Bytailored Indie Rock Festival

Bytailored Indie Rock Festival (BYTAILORED INDIE ROCK FESTIVAL).

It sounds like an impressive name, but in reality, it simply means a festival hosted by Tailored (TAILORED), one of the handful of noteworthy major rock bands in Korea. It is a small-scale rock festival rooted in Hongdae’s indie scene, drawing around four to five thousand people and entering its eighth year.

What sets this festival apart from others is that, true to the name emblazoned across it, Tailored always performs as the headliner… but the other bands are indie bands selected ‘directly’ by Tailored.

Because of that, some indie bands make their stage debuts through Bytailored. Such bands are collectively praised as ‘Tailored picks’ and rapidly rise to a higher level.

And since Tailored is guaranteed to headline the second day… people who loved to gossip also paid close attention to who would headline the first day—in other words, which indie rock band Tailored had selected as the best of the year.

That was why every indie band hoping to make a name for itself wanted to perform at this festival.

“Hey, did you hear? That Park Minseok from Cheonan. Apparently, someone in his family suddenly passed away.”

But Tailored, the festival’s organizers, were facing a considerable crisis.

“How did that happen? Should we all go pay our respects or something?”

“I know.”

“How much are people like us supposed to give?”

“I’ve never been to a funeral, so I don’t know…” While they drank and idly tossed around remarks like that, the band’s bassist, Han Jonghyeon, suddenly shouted as if something had just occurred to him.

“Wait, isn’t that Minseok guy the vocalist of Hungry Socrates? Then doesn’t that mean he can’t perform this time?”

The members of Tailored froze for a moment at his words. Cheolyeon, the band’s leader, inwardly berated himself for not thinking of that first. But it did not matter who had thought of it. Now that the problem had arisen, they had to deal with it.

“What time is their slot?”

“Saturday, six o’clock.”

Festivals generally began their schedules around noon or one in the afternoon and wrapped up at midnight. Bytailored followed the same pattern, beginning at 1 p.m. and usually scheduling performances of thirty to forty minutes, followed by twenty to thirty minutes for setup and rest.

For that reason, a slot from six to seven in the evening could be called a fairly heavyweight position in the lineup. They were an evening act, after all.

“Is there a band that can take their place?”

“I don’t know…”

The problem was that Tailored’s exacting standards had already filtered out most of the bands. But pushing one of the early-time bands into that slot also felt wrong. They had put the lineup together after considerable deliberation.

“There are quite a few bands around their level that we didn’t book, but honestly, they’re kind of lousy. I don’t want to call them in just for that.”

“That’s true…”

Cheolyeon put a cigarette between his lips and thought. He always struggled when putting together the lineup each year, but this year had been particularly difficult. He had spent several nights staying up and agonizing over it.

And now he was supposed to alter that lineup? Cheolyeon had no idea how to adjust it. The problem was not that there were no bands they could put in—the problem was that there was no band they wanted in that particular slot.

“Doesn’t anyone know a good band?”

“If there were one, we would’ve already put them in…”

As he exchanged remarks like that with the members, Cheolyeon tossed back a shot of soju. He smacked his lips at the bitter taste and began refilling his glass, when suddenly an idea flashed through his mind.

‘Come to think of it, didn’t those kids release an EP recently? They’ve been doing live shows too.’

The music was quite good. It combined Japanese-style rock, popular these days, with interpretations influenced by subculture.

If they had only been kids who wrote unusually good songs, that would be one thing. But they also had three members with solid fundamentals and a guitarist with transcendent skill, so the band was quite good overall…

According to Kang Seongmin, the owner of Paradox and an older friend Cheolyeon knew, their live performances were also excellent. He had even heard that ‘that Kim Suryeol guy’ had vouched for them.

The only blemish was what had happened before… but after investigating it himself, Cheolyeon had concluded that it was very likely just nonsense. Besides that, they only had a few songs to perform live… but they could deal with that themselves. They could always play covers.

Having made up his mind, Cheolyeon opened his mouth.

“Come to think of it, there are some kids I’ve been keeping an eye on lately. They don’t have much experience, but…”

* * *

After hearing Cheolyeon’s proposal, Myeongjeon could not give him an immediate answer, so he passed the matter along to the girls. Their first reaction upon hearing it was suspicion.

“What festival?”

“Suyeon, I think your sense of humor has gotten a lot better lately.”

“You haven’t been tricked somewhere, have you…?”

The three girls did not go through some grand process like the five stages of grief, but each of them still needed time to accept the fact Myeongjeon had told them.

Myeongjeon thought that was only natural.

‘They formed a band less than a year ago, charted on Melon as soon as they released an EP, and now they’re even appearing at a festival. This is the kind of thing bands could only do during rock’s heyday.’

As Baek Cheolsu once said, it was only possible back when rock was music itself. Otherwise, it was something only a boy band from a major agency could manage—someone like that Ryu Jin person, or whatever his name was.

“Is it really true?”

“Why would I lie about something like this?”

After asking for confirmation again and again, Iseo immediately rushed off and began calling someone.

“Bytailored would be huge. I can’t believe we’ve really come this far.”

Watching Iseo, Seoha muttered those words. There was a slightly complicated emotion mixed into her voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“I remembered the older guys I used to make music with saying they really wanted to perform at Bytailored. They all worked hard at music, but in the end, not a single one of them made it.”

“But now I’m going to perform there,” Seoha added with an awkward laugh. At those words, Myeongjeon felt he understood what she meant.

There were people who kept working tirelessly even when they could not see any hope. People who continued striving because they believed their efforts would be rewarded someday, even though they had received no reward so far. Myeongjeon had been one of those people too.

It was easy to laugh at them. One could call them ‘people without talent’ or say, ‘It was impossible from the start.’ But if you had seen how hard they worked with your own eyes, it was not easy to say such things.

Seoha was probably feeling that way too. She was not one of those people who had been working so fiercely; instead, she was the one who had suddenly received this opportunity, so she was happy, yet felt something subtle and strange. Something like sadness.

“You earned this through your own efforts, so don’t let it weigh on you.”

“Huh?”

“It’s sad for those people. But it can’t be helped, either.”

Myeongjeon knew that well because he had once been that kind of person himself. Anger, frustration, longing. Why couldn’t I become like that? I could become like that too.

But even so, one thing was certain: no matter how much sorrow knocked you down, you must not become someone who envied and resented others.

Looking for the reason behind what happened to you in someone else. It was difficult the first time, but easy after that. If you blamed others once or twice, eventually you began to think that everything that happened to you was caused by someone else. In the end, you would not only ruin others but yourself as well. You would become someone incapable of growing any further.

People like that usually ended up in one of two ways. They either had their spirits broken and retired, or lived a wretched life endlessly slandering others.

“Is that so?”

“What are you going to do just because it’s sad? Even if you could give up this opportunity and hand it to someone else, what about all the other people who still wouldn’t get an opportunity? If you’ve chosen to walk the path of competition, it’s better for your mental health to let go of those feelings.”

At Myeongjeon’s words, Seoha stared at the ceiling for a moment. She looked lost in thought.

“But are you going to participate?”

“Honestly, I’m a little against it.”

At Hyuna’s sudden question, Myeongjeon answered without thinking. Then he looked back at Seoha, whose eyes seemed ready to pop out. Hadn’t she just been saying things like, “Am I really allowed to accept an opportunity like this?”

“Why… why are you against it?”

“No particular reason. We practiced like crazy for the EP and everything, so if we’re going to participate in a festival too, we’ll have to practice all over again. I don’t mind, but shouldn’t you girls get some rest? Hyuna has her entrance exams coming up, and there’s this and that…”

“I’ve resolved the entrance-exam issue, so I don’t mind. I talked it over with my parents too…”

At that, Myeongjeon looked at Hyuna. Had she firmly decided to pursue the band now? That choice might be the wiser one. The band was already good enough to perform at a festival, and graduating from an arts college would not make it easy to earn a living as a pianist.

‘Maybe I’ve saved one person…’

No, perhaps two or even three. In any case, that was what Myeongjeon thought.

* * *

Bytailored Indie Rock Festival @BTLRDFESOFFCIAL ・ 1 hour ago

<Timetable Change Announcement>

The [Hungry Socrates] band, which was scheduled to perform from 18:00 to 19:00 on Day 1, is unfortunately unable to attend this festival due to circumstances within the band.

Bytailored Indie Rock Festival @BTLRDFESOFFCIAL ・ 1 hour ago

<Timetable Change Announcement>

We would like to announce that the performance scheduled for Day 1 from 18:00 to 19:00, which has become vacant as a result, will be replaced by the recently debuted indie band [Group Sound].

(Group Sound EP link)

(Group Sound live performance link)

Two tweets posted on Twitter by [Bytailored Indie Rock Festival]. Their aftermath was enough to send shockwaves through the Korean indie scene, even if they were not particularly large ones.

[What the fuck is this Bytailored?]

(Two official tweets)

Who the fuck is Group Sound?

Where did Minseok-hyung go!!!!!

- ????

- Is this for real? Fuck

- I don’t listen to any of the other acts, so I bought a ticket just for Socrates, but what the fuck is this?

[Let’s find out who Group Sound is.avi]

(A shoddily recorded live performance video.avi)

(A video of Iseo’s breasts bouncing heavily.avi)

This should be enough.

- Oh

- (Now this is what I’m talking about~ content)

- Are they going all-in on the body appeal?

- Are they really one-trick ponies who just shake their tits? Fuck, did they offer sexual favors to Kim Cheolyeon?

- Agh, fuck Cheolyeon-hyung

[I booked tickets for Bytailored today ㅠㅠ]

(Official tweet)

I love Socrates, so I was really looking forward to it ㅠㅠ What are these girls? Why is there a four-girl band here? Is it J-rock? Ugh…

- The songs are good, though.

ㄴ I know the songs are good, but why are they being pushed in ahead of Socrates?

- I haven’t listened, but honestly, judging by their pretty faces, they seem like girls getting in on looks alone.

ㄴ Tailored picked them directly, though. Would that really happen? Think a little.

ㄴ Then why did the water-bottle incident happen in 2020 lol? Just because they’re Tailored doesn’t mean they’re always right. Wake up.

- But I listened to them, and the songs are actually really good?

ㄴ Honestly, they’re not that good. What are you talking about?

ㄴ Try the tracks besides the title song and they’re good; I was genuinely surprised by the one with the English title.

Even if Group Sound had entered the Rock/Metal chart, that was an accomplishment achieved by the title track, [Leap Across That Distance].

And [Leap Across That Distance] had not entered the chart through the firepower of indie-scene listeners. It had entered thanks to the choices of ‘normies’—and besides, it was an ordinary song about love and youth, the sort of song indie-scene listeners who called themselves hipsters could not help but hate.

That was why the backlash against Group Sound was enormous. It was so intense that they easily broke the record for the highest number of retweets the Bytailored Festival’s official account had received up to that point.

Most of those retweets were complaints or abuse. [Does this make any sense?], [Bring proper acts instead of weird kids.], [What are you planning to do by bringing girls here? ㅡㅡ], [I’m genuinely clueless about rock, but it feels like they’re bringing in people who know even less than I do], and so on.

Most of them had not listened to Group Sound’s music and did not think they needed to. Some had not even considered finding out anything about the band. They simply started cursing first.

You might wonder how that made any sense, but that was how trolls operated. Only people who could calmly do absurd things while saying, “It’s your fault for making me this way,” could become trolls.

But despite that public sentiment, the Bytailored organizers and Group Sound remained silent, like a train continuing on despite dogs barking. Meanwhile, the festival was drawing closer and closer.