"Devils were a six-man band founded in 1969, and started playing in Itaewon bars like 007 Club and American Club, or sometimes played in Paju at the Paradise Club. They released their first album in 1971 and went on to record three more albums by 1977. The CD re-release that I bought includes the first two albums, along with a couple of bonus tunes.
There is not much information available about the band, though, and until the GO GO 70'S film, I think they were not really well known (even by the forgotten standards of Korean classic rock). You can read a bit about them in Korea here.
To be honest, this is not my favorite band from the era. They have some good songs, but nothing that really blows me away like Shin Joong-hyun's best stuff can. There is not any crazy guitars or heavy drums solos. No, most of the Devils songs were more straightforward rock, with the layering you would expect from a six-man band. I am not bashing them -- they certainly have some solid songs. I am just saying they are a little more sedate and modest than my favorite bands from the 1970s.
Also, there are a couple of cover tunes on the albums, such as a cover of Proud Mary. Strangely, one song is described as "Theme Sound From Shaft," but I hear few similarities between the song on the Devils album and the famous Isaac Hayes tune.
So call this an interesting album. Not a must-buy, but worth your time if you like listening to old Korean music. Posted by Mark Russell
That the movie Gogo 70 "was inspired, -of course partly, form my book (Joon) called An Archaelogy of Korean pop music 1960s/1970 (2 volumes) published in 2005. I met the director (Choi Ho ??) and the producer of the film last year and exchanged the view about the concept of the film. Although I was not involved in film making and still don’t know what the film is about, I thought it lucky that the band (fictional) in the film was based on soul group called the Devils which had existed in the 1970s. You can see teaser and music video clip at youtube: Trailor, Teaser and Music Video : "
GOGO 70 poster GOGO 70 trailer with tribute band to this "soul-pop" period
"The review about the film does not seem to be good and one comment by a female film critic was that “does the film want to enlighten decadence?.” Moreover, it is said that there are some controversies going on in South Korea about the “correct representation” of different personalities in the film." Joon
Other review of the movie :
Reaction from Kenichi Mayabara : “I do know that information on Rock and Roll from South Korea is very hard to find, thanks to the fact that this was the age of President Park Chung-Hee, and things like Rock and Roll were disliked by the dictatorship, especially the Psychedelic-Soul bands of that period.
I have recently watched Go Go 70, (pronounced go go seventies) which is based off the band known as The Devils (or as they called it Devil). The movie is like the rockumentarys you would see on VH1. In the Movie the band formed after two groups who entertained American Troops (one named the Angels the other was a cheep country group) Joined together seeing the talent both groups had and used their talents to create the new group The Devils. They named their band The Devils because the lead member of the country group found the name The Angels to be stupid, and it was at this time that the Rock Music was denounced by Park and his goons as Moral Decadence. so they asked what that term translated to in English and well that's how the name formed. The Movie focused on the incarnation of the 6 guys plus three girls who were their go-go dancers and how they evolved as musicians and how they evolved as a band.
Remember it was very hard to be a Rock Star or even being yourself back in 1970's South Korea. South Korea was in the Vietnam war and this was a time where Policeman could arrest you for dressing wrongly as Park's goons were arresting guys for having too long of hair, or girls who had too short a skirt. But the thing that the movie tries to illustrate is even if they had to live with this difficult time they did do what they could to be them selves in a country that was oppressive to its people, even in South Korea people wanted Rock and Roll. The Movie also went a little into the group's history and apparently the Trumpet player was killed in a fire thanks to the boys performing in a poorly constructed hotel that caught on fire, after a neon sign popped and the wire connected to the sign overheated and lit the wood. That almost ended the group. The Movie also said that they got arrested for being Moral Decadence (or being a bad influence) along with all of the Rock bands promoted by the Seoul Magazine, a publishing company that really helped the Rock Bands of South Korea get a name for themselves despite the harassment they faced from their government.
Eventually thanks to a dream the lead member had gotten the band reunited around 1977ish. The only thing I can bash the movie for is it didn't really keep a good aspect of time. I am under the impression that the first phase was from 1972-74. and the were arrested in 75 or 76 (They were arrested after South Korea lost the Vietnam War, and President Park blamed the Psychedelic-Soul Music for South Korea's Loss). Their final Reunion was between 1977-1980, by that time they tried to bypass the laws being that their former manager from Seoul Magazine became a member of the civil service. They were able to not be arrested this time but the band finally broke up around 1980 so that's what I know about the movie.
The only way they could get a recording in the beginning was with a Folk Singer singing with them on the A-sides of their singles but they had free rule on the B side. Chances are that the movie is based or loosely based off the real experience of the band members back in the day. It is also possible that they really started in the 1960s but didn't get famous until the 1970s. It wouldn't surprise me if President Park tried to destroy the albums or songs so I believe information outside Go Go 70 is rare. It be a great find online if any of their material still exists. Its an Interesting movie and if you get the opportunity to see it I would recommend it even if you dislike it, as a story its really not that bad, heck it has a good plot! Never the less it’s one of the few glimpses into South Korea's First Generation of Rock Music. Another group mentioned in the film was The Panthers but they were a side band (Ironically in the film they were seen as the Number 1 South Korean Rock band of that time).“ K.Mayabara
