Indie Band Names' Meaning

Yesterday, I was searching for Achime(as searching with this name one finds everything but the band), I stumbled upon an article explaining the meanings of names from indie bands. Probably interesting to know that most of them don't have a real meaning, I did a quick translation.

This had been called 'part 1', so I hope there comes more. The first part contains Gloomy Monkeys, Soran, Daybreak, Munk, Neon Bunny, Broccoli you too, Oyster Boys and Joa Band. Please excuse me if there are names romanized wrong, I write them simply as I feel like.



Gloomy Monkeys
A 5 member band consisting of Lee Jae Chul(vocal), Park Min Young(guitar), Kim Yeon Jun(guitar), Kim Ji Man(bass), Park Byung Seok(drums). They themselves comment that the forms of their faces are similar to monkeys. Their Applied Music teacher decided to call them ‘Monkeys’ and as they were plain and dull, it has been decided to be ‘Gloomy Monkeys’. They emphasized the Monkeys as emotional but not as the gloom of ‘Gloomy’. They introduce themselves as ‘singing, emotional monkeys’.

Soran
A band formed in 2009 with Go Young Bae(vocal), Seo Myeon Ho(bass) and Pyun Yoo Il(drums). Go Young Bae thought of the name before and formed the band then. There were also members who expressed their discontent that the musical style fits them, but they don’t like the name. But, Go Young Bae, who liked the name ‘Soran’, pushed them. It’s Soran with an ironic meaning. Instead of noisy and mind losing music, they create a calm and dignified music style. Asking for an episode related to their name, they say that “there are a lot of people who think of us as female ballad singers and are surprised when they see us, and people who still think our name is Sorani”. They added to their discontents that “it is difficult to search for their news articles in the internet”.

Daybreak
Consisting of Lee Won Seok(vocal), Jung Yoo Jong(guitar), Kim Seon Il(bass) and Kim Jang Won(keyboard), they debuted in 2007. When they wanted to participate in a Melon rookie project, they had to decide for a name quickly. Kim Jang Won found the form of the small letters ‘db’ looking like a headphone interesting, and they searched an abbreviated word for it. Database, Decibel, and several other ideas came out, but Jung Yoo Jong, who is playing the guitar, suggested ‘Daybreak’. All the members agreed right away. ‘Daybreak’ means the early morning when the dark night goes and a faint light comes. Like that, the calm and positive meaning of ‘daybreak’, this is Daybreak’s musical color.

MUNK
Seo Young Jun(vocal), Kwon Ik Hwan(guitar), Jung Seok Won(bass) and Lee Hyun Gyu(drums). The band formed in 2009 and, in order to perform, needed a name. When they played together before a performance, they thought of several names, but they couldn’t decide and simply chose, because they liked the nuance, MUNK. Famous painter Munch*, Pianist Monk*, it was their goal to become the MUNK* famous in the world of popular music. If they maybe had liked the nuance of Yi Sun Shin or General Euljimundeok, their name might be different.

*in Korean it’s all written as ‘뭉크’, all the same

Neon Bunny
Real name Im Yoo Jin. Neon Bunny, who played keyboard in The Black Skirts, released her solo album. The name Neon Bunny has been made by friends. There is no special meaning. She likes to collect things related to bunnies and her friends counseled her bunny simply because she likes bunnies. It just had been put ‘neon’ to it. Anyhow, the name Neon Bunny is hard to forget once you heard it. Will she become a sparkling bunny?

Broccoli, you too?
The modern rock band consisting of Deok Won(vocal, bass), Jandi(keyboard), Ryuji(vocal, drum) and Hyangi(guitar). Having achieved success with their 1st and 2nd album, they are the icons of the indie scene. Broccoli, you too made their name thinking of the last words from Rome emperor Cesar “Brutus, you too”. There is no huge meaning. Of course, the members don’t have any grudge against broccoli.

Oyster Boys
Consisting of Kim Won Gu(vocal, guitar), Kim Dong Hyun(bass), Jung Shin Woo(drum, chorus), Jang Ho Ra(keyboard) and Choi Sae Rok(guitar), they made their debut in 2007. They were impressed by Franz Kafka’s short story ‘The Burrow*’ and, driven by the liking for oysters, they went almost every day to the restaurant in the neighborhood and ate a bowl of fried oysters and rice. One day the owner said “the oyster boys came” and like that they took it as their band name. Who thought it would have a gloomy meaning, was on the wrong track. Oyster Boys-like they made their name joyfully.

*굴 has two meanings, ‘burrow’ and ‘oyster’

Joa Band
Joa Band, consisting of Jo Jun Ho(percussion), Son Hyun(guitar), An Bok Jin(accordion) and Baek Ga Young(bass), was formed in 2008. What meaning does ‘Joa Band’ have? It’s just as thought*. There is no special meaning. At the time they performed without having decided on a name, someone asked after their performance ‘what is the name of your band?’. One member answered then “We’re a band that does it because we just like to.” Made like that, the name is now ‘Joa Band’. Probably they won’t change their name before they get sick of their band activities.

*please remember that their original Korean name is 좋아서 하는 밴드 which can be roughly translated to ‘band we do because we like to’


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