Home / Demos / DEMO ALERT: ‘Weaponized Asian American Diaspora’ Scream NO MODEL On Debut Demo [USA]

DEMO ALERT: ‘Weaponized Asian American Diaspora’ Scream NO MODEL On Debut Demo [USA]

By on March 2, 2023

Yoooo…no joke, when this band’s photo came across our social media radar our initial response was, “Cool – Malaysia has a new hardcore band!” And then we looked closer and realized that the band is actually from USA formed by a bunch of proud Asian Americans. Woah – so sick to see ourselves in bands out there in the US. RESPECT.

The band is called No Model and they were kind enough to provide us with more information about the band’s formation and basically, what they’re about.

“My name is Sehun and I sing for NO MODEL and also run KILL YELLOW FEVER RECORDS.

I had the idea of starting an all-Asian hardcore punk band when I met Changhwan in 2019 at a Have Heart reunion show through our mutual friend, Jae. I soon found out they were also a Korean Adoptee and we connected on that and our love for the music.
A few years went by of not knowing if this band would ever happen until I had a spark of inspiration because of my friend, Jeff. I know y’all have had SOUR featured on here before along with an interview from Jeff (read that HERE), so I’ll keep this story brief. (I have a SOUR tattoo btw).
We became friends through mutual friends in the Ohio scene and made another Korean Adoptee connection…soon I see he has a new band talking about his experiences as an adoptee. I immediately knew I had to start this band I’d been dreaming of.
I pretty much gathered everyone in a group chat and told them we were starting this band and we got together in June 2022 and wrote the demo.
This band is an amalgamation of people I’ve known throughout my time playing music..all people that have affected me in so many positive ways. I’ve jokingly talked about the “Asian connection” for so long and it’s really true—there is a connection.
We all come from different backgrounds and a few different states down the east coast (New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Maryland) which makes doing this band a lot of work, but we’re making it happen. NO MODEL doesn’t plan on sticking around forever, we just want to help inspire the next generation of Asian Americans in hardcore.

“NO MODEL doesn’t plan on sticking around forever, we just want to help inspire the next generation of Asian Americans in hardcore.”

These songs are about my anger living in America as a Korean Adoptee/American. There’s so much unsaid shit that the media brushes under the rug or things we ourselves don’t know how to talk about. Music is my way of talking about these things.
I don’t know if I’ll ever have the capacity to explain everything I feel but I think these songs are a good starting point for that.
Thank you Unite Asia for the platform and for sharing so many great bands in Asia!”

He was kind enough to add this phrase that had our hearts beating hard “NO MODEL is Weaponized Asian American Diaspora”. He explains, “It’s using our voices as Asian Americans spread across the east coast and “weaponizing” our power as a collective, instead of further dividing ourselves.”

FUCK YEAH.

If we’ve learned anything with our short time on this planet, representation fucking matters.

Mad respect to the band, to Sehun, and his label Kill Yellow Fever Records. Now go blast those jams below!

https://www.instagram.com/kyfrecords/

Photo Credit: Arturo Zarate (@multi.funk on IG)

UniteAsia.org is an underground Asian music news website created for the sole purpose of supporting our own world. We support all bands and genres HOWEVER we do not support nor have any sympathy for homophobic, racist, sexist rhetoric in lyrical content or band material. UNITE ASIA!
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