Seriously, an Asian American band, rocks the Fowler Museum
Electro-dance-rock quartet Seriously, formed in Diamond Bar, comes to the Fowler Museum tonight as part of the Fowler Out Loud concert series.
By Katie Meschke
May 5, 2010 9:00 p.m.
Balancing school, work and musical tastes is all in a day’s work for the band Seriously. Tonight, the Asian American rock quartet, which features both a current UCLA student and an alumnus, will make its campus debut at Fowler Museum as part of the Fowler Out Loud concert series.
Seriously formed in 2006, with the members coming together for one of the largest Asian American talent shows in California, Kollaboration. Even though competing was just for fun, Seriously managed to win the grand prize, which was a demo deal with record label Chaos Theory Music. The label liked what it heard and ended up signing the band.
“For us, it’s like this is what has been chosen for us. Life just kind of happened in this certain way, and this is who we are. It’s almost to a point where it’s not even a choice ““ this is our calling, basically,” vocalist Chris Pham said.
Though all four of the band members have extremely different tastes in music, over the years of working together, they have managed to fuse those sounds into an electro-rock feel.
“I guess the four of us, our influences are so stylistically diverse, so it was just kind of finding what can come out of that,” said Nathan Park, a fourth-year physiological science student and bassist for the band. “Our drummer is purely into rock, and our guitarist is more into the singer-songwriter scene. We jammed and jammed and came out with this electro-dance rock, and we all like it, so it’s a healthy compromise.”
Though the band is all Asian American, they don’t believe their cultural background plays a part in the music they make.
“We were all born and bred here,” Park said. “Growing up I did listen to some K-pop, and I’m sure subtly it’s played a role in us developing as musicians, but I wouldn’t say anything up front.”
Being an Asian American band has created some barriers for Seriously, but at the same time it has allowed them to stand out.
“A lot of people at are shows are like, “˜Who are these Asian Jonas Brothers?’ Then after the show, they’re like, “˜You guys are tight. I never expected that; it’s crazy because I’ve never seen an Asian American band,'” Park said. “People have been condescending in the past just because, but good music knows no color. It has worked in our favor, because it’s not very common in society, so there are two sides to the same token.”
The band has also created a buzz by touring at colleges and high schools across the nation, which is reflected in their fan base.
“They get mobbed after shows ““ it’s ridiculous,” band manager Spenser Noh said.
Considering most of the band members are students themselves, they’ve had to make some sacrifices in order to follow their passions.
“It’s a battle every day, honestly,” Park said. “What I sacrifice is my sleep. I try not to think about it. This is what I need to do, and I do it. If I think about it, I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders.”
Pham studies computer information systems at Santa Monica College.
“It’s really hard because I feel so passionate about music,” Pham said. “I feel way more passionate about music than I do school. Nothing is too exciting about coding and computer science as opposed to being on stage and playing your heart out in front of people and really connecting with people.”
Regardless, Seriously plans to continue to balance music and the rest of their lives.
“I guess we all realize that life is hard,” Park said. “But you’ve got to hold on to what you love to do.”
