Seoul hardcore punk band wants you to stop caring

Care Less performs its first show at The Studio HBC, Sept. 22, 2023. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

When the Seoul-based hardcore punk band Care Less debuted, the name sparked a lot of speculation and confusion. Are they clumsy people, or irresponsible in some way? Why is the name sometimes written in two words? Or wait, is it always two words?

It turns out, it was two words because it's not an adjective — it's a command. They want you to care less.

"So, the name Care Less is pretty simple. Care. Less. Don't be a tryhard, don't stress out about anything and everything in life," said Matt Williams, guitarist. "If something is fun and makes you happy, do it. That's pretty much it. Nothing too deep about it, just enjoy life more, we ain't got a lot of time here so might as well make the most of it."

The band demonstrated their lack of care last year when asked to do an interview with The Korea Times shortly after their debut.

"When we had just started, we didn't see any reason to be interviewed," Williams said. "We had barely performed much, nobody knew who we were in the beginning. Interviews are cool, but what's the point of doing it if nobody wants to read it? It would only serve to make us look full of ourselves, in my opinion. Now we have a lot more experience, many more contacts and friends in the music scene, and most importantly, fans."

Finally, they consented to an interview, with the first anniversary looming and their first single, out on June 19, still hot.

Their first recorded release is called SCLG, short for "Seoul City Love Gang," a heavy beatdown hardcore song with a tongue-in-cheek message, taking the piss out of hardcore "crews" or "gangs" that take themselves way too seriously.

"It's almost a parody, if you wanna call it that," Williams explained. "We just took that and put a positive spin on it, because hardcore is about being a community and coming together, showing love to one another and building each other up."

After starting out, Care Less was strong out of the gate, playing a handful of shows and getting good feedback. Now that they've found their feet, they've stepped it up this year.

"This year, we are very deliberately trying to play a ton of shows in as many places that it makes sense for us to play," Williams said. "We're hungry."

Williams mentioned some people's initial response that Care Less was just another "foreigner band." He pointed out that their drummer, Suil, is Korean, and most of the other members are at a conversational level in Korean. "I think we shut those people up pretty quickly," he said.

Before Care Less, there was the earlier hardcore band Get to the Point. Comparisons are impossible to escape, especially as they had two members in common.

"Craig (vocalist) and Kevin (guitarist) are both brilliant songwriters and I have endless respect for their ability," Williams said. "I don't think it's fair to compare the two bands, because they're not the same. It's a totally different band with different members."

When Get to the Point broke up shortly before the lead vocalist moved away, bandmates Craig and Kevin started work on founding a new band. They invited Suil on drums and Walter on bass, and ran into Williams who was also trying to start a hardcore band. Other than those first two members, the other three had never played hardcore in a band before.

Williams stressed that the band has been working hard to build up the local music scene.

"Talking to a lot of people, trying to be open to new ideas, inviting people to shows, promoting here and there and spreading the word to support other local bands," he said. "It's important to build up other bands because it helps everyone involved. The sooner people realize that and stop gatekeeping their 'crews,' the bigger and better the live music scene will become. One thing that bothers me is when some bands come, play a show to a good crowd, then just pack up and leave immediately after a set without saying a word to anyone or watching any of the other bands. That doesn't help anyone. I'm not gonna call anyone out, but I see it often. That hurts the venues and the other bands that are playing. Not cool."

He added that his interests extend beyond only hardcore, and expressed his willingness to perform alongside non-hardcore bands.

"It doesn't matter if they're hardcore bands or not — if they're good, we wanna support it," he said. "I've noticed that no matter the lineup of bands that we play with, our music always gets people moving. That makes things so much more fun for everyone."

Williams originally came to Korea in 2017 to study the language as an exchange student. But it wasn't until after he returned in early 2020 that he discovered the underground music scene.

"I didn't even know Korea had much of a music scene back then," he said. "The music scene here is definitely something that you have to put some effort into finding. Once you do, it is quite rewarding though. I've met most of my long-term friends here through contacts in the music scene."

Having grown up listening to extreme music like thrash, death and progressive metal, he came rather late to hardcore.

"If I'm being honest, I didn't really get deep into hardcore until I came to Korea," he said. "The energy, the chaos, the passion, the camaraderie of it felt amazing. I got hooked, and now I'm doing my best to help build it up."

In the last couple years, he has also played in metal cover band Rogue Warriors. He also joined Fail Fast, a new skate punk band started by Kevin, Care Less' guitarist. Williams also admitted he's also started a death metal project, but it's still in its infancy.

Both Care Less and Fail Fast are set to perform at this year's Block Party, a multi-venue festival happening around central Seoul's Haebangchon and Gyeongnidan neighborhoods, which will run from Sept. 21 to 22 this year.

"I've seen our lineups and it's gonna be an absolutely insane weekend," Williams said. "I can't wait. Kevin, Suil and myself will all be playing in multiple bands for Block Party."

He added that Care Less is planning to record an EP for release later this year.

Visit linktr.ee/carelesshc for more information about the band, or blockpartykorea.com for more information about the festival.