Music Review: A Night at Zeppelin’s

Harp / Asleep Without Dreaming / Feed the Boats

Article by Daniel Luzio
Photos by Inyeol Park

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Zeppelin’s is the new bar in town, and at only a couple of weeks old, it promises to be the new trendy foreigner haunt. Not a far-out prediction, as it’s located the floor up from German Bar and, consequently, next door to Speakeasy. However, it differs itself from the slew of other foreigner hang-outs in that it’s the new live music venue in town, offering a rival not just to the nearby bars, but to Club Nevermind – the more dedicated music venue tucked away on the outskirts of town.

Tonight is not the first gig at Zeppelin’s, as that honor went to Gwangju punk stalwarts Betty Ass, but this is the launch party of Asleep Without Dreaming’s debut album, ably assisted tonight by locals Harp and Feed the Boats.

Harp

Harp comes onto stage and needs to fight the audience for the noise levels. Bass notes are played into the loud chatter before launching into an intro track that gets some of the audience to begin to pay attention.

Harp is a Korean band from Gwangju focusing on metal and moving into thrash, if not occasionally bringing in punk influences. Its general tone is jittery, stuttering metal, not quite as chunky as a Limp Bizkit, not as melodramatic as an Iron Maiden, but covering nice, grinding Metallica areas. The band members are not afraid to speed up to increase the energy, nor slow down to access some of the rawer power beneath their songs.

One of the more interesting aspects of this band is the dynamic between the main rhythm guitar and the pattern of the drums. They alternate being the driving force of the band. If one is more aggressive and fluid in its nature, the other will hold back, more measured yet remaining supportive and obviously keeping pace. It is in these two that much of the music is carried.

Sadly, much of the supporting instruments are lost to the overall rumble. Bass notes can be picked up if concentrated on, and during one of the more atmospheric songs, much of the ambiance of the lead guitar ­– the squeals and reverb – gets lost. Fortunately, the structure of the song is enough to carry this through, but a vital part of the context is not there due to poor sound levels. The heavy distortion also affects the band in that it doesn’t make the music sound quite as tight as it is.

The vocalist doesn’t have a voice strong enough for the guttural levels that music of this ilk can often reach, and is more at ease with screaming and yelling, occasionally allowing his voice to stretch out into melodic territories.

However, as metal bands go, these guys are good for a party, not inaccessible like many metal bands can be, and are there for anyone to enjoy.

Asleep Without Dreaming (AWD)

AWD is a band of two foreigners and a Korean, tonight padded out with an extra guitarist from Jeonju in neighboring Jeollabuk-do, offering “alternative music – original and covers.” Their blurb states that their “lyrics and music are driven with passion and emotion. With a fusion of Eastern and Western thinking, there is something to be said about AWD’s style.” Two thoughts come to mind at this point: First, are they as soporific and coma-inducing as their blurb seems to promise? Second, is “emotionally driven rock” the same as earnestness? So many bands do tend to get the two confused.

Being that this is a free gig, and the drinks are flowing, this really is a night of entrances meant to help the band get noticed above the loud chatter that continues through most of the night. AWD’s opening gambit is to burst into a few bars of rock’n’roll. Audience attention gained, the musicians begin their set – basically each track from their album, as this is their album launch night.

Their music is very much driven with passion and emotion. And in this singular viewpoint, they don’t let us down. Opening song “You Move Me” is pop-based with indie over-currents, likeable, friendly, and non-aggressive. Playful with their rhythms, slightly jangly, melodic, they don’t stray far from a fairly restrictive structure. Their singer achieves this perhaps the most, building emotion into his vocals as the song progresses. Their sound is clean. The lead guitar is tucked away behind the jaunty rhythm guitar but manages to chime out its contribution, calling to mind bands like 13 Senses, or Coldplay. The singer is clear, the bass lends nice weight, and the drummer provides most of the energy.

The second song, “Curtain Call”, is slower, but not dissimilar, with more focus on working together as a band to bring out atmosphere, the music not quite getting to the heart of the lyrics of someone shrugged off by a girl. The music suggests the guy is instead shrugging off the experience. But this track does give us our first taste of the power that the band can employ with a distorted guitar riff over more driving rhythm guitar, and accompanying more forceful half-yelling, half-singing from the vocalist to tell us, finally, of the heartache in the song.

“Summer in a Day” and “Better than Nothing” are self-pity to the same jaunty standard of music we’ve come to expect. They seem to be driving through these songs a bit too much through fear of us not paying attention, when perhaps they could be slowing down and enjoying their time on stage. They hark of climax-chasers, layering sound into their structure to give songs a more emotional finish. However, they could do better to open up the songs to gain more from the experience. Their singular focus doesn’t bring enough variety to the set.

“Picture Perfect” perhaps underscores this last point, and hints of future directions. It starts off slow, quickly finding a groove that is built up through the inclusion of drums. Then things go up a notch, the singer more powerful but retaining slow, sustained vocals, the music again more powerful almost going into anthem territory, but restraining itself. It’s a simple structure, with room to move and explore. Sadly, they miss this opportunity. It finally kicks out, lacking its former restraint, but only for a fleeting, blissful moment before the song ends.

“Forever Endeavor”, an instrumental track, really tries to break out of the format that AWD has laid down so far. It begins with ambient sounds of rain and thunder. Steady, somber bass underpins a moodier, creeping guitar line. A second guitar plays lead over the top, with blues-y bends. This is a different band now, finally beginning to explore the sonic environment. This may not be the kind of song that will get people bouncing on each others’ shoulders in the front, but it proves that a bit of self-indulgence can, on the odd occasion, go far.

“Wither Without” sees them bringing out the rock, the vocalist on occasion almost mimicking Bon Jovi-style stadium rock, fortunately not actually taking us to those depths. The rhythm guitar is much more restrained, focusing more on chords played to each bar, but the melody is not ignored, soaring through the lead guitar. With more solos and a rockier sound, the reality is that they’ve just pumped up the original format, yet they are punchier and more aggressive, and it works for them.

The last song from the album, “0.1%”, sees the band going hell-for-leather with a funky bass and distorted guitars twist to their indie-pop. This is something that people can dance to, and they continue to be more up-front and direct with their engagement with the crowd, visibly enjoying themselves behind their instruments as they move around to the music.

Having concluded their album (out now, entitled Forever Endeavor, with a Korean version coming soon), they finish up their set with a collection of covers that really allows the audience to sing along. AWD promised “alternative music – original and covers.” Not forgetting that their “lyrics and music are driven with passion and emotion,” they have done as stated, and managed to avoid the trap of being too earnest.

Feed The Boats

Feed The Boats is a foreigner band from Gwangju, and this band is less interested in grabbing attention. Instead, the members are happy to wait for the crowd to come to them, indulging themselves and their friends in the process. They have brought a lot of friends with them. They begin with Christmas cracker jokes – the old corny jokes to which everyone knows the punch line. Finally they begin to perform – or don’t, as false start follows false start. Then, to really draw the line between the audience watching them as a band, and those who are in their posse, there are a few silly catchphrases called out for their friends. I’m left wondering when they are going to get on with it, feeling maddened and infuriated.

Finally, and needlessly, they scream into their set. This is less about announcing themselves and more about getting the attention that the audience has been giving them for long enough already. But by now, surely people have made up their minds as to what kind of band this is going to be and will give attention accordingly.

In their favor, changing slots with AWD was no doubt a good move. This is a good crowd for them, and playing mostly covers is a good way to engage with a trolleyed audience. But they know their audience (pretty much entirely), and they know what they want.

They go for faster paced, accessible rock, punk and indie covers. Among the assortment are the Ramones’ “The KKK Took My Baby Away” and “99 Red Balloons”. The rabble is having a very good time. Ultimately, they are a covers band. Any original material in there, I didn’t notice – perhaps too drunk, perhaps too distracted and caught up in the energy they whip up, or perhaps just because their own stuff sounded a bit too much like something else I recognized. They do their covers well. Judging them on this alone, they are a bit too slick, their surface a bit too impenetrable to see much further than their obvious influences, and not a stronger a sense of who the band truly is.

They’d be great for any party, any drunken night out. But what their future is, what directions they may take in writing their own stuff – who’s to know? We can only continue to follow them to find out more.

The views expressed in this article are those of the writer.