Please tell us a bit about 18 Fevers?
We formed during the end of the pandemic after Matt's former band Gumiho broke up. Matt met Christmas through a mutual friend and after drinking way too much decided to start a band together so eventually we recruited Garik to play drums and SAAE came in to round out the band with lead guitar. This line-up was set about a year ago and then we kind of rushed into recording our first single that was released in China on a Chinese record label punk compilation and after that we started playing shows and writing as much as possible.
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| 18 Fevers: Christmas, Matt, Garik & SAAE (L-R) |
How would you describe your music?
All four of us have different influences so its a mixed bag but the core is definitely aggressive punk rock. Christmas and Matt bring the most punk and hardcore elements in but SAAE has her garage and post punk influences while Garik brings more metal and alternative/grunge to the table. We jokingly started calling ourselves "death punk disco" as a dig on those bands with made up genres and it kind of stuck but we don't take ourselves too seriously.
Why are you called 18 Fevers?
18Fevers is actually a kind of swear word pun in Korean. The word 18 and the word for fuck can sound very similar so you have to be careful when saying them so we added that to the idea of Fevers because we formed during the pandemic and we were all tired of the situation. So I guess it's kind of like "Fucking Fevers" or even "Fuck the Fevers".
Can you give us an insight into the creative process for your recordings?
Recording has been kind of hit or miss for us until recently as we've been trying to find our process and what fits us best. We've recorded three songs so far at three different places but the last place we did a few weeks ago has been the best experinece. Basically we've been playing about 9 or 10 songs for almost a year straight so they're pretty tight and solid so we just go in and hammer them out in an afternoon or something. Maybe get creative with other elements like layering vocals and using the studio to it's fullest to capture not only our sound but a mood too.
Do you play live shows, if so, what are they like?
We typically play a few shows a month and have since we started. Our live shows are pretty high energy and can feature members bleeding, breaking things, and crowd interactions. We're a little unpredictable when we play and I think that's the attraction for people to come see us. Most venues in Korea are in basements and small with like 50 to 100 people crammed in all sweating and spilling alcohol on each other while dancing.
Please tell us about your latest work?
We released Danse Macabre in August with a music video which was our first music video. The song is basically about a modern plague and once again we're finding ourselves facing death and realizing we are mortal and that there's not much you can do so might as well dance with death. It's our modern take on the old European art movement during the Black Death.
What can we expect from you next?
In the next few weeks we're releasing a new single called "Save Your Venom" with a music video. It's a bit of a more straight forward punk song with biting vocals.
Please tell us your 5 all-time favourite albums?
Christmas would probably go Distillers 'Coral Fang', Garik would probably say Deftones 'Around the Fur', three other big influences on us would probably be Refused 'The Shape of Punk to Come', The Damned 'Black Album', TSOL 'Dance With Me'.
Which song would you like to nominate for the Green Banana jukebox and why?
We would nominate the song Beat Up by Billy Carter. They're a local band here and a huge influence on the scene.
Green Banana would like to thank 18 Fevers for their responses.
For more information about 18 Fevers please find all their links here
Interview by Skreen
