(Interview) WetBed: "Maybe change doesn't mean rejecting who we are now. Maybe it simply means we've lived through this part of our lives fully."
The world is full of incredible talent, and there is one band whose recent new single is happy to leave space for sound. As a creative we always want to fill that space with something to make it feel complete. Instead, South Korea’s WetBed chose to embrace that in their latest single, "Shelter". Released on October 6th, it marked their first release as a trio. Wisely describing the process as “Just because something is empty doesn't necessarily mean anything is missing. So instead of trying to fill those spaces, we thought about how to leave that emptiness in the music.”
That very outlook is what caught my initial interest in a very loud, sometimes oversaturated world of artists; it can be hard to stand out. The three members intentionally move with purpose and a pace that works for them. Never forcing, never putting out content to get attention.
Their social media, just like their music, is a place that feels like an art exhibition. Rather than forcing their identity, music, or message onto listeners, it instead invites reflection. To sit and interpret just as they are, which links to their debut album bedroom, the passage of space takes place as they explain it as “a very private and isolated place. It can be comforting, painful, and sometimes beautiful. But more than anything, we think it's a place where it's difficult to avoid things.”
I spoke to the trio bassist, Lee Seok-won, drummer, Lee Gun-ho, and vocalist and guitarist Lee Doh about the recent single, debut album, and going at a pace that artistically works for them right now.
Your latest single “Shelter” is incredibly atmospheric and creates a dreamlike state between vocals and music. With a song like this, what approach do you take to keep it so delicately sounding?
WetBed: Thank you, we appreciate you saying that. When we were working on ‘SHELTER’, we weren't really trying to make it sound delicate. We were thinking more about what to keep and what to leave out.
As we took sounds away, the role of each instrument became clearer. We wanted every instrument to be in the right place, playing only what the song needed. It wasn't about making one instrument stand out. We wanted each sound to have its own space, while still working together as a whole. Maybe that's why it came across as delicate.
When you're making a song, it's tempting to fill the empty spaces. Sometimes, just because there's space, it can feel like something isn't finished. But this time, we wanted to question that instinct.
Just because something is empty doesn't necessarily mean anything is missing. So instead of trying to fill those spaces, we thought about how to leave that emptiness in the music. Once we took some sounds away, the ones we really needed seemed to fall into place and work together.
It matches perfectly with the music video, being soft and simple and letting the audience be enveloped in the feeling and visuals. With music videos, do you feel it has to accurately reflect the song no matter how minimal it may seem?
WetBed: Thank you, we're glad you felt that way. We made this music video with what we had available to us at the time. We handled everything ourselves, from directing to editing, so our own tastes naturally found their way into it. Maybe that's why the music and the video ended up sharing a similar feel.
But we don't think our music and videos always need to have the same atmosphere. Sometimes, a song might become even more interesting when it's paired with visuals that feel completely different from the music. We're interested in that possibility too.
We don't think a music video necessarily has to reflect the essence of a song exactly. What matters more to us is what new feelings might emerge when the music and visuals come together.
Sometimes you'll hear a song you've known for years in an unexpected scene in a film. It might sound completely different or fit the scene so well that you're simply happy to hear it there. It's still the same song, but the experience of hearing it changes. We really like those moments.
When something familiar suddenly feels unfamiliar, we get to experience it again, almost as if we're encountering it for the first time. In the future, we'd like to collaborate with other filmmakers and video artists and see what comes from their different perspectives.
We think music should be able to stand on its own. At the same time, it's wonderful when adding visuals allows us to experience something in the music that we hadn't noticed before. A video can change the way we see the music, but we don't think it should define what the music is.
It truly is art. For you, what makes the perfect setting to create music that has a slow pace like this? Do you have to get into the right frame of mind or have a specific routine?
WetBed: : The way we approach each song musically is a little different. For me, what happens before I start writing matters more than being in a particular place or state of mind. When I have something I want to say, I first try to put it into a single sentence.
Then I give myself time to digest it. I only pick up an instrument once I feel clear about what that sentence is saying and what I want to say through it. Sometimes that takes quite a while. Just because you've written a sentence doesn't necessarily mean you understand it. Even if I really like a sentence, I'll put it aside if I haven't fully absorbed it yet. I leave it there, hoping that one day
I'll be able to make sense of it naturally. Of course, it doesn't always work out the way I expect.
A sentence I thought I understood can suddenly feel unfamiliar again when I try to turn it into a song.
On the other hand, something I wrote a long time ago might suddenly become clear to me one day. When that happens, I can start writing straight away, without much preparation. Some thoughts seem to drift further away the harder you try to understand them. Others slowly become part of you while you're not even thinking about them.
We often end up making slow music, probably because we like it. And perhaps we're a little slow-paced ourselves. But that doesn't mean every song we make will be slow. People have different sides to them, and we don't always go through life at the same pace. Once I feel I've understood the sentence, I try to make the music that suits it best. So far, it just happens that many of those sentences have suited slower music.
Are there any artists you look up to that have shaped your own approach to music making?
WetBed: For me, Radiohead is something of a classic. Our bassist, Lee Seok-won, is a huge fan of Rage Against the Machine, and our drummer, Lee Gun-ho, is practically obsessed with HYUKOH. The three of us have quite different musical tastes.
Those differences naturally come through when we make music together. Our individual tastes and ways of working influence one another, and whatever we're listening to at the time plays an important part in how a song takes shape.
Every time we work on a new song, our playlists have changed a little. And with them, the way we make music seems to change too. We imagine the music we listen to will keep changing. We love knowing that there's still so much music we haven't heard. Perhaps one of the best things is knowing how much of the world we still have yet to discover.
We're looking forward to seeing how the music we discover will change the way we work in the future.
The album bedroom echoes that of "Shelter", where it feels like a safe space to dream, to think, and to be absorbed in the music. How did the concept begin, and in a way it links to your band name? Is this all conceptual? What comes first?
WetBed: It's interesting that you felt that connection. We never really set out to connect all of our work through a single concept. We think similar feelings and emotions naturally carry through because, after all, it's our music. Quite a lot changed for the band after ‘bedroom’. Becoming a three-piece gave us a chance to rethink our sound. ‘SHELTER’ came out of that period of change.
The music has taken on a slightly different form, but we think we're still drawn to many of the same things. The very first thing, though, was the band's name.
We see a bedroom as a very private and isolated place. It can be comforting, painful, and sometimes beautiful. But more than anything, we think it's a place where it's difficult to avoid things.
When you're lying in bed, it feels as though you always end up soaked in something. It might be your thoughts, your feelings, or something that happened during the day. For me, lying in bed, having a cigarette and listening to music is a very important part of my everyday life.
We started with the idea that our music could simply exist in the background of a space like that. Someone might be lost in thought, smoking a cigarette, or having a drink.
Whatever they're doing or feeling, we'd just like our music to be there somewhere, in that moment and in that space. Someday, we'd like to explore telling a story across several songs or creating something where music and videos come together to tell one larger story.
But we don't think our work needs to share a single universe to be connected. We'd like our identity as a band to be what connects our different works into a larger whole. As we change, our music will change with us. And that change will be part of WetBed too.
As a band, you’ve begun a project of releasing a new single every two months starting this month. With the next one due for December, what can we expect in terms of sound? And will you always stick to this melody and pace?
WetBed: For now, we'd like to strip our sound back a little further. We think we need to see just how much we can take away before we can really understand why we've been doing it. Once we've gone far enough, we'd like to try adding just as much back.
If ‘SHELTER’ was the beginning of that process, we'd like to take it a little further with our next single, which we're planning to release in December.
We're curious to see what's left when we take more away. The next song isn't particularly fast either. We're also thinking about leaving a little more space in the melody. I've been living at a slower pace myself lately, and perhaps the music is naturally starting to reflect that.
But that doesn't mean we intend to keep making music at the same tempo. The pace of our lives will change, and so will the things we want to pursue. Maybe change doesn't mean rejecting who we are now. Maybe it simply means we've lived through this part of our lives fully. For now, we'd just like to strip things back a little further.
Having only been together since 2025, what is the story behind your formation from meeting to today’s band? What has the learning curve been for the three of you when working together?
WetBed: We'd played music together in different bands before, and those connections eventually brought us together as WetBed. The lineup has changed a few times, but going forward, we'd like to keep the three of us at the heart of WetBed.
Our drummer, Lee Gun-ho, will soon be carrying out his mandatory military service in South Korea. While he's away, we're planning to perform with a guest drummer. So the person playing drums on stage with us may change for a while, but WetBed will still be the three of us.
One of the biggest things we're learning from making music together is how to compromise with one another. Three people aren't going to agree on everything. We all like different sounds, and we each approach a song a little differently.
We try to listen to and respect each other's opinions, but we don't think accepting every suggestion necessarily leads to the best result. Sometimes there are things we feel we need to stand by.
For us, compromise isn't simply about each of us giving up part of what we believe in. It's more about deciding together what we're willing to give way on, and what we want to hold on to. Understanding one another doesn't necessarily mean seeing things the same way. Maybe making music together as three different people is really about making those choices again and again. We're still learning how to do that.
Your socials are carefully curated to reflect the sounds of your music. Almost relying solely on that as a product. There is little behind who you are individually which keeps you as an enigma almost. Is this to keep the music at the forefront?
WetBed: It wasn't something we intended, but we think it might have come across that way. To be honest, none of us are particularly good at social media. And since it's a band account, we've naturally tended to focus on sharing our music and the things we've made.
We weren't trying to create a mysterious image or hide who we are as individuals. We're not particularly mysterious or special people ourselves, anyway.
It simply felt more natural, and more like us, to show what we're making rather than explain what kind of people we are.
Still, we're glad to hear that the sound and atmosphere of our music have come through. Maybe that means some of the things we love and are trying to create are coming across, even without us having to explain them.
Finally, what do the next few months have in store for you? Are there any goals you’re hoping to achieve, etc.?
WetBed: If all goes to plan, we're hoping to release three more singles by April 2027. Once they're all out, we'd like to look back at what we've made and what has changed along the way. We're also curious about what we'll be thinking by then and how we might want to approach making music next.
Looking a little further ahead, we'd love to travel to different countries, make music and play shows along the way. We'd like to step outside the places and working environments we're familiar with, meet new people, and try making music somewhere unfamiliar.
We think the more we experience, the more our way of making music will gradually change. We don't know how far we'll be able to go.
We just hope the world we get to make music in becomes a little bigger than it is now. Just knowing there are places we haven't been yet makes us a little excited about what's ahead.
Written & Interviewed by Kirsty Bright
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