The Rose seem in our Fall 2023 Issue with cowl stars Scowl, Yves Tumor, Poppy, and Good Charlotte. Head to the AP Shop to seize a replica.
“We don’t stay in one place for more than two, three months at a time,” Woosung, the de facto frontman of the Rose, tells AP. Such is the lifetime of South Korea’s busiest rock band, who for the higher a part of the yr have been dwelling out of their suitcases and racking up frequent flyer miles.
Two weeks in the past, the act performed Mad Cool in Madrid. They hit the stage at BST Hyde Park in London the week prior. In August, the quartet will probably be in Chicago, headlining Lollapalooza’s Bacardi stage, earlier than kicking off their U.S. tour later this fall. Between competition crawls and a packed schedule, their state of equilibrium is transient. At the time of our early night chat in late July, they’re again residence in Seoul placing the ending touches on their second studio album, DUAL.
Read extra: 10 most criminally underrated Stray Kids songs
It’s been hectic. “We’re a little drained,” Dojoon admits over Zoom. They’re deep into the recording course of, clocking in numerous hours at the studio along with doing all the issues they need to do to organize for its launch — wardrobe fittings, promotional shoots, banking TikTookay content material, filming music movies, and artistic conferences with their crew. Right now, the Rose are itching to be again onstage. That’s the place they really feel the most alive. “Even though it can be exhausting, the new music, the new production, [and] the new venues excite us.”
It’s a ability they honed whereas busking on the streets of Seoul in the mid-2010s. Before they had been the Rose, Dojoon (vocals, keyboard, guitar), Jaehyeong (bass), and Hajoon (drums) had been simply three Seoul transplants who would carry out in Hongdae, a bustling bohemian arts district that’s change into a hotspot for college students, vacationers, and buskers. They discovered methods to join with an viewers and maintain their consideration.
“We tried singing loud songs, but that didn’t work,” Dojoon remembers from their earlier days. “So we always try to stay true to ourselves and the music we make. People can always tell when you’re trying to be someone you’re not.” The three started writing music collectively earlier than Woosung, who moved from Los Angeles to Seoul to pursue music, joined in 2016. The band made their debut in 2017 with “Sorry,” a wistful sluggish burn that launched the world to Woosung’s distinctive vibrato, a raspy warble sung in cursive.
For the most half, Woosung and Dojoon — who was born in the port metropolis of Busan however lived in New Zealand for 5 years — carry our dialog in English. They’re each charismatic frontmen with a deep affection for the Beatles, one other foursome from humble beginnings who rose to prominence singing love songs. Woosung thinks of music as a metaphysical entity that brings the universe collectively (“Everything is energy,” he says in earnest), and Dojoon’s relationship to it’s extra tactile. He’s an artist who makes music for himself, at the start. Jaehyeong and Hajoon are naturally extra introverted, preferring to principally hear and insert themselves the place essential. Hajoon, initially from Gwangju, follows his instincts, whereas the youngest member Jaehyeong, raised in Samcheok, is extra delicate. (An actual George, if you’ll.) He’s penned a few of the band’s most soul-baring tracks, together with final yr’s “See-Saw.”
It’s the Rose’s capacity to seamlessly change between the intimate and the outsize that led to DUAL. “We understand the people aren’t just one thing,” Woosung says. Onstage, they evoke an air of rock star cool. But if you wish to get a way of who the Rose are behind the scenes, simply take a look at their TikTookay. It’s a chaotic stream of consciousness. “That’s our reality,” Hajoon jokes.
They started writing DUAL in Tokyo, the epicenter of hyperactivity. The ever-evolving metropolis provided the good “party vibes,” Woosung says — vibrant and in fixed movement. Their earlier album, 2022’s HEAL, pointed inward, a comfortable meditation on self and function that was largely written and recorded in Joshua Tree; with DUAL, they wish to present a extra polished, trendier aspect of the Rose.
The band’s most up-to-date singles show this eagerness to experiment past their consolation zone. “Back To Me,” which they debuted at a competition gig in Stockholm, is punchy and anthemic, as Woosung and Dojoon lament the self-inflicted finish of a relationship with emotional immediacy over rhythmic handclaps and heavy guitar. “Alive” combines a darkish bassline with atmospheric synths and an explosive dubstep breakdown. You can hear the direct affect of DJs like Skrillex and Fred once more.. in its jittery manufacturing, impressed by artists who reinvent sounds and meld genres to create maximalist sonic experiences. “We went to Coachella to hang out this year and to watch different stages,” Woosung says. “A lot of things DJs are doing, we were very awestruck by them. We like incorporating things into our music because we have our genre as the Rose, but we’re always excited to bring in new colors.”
Tokyo offered a super playground for the Rose to check out these new concepts. They absorbed the rhythm of the metropolis, which harbors a dynamic rock and nü-metal scene that thrives in underground golf equipment and on the charts. During the early days of writing the album, that they had lunch with Japanese guitarist Miyavi and went to random gigs, even catching one in all Jaehyeong’s favourite bands, ONE OK ROCK, on tour. Immersed in the sweat and vigor of stay music, they felt reborn.
DUAL seems like a leap ahead for the band, whose earlier physique of labor was outlined by inside turmoil. HEAL had made them really feel complete once more after two years of uncertainty. In 2020, the group sued their earlier administration firm to terminate their contract, alleging a scarcity of cost and a violation of contract phrases. (Both events settled out of courtroom, and the Rose parted methods with the firm.) Amid their authorized battle, Dojoon, Jaehyeong, and Hajoon fulfilled their obligatory 18-month army collection.
Meanwhile, Woosung launched his debut solo album, Genre, a kaleidoscopic exploration of varied sounds, from chill-hop to EDM to synth-wave. He took his imaginative and prescient on the street, opening for Epik High on the North American leg of the Epik High Is Here tour. But his endgame was at all times to reunite with the Rose. In 2022, they reassembled and began working on HEAL, a heartfelt assortment of non-public tales and followers’ tales. Ahead of its launch, they partnered with Transparent Arts, a label established by the Asian-American collective Far East Movement.
Their time aside made their teamwork even stronger. “We understand each other better,” Woosung explains. Which is to say they higher perceive their variations. “Not every human is the same. So we’ve learned to communicate with each other.” Beside him, Dojoon quips, “We look a little bit older, too. We have more understanding and wrinkles.” It’s all these lengthy hours in the studio and sleeping on tour buses. “And also smoking,” Woosung impishly provides.
After a tumultuous interval outlined by excessive change and self-reflection, they’re able to have enjoyable and make individuals dance. “We usually try to write about what we’re going through at the time,” Woosung says. They wish to conduct a kinetic power so sturdy you may really feel it, a tingling in your limbs and a pounding in your chest.
If there’s something to study from their struggles, it’s to “follow where your heart leads,” Dojoon says. He is aware of what he’s saying is a bit twee. “It’s scary to take risks, but sometimes when you follow your heart, it could lead to the place where you might belong.” (To quote one in all the band’s favourite films, Sing Street, “rock ’n’ roll is a risk.”) Woosung, moved by his bandmate’s phrases, provides, “You’re going to be wrong, even when you follow your heart, almost every time. But if it’s coming from a genuine place, even if you don’t make it as an artist, you’ll find the path you need to be on.”
It’s the very ethos of the Rose, a band whose title symbolizes each magnificence and ache. Through their music, they’re encouraging listeners to really feel the whole lot. “It’s OK to feel sad, happy, angry,” Woosung says. “These emotions are normal.” Life is studying methods to stay by way of all of it.
As for the Rose, their path has led them to the world stage, performing in a unique metropolis each different week. They’re bodily exhausted, however they’ve by no means been extra in sync about their future. They wish to proceed making music, taking part in gigs, touring the world, and consuming late-night snacks collectively. And if it ever will get too overwhelming, they’ve a plan for that, too.
“I’m waiting for the Apple Vision Pro goggles,” Dojoon jokes. “We need those on tour when we get sick of each other.” Woosung laughs. “We’re going to buy it as soon as it’s available.”
Discussion about this post