We Are Piano Rock

The debut album of the three-member project “Omega 3” will hit stores on May 12. Typing in the band’s name in the search window of an internet portal site yields such unexpected results as “beneficial vegetable oils” and “the health supplement Omega 3.” There’s no way to find out what the band “Omega 3” is all about.

“Actually, it’s not too far from what the original ‘Omega 3’ is about. I happened to be opening a packet of dog chow one day when I spotted the phrase ‘contains Omega 3’ above a circular symbol. I instantly thought, ‘Wow, this must be good stuff.’” (Yun Jun-ho)

“Omega 3” is composed of Yun Jun-ho (35, bass) and Choi Jae-hyuk (30, drums) from the modern rock group “Deli Spice,” along with keyboardist Ko Gyeong-cheon (29), who participated in album recording sessions for the Yoon Do-hyun Band and Kang San-e. The album title, “Alpha Beat,” means “the reverberation of opening fire.” This reverberation, according to the band’s three members, is piano rock.

“Last summer, while we were chatting over drinks, we started to wonder what it would be like to do rock without guitars. Then we all came up with the idea of inserting the piano into the gap left by guitars. And we gave our music a retro feel reminiscent of the popular 80s radio show, ‘Jeon Young-hyeok’s Music World,’” said Choi.

On the album, Omega 3’s keyboardist Ko Gyeong-cheon uses old-school rock keyboards like the melotrone and Hammond organ in lieu of regular pianos. The songs, including “Saccharine” and “My Song,” go beyond merely sounding retro to containing earnest musical experimentation. Even the title track, “Three-Leaf Clover,” is lighthearted, but not straightforwardly so. Ko explains that he was thinking of his grandmother when he wrote this song.

“She was born in 1905 and personally experienced the entire course of 20th-century Korean history. But she was the most average person in the world. ‘Three-Leaf Clover’ is about average people, like my grandmother, who never received much attention,” said Ko.

With their debut album set for imminent release, the band members confessed that they felt as if they’d just finished an exam. Now the only thing left is to see how their listeners will “grade” their efforts. For Omega 3, a sense of relief, rather than anxiety, prevails.

bsism@donga.com