Brighton’s The Great Escape has now announced the detailed schedule for the 2019 Festival, and if you want to catch four Korean bands at once your best bet is Patterns Upstairs during the day on Saturday 11 May. But there are other appearances too. Here are the details of the four Korean and one UK/ROK bands appearing, taken from the festival website.
The Great Escape
Thursday 9 May – Saturday 11 May 2019.
Brighton, various venues.
Full details and ticket information on The Great Escape website.WOOZE
COALITION 6:15pm Friday
British/Korean duo WOOZE, formed in 2017 by Jamie She and Theo Spark, were born out of the Brixton-based Muddy Yard Collective. The band’s name is a rough phonetic translation of ‘space’ in Korean (우주) and thematically, WOOZE’s lyrics are rooted in the uprooted.
Describing themselves as Pansori for the 21st Century (a traditional Korean music genre that consists of a drummer and singer storytelling through music), WOOZE’s debut offerings of ‘Hello Can You Go’ and ‘Party Without Ya’ and the accompanying Nuri Jeong-directed visuals, leave no doubt WOOZE are here to excite, baffle and entertain.
Drinking Boys and Girls Choir
KOMEDIA STUDIO BAR 7:15pm Friday
PATTERNS UPSTAIRS 12:30pm Saturday
Drinking Boys and Girls Choir are a skate-punk trio from Daegu City, Korea. Formed in 2013 when two drummers MJ and Meena shared a rehearsal space, and decided to form a band. Meena switched to Bass and guitarist Bondu (who had just finished his military service) answered their ad. They bonded over a shared love of drinking, skating and punk.
Inspired by Sum41, NOFX and Daegu’s 90s-00s hardcore punk/indie-rock scene before it moved to Seoul, a topic band are very passionate about. They won’t move to the capital, preferring to nurture a sustainable local scene.
Jambinai
PATTERNS UPSTAIRS 3:30pm Saturday
SALLIS BENNEY THEATRE 10:15pm SaturdayCreating some of the most innovative sounds in East Asia’s underground scene, Jambinai are an award-winning post-rock/world music hybrid act that was formed in Seoul, South Korea in 2009 by guitarist and piri (oboe) player Ilwoo Lee, haegum (a fiddle-like instrument) player Bomi Kim, and geomungo (zither) player Eun Young Sim.
Ilwoo, Bomi, and Eun Young became acquainted while studying at the Korea National University of Arts. After graduating, they ran into each other after a mutual friend’s concert. They began chatting about Korean traditional music and how they felt it needed to find a new way to present itself. That chance encounter led to the birth of Jambinai.
Ushering Korean traditional music into the 21st century, Jambinai’s sonic compositions mix mesmerizing sounds from the past with elements of folk, metal, and electronic music.
Their new album “Onda” will be released on Bella Union on June 7th 2019. The first single Square Wave is available now as stream on YouTube.
Wetter
PATTERNS UPSTAIRS 2:30pm Saturday
QUEENS HOTEL 8:15pm Saturday
Wetter is a four-member rock band consisting of vocals (Choi Won Bin), guitar (Chae Ji Ho), bass (Jung Hoon) and drum (HJ Jin) that literally aims to make people wetter by working them into a sweaty mess with their high octane rock n roll live show.
The band released their debut single “Who” in November 2016 and immediately captured the attention of fans and critics alike. Since then the band have been incredibly active releasing their first EP [Romance In A Weird World], a string of singles and a follow up EP called “We’ve Lost, What Now?”. The band have been attracting attention, not only for their unique music and high energy shows but also for their artistic photos and music videos.
Following the success of their EPs and Singles the band appeared at many of Korea’s premier music festivals including, Jisan Valley Rock Festival, Grand Mint Festival and Pentaport Rock Festival.
YESEO
QUEENS HOTEL 6:30pm Friday
PATTERNS UPSTAIRS 1:30pm Saturday
YESEO is one of the most ambitious young guns in South Korea. She emphatically notes that she writes and produces all her music herself, and she won an award for her first full-length album in the 2019 Korea Music Awards Best Dance and Electronic Song category.
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