Interview with Pipe Lips ahead of their new album “Fable for Nobody”
Written by Charity Lynn (@_charitylynn_)
Pipe Lips are a three-piece garage rock band driven by the angst of youth. We sat down with members Jihwan(drum), Jiseong(bass), and Geunha(vocal/guitar) to talk to them about their new album Fable for Nobody, which is set to release on June 10th.
When asked about the motivation behind the band’s creation, Jihwan explained, “These days, many bands I see with members in their 20s and 30s tend to avoid singing about heavier topics. But for me, I wanted to express the frustrations felt by our generation of youth.” And thus, Pipe Lips was born.
Actually, the band originally began with different members, including Jihwan and Jiseong, under the name Poison Apple. After some member changes, the band’s name was changed as well. “We wanted a name that had a more neutral connotation,” stated Jihwan. “Pipe Lips was suggested by our former member Soombee, and it juxtaposed the ideas of ‘aggressive’ and ‘soft’. This really fit the vibe we were going for.” Later, the final member, Geunha, joined the team after coming across an ad on the music website Mule.
The album Fable for Nobody tells the story of Nobody, the young, ungendered protagonist in this world. “I’ve always wanted to make a concept album,” Jihwan started, “so, rather than focusing so much on the songs first, we started with the story. Then, we made the songs to fit that concept.” At the start, Nobody listlessly wanders into a concert, seeking some sort of escape. Afterwards, they leave the concert feeling uneasy and confused. The songs that follow go into deeper detail about those feelings as they drift through a series of uncertain moments, unsure of where they’re going or what they’re searching for.
“In Korea, I think people in their 20s don’t know what they should be angry about or how they should express their anger. So, the album is kind of like their voice,” explained Jiseong. Jihwan also added, “The album talks about escaping reality. But, eventually, you have to come back to the daily stresses of life. Like going back to work after a trip–it’s a repetitive cycle that you can’t break free from. Those feelings of frustration, that’s what I want to express.” The character Nobody is meant to be relatable in that way. “I want the young listeners of our album to hear these songs and think ‘yeah, this is me, this is what I’m feeling’.
For Geunha, he stated, “There’s a sort of orbit of youth in Korea. But, because they never venture outside of the orbit, they don’t even realise they’re in it, nor can they see what’s outside of it. In our songs, we want to show an external view of being inside that orbit.”
When deciding on the name for the album and the songs, they were heavily influenced by films. “Each song is named after a famous movie,” Jihwan pointed out, “and I originally wanted to name the album NG Cuts, which refers to the ‘no good cuts’ you sometimes see at the end of the movie.” While the concept was interesting, Geunha added, “I thought that the name kind of sucked. So, because we wanted to focus on the story of Nobody, who’s named after the movie Mr. Nobody, we played around with words like story, fable, parable. Ultimately, ‘fable’ felt the most fitting for us.”
Each member picked their favourite song from the album. For Jiwhan, it was Sonatine. “When putting the tracks together, I had to listen in a more technical way. But I was suddenly caught off guard while listening to this one. It was as if I were at a concert hearing it for the first time. There’s something special about it.” Jiseong chose Mr. Nobody, “I really admire Jane Coral’s drummer. When he heard this song, he complimented the bass line. It made me feel really proud, so that’s why I like it the most.” Geunha likes Dogville, “Actually, most songs were already made before I joined the band. But Dogville was originally from my solo project, Lakeside Banshees. We rearranged it and released it for this album, so I have a more personal connection to it.”
As for musical inspiration, there was no major influence in terms of the album’s overall sound. “I asked the mixing engineer to not take the safe route and to be more aggressive and bold,” Jihwan explained, “but I like the way the first Libertines album was mixed, because of its rough sound. So in a way, I was a little inspired by that. Mostly, we just wanted to follow the story. If we thought the story needed a certain element added to it, then we would look for those elements elsewhere.” He also added, “When I showed this album around, someone said it wasn’t gonna make money. For me, I think there is sometimes a separation between music that makes money and music that’s made well. Rather than focusing on making money, I want to focus on making good music.”
The members did find influence from others in their own personal sound. Geunha said he looks to the band Fugazi, “I especially like the vocals. But the choice of words and overall performance are something I admire.” For Jiseong, Paul McCartney inspires him, “Actually, I only played guitar before joining Pipe Lips, so I had to learn to play the bass. I practised a lot by watching Paul McCartney.” Jihwan said, “For overall sound, I’m influenced by Viagra Boys. But as a drummer, I look up to Black Midi and The Who.”
The recording process was not always fun, especially for Jihwan. “We had to do a lot of rearranging, and there were many times when we had to re-record some parts. So that part really sucked.” Geunha was quite new to recording in a professional setting. “It was the first time that I had a real band recording session. Before, I had only used my phone to record for my solo project, so it was a really different experience. It was almost like a potluck party–I didn’t know what they would bring, and I didn’t know if they would like or hate what I brought. So, it was a little bit of a struggle in that way.” On the other hand, Jiseong enjoyed recording his parts on his own.
To bring the interview to a close, we asked the members about their dream collaborations. “It’s not an artist, but I think it would be cool to work with an actor to narrate along with the album. Someone who fits the vibe of our protagonist, Nobody,” Jihwan said. Jiseong stated that he’d love to work with Crying Nut someday, “They are really great seniors to us in the scene, so I would choose them.” Geunha’s choice would be Steve Albini from The Big Black. “Unfortunately, he has already passed away. But his music is a huge inspiration to me.”
Pipe Lips will have an album release party at Shiva Pub on June 21st at 7 pm. The show is free to anyone who is interested in the album or the band. So they want to invite everyone to come out and have a fun time. Additionally, they will release a music video for their song Mr. Nobody, so please look forward to it. For more information, please visit the band’s Instagram page @pipe_lips