1968 Conqueror of American Rock - Chapter 143



Only Noblemtl

143. LA Metal (9)

Jack finally reunited with his family after 20 years, after seeing his sister on TV. He met his mother and came back with a goal. He said his dream was to buy a house on a beautiful beach near LA and live there with his mother, sister, nephews, and brother-in-law.

With the salary Jack is receiving now, it is entirely possible.

Jack, who had met his family, was even more excited. He led the broadcast in a way that could not be compared to Harold from pirate radio. In addition, Jack is a guitarist, but he is also a vocalist with excellent vocalization. No matter how much he shouted on the broadcast, his throat did not get sore.

Jack was truly a broadcasting god.

He energetically performed on various programs, from broadcasts introducing the Billboard chart and UK chart to talk shows and music video introductions. And when he introduced Master Makani’s album during a quiet morning, he was moved to tears.

As expected, Makani’s album did not sell very well, but it did sell well in restaurants and hotels in Hawaii. With this amount of income, Makani, who lives a simple life, will not have to worry about money in the future. He is probably still telling stories with his guitar today.

Jack even formed a band while he was busy. He wrote songs that showed his sense of humor. The lyrics and his facial expressions may seem funny, but the music itself was amazing.

He performed rousing LA metal style songs on his talk show while wearing costumes imitating Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix.

Jack is currently working at Kings Broadcasting, but he has signed with the CW. Michael has no complaints about this at all, because if I hadn’t brought Jack on board, KMTV wouldn’t be getting the ratings it does.

Jack thanked me, saying that he was in the prime of his life in his mid-forties.

Jack, your prime is only just beginning.

* * *

I got a letter from Judas Priest.

I clearly gave him my company business card, but judging from the fact that he sent it in a letter, it must have been because international calling rates are quite expensive.

To James Choi.

Hi, James. It’s Rob. How are you?

It’s a pretty chilly fall in Birmingham. I wonder if it’s warm in California?

We finally recruited a drummer and the band is complete. And just like you said, we got permission from our parents.

Glenn’s parents were a bit against it, but they gave their permission after seeing your article about the Pilton Festival, haha.

Then, we will work hard to write songs and practice until we get a reply.

– Rob Halford (Judas Priest)

The metal gods are finally ready to come to LA. I wrote back to the company saying I will be making arrangements for them to come here soon.

I walked to the office while I was out to send the letter. In the US, there wasn’t much to walk compared to Korea or the UK. I just drove everywhere, so sometimes I wanted to walk like this.

I stopped by the post office to pick up my international mail and continued walking. I really like LA. Not only is the weather good, but once you leave downtown, there are a lot of low buildings. It’s a big city, but it feels spacious.

When I arrived at the company building, there was a dusty truck parked in front of the main entrance, and someone was sticking his head out of the driver’s seat and looking around.

As I got closer, I could recognize his face.

“Joe, what brought you here without even contacting me?”

“James! I came to the right place. I came to LA when I was young, so I had a bit of a hard time finding my way around, haha. I came to Texas on a business trip and stopped by to see you.”

I led Joe into my studio and treated him to tea.

“Wow, this is your studio? It’s more······ than I thought.”

“Isn’t it messy? Haha. That’s what all men’s spaces are like.”

My studio was a mess with all sorts of speakers, cabinets, amplifiers, circuit diagrams, cables, solder, soldering irons, etc. Joe turned his head here and there to look at my studio.

“This is where your sound was born. It’s an honor to have you reveal this place to me.”

“Actually, my sound was already perfected in Korea. When I came to the US, I focused only on reducing noise. I met a group of genius engineering students called ‘Garage Brew’ and was able to innovatively improve the noise.”

“Garage Brew?”

“Yeah, we’re UCLA engineering students and members of Stella & EGO. Oh, you know Magic Cookie?”

“Of course I know. It’s the national cookie.”

“The band that appeared in that CF is EGO, and its members are Garage Brew.”

“Aha, I see. I thought the sound was really great when I watched that CF.”

“So I formed a team to develop instruments with them, and we’re going to open a music store next to a club on the Sunset Strip soon.”

I showed Joe the final design of the effectors that were intended for sale.

“Wow, it’s really small and cute.”

Actually, it’s not that small. The reason Joe is surprised is because it’s quite minimal compared to the huge sizes of current fuzz effectors.

“If you join our company, I’ll give you a slightly upgraded product. By the way, have you talked to the members?”

“Yeah, everyone unanimously agreed. We all have to quit what we’re doing. It won’t take long. I told them that I’ll quit my job after this trip to Texas.”

“That’s great. You guys should record an album and shoot a music video too.”

“Music video?”

Joe Perry, who lives in Boston, didn’t know about KMTV. I took him to the archives.

“and······.”

Joe was amazed at our extensive library of records and videos.

“Ever since we were in Korea, we have spared no expense in filming videos, even if it means going to extreme lengths. I think that in the future, videos will become increasingly important. Color TVs are out now. There are no home VCRs yet, but I know they are under development. Then, the era will open where we can watch these tapes at home.”

“So you can watch the Woodstock concert from home?”

“Right. This is the music video we shot this time. I’ll show you.”

I put in the tape of ‘Road Movie’ and played it.

Joe kept exclaiming “Wow, wow” from beginning to end.

“So this is a music video. It feels like I’m watching a short film······.”

“That’s right. We also mix in performance scenes like this in the middle of the main story.”

“I knew the song because I listened to your single album, but there’s a world of difference between watching the video and not watching it. I want to watch it over and over again.”

“It’s on KMTV 24 hours a day, dozens of times a day. It’s only available in California right now, but one day it’ll be available all over the United States.”

I repeatedly stressed to Joe Perry the importance of the music video. He promised to bring the members to LA as soon as possible and hurried back to Boston.

* * *

Today is a day of filming London smog.

I came to the set with Annie. I thought that if the kids got nervous on set, they would need Annie’s help.

“Wow, this is amazing! It really feels like London.”

Annie entered the set and became even more excited as she saw the back streets of London unfold before her eyes. She opened the doors of shops here and there, knocked on windows, and even went into a red telephone booth and fiddled with the phone.

“This is all fake.”

“Of course. Because it’s a set, haha.”

Director Robert Smith was kind enough to answer Annie’s useless questions.

I once asked Robert if it was possible to have a London feel, and this was his answer:

‘James, this is Hollywood. This is a place where you can make a Chinese street or a Korean street.’

It wasn’t exactly the same, but it felt like an alleyway I’d seen in London. Robert explained that it would look even more real on film.

At Jacques’s suggestion, they wore neutral-colored clothes and hunting caps, which are commonly worn by London’s poor children. Perhaps because they were so familiar with the outfit, the boys, unlike us Korean men, were not nervous about taking pictures.

“Ready, action!”

Three boys walk from the end of the alley. The two taller boys are carrying a guitar and a bass guitar, each with their hands in their pockets. The smaller boy walks with his hands twirling drumsticks.

Raindrops fall from the sky, but the boys don’t panic and just walk through the rain.

And a thick fog envelops the alley. It is so thick that the boys cannot be seen. After a while, when the fog clears, the boys are no longer visible, and only flyers are flying in the empty streets.

“Cut! Okay. But let me try one more time.”

Since it wasn’t difficult acting, I finished filming the street scene in two takes.

We moved to the next studio.

This was a replica of a pirate radio broadcast booth. Thanks to the photos Bao had taken, the art team was able to make the set more similar.

It was a scene where they had to lip-sync to the song from their upcoming single, ‘Boys in the Smog.’ The kids were so nervous during the shoot that they made several NGs.

The street scene was a scene where friends were walking together wearing the clothes they usually wore. It was really awkward for them to move their mouths and hands to the music.

“Could you please dim the lights here a little? And turn up the music a little louder?”

Maybe it was because the kids and I had been on the ship for a long time and were used to the dark environment. At the time, I didn’t feel it was dark. Annie had only been there twice, so I remembered the brightness of the place where she played back then.

It was indeed an animalistic sense.

Robert instructed the lighting technician to dim the lights and resumed filming. The kids were lip-syncing to the music much more naturally than before.

“Let me try one more time with the lights a little lower.”

In the slightly dim lighting, the guys acted more naturally.

“Cut! Okay, very good!”

* * *

“Ready, action!”

As Robert’s cue goes off, Eddie Van Halen starts playing guitar in his room.

Whining, whining, whining.

No matter how much I turn up the volume, the amplifier just sounds weak.

“Oh, how on earth does Sparkling Ripple make such a powerful sound······.”

Eddie tilts his head in thought.

Then the door opens and Jack appears with a birthday cake.

“Surprise! Happy birthday, son!”

The three men standing with Jack set off firecrackers. They were members of Van Halen.

“Happy birthday, our youngest!”

Eddie blows out the candles with a sullen expression.

“No, Eddie. It’s a happy day, why are you looking like that?”

“I don’t like the sound of the guitar. It doesn’t have a sparkling ripple sound.”

Then Jack hands over the gift box he had been hiding behind his back.

“Ta-da! It’s a present from Dad, open it.”

Eddie opens the package and takes out what’s inside.

“Huh? What is this?”

“Now, just wait a minute, Eddie.”

Andrew connects the pedal between the guitar and the amplifier.

“Step on it and play.”

Click.

Heavy heavy heavy, heavy heavy heavy!

“Wow! Wow! That’s the sound!”

Eddie gets so excited that he starts jumping up and down in his seat while playing the guitar riff.

Then Jack comes closer to the screen, holding the effector in his hand. He lifts the effector up next to his face so that it is clearly visible on the screen. The small, yellow, square metal pedal has ‘LA Metal’ written on it.

“If you want to get that Sparkling Ripple guitar sound, try James Choi’s own booster pedal, the ‘LA Metal’. You can test it out at our Sunset Street ‘Garage Brew’ store.”

Jack made a comment and even winked at the end.

“Cut! Perfect, hahaha!”

So I revealed to the world one of the secrets to my guitar sound.