Indie Band Names' Meaning Part 2

This was quite confusing and at times I thought making a part 2 had been a mistake, some parts turned out quite weird.

This time: Dear Cloud, Yellow Monsters, The KOXX, Galaxy Express, Monni, Guckkasten, Sister's Barbershop, No Reply and Gajami Boys

T/N: Names are again romanised on a whim. Cookies for people who can give me romanised name for 가자미소년단. Sorry for weirdness.



Dear Cloud
Consisting of Nine(vocal), Yongrin(guitar), Yirang(bass), Jung Ah(keyboard) and Gwangseok(drums), Dear Cloud debuted 2007 with their first album ‘Dear Cloud’. Connected through the Seoul University of Arts, Dear Cloud’s name was made up by the eldest and leader Yongrin. Dear Cloud has been built with the vocabulary ‘CLOUD’, meaning melancholy and solicitude, and ‘DEAR’ put in front of it, wanting to comfort. Listening to their music, one feels the healing of the heart that had been hurt by human relations.

Yellow Monsters
‘Yellow Monsters’ means the oriental people. It’s not the home of Rock, but does it mean that they are monster-like oriental people? It seems a childish name, but the conveyance of the meaning is sure. They are like a new band, but they are secondhand newbies with a difference of 15 years since their debut. Drummer Choi Jae Hyuk is from Deli Spice, singer and guitarist Lee Yong Won from Gum-X and bassist Han Jin Young comes from My Aunt Mary.

Yellow Monsters don’t like to prescribe the special genre of their music. So their music is offensive and rough, but there is a melody. To express several genres naturally is Yellow Monsters’ charm.


The KOXX
A band made up of Lee Hyun Song(vocal), Kim Yoon Ho*(keyboard), Park Seon Bin(bass), Shin Saron(drums) and Lee Soo Ryun(guitar), when the juniors and seniors of the Applied Music Department at Howon University hit off really well at a yearend party in 2008. They thought of the manly, youthful and passionate image of a cock(rooster), but as there was a foreign band with the same name, they decided for ‘koxx’. It seems to be the better name because ‘koxx’ feels stronger and more passionate than ‘cock’.

*better known as Shaun


Galaxy Express
Lee Joo Hyun(bass, vocal), Park Jong Hyun(guitar, vocal) and Kim Hee Gwon(drums, chorus vocal) of Galaxy Express debuted 2007. Galaxy Express has nothing to do with the phone or the Manga ‘Galaxy Express 999’. It has the meaning of ‘with the feeling of traveling through the universe, let’s make music that spreads in everyone’s miniature universe’. What kind of meaning it is, one knows going to their performances. Listening to the sound with both ears, it is as fun as traveling through the universe.


Monni
Made of Kim Shini(vocal), Lee In Kyung(bass), Jung Hoon Tae(drums), Gong Tae Woo(guitar), and debuted in 2005. Monni means after the dictionary: ‘the character of being unkind in order to assert one’s claims, when not able to get the proper treatment’. Monni has a lot of greed. Even though they always work hard to get the best valuation, but to not become avaricious. Monni released their 3rd album ‘단 한 번의 여행’ in march and are now in midst of their activities.


Guckkasten
Ha Hyun Woo(guitar, vocal), Jeon Gyu Ho(guitar), Lee Jung Gil(drums) and Kim Kibum(bass) of ‘Guckkasten’ started their activities in 2003 as ‘The Compass of Music’(더 컴) and changed their name in 2007. ‘Guckkasten’, meaning zograscope, stands for the music similar to the psychedelic videos hidden in the analogism.


Sister’s Barbershop
Consisting of Lee Seok Won(vocal, guitar), Lee Neung Ryong(guitar) and Jeon Dae Jung(drums), it’s been 15 years since Sister’s Barbershop’s debut. With the pretty special mixture of words, ‘Sister’s Barbershop’ comes from a Japanese adult movie ‘The Sister and the Barbershop’ vocal Lee Seok Won watched during his high school times. The motive of forming the band is just as interesting as the name.

When Lee Seok Won appeared on one radio show, he introduced himself in the confusion of the moment “I am guitarist and vocalist of Sister’s Barbershop”. After the broadcast he hurriedly learned guitar and formed a band. Even now, 15 years later, Sister’s Barbershop is at the top of the Indie Scene, but, it’s interesting that the start was impromptu.


No Reply
The male duo ‘No Reply’, consisting of Kwon Sun Gwan(vocal, keyboard) and Jung Wook Jae(guitar), made their debut in 2008. No Reply, who received lots of love with their wonderful lyrics and melodies after their debut, made up their name in a hurry, when they had song festival ahead.

It’s a name made of song titles from the Beatles and Yoko Kanno. When they made the contract with the label, they also thought of ‘Reply’ without the ‘No’, but there were requests of fans and so they pushed it away. No Reply, making music contrary to their negative name, can have various experiments thanks to it, and it’s said that they’re pleased with their name now.


Lastly…
3 member band Gajami Boys. If you thought of the flatfish*, that’s wrong. The meaning of Gajami Boys is ‘Let’s go, pretty boys!’**

*flatfish in Korean: gajami
**gaja, misonyeondan (sonyeondan=boys)