A couple of days ago No Control posted a new song on SoundCloud. I gave it a listen, and then I had to keep listening. Yesterday I did the same thing. And as I’m typing this right now I once again have “시간” playing over and over again. Needless to say it’s a great song. I had found their first EP, You Have No Control fairly interesting, but this is something else!
The song in question is a taste of what’ll come with No Control’s first studio album, so given my new-found enthusiasm for the band I asked Hwang for an interview. Here’s what he had to say!
What’s the story behind No control?
In 2004, No Control’s guitarist Hwang and drummer Seo met in an academy, preparing their university entrance exam, like SSAT in the U.S. They decided to make a rock band after the exam. Since then, they’ve practiced their musical instrument because at that time, they had no experience on playing guitar and drums.
Two years later they had to do their military service. Fortunately they were assigned to the same platoon. In there they had talked so many things about music and songs. After they finished their military service, they started to find other members to start their band.
… They were searching so many websites for their members. At last, they found a guitarist, Cho Won Hee at D.C. Inside, a Korean web site. Cho Won Hee was also finding his new band members. But despite that Cho Won Hee didn’t write down his address, phone number, or anything. So they googled Cho’s information and called him. Cho introduced bassist Noh Sang Soo to Hwang and Seo as his neighbor. At their first meeting, Noh Sang Soo showed them his performance. After seeing him play, all the members were amazed.
Since then, each member’s musical taste such as noise rock, punk, post-rock and
shoegazing were mixed into No Control’s music. Now their music has become our music to the point that we can’t define what it is, but the only thing we can say is that we are enjoying it very much!
What are the biggest influences to your sound?
Sonic Youth, Pink Floyd, Pixies, Pavement, Nirvana, Fugazi, Yellow Kitchen, Yo La Tengo, No Wave
What’ll be the main differences between You Have No Control and the new album?
We made the 1st EP album ‘You Have No Control’ as terrible punk album. That time, we didn’t have a recording experience and sense. We just wanted most loudest sound like explosion. And we have no time to make this EP seriously.
But now we realize the importance of harmony. Harmony was the most important thing in making process of the new album. And we have made the new album very carefuly for a long long time.
What can fans look forward to the most?
It’s a well-tuned noise rock album. Listeners maybe will feel like drifting away in the middle of the wild sea.