Band Nah Shows Why K-Indie Rock Might Be Korea's Next Phenomenon
The trio reflect on their latest music, the shared struggles of South Korea's indie artists, and the ongoing shift from K-pop to K-indie rock
Photo credit: January
Indie pop-rock trio Band Nah (나상현씨밴드) are quite possibly the nerdiest yet coolest South Korean band you’ll ever meet. The members’ impressive resumes read like every Korean parent’s dream: Bassist Paik Seung-ryeol (a.k.a. Paiiek, his typically all-caps stage name) is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Seoul National University (the Harvard of South Korea), where he studies how A.I. and deep learning can be applied to music and audio. Drummer Kang Hyun-woong, a graduate of SNU, works as a software engineer by day. Vocalist and guitarist Nah Sang-hyun (after whom the band is named) is also an SNU graduate and composes, writes, and produces all of the band’s songs. He also happens to be the son of the bassist who performed with the legendary Korean duo 015B in their early days.
Yet despite their formidable backgrounds, the multi-talented savants come across as disarmingly friendly, down-to-earth, and humble during a late-night Zoom call with MTV News. It’s past 9 p.m. in Seoul — the only downtime they have due to their cramped schedules — and although they seem more subdued than in their hilarious YouTube videos, it’s still clear that they’re just regular guys who love poking fun at themselves.
All three members recall becoming interested in rock during their middle school years, when they avidly listened to American and British rock bands like Metallica, Queen, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kang and Nah first met in 2014 while they were both studying at SNU. “When I joined SNU’s songwriting club, Hyun-woong was the club’s president and wanted to form a band with me because he thought my songs were good,” Nah says in Korean. And so Band Nah was born. Paik joined the band in 2018, and in the years since, the trio have gone on to release roughly 80 songs, including four EPs and two studio albums.
What’s the secret to their prolificacy? “Songs are, in a sense, a record of a particular moment in time — the feelings that I have in that moment, the kind of music I like and want to do in that moment,” Nah says. “But I think because our tastes change quite frequently, as time passes, we don’t really look back on the songs we made in the past,” he adds, laughing. “So we just release them immediately after producing them as a reflection of what we’re enjoying in that moment.”
That mentality has enabled them to infuse a wide array of elements into their music. Pop-punk is heard on “1+1” and “Sitcom” — the latter might sound reminiscent of Weezer, whom Nah counts as one of his musical influences. There’s also city pop (like on “Nights”), funk (as in “Domino”), and everything in between. Each album in their expansive discography feels quite different and unexpected, making it difficult to pin down their ever-evolving sound. Nah credits the British pop-rock band The 1975 with heavily inspiring his eclectic approach to music. “When you listen to their albums, they’re able to experiment with a variety of different genres — whether it’s house, rock, or new wave — without losing their signature style,” he tells MTV News. “So they inspire me to try versatile styles while maintaining our core sound. And seeing how The 1975 consistently release a lot of songs and albums also makes us want to continue creating songs and producing albums without taking a break.”
Read the full article on MTV News.