Dream-pop band Nice Legs revisits Korea for Block Party

The three members of dream-pop band Nice Legs / Hotta Kazuyoshi

By Jon Dunbar

Block Party 2023 in central Seoul will be a bit of a homecoming for the three-piece dream-pop band Nice Legs, who are coming from Japan to take part in the music and art festival.

Taking their name from an awkward line from Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 cult film "The Room," the band even managed to lend their music to the score of 2017’s "Best F(r)iends," starring Wiseau and Greg Sestero.

Now based in Kyoto, Nice Legs got its start in Seoul almost 10 years ago when two “Hongdae slobs” started making music together. The band’s two core members, Lauren Walker and Mark Lentz, relocated to Japan in early 2017, where they’ve been making music ever since. But even after more than six years, they haven’t forgotten about their early days in Korea.

"I very definitively feel we were born in Korea, but we are living in Japan and are very much at home here," Walker told The Korea Times. "One of my favorite musicians and friends forever, Skip Skip Ben Ben, whom we met touring in Taipei, called us something like the World’s Kids -- and that feels pretty right."

Mark Lentz and Lauren Walker perform together in Itaewon for Nice Legs' first-ever show, April 26, 2014, which was a funeral. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

"I feel a lot of kinship with my Korean musician friends and loved ones," Lentz said. "That was one heck of a time we had when we lived here. Seoul rules hard man."

Being in Japan, they aren’t all that far away, and both of them have since returned for visits.

"I was actually just in town for a friend’s wedding," Walker said. "Sometimes I think my friends get married just so I will visit. When I’m in Seoul I mostly just love wandering around listening to the radio, dancing at Channel1969 and trying to picture the goofy kids we were when we lived here ― all the crazy adventures and wonderful people that filled the days and nights with magic."

"You better believe we love our friends here man," Lentz said. "My best friends live in Seoul and dang I can’t wait to see them."

Nice Legs plays a farewell show at Freebird Cosmic Live near Hongik University in western Seoul, Jan. 27, 2017. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Although Japan’s non-mainstream music scene is significantly more established than Korea’s, across nearly every genre, the pair weren’t ready to say the move to Japan was a boost to their career.

"I wouldn’t say one place is easier than the other," Lentz said. "That sounds like a safe answer but it really isn’t because both places are so radically different."

"I have to agree with Mark," Walker added. "Not sure it had much to do with us being in Japan or Korea, just hustle, chance and godlike talent."

They also pointed out that Korea’s scene has advantages over Japan’s, albeit possibly due to it being less established.

"The barrier of entry in Korea is pretty forgiving!" Lentz said. "Starting a band can be so easy there if you want it. Tons of venues, inexpensive practice studios and more musicians than you can shake a stick at."

Mark Lentz performs in the band Watersports at the closing party for Mermaid near western Seoul's Hongik University, May 17, 2013. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

"For sure," said Walker, "the halcyon days of busking in the park, getting billed on festivals, bands booking shows with each other and the whole buzz of it all, did seem a bit more effortless in Hongdae/Korea."

"Oh and getting food and beer with bands after shows in Seoul is such a sick way to build community and friends," Lentz added.

Last year, Nice Legs added a third member, playing drums, but this lineup change didn’t really uproot Nice Legs’ Korean origins so much as solidify them.

The three members of dream-pop band Nice Legs / Courtesy of Nice Legs

During a show at Annie’s Cafe in Kyoto in May 2022, Walker met Moon Ki-soo, who introduced himself as a drummer and expressed interest in jamming sometime.

Pretty quickly, they found out they had both lived in the area near western Seoul’s Hongik University around the same time and knew a lot of the same people.

Moon, an ethnic Korean resident of Japan, lived in Korea from 2008 to 2018, during which time he studied music at Studio Navi and apprenticed with folk-rock singer-songwriter Kang San-eh. As a drummer, he was in high demand, performing with Zero Gravity Boy, PIGIBIT5, i-Fun, Seahorse Corps and Rooster Ride.

"I never met the Nice Legs family in Seoul," Moon said, "even though I was living in Hongdae and Mangwon-dong and we have so many friends in common!"

"Ki-soo is endlessly hilarious, ambitious, kind and, of course, a very good musician," Walker said. "We are so lucky that destiny brought these three Hongdae slobs together in Kyoto."

"Yeah that dude rules," Lentz added.

The three members of dream-pop band Nice Legs / Courtesy of Nice Legs

So now the three Hongdae slobs are coming back to Korea, where they will be one of the three main headliners of Block Party.

"We have seen Jamie really go from being just some sweet kid who encouraged the hell out of the local bands he loved, to an all-out indie-media-event powerhouse," Walker said. "I am so proud of all that he has done to reignite the scene, get people excited about lesser-known Korean bands and tell their stories. That’s why I wanted to come back and be a part of it all."

They also have a show planned for Strange Fruit, where they’ll be playing with Sailor Honeymoon on Oct. 6.

Listen to Nice Legs at wearenicelegs.bandcamp.com or follow them at @wearenicelegs on Instagram. Visit blockpartykorea.com or follow @blockpartykorea for more information.