Delispice

History

The band got its start in the 1990s in Seoul’s Hongdae Club area, a hotspot for punk and indie rock at the time. Its members connected through a rock appreciation chatroom on Hitel, an early internet service. Guitarist and lead vocalist Kim Min-kyu was the driving force, aiming to create a band inspired by English-language rock acts like U2 and R.E.M. Their first album, also called Delispice, came out in 1997. The lead single was "Mask," but it was the track "Chau Chau" that became the album’s most recognized song after appearing in the 2002 film Who Are U?. A second album followed in 1999, by which point the lineup had shifted several times. That record includes a cover of a song by the Korean band Sanulrim. In 2000, they released a third album whose English title translates to Sad but True; its lyrics were noticeably darker, and four of its songs were banned from radio play by a Korean broadcasting agency. A fourth album, Drrr..., arrived in 2001, and a fifth, Espresso, came out in early 2003. Espresso featured the single "Confession," which was used in the TV drama Reply 1997 and became one of the group’s biggest hits. Two more albums followed, one in 2006 and another in 2011. The 2011 release, Open Your Eyes, had a special Japanese edition that included a live version of "Chau Chau," and the band toured Japan after its release. In 2014, they put out a three-song EP called Time Machine, with two tracks mixed in 5.1 surround sound. Kim Min-kyu later released four solo albums under the name Sweet Pea, retiring that stage name in 2017. He also founded his own independent label, Moonrise, and produces the albums it puts out.