The Rose seem in our Fall 2023 Subject with cowl stars Scowl, Yves Tumor, Poppy, and Good Charlotte. Head to the AP Store to seize a replica.
“We don’t keep in a single place for greater 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 residing 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 can be in Chicago, headlining Lollapalooza’s Bacardi stage, earlier than kicking off their U.S. tour later this fall. Between pageant crawls and a packed schedule, their state of equilibrium is transient. On 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.
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It’s been hectic. “We’re slightly drained,” Dojoon admits over Zoom. They’re deep into the recording course of, clocking in numerous hours on the studio along with doing all of the issues they should do to arrange for its launch — wardrobe fittings, promotional shoots, banking TikTok content material, filming music movies, and artistic conferences with their group. Proper now, the Rose are itching to be again onstage. That’s the place they really feel essentially the most alive. “Though it may be exhausting, the brand new music, the brand new manufacturing, [and] the brand new venues excite us.”
It’s a talent they honed whereas busking on the streets of Seoul within the mid-2010s. Earlier than 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 turn into a hotspot for college students, vacationers, and buskers. They realized tips on how to join with an viewers and maintain their consideration.
“We tried singing loud songs, however that didn’t work,” Dojoon remembers from their earlier days. “So we all the time attempt to keep true to ourselves and the music we make. Folks can all the time inform if you’re making an attempt to be somebody 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 gradual burn that launched the world to Woosung’s distinctive vibrato, a raspy warble sung in cursive.
For essentially the most half, Woosung and Dojoon — who was born within 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 (“All the pieces is vitality,” he says in earnest), and Dojoon’s relationship to it’s extra tactile. He’s an artist who makes music for himself, initially. Jaehyeong and Hajoon are naturally extra introverted, preferring to principally hear and insert themselves the place crucial. 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 number of the band’s most soul-baring tracks, together with final yr’s “See-Noticed.”
It’s the Rose’s skill to seamlessly swap between the intimate and the outsize that led to DUAL. “We perceive the folks aren’t only one factor,” Woosung says. Onstage, they evoke an air of rock star cool. However if you wish to get a way of who the Rose are behind the scenes, simply have a look at their TikTok. It’s a chaotic stream of consciousness. “That’s our actuality,” Hajoon jokes.
They started writing DUAL in Tokyo, the epicenter of hyperactivity. The ever-evolving metropolis provided the proper “get together vibes,” Woosung says — vibrant and in fixed movement. Their earlier album, 2022’s HEAL, pointed inward, a comfy meditation on self and goal that was largely written and recorded in Joshua Tree; with DUAL, they wish to present a extra polished, trendier facet of the Rose.
The band’s most up-to-date singles exhibit this eagerness to experiment past their consolation zone. “Again To Me,” which they debuted at a pageant 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 may 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 around this yr and to look at totally different levels,” Woosung says. “Lots of issues DJs are doing, we had been very awestruck by them. We like incorporating issues into our music as a result of we’ve our style because the Rose, however we’re all the time excited to usher in new colours.”
Tokyo supplied a super playground for the Rose to check out these new concepts. They absorbed the rhythm of the town, which harbors a dynamic rock and nü-metal scene that thrives in underground golf equipment and on the charts. In the course of the early days of writing the album, that they had lunch with Japanese guitarist Miyavi and went to random gigs, even catching one among Jaehyeong’s favourite bands, ONE OK ROCK, on tour. Immersed within the sweat and vigor of dwell music, they felt reborn.
DUAL appears 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. (Each events settled out of court docket, and the Rose parted methods with the corporate.) Amid their authorized battle, Dojoon, Jaehyeong, and Hajoon fulfilled their obligatory 18-month navy collection.
In the meantime, Woosung launched his debut solo album, Style, a kaleidoscopic exploration of assorted sounds, from chill-hop to EDM to synth-wave. He took his imaginative and prescient on the highway, opening for Epik Excessive on the North American leg of the Epik Excessive Is Right here tour. However his endgame was all the time to reunite with the Rose. In 2022, they reassembled and began engaged on HEAL, a heartfelt assortment of non-public tales and followers’ tales. Forward of its launch, they partnered with Clear Arts, a label established by the Asian-American collective Far East Motion.
Their time aside made their teamwork even stronger. “We perceive one another higher,” Woosung explains. Which is to say they higher perceive their variations. “Not each human is identical. So we’ve realized to speak with one another.” Beside him, Dojoon quips, “We glance slightly bit older, too. We’ve extra understanding and wrinkles.” It’s all these lengthy hours within the studio and sleeping on tour buses. “And likewise smoking,” Woosung impishly provides.
After a tumultuous interval outlined by excessive change and self-reflection, they’re able to have enjoyable and make folks dance. “We often attempt to write about what we’re going via on the time,” Woosung says. They wish to conduct a kinetic drive so robust you may really feel it, a tingling in your limbs and a pounding in your chest.
If there’s something to be taught from their struggles, it’s to “observe the place your coronary heart leads,” Dojoon says. He is aware of what he’s saying is a bit twee. “It’s scary to take dangers, however generally if you observe your coronary heart, it may result in the place the place you may belong.” (To cite one of many band’s favourite motion pictures, Sing Road, “rock ’n’ roll is a threat.”) Woosung, moved by his bandmate’s phrases, provides, “You’re going to be mistaken, even if you observe your coronary heart, nearly each time. But when it’s coming from a real place, even should you don’t make it as an artist, you’ll discover the trail you’ll want to be on.”
It’s the very ethos of the Rose, a band whose title symbolizes each magnificence and ache. By their music, they’re encouraging listeners to really feel the whole lot. “It’s OK to really feel unhappy, completely satisfied, offended,” Woosung says. “These feelings are regular.” Life is studying tips on how to dwell via all of it.
As for the Rose, their path has led them to the worldwide stage, performing in a distinct 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, enjoying 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 ready for the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional goggles,” Dojoon jokes. “We want these on tour once we get sick of one another.” Woosung laughs. “We’re going to purchase it as quickly because it’s obtainable.”
