Hardcore band The Geeks celebrate 20th anniversary

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It wasn't even this millennium that five friends in the local music scene came together to create the Geeks, a "youth crew" hardcore band.

"In 1999, things were wild and there were so many kids who felt lost," Seo Ki-seok, the Geeks' frontman, told The Korea Times. "A new wave of punk rock and hardcore emerged from the underground and helped them get through those tough times. At every show, it was packed. A lot of new kids and ideas. It was super organic and healthy. However, it was still so underground, which allowed very different types of bands to join their forces. Shows were so diverse back then. I'm not just talking about punk and hardcore. It was about indie rock, hip-hop and metal."

The band has stayed surprisingly consistent over 20 years, retaining three of its five founding members. Now that the members are pushing 40, they play fewer shows due to work and family demands. Seo himself works as a brand marketing director for Kakao Mobility, after having taken voluntary retirement from a promising career at GM Korea.

"One of my life mantras is 'work life harmony' instead of work life balance," he said. "I never lost sight on where we want to go and what is takes to get there even throughout tough times. It sounds paradoxical, but the more challenging band management is, the more passionate I get about keeping it going."

Twenty years together "means so many different things," Seo Ki-seok, the Geeks' frontman, told The Korea Times. "Perseverance, dedication, passion, inspiration, strong will, grit, hustle. It means everlasting friendship of five of us and passion for the music we created. It also meant we created our own brand that stands for something and inspires people around the globe."

Seo is not exaggerating. His band has been a flagship of Korea's underground music scene for most of that time, and he has dabbled in running concerts, festivals, a live venue, a webzine and countless more.

After a working holiday in Boston in 2004, he brought the Korean and U.S. hardcore music scenes together, helping foreign bands tour here and embarking on four U.S. tours with his own band, the earliest starting in December 2005.

"We never really set out to do anything global," Seo said. "We were just kids never stop exploring because of our everlasting passion for our music. Throughout the journey, we are humble to say we've touched people's lives and broadened their horizons as they did the same for us."

The Geeks were on the lineup for the first "K-Pop Night Out" showcase at Austin's South by Southwest (SXSW) in 2013; they had a headstart over other bands ― including K-pop girl group f(x) and punk band No Brain ― in that they were already known among hardcore circles across the U.S.

"We showed the regular K-pop fans that Korean had more to offer other than K-pop," Seo said. "Some fans came up to say they absolutely loved our set and had never experienced anything like that before. Also there were hardcore kids following us to our 'K-pop shows' and singing along to us. It must have been a brave move for them. And K-pop people were surprised."

Earlier this year, the band released its first recording since 2014, the six-song album "The Constant," on U.S. label Six Feet Under Records. An album release party is scheduled for this Saturday.

"With the new album we wanted to go back to our roots and keep some songs simple, aggressive and powerful," he said. "The most important thing we realized was that there's one constant thing that really hasn't changed. This music called hardcore/punk and what those meant to us. That hasn't changed. It still rings true."

A video for the song "More Than Ever" already came out on June 27 on the Hardcore Worldwide YouTube channel.

When talking about the song, Seo said "It's about reiterating what hardcore music still means to me on a personal level and how I want to live my life fully embracing what I learned from it. It is also a personal letter to myself that you don't need to change. Be who you are. Don't be something you are not. I need hardcore and the spirit more than ever to keep moving forward."

The video, filmed in Tokyo, features some of the Geeks' international friends, including Jesse from Stick to Your Guns and Chris from Terror and Cruel Hand, as well as members of Japanese hardcore bands Numb and Inside.

Other songs on the album feature members of Korean hardcore bands End These Days and No Shelter, as well as hip-hop artist Fana, with whom they recorded the hardcore/hip-hop collaboration "Two Suns/The Constant."

The release show is this Saturday at GBN Live House in Mullae-dong, southwestern Seoul. Also performing are Seo's other band Things We Say, as well as No Shelter, End These Days, The Kitsches, Flush and Malaysian band Kids on the Move. The show will be recorded for music videos for the Geeks' new songs "Free" and "PMA." Entry costs 5,000 won.






Not to be confused with the hip hop duo Geeks, which is what I did and got very surprised when I pressed play on the video lol.

source: The Korea Times & HARDCORE WORLDWIDE