Indieful ROK’s Top Band 3 commentary series continues, albeit at the moment a couple of months behind the original KBS2 broadcast schedule. Today myself and Kevin have a look at the 7th episode, broadcast November 14th, wherein the final 2 spots of the Top 8 are about to be filled. If you want to watch the show yourself all episodes can be streamed from the official site
From the Top 18 bands of Top Band 3, coaches Yoon Il Sang, Rose Motel and Shin Dae Chul each picked 4 bands to coach. After coaches eliminated half of their adepts Oriental Showcus, Lunafly, A’Z bus, What A Circus, Apnea, and Asian Chairshot were left for the Top 8.
Anna: So happy, but not at all surprised, to have Asian Chairshot in the Top 8. Also glad to get to see more of A’Z bus and Apnea. I’m still bummed that Yoon Il Sang shamelessly brought Lunafly into the top 8–if it wasn’t for his blatant favoritism I’d be glad about them moving on, too.
6 bands in the Top 18 that did not get selected by any of the coaches: Pentasonic, Four Brothers, Dead Buttons, InPlace and Top Band 3 project bands The 2080 and 이플. Netizens got a chance to pick 2 out of those bands to get another shot at joining the Top 8, electing Dead Buttons and InPlace.
Anna: It seems for once I’m completely in agreement with the viewers. I also wanted more of Dead Buttons and InPlace.
In order to finalize the Top 8, all the bands eliminated from the respective coach group as well as the 2 bands picked by the netizens get a last chance to audition for the 2 free spots. The mission is for the bands to perform their best song. After each performance, the 300 audience members will cast their votes.
leeSA – 고민하지마
Anna: I’m glad she finally performs an original song! I like this so much more than the covers she usually does. More rock. Pity more wasn’t shown on TV.
Kevin: I want to hear more of this side from leeSA. Those covers felt somewhat lackluster to me, though this packs much more of a punch. I’m all for acoustic music, but this harder rock style complements the singing much better.
Score: 221
Anna: leeSA may be the first to play, but at least she got her wish to be #1 for a while ^^ It remains to be seen whether this is a good score or not.
Wasted Johnny’s – 뜨거운 것이 좋아
Anna: I’ve never seen Ruailrock that lit! It’s nice we get to see so much photage from behind the scenes. Somehow it seems I have missed this Wasted Johnny’s song before. What was described as powerful vocals on screen just sounds coarse in a rather disturbing way to me. Pity, because I really do like Angie and she exhibits great energy throughout the performance. The members of Rose Motel seem to enjoy it just fine, however, Yook Joong Hwan even singing along.
Kevin: Angie was out of control and I found it hilarious. Pretty good performance, but it’s hard for me to take it seriously with all that insane screaming. Interesting how she stops mid-song, telling the audience to sit down. Usually I’d expect the opposite to happen, but whatever. At least they have that essential energy which makes it all the more fun.
Score: 210
Anna: Probably a fair score. Even if I didn’t like this particular performance much myself I still would very much like to see more of Wasted Johnny’s in this competition.
InPlace – Treasure
Anna: More sweet video shot outside the competition, showing InPlace tutoring another school band, The Odd. Another very nice performance from InPlace. There’s nothing really outstanding or original about this band, but I anyway really enjoy their songs and arrangements. This is something I’d expect from a band playing at the prom in some American high school movie. Yoon Il Sang and Shin Dae Chul both seem to approve, even though neither pushed the button for them when picking the bands.
Kevin: Those vocals are easy to recognize, but there’s still not much impressive with it. He doesn’t seem to have high range, though still gets the job done. I always get the feeling that when these people sing in English, it’s not natural for them. Understandable, yes, but it would be nice to hear them sing in their native language for a better performance. For what it is, I enjoyed this performance, but I want to see the band evolve and improve more. This can’t be their highest potential.
Score: 207
Anna: Aw, they didn’t even get to feel the thrill of possibly making it once they received the score.
3POP – Get Lucky (Daft Punk cover)
Anna: Oh wow… I absolutely cannot stand this kind of funk arrangement. Never mind how well they play their instruments, or how good the song is in original. Definitely not for me.
Kevin: I was somewhat enjoying this until the chorus arrived. It felt way too messy and unorganized. The corresponding sounds of each instrument didn’t go together well. On the other hand, the opening guitar solo was pretty good, but once he started singing, it just felt weird how he played the notes in between lines. I didn’t really like it, sadly.
Score: 209
Anna: Surprisingly high score for this kind of music, I’d say. But then the audience might’ve seen something worthwhile that didn’t make the 90s cut for TV. And maybe it’s just me being negative.
Band So – Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers cover)
Anna: Typically the song picks from Band So have not been to my taste, but this is different! I especially like it when they speed up the beat a bit, bringing more rock’n’roll to the stage. But at the same time it doesn’t feel quite as much as the Band So we’ve gotten to know in the first half of this season.
Kevin: Didn’t care much for that slow start. The song started to pick up once the speed changed, but ultimately it felt ruined by the vocals. Just another case of trying to the right hit notes instead of being emotionally invested in the singing, maybe aside from the screaming which still didn’t do much for me. This was average at best.
Score: 226
Anna: Wow! I did not see that coming. Although I did enjoy this quite a bit, so likely it’s just old preconceptions that caused my surprise. No more Wasted Johnny’s with leeSA next in line to get cut. Too bad
notension – Take Me Home
Anna: This sounds so familiar I had to double-check that they didn’t perform it before (they didn’t). Very standard modern rock, but quite enjoyable for what it is. I like it.
Kevin: This was actually pretty good, all things considered. Nothing original in the least, didn’t leave much of an impression with such short length, but it was pleasing to the ears. It would be interesting to hear post-rock elements in a song like this, as I got those kind of vibes from the intro. Wasted potential to go for something so straight-forward, but it could be much worse.
Score: 204
Anna: Worst score so far! I’m honestly surprised. This is the kind of music I would imagine any Korean audience to just eat right up, but maybe that’s rather a sign of me no longer keeping up with what is actually hot…
Dead Buttons – Nothing But You
Anna: Yay! Dead Buttons! Still way too bluesy for me, but I can’t not support them. I’ll really need to go see them myself some time. Oh no! In the middle of it all the guitar can’t be heard anymore. The judges look distraught and the performance never picks up. It wasn’t the best song pick to begin with. I know that Dead Buttons can do much better than this. So far in Top Band 3 they have barely been showing any of the professionalism and awesomeness that has already taken them out into the world.
Kevin: That’s quite an awkward situation they got themselves into. Bad luck on their part, but the song wasn’t that interesting anyway. Regardless if it was a technical error or mistake, that sudden silence just ruined the performance as a whole and made the atmosphere really uncomfortable. I applaud them for not giving up though, as that’s at least some semblance of professionalism they showed.
Score: 219
Anna: Wow! That’s a great score for that performance. They must’ve had plenty of fans in the audience already. Dead Buttons being the 7th out of 8 bands to play means that we’ll for sure get to see more of Band So in Top Band 3.
Streetguns – 김치빌리
Anna: Busking on the subway–what a treat for the other travellers. Going back to The RockTigers days to find the best Streetguns song, it seems. This is my first time hearing the song without Velvet Geena on the vocals, but it’s working quite well even like this. Just from the look of Rose Motel and the audience this appears to have been the most popular performance of the evening.
Kevin: That would be awesome, seeing a band perform on the subway while in Korea. I’ll make sure to look out for that next time I’m there. This song had some potential with the intro, but it just kept falling down into mediocrity after that. I really didn’t care much for this. Sure, they had energy as usual, but they could have picked a better song.
Score: 244
Anna: Impressive!! Best score of the evening. leeSA seems to take this second elimination of hers relatively well.
Results
- Streetguns
- Band So
- leeSA
- Dead Buttons
- Wasted Johnny’s
- 3POP
- InPlace
- notension