Art-pop duo Party Fears comes full circle with Korea tour
Party Fears / Courtesy of Jinny Park
By Jon Dunbar
For the two members of Berlin-based indie-pop band
, their ongoing tour of Korea is a trip down memory lane.
Maggie Devlin and Eilis Frawley both once called Korea home, making waves in the local live music community with the
. After that, they formed the smaller-scale act Party Fears, right before transplanting their lives and the band to Germany in summer 2016.
“The idea to create a new band formed on a rooftop in 2015 or so in Wolgok, northeastern Seoul, when Eilis and I talked about continuing to collaborate together in another city,” Devlin, originally from Ireland, told The Korea Times. “So we kind of formed in Seoul, on the road, on airplanes and over skype calls. But it all started at that first chat.”
Before they left Korea, they threw themselves into developing songs and recording a debut album with close friends, including their former Baekma bandmates, as well as members of New Blue Death and Sotto Gamba.
Compared to Baekma, Party Fears goes down a more pop-art route, with a classic punk sensibility. They've certainly found even more attention over in Europe, with BBC radio show “Across the Line” describing their sound as “arch 80s art-pop” and Nialler9 ranking them 16th on Irish Albums of the Year 2017 for their “superbly produced, bright rock 'n' roll.” They even performed with Busan indie band Say Sue Me on the Berlin stop of the Korea-based group's recent European tour.
“We also experience Party Fears as more of a vocation than a passion project,” Devlin said. “The stakes feel higher now we've really thrown ourselves at it. We're learning the earth gets firmer the deeper you dig.”
“After Korea I wanted to move somewhere I could set up semi-permanently,” said Frawley, from Australia. “I wanted to be able to work as a drummer and focus all of my time on music. It took a while and it's still not perfect but I'm much closer to this goal. Berlin is a city where with a little bit of work anything seems to be possible. It was also appealing for touring, as so many countries are within a few hours' drive.”
They both speak of the many pros and few cons of making music in Berlin over Seoul.
First, the bad: venues rarely have backlines, meaning the bands have to provide their own drumkits and amps. But the pros make up for it.
“A big plus is people really show up for gigs here,” Frawley said. “There are many more bands and the DIY culture is much stronger.”
“It's very rare to have a quiet indie night in Berlin,” Devlin said. “There's a very healthy DIY scene with audiences curious to check out live music.”
Their return to Korea is proving to remind them of their roots, as the two admit they both started on their music paths while living here.
“Ever since arriving in Berlin we dreamed of a return,” Frawley said. “It's a mixed feeling of coming home and the feeling of a place that's moved on in time.”
“I think we always felt it was a matter of time,” Devlin said. “How does it feel? Like an excited apprehension. What's changed? What's stayed the same? Who's still there? Who's left? It'll be great and good and weird and I'm sure I'll cry at some point.”
Their first shows in Seoul this weekend are at Club FF on Friday and a “secret show” on Sunday, April 21.
They are also appearing the following week at
, April 26, at 9 p.m., with local band the Vastards opening. The show costs a mere 5,000 won and goes to support their travel expenses.