Top band musicians from Korea and Japan are set to share one stage.
On the 2nd, CREA Studio announced the launch of the SBS Korea–Japan band audition program Band King. Band King is a music survival show where musicians from Korea and Japan cross borders of country, genre, age, experience, and gender to form brand-new Korea–Japan bands.
This project brings together CREA Studio and CEO Seo Hye-jin, along with PD Kim Hak-young, writer Noh Yoon, and the SuperBand production team, following their previous shows King of Active Singers and Korea-Japan King of Singers. With a team renowned for its strength in audition formats returning to the music survival arena, expectations are high.
Band King also rides the surging band-music boom in both countries. In Korea, Japanese bands like Ryokuoushoku Shakai, Official HIGE DANDism, Mrs. GREEN APPLE, and Novelbright have drawn hot responses with their concerts. Conversely, in Japan, Korean bands such as DAY6, Hyukoh, and Se So Neon are expanding their local fandoms and presence.
The program welcomes not only vocalists, guitarists, bassists, drummers, and keyboardists, but also artists from gugak (Korean traditional music), classical, EDM, DJs, rap, and traditional-instrument fields. A bold musical experiment is on the way, blending gayageum and shamisen, haegeum and wadaiko, rock and EDM, and classical and traditional music on a single stage.
CEO Seo Hye-jin said, “Watching Novelbright’s vocalist Yudai Takenaka, who appeared on Korea-Japan King of Singers, sell out every seat for his concert made me realize just how much Korean and Japanese music fans have been craving band music.” She added, “Band King will vividly capture how Korean and Japanese musicians find their musical teammates,” promising to showcase “the raw emotion and chemistry that only unfiltered, in-the-moment music can create.”
Applications for Band King open on the 10th and run through late August via the CREA Studio website, with simultaneous recruitment in Korea and Japan. The winning team will receive KRW 100 million in prize money and support for a global tour concert.