In association with our friends at Rogue Records America, we’re proud to present The Korea as our Artist of the Week! It might be the end of that week but the fun has only just begun!

We’re giving you the chance to win some very cool prizes. In particular, we’re giving away an AWESOME t-shirt and 10 free downloads of The Korea’s latest EP “Saturnus”. Check the contest info below!

We also conducted an in-depth interview with the band. Read up and learn! Also be sure to enjoy the music provided.

ENTER TO WIN

1. Must like The Korea

2. Must like The Circle Pit

3. Must share this post and tag both The Korea and The Circle Pit

BONUS

1. Like the post for a second vote

2. Comment on the post for a third vote

This contest ends Tuesday 7/16 at 9 PM EST!

*We will contact the winner.

*By participating, you acknowledge that you completely release Facebook of all responsibility. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook.

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TK = The Korea (answered collectively)

MT = Mike Thall

MT – We’re here with Russian metal kings, The Korea. First and foremost, thanks for your time.

TK – Hello to all of you! Let’s start our conversation.

MT – Sounds like a plan. Let’s start from the very beginning. How did The Korea get started?

TK – The Korea started at the beginning of 2000 when Kuznetsov brothers Alexander and Sergey made their mind to put together a band and invited Evgeny Potekhin and Stas Rozhdestvensky to join them. This was the first lineup of The Korea. The music was a mix of chaotic-hardcore, metal-core and some other interesting moments.

MT – Now, you guys are called The Korea, you reside in Russia, and you’re signed to Rogue Records America. How does it feel to be pioneers in international conference metal?

TK – It is a pleasure to work with the guys from over the ocean in Rogue who love music as much as we do. And for us it is also a great honor to bring the music to our audience all around the planet.

MT – How did you go about choosing the band name?

TK – Alexander already had this name in his head and even once offered it to his friends, (a band from our city) the band however, preferred some other name so when it came time to create a name for our band we took Korea without any hesitation… yes, it was just Korea, without the “The”” added, since then our music transformed so the name had to transform a bit as well.

MT – How did you get involved with Rogue Records America?

TK – We started working with Rogue Records America about a year ago. At that moment we were recording “Saturnus”. We received an offer and after thinking it over and discussing it all together we decided to join the RRA family and have absolutely no regrets about it we are all working together for the same thing.

MT – Definitely great people to work with. You’ve been around for awhile, but the band really gained international attention with the release of 2011’s “Chariots of the Gods”. Great record. Can you tell us about that album and what went into making it?

TK – At first we were not even thinking of going abroad with our previous albums because we were promoting the band around our own country and just trying to handle that.. But we felt “Chariots of the Gods” was worth going abroad with because it was done very precisely and took a lot of time and attention. To us it felt like we did a good job, and the album felt like a great start for a new chapter of the band history!! We decided to change the character and the sound of the band completely, what we were actually doing from one album to another. But this time all the changes were global. We got a new vocalist, Evgeny is now solely focused on guitar….Etc..etc…

For us this lineup of the band is the best and strongest one! The album itself creates this chaotic atmosphere, contains some apocalyptic elements and of course it is also about love. It is like one big story!!!

MT – Very cool. You recently dropped a new EP “Saturnus”. Can you tell us about your new sound?

TK – This EP is an experiment from A to B! We tried to go down into the gloom and create something more than “Chariots of the Gods”. We experimented with vocal, guitar sounds, structure of the songs themselves. We even recorded a remake for an older track “Poles” from the first album!!

MT – How do you feel about the response to the new EP?

TK – We think that it was taken as a beginning of our new age and now people are waiting for new songs. So, this summer we will focus on cooking something nice for you ;)

MT – Tasty. What was it like transitioning between “Chariots of the Gods” and “Saturnus”?

TK – We are just moving down the Styx River to the valleys of the Underworld and nobody knows where it will bring us. Maybe we’ll end up at some other dimension and then we will create something really hard and powerful. Or may be it will bring us up to the sky as in the “Zion” chorus. (laughs)

MT – Sounds like a trip either way! Rumor has it you wrote the EP to test the waters for writing a new album. Is there anything you can tell us about your music in the works?

TK – Yes, in a way these rumors are true. We are really interested to know what our fans are waiting for from us. But now it is too early to uncover the mystery as soon as we get something down, we’ll make sure to send it to you first so you can let us know what you think.

MT – Awesome! Who or what inspires your music?

TK – Lots of books, movies, sometimes art and of course music. All kinds of music. From Cannibal Corpse to Bjork! But if we speak about books that would be science fiction! A lot of what we write about is from the books we all read on our downtime. We love to write fantasy and sci fi stories in our songs, and it reflects in our artwork and videos. It’s funny because we see posts from people saying we are part of some conspiracy or we are in league with so and so….and it makes us laugh because everything we write about is about what we read and see in these worlds (books and movies).

MT – Heard you guys have been having quite the stretch touring of late. This includes a fight in Poland and some cancellations. Could you tell us about that?

TK – Yes, sometimes the internet is a blessing and it’s also a curse, in this instance in Poland it was a curse because what was posted was a twisted version of the truth and by the time we actually had the ability to address it…it was already too late in a way. People had already made their opinion, we’d like to state here that we would NEVER fight or cancel because of a small audience at a show!! That’s just not how we are, some shows were cancelled due to the booking agent / venue management mistakes and they just didn’t care to fix or live up to their responsibilities. We couldn’t play because we had no idea of the schedule where we could unload, setup, etc etc etc. Nothing was organized and it would have just created more chaos if we tried to play. As for the “fight with a fan” it wasn’t a fan of any of the bands playing that night, just someone who happened to be at the venue, had a real issue with Russians and was drunk enough that he wanted to express that…so he did. The promoter we guess decided to make this story even louder than our concert!!) And of course we were the bad guys. People can do a very good job causing disruption and having people focus on something else when they do not want you focused on the real issue. We’re sure he’s a good promoter sadly he just focused on the wrong thing to promote ……(Laughs)

MT – That aside, what’s the craziest thing that has ever happened to you on the road or at a show?

TK – So, we would say that it was when our vocalist went out on stage absolutely naked. It was during a concert with our friends in Noostrack that was touring with us! Ilya came out with nothing but sneakers and glasses on, it was great. A short time later during our last Eurotour concert in Moscow our Bus Driver decided he wanted in on the action and came out to a packed house totally nude!!! :)

He stayed on for the rest of the set naked which really threw Ilya for a loop…it was great.

MT – What are your plans for the second half of 2013?

TK – Now we are planning our concerts for the second part of 2013, collecting ideas for a new video and getting ready to get together in the studio and record something amazing for everyone!

Pretty soon we are leaving for the Far East of Russia to meet our fans there for the first time! So that’s going to be exciting as well.

MT – Those are all the questions we have. Thanks again. Any shout outs you want to give?

TK – Thank you so much for the interview! Remember there is tons of amazing new music out there from indie artists all over the world, support them and Peace for all of you.

Much love from The Korea, See you on tour!!!

Links: Facebook // Twitter // iTunes // Official Website