivation to keep playing the music I am passionate about, rather than just trying to be popular. I know that I should keep pursuing British rock.”.

Drummer Heo Jin-hyuk said frankly, “Every time I work on music, I am obsessed with having to always be perfect. But since going to the UK, I've learned that pursuing what we are interested in can lead to great music.” Guitarist Chae Ji-ho chimed in saying, "The UK enjoys freedom of expression. From now on, when we make music, I want to focus not on self-censorship and trying to meet some standard, but on freely expressing ourselves.” Vocalist Choi Won-bin further emphasized, "We have been inspired by this journey of introducing our music to the world.”

Wetter hopes that, in the future, the Korean rock scene will see new growth. Jung commented, saying, “I hope that rock bands are given more exposure through the media, so that they have more of a chance to show the public what rock music and rock bands are all about.” He continued, "We will continue to work hard and take every opportunity to meet with the media and the public."

Wetter hopes that their audiences will find their music to be sincere. Choi, remarked, “I would like our fans to know that Wetter is not simply trying to make money off of music. We are crazy about rock, and we love rock music.” He also emphasized that, “Our band should feel authentically cool, and for that to happen, we’ll have to make more appealing music in the future.”