Wave To Earth are on a roll. Today (February 29) the South Korean indie rock trio Wave To Earth kick off a tour of Asia, which will roll into Europe in March and April. Many of the shows are sold out, with several receiving venue upgrades to accommodate the demand. Read on for NME’s interview with the rising band.
The success of the upcoming tour was already forecasted in the extensive North American leg of this ‘The First Era’ series of shows, where the band – comprising John Cha, Daniel Kim and Dong Q – saw incredible turnouts and sold-out shows in the US, Canada and more from August to September last year.
Wave To Earth will wrap up ‘The First Era’ with eight shows in Asia, covering Jakarta, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. After a few days, the band will be whisked away to Hong Kong, Taipei and Japan for the ‘Flaws And All’ Tour, in support of their first-ever studio album, ‘0.1 flaws and all’, released in April last year. Wave to Earth are then slated to head over to Europe for a series of shows concluding in April 2024.
The extensive scale of Wave To Earth’s ongoing global trek can be credited to the mass virality of some of their songs, including the tranquil ‘Seasons’, the soft, lovesick ‘Peach Eyes’ and the guitar-driven ‘Bad’. Ask Wave To Earth to personally define their hazy, dreamlike sound and they’ll coyly reply “Wave to Earth style”. Formed in middle school, the band have always wanted to create their own “new waves” through “comfortable songs” that resonate, they tell NME.
Daniel Kim, the band’s chief songwriter, attributes the recent popularity of their music to their creation of a “space” where people feel they can belong. “Since we make comfortable songs and sing in English, there is a lot of space [within our music] where people can [enter],” he tells NME. “I think the overall key to that is just making good music.”
That being said, Wave To Earth don’t particularly feel a change in their dispositions now that they are a step closer to the mainstream. “It feels the same,” Dong Q says, when asked if they feel any different now that there are more eyes on them than ever. “I just want us to stay as musicians and as a band [like we always have], and not get kind of crazy. We don’t want to get bad influences from that.”
The scale of their breakthrough only hit them when they started their run of North American shows. “We actually began to realise that we may not be so small,” John Cha recalled. “Everything [went] massive after that.”
They’re seeing upgrades with every show they have played since, be it with the crowd or the scale of venues. “We’re making every development we can at every show, so because of that we’re actually going to take a full band with us on this upcoming tour,” Dong Q and Daniel add. “We only performed with just the three of us in previous shows, but this time we’re taking a saxophonist and keyboard player with us.”
Touring success aside, making music that’s worthwhile is all Wave To Earth want to focus on for the near future. “We don’t have to stand out, we just have to make music,” Daniel tells NME with conviction. “We don’t want to focus on money or fame, but on being true musicians.” John adds: “I think we’re still on our way. Maybe we’ve hit one milestone, so we’re in the middle [of our journey]. We still have lots of ways to go.”
