“A Happy, Smelly Vibe”: One Night in Seoul With Hyukoh and Sunset Rollercoaster

If you’re leading a mob of 40 people into the heart of Taipei, you might be a tour guide. Or you might be on tour with the indie bands Hyukoh and Sunset Rollercoaster, who’ve just hypnotized their fans in back-to-back sold out shows in Seoul and Taipei. To celebrate the occasion, the motley crew partied at a local dive bar called The Fucking Place. “I almost got PTSD,” says Sunset Rollercoaster frontman Kuo-Hung Tseng. 

But Kuo and Hyukoh frontman Oh Hyuk’s true fantasies lie somewhere in the mountains of indigenous Cambodia, where they shapeshift into punk rock martians armed with saxophones, accordions, and electric autoharps. Their collaborative psychedelic album, AAA, is the result of a 4-year hiatus that began as a jam session and blossomed into an eight-piece showstopper that dreams in three languages, Wong Kar Wai aesthetics, mandopop, Colombian street style, and much more. On Zoom last month, the two frontmen revealed the sources of their eclectic style, their drinking and listening habits on the road, and the reason why Kuo is dying to get back to Bangkok. 

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KWAK: Where are you both calling from?

KUO: I’m calling from China.

OH: From Seoul. 

KWAK: What’s your favorite neighborhood in Seoul?

OH: There’s one area called Yeonhui. A lot of people know about Hongdae. But nowadays, it’s kind of touristic, so all the cute good shops moved to this one area called Yeonnam, [on the] south side of Hongdae. And then “hui” means west. So it’s just west of Yeonnam. 

KWAK: Okay, nice. So you’ve just ran the home bases, Seoul and Taipei, which were both sold out in massive venues. How does that feel?  

OH: Feeling really good. We never toured the last four years, so I was a little nervous, but somehow it’s going well. I’m super happy about it. 

KWAK: Do you have any memorable fan interactions from the last two cities?

OH: I remember one lady wrote down something and kept showing me. She wrote, “Please give me your guitar pick.” So I tried to throw it to her, but it kind of failed. So I don’t know what happened after that.

KUO: I remember that moment. You need a special angle to make sure the pick can rotate and fly long enough.

KWAK: You have 10 people making up both of your bands and 45 people on the tour list. Do you guys have family dinners? Does it feel like summer camp? What’s the vibe? 

KUO: I almost got PTSD from the end of this hangout with a huge group of people. I remember when we finished a Taipei show, I tried to take everybody to an underground techno club. It’s called Pawn Shop, but they have a really strict policy to do the security check and everything, so I wasn’t sure how to manage taking everybody to that kind of club. In the end, we just went to another dive bar called The Fucking Place.

OH: Everyone was drunk and smoking inside. It’s kind of a happy, smelly vibe.

KUO: It’s exactly the same as when you go to a Korean barbecue and you’ll have a lot of smoke from the barbecue. 

KWAK: I love that. It’s very Korea: eat, drink, and smoke. What have you learned about each other since starting the tour?

KUO: We’re definitely around the same mental age, but physically my body age is around 37 and the whole KO members, their body age is around 30. So after 3AM I’ll feel like “Shit, I cannot catch up anymore.” 

KWAK: Do you have any pre-show rituals? 

KUO: We’ll have a shot together.

KWAK: What are you drinking?

KUO: Some people drink Jane, some people drink whiskey.

OH: Something strong.

KWAK: When you first met each other, it started out as a jam session and then it became this eight-piece album. What aspects of each other’s work did you gravitate towards when you first met? 

KUO: I would say we never set up a goal or separate works like that. For example, some people prepare a demo, some people write a melody. We just go in there and try to have some fun and everybody just naturally finds their position. When we’re jamming, some people are trying to work on a bigger picture and some people are just having their own good time strumming really loud guitar chords and not giving a shit. But even like that, the music’s still good, so I think it’s pretty fun.

KWAK: Your album covers and music videos are so absorbing. You guys appear like indigenous mountain dwellers in one image and extraterrestrial beings in another. What was your ideation process behind that? 

OH: The album cover from last year, there’s one guy called Chanhee and there’s a group called Balming Tiger from Korea. So me and Chanhee worked on this AI image. In total, we made almost 157 images. So there’s the main cover and then the vinyl cover, which is a little bit different, and both made from these weird AI images.

KWAK: I also loved the sticky side buns that’s in one of your music videos. It reminded me of a Mexican film I watched a couple years ago called I’m No Longer Here. They have a very similar vibe, but I’m wondering where the inspiration came from for you.

OH: Actually, it’s that movie.

OH: Bingo! 

OH: Yeah, bingo. I watched it like, I don’t know, like 20, 21 something. And at the time I’m really into this kind of big baggy pants and then a really small hoodie, this kind of outfit. And then after I watched this movie, I felt really interesting about this Colombian style music and also people who listen to this kind of music, what they’re wearing. So we used a little bit for our styling. 

KWAK: Speaking of remixing different aesthetics, I watched a song you produced with IU using amapiano. Do you listen to Tyla? Her song Water is heavily inspired by amapiano.

OH: Yes, yes. 

KWAK: Do you fuck with her music?

OH: Tyla is super cool. She’s super cute and the music is really good. I saw she came to Seoul a couple weeks ago, but I missed it.

KWAK: I also want to ask about both of your personal styles. How would you describe it in a few words?

KUO: I’m still kind of nerdy, but I’m in my late thirties now, so my [version of] nerdy getting a little bit expensive. I’m nerdy, but trying to wearing a Rolex as well. I’m trying to integrate luxury items into my daily, nerdy, trolling vibe and make something expensive into something funny.

KWAK: Like satire. 

KUO: Yeah, satire. It’s Asian satire.

KWAK: What did you both grow up listening to? 

KUO: My approach was kind of weird because I grew up in a church in a Christian family and my mom worked with the YMCA. I was listening to Lincoln Park and Limp Bizkit and I was using a downloading app called Kaza. And I remember one teacher came to me and said, “Stop listening to this bullshit.” And so he started introducing me to Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles. He was a super white dude, but his eyes were red all the time.

KWAK: Who takes the aux when you’re between shows?

KUO: Usually all of us. 

OH: Kuo taught me a lot of new albums and new music but we don’t have much time to discover everything, so I’m listening to everything. For example, after the show one time we went to the Sunset’s music office and all listened to Gong Gong Gong together. And also Mong Tong and Primal Scream.

KWAK: What’s on your tour rider?

KUO: There’s a special Chinese medicine thing called Pei Pa Koa. It makes your throat really smooth and wet and it takes two months to make. So there’s a lot of Chinese medicine somewhere in between. Before the show we just make it with some hot water, stir it, and drink.

KWAK: Which songs are you most excited to perform? Which ones get the best reactions?

OH: To me, I think it’s always “Clair de Luna” and then “Kite War,” which is the very first track. 

KUO: Mine is “Citizen Kane,” for sure. Since I’m almost 37 now, it makes me feel young.

KWAK: Your songs are so romantic, by the way. They’re like love letters.

OH: Yes. 

KUO: I hate that. Just kidding.

KWAK: Where are you most looking forward to playing next?

OH: Japan.

KUO: Probably Thailand. I had a wedding in Ko Samui a few months ago and I went back to Bangkok and I just lost my wife’s jewelry in the restaurant. So that’s why I need to go to Bangkok.