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57 N ew Blue Death is a band that belts out broody yet si- multaneously bright sounds to appreciative audiences in Seoul. The band’s six members have all been living in Korea for a while now. Some came to teach and some came to learn, but they all are passionate about creating music that continues to evolve and diversify. The group’s commitment to their craft and their experimental indie sound has already seen them share a number of successes. Their song “The Violent Season” was featured in the major Kore- an motion picture “Rollercoaster” (2013), directed by renowned Korean actor Ha Jung-woo. The band also made an impact at the 2013 Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon. An early slot on a weekday didn’t stop them from attracting a receptive crowd who were keen to get up and dance. Whether the band is playing big or small shows, their goal is the same: to connect with their listeners and to make diverse, complex and sometimes unruly music. Groove Korea: You formed fairly recently. How was your first gig as new Blue Death? Ethan Waddell: The first gig was amazing. We prepared so much and had already recorded, so we knew the songs well and were very confident. Lots of our friends came. It was great. What types of things do you sing about? Adam Brennan: Writing lyrics is a weird activity. It’s difficult to describe. Most of the songs on the first record are not story songs. I guess most of them are about relationships and places. I think the idea of where we are and how we relate to our surround- ings is interesting. The lyrics are heavy on imagery. Lots of what is written is based on foggy ideas of memory: strange vignettes from the past juxtaposed with the present. The music video for “Chasing the freaks” from your self-titled debut record has some interest- ing, old-school visuals. Where did you get the footage from and why did you decide to use it? Adam Hickey: I edited the video together from an old educational video used in Philadelphia public schools from the late ‘70s. It just seemed to fit. I mean, youthful rebellion is at the heart of rock ‘n’ roll, isn’t it? I couldn’t resist the urge to play with it. Our music tends to be fairly serious and at times brooding, so this seemed like a good opportunity to have a little fun. Tell us about your first single, “The Violent Sea- son.” Waddell: We picked it as the first single because we thought it was the most unique song. I think we spent so much time on that song that we really wanted to show other people what we had created right away. Hickey: For me, the process of writing that song is when I realized I really wanted to commit to this band. And it definitely was a process. Adam Brennan had come in with an idea that we built up and tore down and built up again a number of times, which is how we usually work. When we got to working on this song, everyone in the band was writing their parts and there was a sense that we were getting to understand each other musically. Everyone started to find their roles and there was a certain flow and chemistry starting to develop between us. That stuff you can’t teach or manufacture. Either you work well together or you don’t. The end result was great, but it was the process that got us there that was truly enjoyable. It has to be or you won’t last as a band too long. “The Violent Season” was recently featured in Ha Jung-woo’s directorial debut, “rollercoaster.” Tell us about it. Hickey: Our recording engineer had done some work in the film industry here and the company came to him looking for new material to use. Ap- parently, it stood out from the lot and he picked up the song without knowing much about us. It was a great opportunity that came to us completely unex- pectedly. I was personally proud of the fact that the song got picked up without us really campaigning for it. In some way, I guess the music stood on its own, which is what the goal is when you’re trying to make a record. Waddell: It’s used in a scene where the plane is crashing. I went to see the movie in the theater; it was very exciting to hear our song on the big screen. I wish we were invited to the premiere. What was your experience like playing at the Pentaport rock festival? Maggie Devlin: Pentaport was great. We were a little worried because we had such an early slot on a workday, but we ended up with a decent crowd. Just seeing our name on the posters, playing on a big stage, hearing our songs through that sound system; it felt like a reward of sorts. A vindication of what we were doing. Hickey: Playing in that environment is a very dif- ferent beast than playing small clubs. Both have ups and downs. It’s harder to make an immediate con- ‘JuST SeeIng ouR name on The poSTeRS, pLayIng on a bIg STage, heaRIng ouR SongS ThRough ThaT Sound- SySTem; IT feLT LIKe a RewaRd of SoRTS.’ maggIe devLIn