Coffee Musicians

From Clumsy Media

Coffee Musicians is a project collaboration group between indie artists and mainly underground composers with experimental band Clazziquai as an active mentor. The current front department is made up by three solo artists together; MiiKii (main vocal), Ophelia (vocal and lyrics) and Mr. Kid (vocal and rap) with jazz band Gentleladies. They're known for creating music that is subtile for playing in coffee shops, hence the name of the group.

The group has experienced a series of major member changes since its formation in 2007. Currently the newest members are labelled as the third generation by general public and fans. As of January 2014, the group has released one extended play and two chart peaking studio albums.

Contents

History

2007: Formation

The idea of having an project group involving different artists from all genre backgrounds first started in 2007 with Choi Koo Gun (original member) who at the time was a first year university student specialising in free style music. He recalled meeting the experimental group Clazziquai at a indie music festival. He soon grabbed the group's attention with his unique musical style and with the group agreeing to play an active role as a mentor he started Coffee Musicians with class mate Ro.M and at the time underground singer MiiKii. The whole process took ten months, recalled by MiiKii in an interview, from starting the group, finding the correct members and confirming their activities.

Chinese member Ro.M was persuaded to join as a lyricst after Choi Koo Gun came across her writing at the university monthly magazine. MiiKii, an unknown underground bar solo singer at the time approached Clazziquai and asked for a chance of fame to be inside a group with unlimited potential and was eventually suggested either 8Eight or Coffee Musicians, at the end she settled with the later. The three together are now offically known as the original line up members.

2008: The Corner Coffee Shop

It wasn't till the next year in February that they became an officially established group although with no label signed. The three began preparing for an online free release EP during their spare time. Recording and writing at Clazziquai's independent studio in Incheon and the whole process took eight months. Towards the finishing end, the trio realized without a background band their music was described as 'blank', within just ten days Choi Koo Gun contacted an indie bank he found online, N0.8 Lonely Street to join and was agreed upon immediately after the band heard the provided sample music. Together, known as Coffee Musicians they released their first ever EP "The Corner Coffee Shop" online on Cyworld.

The EP gained critical acclaim with an average online rating out four stars out of five and dubbed as an excellent debut. Since it was free to download a lot of cafes in Seoul started playing the songs, making the group more well known. Eventually they earned themself a small fan club and gathered publicity across different types of the media.

2010: The Coffee Lab Factory

Immediately after the release of their EP album and seeing the popularity it reached, member and composer Choi Koo Gun decided to leave the group to pursue his studies. He was quoted saying in their first interview with cable show jtBC that since the group is receiving so much attention, a lot more dedication needs to be put into, and he cannot promise this. As a result, the group suffered from half of the fans leaving as he was one of the most popular members. Together, the remaining members decided to go on an indefinite hiatus.

During this time the group's music reviewer and background producer Subway Space went on an overseas holiday to Australia and met Korean law student Hwangbo Gun (later known as Mr. Kid). The pair became friends soon enough and Hwangbo's hidden vocal and rap talent was discovered later on. Immediately Subway Space contacted the group at Korea and showed video footage and they decided they would like Hwangbo to step in as their new male lead vocal, he became an official member in 2009.

In the middle of that year began preparing on their first and next full album release and the process took seven months to complete. They released their first full studio album and major debut under a company label, titled The Coffee Lab Factory in 2010. Despite low expectations from the public and pre-order numbers did not reach the limit the group set, it was a success on the charts once again. It was well received by the public and professionals. Response were all generally positive and online charts gave an average of 85% on the album - equally as favourable as the previous works. The album was noted to be one of the most successful album that year in terms on offline sales.

2012: The Coffee Beans Exclusive

Three months after the release of their previous award winning studio album, two original line up members - Ro.M (lyricst) and N0.8 Lonely Streets (background band) decided to leave. While the first gave in no reasons, the band claimed they wanted to pursure an solo stand by album but the public suggested otherwise as they weren't signed to any indivudual labels and they suspected inside fights within the group. New member Mr. Kid was said to be starter of this cause as he replaced the original popularity member Choi Koo Gun who left in 2009 shortly after the group received popularity. The only left first generation original member MiiKii said none of the news were true, they just decided to seperate naturally.

This news did not hit the group as much as Choi Koo Gun's leave in 2009 but still had minor impacts. Soon after MiiKii and Mr. Kid, being the only two front members left at the time announced the group will go on an indefinite hiatus once again. There were no words to when they will return and absolutely no news related to the group was released in two years, and meanwhile N0.8 Lonely Streets never published any music and became an underground band once again.

Finally in 2012 news was released with multi-talented singer producer Ophelia joining the group and will take over the position as a lyricst, composer and second female vocal. The public received this news in a positive manner as the artist was widly known and recognized publicly for her talent. Soon after, indie band Gentleladies also confirmed to become an active member and will now be responsible for the background music. Representatives then revealed they have started working on the newest album.

In June the group themselves revealed recoridng have officially started in an interview with magazine 10 Asia. The members were quoted saying that there'll be more group effort shown. Ophelia have written most of the lyrics to the tracks on the album and recording continued from MiiKii's personal studio in Los Angeles, America to the group's own studio in Seoul, South Korea. On 15 October, the group announced the confirmation release of the album, titled The Coffee Beans Exclusive and was officially released December 10. Start up member Choi Koo Gun made surprising appearance on the album; singing one song and produced another two, including the introduction track. Prior to the release there had been no news or teasers regarding the event and as a result caused major stirs on the music charts once it was released. Within two hours of release the album was able to peak #1 across all digital charts, and later topping the physical albums chart. Despite the positive response received from the public the group did not actively promote the album and has only given one live performance.

2014: The Musician's Coffee

Members

  • Lee Yeon Joo (이연주), better known by her stage name MiiKii. She is the main vocal of the group. (2008-current)
  • Hwangbo Gun (황보군), better know by his stage name Mr. Kid. He is in charge of vocal and rap of the group. (2010-current)
  • Geum Hae Ah (금해아), better known by her stage name Ophelia. She is in charge of the group's lyrics and vocal. (2011-current)
  • Gentleladies, is an underground three member indie band. Responsible for the group's instrumental and background music. (2012-current)

Background

  • Clazziquai is a experimental band that plays the role of a mentor to the group and ocassionally contributes to their music. (2008-current)
  • sweet potato is a underground composer that is responsible for the group's main music. (2010-current)
  • Neon Bunny is a indie band that mixes in with electro and is responsible for the ending edits of the group. (2012-current)

Left the Group

  • Choi Koo Gun (최구군) is the original member line up of the group. He is known to be starting this as a trio but left due to studies. (2008-2009)
  • Ro.M (로.M), real name unknown is a Chinese member and was the first lyricist for the group but left due to inside disputes. (2008-2010)
  • N0.8 Lonely Street is a indie band that was responsible for the group's instrumental music. They left after two years to pursure their own stand by label debut album. (2008-2010)
  • Evol, real name unknown is a underground solo singer that was responsible as a main vocal. She has gone on a hiatus to pursure a solo career. (2008-2012)
  • Corner Musicians is a group of underground music collectors that is mainly active for collecting sample music. (2008-2012)
  • Subway Space is in charge of reviewing, mixing and producing the group's songs. (2008-2012)

Discography

Albums

Featurings

Events & Performances

Fan Meetings

  • Love Show With Coffee Beans, (Cyworld Events), 2012
  • Coffee Beans First Reunion, (Nega Work Shows), 2012
  • Coffee Beans Second Reunion, (Mnet Media Events), 2015

Live Performances

  • Busan Yearly Music Festival - Indie Delight, (Cyworld Events), 2012
Retrieved from "http://editthis.info/clumsy_media/Coffee_Musicians"
Personal tools