Interview

Interview with Asian Chairshot

10/05/2014 2014-05-10 00:01:00 JaME Author: Shin

Interview with Asian Chairshot

Asian Chairshot came to the UK for a tour and talked about their new album and shows.


© Common Music 커먼뮤직
Asian Chairshot is touring in the UK until May 12th and KoME had the opportunity to interview the drummer Kyewan Park. He kindly save some time in their busy schedule to answer some questions about the shows, their impressions about UK and the new album, Horizon.


Could you please introduce yourselves to our readers and tell us how Asian Chairshot was formed?

Hi, my name is Kyewan Park. I’m the drummer in Asian Chairshot. We’re a rock band from Seoul. Youngwon Hwang is the bassist and vocalist in our band. And Heenam Son plays guitar. Earlier this year, we were nominated for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Song at the 2014 Korean Music Awards. And right now we’re in the middle of our first UK tour! After we finish our UK tour, we’ll play at the Music Matters festival in Singapore on May 23rd. And we're hoping to tour in Japan this fall as well.

We formed Asian Chairshot in 2011. I was 33 years old at the time. I’d played in bands before and decided I wanted to make a new band one last time. So I reached out to Youngwon and Heenam and asked them if they wanted to jam together. Things went well and we had fun, so we decided to keep playing together.


How did you come up with the band’s name?

We wanted to make a name that included the word “Asian”. So we were just trying to think of other words that fit well with it. The wrestling term “chair shot” was suggested and we thought “Asian Chairshot” sounded cool so we adopted it as our moniker. I think it’s got a powerful sound to it.


How do you write new songs? Has your music been influenced by any UK rock bands or other music styles?

Different members will come in with different ideas for songs and then we’ll jam together to flesh the idea out. It’s fun making music that way because songs naturally go in different directions than we may have originally envisioned. We’re into UK bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Radiohead and Kula Shaker. But we've been most influenced by Korean classic rock bands like Sanullim and Deulgukhwa.


Asian Chairshot debuted in 2011 and so far you have showcased your music overseas several times. How do you feel about touring in the UK?

Touring in the UK is a dream come true for us. We had a blast at Liverpool Sound City and at The Compass in Chester last weekend and are excited about being able to play two shows in London and one gig in Bristol over the next few days. We’re already thinking about how we can get back to the UK for another tour next year, and the year after that, and the year after that!


You will be releasing a new album, Horizon, on May 28th. Could you tell us more about it?

Horizon is our first full-length effort. We've been previewing songs from the album at our UK gigs and the reactions have been great so far! We recorded Horizon in Seoul last December. The album was produced by Smashing Pumpkins' guitarist Jeff Schroeder and engineered by Ryan Grostefon. Ryan was the engineer on Smashing Pumpkins’ 2012 album Oceania. Both of those guys were amazing to work with in the studio and we learned a lot from them. Jeff also played some guitar on Horizon too. We’re really excited for people to hear the album when it comes out on May 28th. It’ll be distributed digitally around the world and we hope lots of people get the chance to listen to it.


How did you end up working with Jeff Schroeder?

Jeff stayed in Korea for a few months last year. He checked out a lot of bands while he was there and landed up at one of our gigs by chance. We went drinking together after the show and became friends. We asked him about producing our full-length debut and he agreed to do. We feel so fortunate that we had the chance to work with him.


Please give a message to our readers.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read about Asian Chairshot. If you’re in the UK, please come see up play at AAA in London on May 9th, at The Hatchet Inn in Bristol on May 11th and at Pipeline in London on May 12th. If you’re not in the UK, I hope we can all hang out together somewhere else in the world and that we can share our music with you there.


KoME would like to thank Asian Chairshot and Shawn Despres for making this interview possible.
ADVERTISEMENT

Related Artists

Related Events

Date Event Location
  
02/05/20142014-05-02
Concert
Asian Chairshot
Korova
Liverpool
United Kingdom
  
02/05/20142014-05-02
12/05/2014
Tour
Asian Chairshot
  
03/05/20142014-05-03
Concert
Asian Chairshot
Kazimier Gardens
Liverpool
United Kingdom
  
04/05/20142014-05-04
Concert
Asian Chairshot
The Compass
Chester
United Kingdom
  
06/05/20142014-05-06
Concert
Asian Chairshot
The Bell Jar
Sheffield
United Kingdom
  
07/05/20142014-05-07
Concert
Asian Chairshot
The Eagle Inn
Salford
United Kingdom
  
09/05/20142014-05-09
Concert
Asian Chairshot
AAA
London
United Kingdom
  
11/05/20142014-05-11
Concert
Asian Chairshot
Pam Pam
Bristol
United Kingdom
  
12/05/20142014-05-12
Concert
Asian Chairshot
The Pipeline
London
United Kingdom

Indie Music Scene

Interview with Asian Chairshot © Common Music 커먼뮤직

Interview

Interview with Asian Chairshot

Asian Chairshot came to the UK for a tour and talked about their new album and shows.

Interview with Dead Buttons © Project 33, Dead Buttons

Interview

Interview with Dead Buttons

Dead Buttons is touring in the UK and KoME had the opportunity to ask them about the shows and their album Whoever you are.

Dead Buttons, PATiENTS and Asian Chairshot touring in the UK © Steel Face Records

News

Dead Buttons, PATiENTS and Asian Chairshot touring in the UK

The three indie rock bands are touring the UK until May 12th.

THE SOLUTIONS First Album © KoME

News

THE SOLUTIONS First Album

First full album

Jubora's Comeback © KoME

News

Jubora's Comeback

Jubora shows off her beautiful vocal skills once again in her comeback single Lost.

Indie Label NeuroN to Debut New Singer © KoME

News

Indie Label NeuroN to Debut New Singer

The Indie K-pop label reveals their new singer Gil Sunghoon.

Interview with AXIZ © AXIZ

Interview

Interview with AXIZ

Rock band AXIZ told us about their origins, goals, group dynamics and more.

Interview with Nemesis © Nemesis

Interview

Interview with Nemesis

KoME had the opportunity to ask classical pop rock band Nemesis some questions about themselves, their music, and their place in the Korean music scene.

New Release and Music Video by Sentimental Scenery © Sentimental Scenery, Pastel Music

News

New Release and Music Video by Sentimental Scenery

Sentimental Scenery is releasing new album.

Interview with Patients © Steelface Records

Interview

Interview with Patients

Punk band Patients give us an insight into their music and the Korean punk scene as a whole.

Interview with KAFKA © Kafka

Interview

Interview with KAFKA

Interview with "dream pop" band KAFKA about their life, loves and music.

Interview with No Reply © Happy Robot & no reply

Interview

Interview with No Reply

KoME catches up with Korea's beloved indie band No Reply

Interview with GUYZ © GUYZ&Primrose

Interview

Interview with GUYZ

Get to know the sympathetic band GUYZ

Interview with Dark Mirror Ov Tragedy © Trinity Records

Interview

Interview with Dark Mirror Ov Tragedy

Interview with the symphonic black metal band Dark Mirror Ov Tragedy.

Interview with Tim Be Told © Tim Be Told

Interview

Interview with Tim Be Told

Interview with Asian-American band Tim Be Told

Interview with The Plastic Day © MORE

Interview

Interview with The Plastic Day

Interview with The Plastic Day

Interview with Royal Pirates © Royal Pirates

Interview

Interview with Royal Pirates

Interview with the up and coming rock band, Royal Pirates

Interview with Zitten © Cedric Oyarzun

Interview

Interview with Zitten

Melodic rock band Zitten talks about their first album and the depth of their work

Interview with PIA © Seotaiji Company

Interview

Interview with PIA

In an exclusive interview, rock band PIA gives us an in-depth look about their style, the music scene in Korea, their alliance with Seo Taiji and their future.

Interview with Crash © Crash

Interview

Interview with Crash

Heavy metal band Crash talk about their beginnings, the emotional power of music, and just what role heavy metal has in Korea.

Interview with Casker © Pastel Music

Interview

Interview with Casker

Interview with electronica band Casker

Interview with 99ANGER © 99ANGER

Interview

Interview with 99ANGER

Interview with 99ANGER's Hyun Lee before the re-release of their 2004 EP.

ADVERTISEMENT