Hot Potato, Pass it On ~

Hot Potato

L-R: Kim C,  Koh Beom-jun

 

Who are they?

     Hot Potato is a unique band just like their usual name.  The band is comprised of Kim C, on vocal and guitar, and Koh Beom-jun, on bass.  As well as another “revolving number of [other] members on drums and guitar”, but for now Hot Potato only consists as a duo.

     Hot Potato has been a relatively underground (and highly underrated, in my opinion) indie band.  Just recently they have gained much more popularity with Kim C appearing in variety shows. It was a “calculated move to advertise his music”.   As a result, their fourth and fifth albums have reached commercial success.  

     Unlike other musicians, Kim C never actually wanted to be a singer at first.  As a child, he was passionately drawn to baseball and aimed to be a professional baseball player.  Unfortunately, he had to give up his dream of being in the pro league (I’m not exactly sure why).  Eventually his friends persuaded Kim C to pursue music.  Even though it was a difficult journey at first, Kim C continues to “compose and produce songs while studying music”.  He had never played an instrument before so he had to learn.  At first he began learning to play the guitar at a small studio in his neighborhood.  Regrettably he had a terrible instructor that “only showed interest in girls who came for lessons”. Kim C then “decided to learn how to play the guitar by himself, and got a book of pop songs and practiced by himself”.

     Even though he has a successful career as a musician, Kim C’s passion for baseball is still there.  In his spare time he joins a “celebrity baseball team.

     Unfortunately, I couldn't find much information on their bassist, Koh Beom-jun.  He did graduate from the Seoul Arts College, so he is an educated person for sure.

The Music

     So, this first song is called Something and it's off of their album Seesaw IST.  IST standing for imaginary sound track, which was the concept for the album.  The concept being to create a soundtrack for an imagined film.  The video below are some of the scenes that may have been in this imagined film.  Anyway, the song is nice and soothing with Kim C's "very sweet yet deep-toned and slightly husky voice".

     This song is called Pillow and its one of their more recent releases.  It's a very slow and anguish driven song.  Even if you didn't know the lyrics, the song expresses those feelings of someone troubled by life.  An interesting fact to note.  The music video for this song was actually banned in Korea, and it's not for the reasons you think.  The censor board banned it because he walks down the wrong way on the moving sidewalk and commits littering.  It's quite tragic seeing that this video has such deep and symbolic meaning that most pop tunes seem to disregard these days.

     So, did you like Hot Potato?

Sources

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_C
 http://www.allkpop.com/2012/10/kim-cs-band-hot-potato-releases-their-5th-album-who-doesnt-like-sweet-things
 http://rataning.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/kim-c-korean-indie-band-hot-potato/
 http://seoulbeats.com/2011/12/k-pop-indie-gem-hot-potato/
 http://seoulbeats.com/2010/12/hot-potato-live/
 http://mydearkorea.blogspot.ca/2012/11/korean-music-kbs-bans-hot-potatos-music.html
 http://www.soompi.com/2010/05/24/artist-of-the-week-hot-potato/
 http://rki.kbs.co.kr/english/program/program_artist_detail.htm?No=106809