Seam’s Korea Move
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“We’ve all pretty much wanted to play over there, but we hadn’t been very aggressive about it and it wasn’t until we had some kind of personal connection that it would even seem possible,” says Park. An American friend who works for MTV Korea laid the groundwork, spreading the buzz and making it known that the band would come if asked. A personnel change also made the planning easier: Guitarist Reg Shrader left in August because “he doesn’t have a very flexible work schedule and he didn’t want to spend all of his spare time traveling,” says Park. His replacement was John Lee, a recent transplant from San Diego, where he fronted the angular indie band aMiniature. Drummer Chris Manfrin is now the only non-Korean-American member of Seam.
Seam’s records had never been licensed in South Korea, though some were available as imports in international chain stores like Tower. When the band’s plans to play Soran looked firm, organizers found a South Korean label, Gang A.G., to pick up their latest album, last year’s The Pace Is Glacial. Though the lyrics passed inspection, the Korean edition of the record didn’t come out until after the band had left the country. Still, the people who saw Seam play at Soran–about 200 the first night, about 400 the second–were apparently familiar with the music, and with other Korean-American musicians as well. “[Former Tortoise member] Bundy Brown is kind of like a big rock hero over there with some people we met,” Park says.
Only doesn’t think the Misfits’ new duties will interfere with the band’s touring schedule, even though this month alone they’ll cram in 13 concerts and eight wrestling matches. “We only do it on Mondays and some Tuesdays, which are bad nights for playing shows anyway,” he says. The musicians now actually get into the action–“We’ve got some of the greatest wrestlers ever, like Dr. Death, showing us what we need to do”–but admits that years of watching on TV hadn’t prepared him for the “real” thing. The Misfits’ next WCW appearance is Monday night at the Milwaukee Arena; it airs at 7 PM on TNT.
