Broken Valentine

Broken Valentine
Origin Seoul, Korea
Genres Alternative rock, post-grunge
Years active 2002–present
Labels Rolling Cultureone / YDCT Music (Korea)
Website www.brokenvalentine.com
Members Van - Vocal
Ansu - Guitar
Byun G - Guitar
Sunghwan - Bass
Koopa - Drum

Broken Valentine is a Korean alternative rock band notable for their 2011 appearance on the Korean television program Top Band.

Members

Broken Valentine consists of

History

Broken Valentine formed in 2002 under the name "6. August", renamed themselves "B. August" in 2004 and finally settled on "Broken Valentine" in 2007. Broken Valentine once explained in an interview about its name.

People have a certain image of Valentine's day as beautiful and sweet and we add an adjective "Broken" to the word which means those illusions or fantasies can be broken anytime. But we believe that's a reality that we live in and it's not too negative or pessimistic at all. We want to express that kind of lives which people living in in our music, too.

Band membership has fluctuated throughout the years as members have gone off for mandatory military service, but by 2007, the current five member lineup was solidified.

In December 2008, the reunited band participated in the "Asian Beat" band competition (Korean round) sponsored by YAMAHA, and became the finalist to represent Korea in the following year’s Asian Beat Grand Finale held in Hong Kong. In February 2009, Broken Valentine won the Grand Prize and the Best Composer Award (Byun G) with the song “Answer me”, which became their most popular track. Broken Valentine thus became the first team in Asian Beat’s history to ever win two awards in the same year.

In 2009, Broken Valentine released their first EP album, the self-produced Calling You. To celebrate this release, the performed a showcase concert, and continued to perform at local gigs and in support of other bands throughout South Korea. However, due to the nature of the South Korean music scene, with limited outlets for independent bands, they found difficulty achieving nationwide recognition, so in 2011, they tried out for the television program Top Band broadcast by the Korean Broadcasting System. This is a Survivor-like reality show wherein bands compete against each other. Broken Valentine was considered an early favorite, and made it to the round of 16 on the show, but was eliminated at this round by the band "Toxic."[1]

Following their elimination, Broken Valentine held their fourth exclusive concert “Royal Straight Flush” on October 14, 2011 to a crowd of more than 500 people. They are now working on their first official album to be released in 2012.

Style

Broken Valentine writes and composes their own songs, mostly written by Byun G and Van. Their music style can be categorized as alternative rock and post-grunge.

Discography

Full-length album

  1. Royal Straight Flush
  2. Shade (Title)
  3. M.K. Dance
  4. This Time
  5. Noname
  6. You Never Mind
  7. Down
  8. Dual-log
  9. L I F E
  10. What U Need
  11. Noname(Piano Ver.)

EP

Songs captured with "" is translated title.

  1. Alien
  2. "Just like that as is"
  3. Run
  1. What You NEED (Vocal Sunghwan ver.)
  2. L I F E (Vocal Sunghwan ver.)
  3. "If I open my eyes" (Vocal Sunghwan ver.)
  4. Answer Me (Vocal Sunghwan ver.)
  5. Alien (Vocal Van ver.)
  6. "Just like this as is" (Vocal Van ver.)
  7. Run (Vocal Van ver.)
  1. This time reprise
  2. "The sea in my old drawer" (cover of song by the band Panic)
  3. M.K. Dance
  4. "Song of the fossil"
  5. Answer me
  1. Down
  2. Noname
  1. Ride

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Surh Jung-min (20 September 2011). "‘Top Band’ concert draws diverse audience". The Hankyoreh.

External links