Undoubtedly the most popular hardcore band based Korea, The Geeks should be one of the first coming

to mind when you think of Asian hardcore. Among the "K-Pop" permeating the entire country Rain, Big Bang, Wondergirls the substantial hardcor e scene causes a great sigh of relief. Celebrating their 10th anniversary this y ear, The Geeks sit tight on both Korea's Townhall Records and Florida-based Thin k Fast! Records. Their brand of positive melodic hardcore does well in both hemi spheres. While they rarely get a chance to visit the West, their LP Every Time W e Fall is available for your listening pleasure on their Punknews profile page, and they are currently working on a new EP. Recent Korea resident Stephanie Thor nton talked with lead singer Ki Seok So about The Geeks' reputation, the hardcor e scene in Korea, and cultural differences playing into the same international s cene.

Think Fast!'s website claims "The Geeks is to Asia what Youth of Today was to Am erican Hardcore." What are your thoughts on this heavy statement? I agree with you that it is a heavy statement. I do not think we have changed th e Asian hardcore scene as dramatically as YOT did to American hardcore. However, I am certain we did make an impact on Asian kids to some degree. We put every effort we can into this and luckily we put out records on an Americ an hardcore label and went on tours with leading hardcore bands around the world . I believe it showed the rest of the world that hardcore exists and how it is d one in Asia and clearly left a positive impact on some Asian hardcore kids. I mean, people love fast-core bands from Japan like Gauze, but it is a different scene from the one we are in. This scene existed for a long time but it wasn't recognized at all. Call it old school hardcore, call it youth crew hardcore, cal l it straight edge hardcore, call it whatever it is, people generally do not kno w much about other hardcore scenes in Asia besides Japan. There weren't many ban ds doing what we do before us and FC 5. In terms of that, I am proud of our achi evement and some kids in Asia must feel proud of that. Asia Hardcore Pride. You guys are on Townhall Records in Korea and Think Fast! Records based in the U .S. Since you can't often make it out to the states, what is The Geeks' "long di stance" relationship like with Think Fast! Records? The relationship between TF! and us has been really tight since day one. We stil l get in touch with each other pretty often. Sometimes I just call Larry from ca lling cards to see how he's doing. For instance, Larry just sent me a message ri ght after YE Yang's surprise win. Even though we haven't released an album nor b een on tours in the US for about two years, we have been actively playing shows inside and outside Korea and gotten involved in many things - Hong Kong Tour, Ja pan tour. Plus we brought Have Heart, Terror , and Down to Nothing to Korea. Whe never we are on the road, we try our best promote TF! Records and let people kno w how sweet they are. TF! has done a tremendous job getting our names out to the world over the past y ears, and we tried to promote TF! In other countries we were in - especially Asi a. We always move forward to come up with new projects and it just worked perfec tly for both of us. So I think it's really mutually beneficial and solid "long d istance" relationship. I know it's hard for you all to find much time off. How often do you get a chanc e to play abroad? Does this have any effect on your goals for the Geeks?

Yes, it totally affects us negatively [as far as] what we want to achieve with t he Geeks. In our dreams, we should be touring all over the world as we speak, bu t you must face reality and adjust to it. The situation is really unfavorable in Korea where even taking more than three to four days off is a very tough task. I want to play abroad at least one or two times a year. If the schedule is set t wo months in advance, chances are better. We still need to come up with good exc uses though because we can't just tell them we will be on tour in a Korean worki ng environment. [It's our goal to go to] Europe and South America, more countries in Asia where we have never been before - exchange views and make new friends. We all know tha t life is hard but we will try our best to squeeze as much time as possible for touring. Where have been your favorite places to play outside of Korea? Baltimore, Boston, Seattle, Florida, California, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Toky o, Japan would be my personal favorites. Obviously you all are a positive straight edge band, drawing comparisons to Amer ican bands like Youth of Today, but do you feel Korean culture has had a big imp act on your attitude and lyrical content to a noticeable point? What, if any, di fferences do you notice between your lyrics and those of Western bands? This is a really tough one. I have been to many countries and studied their cult ures for both academic and personal reasons and I concluded that Korean culture is really unique in its own way. Very different from what is widespread in weste rn culture. Due to hardcore music, I've had several chances to realize and compa re the differences. Based on those assessments, I managed to create my own stand ard of what to take and what [to leave], what should be changed or kept. I don't want to get political in our lyrics although I do really care. Sometimes I feel that something must be done to an educational system in this country whe re kids are forced to sit at the table and study all day. So I try to address th ose issues in our lyrics. As the country adhering to Confucianism more than any other, Korea's society ten ds to be strict and conservative in various ways. How has your band managed to g ain popularity under these conditions? Your assessment as to Confucianism is absolutely correct. However, what Confucia nism does to this difficult environment is small and limited. There are other fa ctors combined with a historical and social background that created a tough situ ation for anyone involved in the music industry, including mainstream and underg round scenes. As Korea went through a military government period and an economic development period (often referred as Miracle of Han River), our grandparents' and parents' generations had to sacrifice everything. Work, work, work to suppor t family and speaking your mind can give you a hard time. I think there formed t his typical view that considers chasing your dreams and living your life a bad a nd amateur thing to do in someone's life. Mandatory Military Service definitely made an already bad situation even worse. I have given a lot of thought to how i t is what it is, so I can go on and on, but the bottom line is it's just tough. How did we manage to gain popularity? I think that's because we never gave up, a nd people really appreciate that. Drinking seems to be a popular evening and weekend past-time amongst most Korean s is that fair to say? Although it's not a major point in your lyrics, you're st ill regarded as a straight-edge band. What sort of reactions to you get on the s traight edge side of things?

Yes, it is absolutely fair to say that the whole culture revolves around drinkin g for the most part. The most common question I get whenever I tell people I don 't drink is "How can you live?" Korean people don't understand the concept of li ving an alternative lifestyle (it can also be applied to the case of vegetariani sm). I am not saying people are ignorant or anything like that. People just aren 't aware of those lifestyles. It was really hard for me to keep my edge status in the first stage, especially in the first year of college and in mandatory military service. In the military service, I almost got beaten by this crazy old-timer for refusing to drink. It h as been and still is a struggle on my end, but this is how I choose to live my l ife. Fun comes from taking control! My perspective on Straight Edge is that it is a personal choice. People are enti tled to choose how to live their lives and I do not want to force anyone into th is lifestyle. I think other ideas floating in the scene are the same in that sen se. Although Straight Edge is not a major subject of our lyrics, what I am tryin g to address in my lyrics is to make people open their eyes to these ideas that are shared in the scene and realize there is so much more in this world than jus t living a life carefree. I have massive hatred for ignorance that some stupid a ssholes have, though. I absolutely hate it when people are trying to mock me. Bu t thank God things are changing now. With the internet generation, people have b ecome more individual so it is getting gradually accepted. For the rest of my li fe, I think it's my mission to make people understand that it's ok not to drink! How does the hardcore scene promote itself and grow in Korea? What are your thou ghts on its current state? Environment for any type of bands playing rock music in Korea is in a severe con dition. There are not enough infrastructures and not enough people to understand and support this music. It is very closely connected with the drinking that was already mentioned. People rather just sit down in the bar and play drinking gam es to just get wasted until they pass out. They think spending 10 to 20 bucks on any creative and cultural thing is a total waste whereas I think spending 200 b ucks on the bar is worthless. So we are struggling. Even bands playing mainstream music are having a hard time. Needless to say, har dcore music has a worse situation. But our scene is great. It's just pure and aw esome. It is very frustrating sometimes but making our best endeavor to keep thi s scene existing is something we all are proud of. What Koreans bands would you recommend to those unfamiliar with the scene here? Things We Say, No Excuse and Burn My Bridges are outstanding bands from South Ko rea. If you are looking for fast but melodic youthcrew, Things We Say is your an swer. Revelation Records indicated that Things We Say is my side project band, b ut it's completely wrong. I am more of like what Walter [Schreifels] was to Yout h Of Today to Things We Say. If you are looking for mid-tempo hardcore, No Excus e and Burn My Bridges are your perfect choices. No Excuse is Ku Seok from Townha ll records singing and J from Things We Say playing guitar. Burn My Bridges is p ure awesome. I know Terror was in Korea this September. How often do Western bands get a chan ce to play in Korea and what are your thoughts on that rate? What do touring ban ds do for the scene here? When it comes to hardcore, it is not rare to have Western bands play in Korea. I t just requires so much money and effort to do so. The real problem is we do not have scene that is big enough to cover the expenses. Even with bands covering s

ome portion of their flight tickets, we lose so much money from doing it. It may sound like I am whining and bitching about this but it's true that it costs us a lot. We do have a great scene here but that's why we promote shows to normal r ock audiences. Hardcore kids and normal crowd are aware of how hard it is for th em to play shows here in Korea. So they are just very appreciative of that. Thro ugh these shows, kids were inspired and learned that hardcore is not about makin g money and becoming a rock star, it's something we work for together. That's th e spirit of passion and inspiration. What they do for the scene is priceless. What bands have been personal influences for you and what bands influence The Ge eks overall? I can't speak for other members but Youth Of Today is the one for me and I am su re they have been one of the biggest influences for us along with other Straight Edge hardcore bands from 80's and 90's. But over the past years, bands that we became friends from touring and playing shows together have been bigger influenc es for us. I am not going to name all of them but we found the real value of har dcore by making unforgettable memories and exchanging our views. The Geeks cover "Shiner" on the Kid Dynamite compilation. How was that opportuni ty presented to you and how do you feel about the finished compilation? It was given by our good friend Charles from Get Outta Town Records who put out CDs for this project and also released our LP in the US. He's the one of the bes t guys I've ever known and has always helped us a ton. I love Kid Dynamite and r espect what they have done. Also I know they deserve all the respect shown in th is complication. So we are honored to participate in this. When can we expect to hear something new from the Geeks? We are working on a new EP with Think Fast! (US) and Townhall Records (Korea). I don't know exactly when it gets done, but hopefully soon. The process is really slow. It was supposed to come out around this time, that was our initial goal a nyway, but things have delayed. The biggest constraint is that all of us are hea vily occupied with our full time jobs, and even during our free time one of our member's lives really far from Seoul. We will get things done soon. More details will be announced when it is ready. The Geeks are in their tenth year. What accomplishments are you most proud of? Out of all our accomplishments, there are two things that I feel most proud of. Firstly, the Korean hardcore scene we have right now, no matter what the size is . We worked really hard with our friends and have put our every effort into this to keep that going. Sometimes it is frustrating but I just appreciate that I am surrounded by the people who care about the meaning of this music and its messa ge. Second is the fact that we have positively changed (or inspired) some people 's lives around the globe on some level. You see it is really hard to influence just one person in your life so it is such a privilege to have that opportunity. <PIXTEL_MMI_EBOOK_2005>13</PIXTEL_MMI_EBOOK_2005>