Yangbans team up with The Studio HBC

Yangbans / Courtesy of Yangbans

Changes are coming to the music scene of central Seoul's Haebangchon (HBC) neighborhood. Ryan Goessl, owner of The Studio HBC, is teaming up with Jun Bum-sun, lead vocalist of the Korean band Yangbans, in an effort to rejuvenate the area's music scene.

"From February, we are bringing Bum-sun and his team as artistic directors at The Studio," Goessl told The Korea Times.

Jun said the basement venue will be managed through his company, Wind & Flow Society. "I was looking for a potential space to operate as a community arts venue, and Ryan offered a partnership," Jun said. "He and I both love HBC so much, and we want to keep HBC weird."

Goessl matched Jun's sentiment. "We are going to all work together to not only keep HBC weird, but to further make it a cooler and better place for everyone to enjoy music, the arts and social life," he added. "I am very excited about the future of The Studio."

This new collaboration is having a "soft opening" this weekend, with a joint show taking place in The Studio as well as Jun's own space, named Togul. It will feature Yangbans, as well as the newly reformed reggae band Windy City, Meotjinsaeng, Snake Chicken Soup, Mandong, OthersMayForgetYouButNotI, Bebe Yana and Dopein, as well as an even longer list of DJs. The show starts at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

This will be a rare opportunity to see inside Togul, a basement venue formerly known as Bedrock. Togul stirred much speculation last year, when rumors spread of another potential live music space in the neighborhood, comparable to The Studio as well as the now-closed Phillies Basement. This became more widely known last October during Block Party, when Togul opened its doors to serve as one of the venues for the multi-stage festival. However, Jun, who has been using it as a studio space for Yangbans since 2019, said there are no plans to turn Togul into a proper music venue with regular shows there. It will only open to audiences on special occasions.

Jun said Togul "has evolved into a proper man cave, with a sound system and a ping pong table and all."

The entrance to Togul in central Seoul's Haebangchon is opened for Block Party, Oct. 8, 2023. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Yangbans' history

As frontman of Yangbans, which Korea Times contributor Jamie Finn included in his list of the "10 Korean indie acts you should see in 2024," Jun strikes a charismatic, confident profile. The band, originally known as Jun Bum Sun and the Yangbans before Jun dropped his name, mixes in various genres including rock, soul, disco, psychedelic and pop, and its development has been guided by Korean principles, history and nature. This has given the band a timeless feel.

Jun explained that the five-member band ventured outside of Togul often, traveling all around "in the tradition of pungnyu, or Wind & Flow." He said their first EP, titled "Wind & Flow," was recorded at southern Korea's Mount Jiri, and the second, "Eruhwa," came out in Haenam, South Jeolla Province, while the third, "New Moon," was made in Joshua Tree, California. Their next full-length album, scheduled for release this May, was written in Koh Samui, Thailand.

"The essence of the Dao of Wind & Flow is that harmony is created by the circulation of five elements of nature — Fire, Water, Tree, Metal and Earth," Jun said. "The five Yangbans have been trying to create our own harmony accordingly."

The band has a long history, forming originally in 2013. The band's second full-length album, "Revolution Songs," came out in 2016 on the anniversary of the Donghak Uprising, shortly before the start of the impeachment protests against Park Geun-hye. They had the opportunity to bring their revolutionary performance to the protests, performing during one event said to have exceeded 1 million participants.

But after that high point, the band disappeared, as Jun had to do his military service, and all the members went their separate ways.

Yangbans perform at Togul in central Seoul's Haebangchon during Block Party, Oct. 8, 2023. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Yangbans come to HBC

After serving two years as a Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army (KATUSA), Jun was discharged in 2018. He moved to HBC and began rebuilding the band.

"I moved here in 2018, right after the army, because it was the most vegan-friendly neighborhood in Korea," said Jun, who is originally from Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, but has also spent time studying in the U.S. and U.K. "I'd lived in Gangnam, Hongdae, among other places, but HBC was the only place I felt at home. It was open to outsiders, vegans, queers, migrants, whatever, and it had a village vibe. People walk down the main street and say hi to each other. You don't get that anywhere else in Seoul. I still live here, and plan to do so for a long time."

For a few years, he ran Soseek, a small temple food restaurant in the area, next to the office of Animal Liberation Wave, an animal rights group he's involved in. "The idea was to create a temple rather than a restaurant because any food that you eat at a temple is temple food," he said.

When he took over the former Bedrock in 2019, he gave it the name Togul also inspired by Buddhism. "If you go to the Buddhist temples in Korea, there are small mud houses where monks retreat to," he said. "Those are called Togul. Basically caves for meditation and personal practices."

Meanwhile, this whole time, he worked on rebuilding the band.

"It took me four years to collect the current lineup of Yangbans," he said. "We spent the past two years honing our sound."

First came keyboardist Ji-hoon, followed by Noo-gi on bass, Dal-gi on drums and Sung-ho on guitar. "Basically one per year. They all went to the same high school except me. They've been best friends for more than a decade. They are all professionally trained musicians," Jun said.

It was also in this process that Jun simplified the band name, removing his name from the front.

"I used to have a bigger ego as my old band name suggests," he said. "When I was collecting the current lineup of Yangbans, I wanted to form a brotherhood, a family for life. I wanted to be in a real band, where the creative process is not dictated by a single person. Yes, I am still the leader and the frontman, but I am also the manager and producer."

Last October they also added a sixth member, Hak, a video artist from New Zealand who has directed the band's music videos.

Yangbans perform at Togul in central Seoul's Haebangchon for Block Party, Oct. 8, 2023. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Jun highlighted the origins of HBC (or Liberation Village) as a refugee village, which originally was settled starting after liberation by Koreans moving back from Manchuria and Japan, or escaping the regime in the North. Toward the end of the 20th century, it began to see a growing foreign population. This has resulted in a fragmented community where interaction between different groups is limited.

"We have to understand that we are all here for the same reason — we are here because we are outsiders in Korean society," Jun said. "I am a young Korean artist, but I was educated in the West, and was a history major, so I can easily connect with the foreign community as well as the older Koreans. I hope to bring the communities together to protect HBC from gentrification."

Visit litt.ly/yangbansmusic for more information about Jun's band, and follow @windandflowsociety and @thestudiohbc on Instagram for more about upcoming shows in HBC.