Influence SuperColorSuper founder, My Same Ink promoter
Residence Seoul
Featured in Groove Korea March 2011, February 2010, May 2012, November 2012, February 2013
Music lovers in Seoul learn quickly that concert options tend to fall into two categories: local bands on the cheap or international headliners you pay through the nose for. Trying to fill in some of the chasm between those two extremes has become an ambitious goal for some music aficionados, and perhaps none have been more ambitious than Sean Patrick Maylone. Those with a few years under their belt in Korea will probably remember SuperColorSuper, his concert-promoting venture that started bringing international acts at affordable prices to the peninsula in 2009.
These days, the Sacramento native, who first arrived in Korea in 2006, is juggling a few endeavors, but his main day job is working with Visang doing content production for a media app. He’s also creating ditties of his own with Ssighborggg, which wrapped up its EP “Geodesy” and is heading off to play six to seven international dates early this year. Although SuperColorSuper still technically exists, it doesn’t currently have anything cooking. Instead, all of the connections created during that time have spread out to form a wider web of collaboration.
When asked about how he thinks SCS’ efforts have influenced the scene here, he says there are now lots of smaller promoters organizing shows that have more up-to-date tastes on what’s being lined up. “I feel I created a kind of ‘arms race’ scenario for others to demand higher quality in their projects,” he says. Of course, some of the same problems that have long plagued the scene still rear their heads: smaller acts charging 120 bucks for a ticket or larger underground bands still not having a following here at all. All of this makes promoting a roll of the dice.
His work has brought dozens of acts over, including rousing successes like Mogwai, Blonde Redhead, Das Racist and others, but also some laughably tragic fails: The band Liars was forced to stay prisoners in their hotel room for days while immigration played God with their visa status; The King Khan and BBQ Show broke up via a fistfight during one of their Korean dates; and Maylone has generally lost a ton of money with alarming frequency. These days, the aforementioned web of collaborators is shaping up to what he calls “The Avengers of concert booking.” Operating under the name My Same Ink, the group consists of a handful of eclectic and talented individuals each bringing their own mojo to the table.
But apparently, the occasional villain attempts to thwart his newfound troupe of superheroes. This past year’s aborted Explosions in the Sky concert caused the rumor mill to go into overdrive. Maylone tried to clarify for us: “All the team members at my level quit before things fell apart. We have been working with the police for the launch of the trial against the CEO. The legal pressure has seemed to put enough pressure on him to pay everyone back to avoid a heavy legal punishment. It’s been five months so far and might take a few more to get everything settled, but it’s looking like it will settle up.
“A lot of unfair blame has fallen to me and the other lower staff for the show, unfortunately, so we’d like to get more events up to add more positivity back to the scene.”
More info www.mysameink.com
