ShoutNote

I was going to make it a lazy evening at home one night last week, but I figured I’d hop online to check out bands playing within walking distance of my apartment. Ten seconds into the first song heard on Weatherground’s MySpace page (a tune titled “Question”), and I knew I was going to see their show instead. Lead singer Jaewon Choe has the kind of voice you can listen to often – early Peter Murphy meets Kurt Cobain is a fair metaphor. He said he’s had people come up to him at shows and say “I didn’t expect an Asian guy to sound like that.” Choe grew up in Pasadena, and he said he usually doesn’t get an answer when he asks, with a smile, what they expected an Asian guy to sound like. While I spoke with him after the band’s set, a number of people stepped up to say how impressed they were with Weatherground’s sound. In addition to a great live show, the band’s current CD is exceptionally well produced. As I’ve heard studio albums of lesser quality, I was stunned to find out the band did it themselves. Below are video clips of Weatherground’s set and a short interview with Jaewon Choe.

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ShoutNote launched one year ago this month. I’ve enjoyed trolling the underground to get the opinions of bands about how they’d change the indie music scene, whether they were from Los Angeles, New York or elsewhere. Though other projects have required more of my attention lately, I plan to continue posting to ShoutNote. Thank you to those who watched and rated my videos. Below is a montage of bands I saw and spoke with over the past year.

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