Say Sue Me from Busan

The other day, when we were both intensely working on our laptops, the man suddenly said, "I want to watch this Korean indie band in two weeks."

I was like "WHAT. K-POP?!!" 

Thank goodness, no. It's a Korean indie rock band from Busan — Say Sue Me. Ahhh okay. Nice. The band formed in 2012, went through different members, and managed a death, and has three albums to their name. They also did some OSTs for K-dramas. I can't be bothered as to which ones. Hahaha. The most recent album was released in May 2022, titled 'The Last Thing Left'. They recorded and produced this album all by themselves. That was the only album I listened to. 

Luckily the band is still coming to Singapore. The band unfortunately, had to cancel their upcoming tour to US because they couldn't make that tour financially sustainable as compared to their 2018 SXSW showing and tour, and over to UK and Europe. That trip also saw them fall victim to a tire-slashing scam, lose show income, personal belongings and equipment. Can't blame them for canceling the US tour this year. It's very expensive for Asian bands to tour Europe and the US. The US has also made it very expensive for bands to obtain visas to play there. 

I really watching gigs at the Esplanade. It's such a comfortable and well-regulated venue. Gigs begin on time and end on time. There's very little angst. It's also one of the few places that I would get up front to the stage near the band. Having damn good ear plugs help buffer against the powerful speakers when I stand next to them.

Subsonic Eye opened the show. Their third studio album 'Nature of Things' was released in early 2021, but I haven't gotten around to listening to it. I have to admit, that I can't feel these younger bands anymore. They certainly don't sing the songs of my youth, nor my adult angst. And at 44 years old, I don't get the lyrics in many songs. I listen to them to appreciate what another new generation of musicians do, and what it is that is important to them. 

Say Sue Me belongs to this same genre of 'young bands'. The one-hour set was enjoyable. The band sings mainly in English. In their latest album, the one song with Korean lyrics is 'To Dream'. The band has had a rough patch losing their friend and founding drummer Kang Semin to coma in 2016 and death in 2019. They got it together and put out albums, and found new members, currently being drummer Lim Sungwan and bassist Kim Jaeyoung. 

Tonight Choi Sumi's breathy saccharine vocals were a little dwarfed by the speakers and amps. But not too bad. I honestly prefer her rhythm guitar-playing over her vocals. The lead guitarist Kim Byungkyu is also their songwriter, and those lyrics are really fun However, being able to see him play live, was quite a treat. He is very good. Based in Busan, the band has been making music for a decade. The band has chosen to stay in Busan for the now. In an interview, they said they had no impetus to leave Busan to move to Seoul. 

Seoul’s indie scene is quickly recovering after the blow it took over the last two years, and many bands choose to leave their hometowns for the opportunities they can find in Seoul. However, as key players in Korea’s indie market, Say Sue Me’s continued presence in their hometown is immeasurably helpful to keeping Busan’s music scene alive and alleviating some of the saturation in Seoul. “People often ask us if there’s a particular reason we stay in Busan, but it’s hard to answer,” says Sumi. “I don’t know if Busan has influenced me. Maybe it has, just subconsciously. We get a lot of inspiration from nature, though.”