Jang Ki-ha reflects on debut through `drama` concerts

No one expected Jang Ki-ha and Faces to become pop-culture icons when they released their DIY mini-album "Cheap Coffee," in May of 2008.

Word of the band and their first single spread fast.

The song was an ode to the life of an unemployed twenty-something sung by the scruffy leader in a detached -- almost tone-deaf cadence.

It struck a chord with many disaffected college students and those who were considered to be social castoffs -- jobless and aimless.

After their sudden success, they became the unwitting icons of a neo-bohemian generation of slackers -- slackers too refined to be considered losers and too penniless to be considered cosmopolitan.

In February, they released their first fully loaded album that was to the surprise of many music insiders, embraced by a Korean mainstream so notoriously hesitant to be open about new music.

They came, they saw, and they conquered.



As if to pat themselves on the back for such a successful debut, the quartet decided to officially wrap up all activities pertaining to their first record with a series of year-end concerts at the Seoul Fine Arts Center in central Seoul.

The concerts began yesterday under the title "Did nothing really happen" which will run until Nov. 29.

On Monday, the band played a full set in front of reporters during a press rehearsal session.

Their performance stayed true to the drama concept that Jang had concocted since many scratched their heads when the venue for the concerts was announced.

But it all made perfect sense once the show started.

The show incorporated video installations, monologues, dance numbers, and on-the-fly costume changes that blended well with the musical concept.

It was very old school, very retro, and very Jang Ki-ha.

Everything was steeped in 60s and 70s Korean folk rock with a bit of hippy-beatnik edge.

The quartet looked back to the year and a half since their debut and judging by Jang`s stage act that night, he looked more like a man who had unwillingly been thrust into the limelight.

This rang true during the one-man monologue in between sets by a local stage actor playing Jang`s doppelganger.

Rocking the same scruffy hair, goatee, and eyeglasses, his alter ego was played as a chilled out slacker, channel surfing in his decrepit studio complaining about his life`s woes.

Flipping through channels, he comes across a typical scene in a typical Korean melodrama involving a love triangle.

The clip shows two women jockeying for the man`s attention in the midst of a shouting match.

When Jang took to the stage with his band-mates afterwards, he reenacted the scene in the middle of a set with the Mimi Sisters -- the band`s chorus and dance choreographers who have gained a sort of cult following for their off-kilter outfits and stage demeanor.

This reenactment was a bit of performance art that probably reflected Jang`s exhaustion of being the center of attention for quite some time now.

The famously private 28 year-old stated through a press release that "For a year and a half we went through 13 of our songs so many times in so many performances we feel it`s time to take a break," and added "with this concert, I wanted to reflect on everything that`s happened since our debut."

"After our band unexpectedly gained a lot of attention, I went through so many difficulties and met an incredible amount of new people," he said.

"While we`re grateful for all of the interest, the stress that came with this new found fame was no joke ... It was more difficult for me as I had a lack of real world experience."

Before there was Jang Ki-ha and Faces, there was just Jang Ki-ha.

He had just been discharged from the mandatory two-year military stint in 2008 and had been thinking about his future.

"The only sure thing for me at the time was that I wanted to do music," he said.

When he began the process of forming his band, he demanded future members be able to handle his meticulous attention to rhythm and tempo as well as the ability to participate in unorthodox choruses.

Though at first it was difficult for guitarist Lee Min-ki to get used to, he quickly adapted.

"At first I thought, this is something machines do, not humans," he said on the press release.

"But as time passed somehow I got used to it and now it all comes natural."

Two months after the formation, the quartet released "Cheap Coffee," a three-track mini-album that their record label deemed great but with "zero" mainstream appeal.

This consensus is the equivalent of being told your music is rubbish in the ambiguous language of the music industry.

But it did nothing to disparage the band as Jang says he was confident of their music.

The mini-album became a runaway success and became the stepping stone for the release of their first full album titled "Living without happenings," earlier this year.

When the band held their first official concert, tickets sold out in 30 minutes and the album topped the charts in online shopping sites.

They went on to sell 40,000 copies of their debut album.

For more information on tickets, contact the SFAC (02) 758-2105.

(kws@heraldm.com)



By Song Woong-ki