Uptown Boyband: They're More Than Just a Kpop Group

interviewed & written by Kristen Lew

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Photos shot by Ricardo Gonzales

Uptown Boy Band is changing the way we see K-POP today. Comprised of Korean-Canadians Roc Lee, Joe Rascal, and Justin Trash, the group shatters the current image of Korean Pop music while respecting and consuming the popularized genre. Gaining inspiration from childhood lullabies to modern hip-hop, the band has amassed global fans endearingly called CLUB UBB beyond their homes in Toronto. This week, the trio released their new song 'Rich Girl,' a pivoting track that, like the meaning of their group, debunks the cliches of a community that allows depth to reveal itself.

Introduce yourselves! Also, if you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Justin Trash: This is a loaded question. I'm Justin Trash. And one song that couldn't go a day without listening is “Rich Girl” by UPTOWN BOYBAND.

Roc Lee: Oh my god you stole my idea. I'm Roc Lee from UPTOWN BOYBAND. The one song I'll listen to for the rest of my life would be “Sailor Moon” by UPTOWN BOYBAND. Banger.

Joe Rascal: Hello, I am Joe Rascal. One song I would listen to for the rest of my life... I'm gonna be different here. I still love UPTOWN BOYBAND but I'd say it would be listening to my mom's lullabies.

Justin Trash: Now you have to sing it, bro.

Joe Rascal: “I GO” funny enough was kind of from that because our parents would always say "aigoo" 아이구. We just wanted to plug that in.

from left to right: Joe Rascal, Roc Lee, Justin Trash

Can you guys tell me the inspiration behind your first song of 2021, “Rich Girl?” What was the process like?

Justin Trash: This was produced and also co-written by our friend Elijah Woods. It was our second session we had together. We showed him a lot of songs, references where we said we want to implement the EDM sound he's an expert of, with some of the Kpop sounds that we like to listen to. We wanted to make our own unique version of it. Hence, that's what the sound of the song sounds like.

We also wanted to talk about the theme of how there's more to an individual than what meets the eye. The lyrics of the song “Rich Girl” - “she's more than just a rich girl”- all the prejudice of how people categorize other people, how people see other people based on how they look, how they appear. We wanted to talk about those subjects.

Joe Rascal: The word “rich”- there's more to it than materialistic wealth. We also wanted to say you can be rich in other ways, intellectually or self-care, any other way of making yourself happy. The EDM vibes are fast-paced, like we're chasing our pursuit of happiness in a sense.

Now that you mentioned your current process of writing a recent track, can you tell me more about when you guys first met? What was the dynamic like and what was it like when you made your first song?

Justin Trash: When we first met, Roc and Joe already knew each other and they had a couple of tracks out. Someone introduced me to their sound and it was something that aligned with what I wanted to do. When we eventually met up, we were talking about what we wanted out of our music. We noticed that Toronto lacked a lot of Korean culture being in the forefront. This was an opportunity for us to be the first Korean-Canadian-American kids to really push that narrative. Sonically, we just really meshed into it. The process of writing songs now is a little different, because we work with writers and producers, but back then we would literally just take YouTube beats, someone would come up with the hook, and then we would match around whatever concept came up.

Joe Rascal: To add on to the dynamics of the group, we're so different - personality wise, our tastes, where we come from, we're all completely different. I feel like we complement each other in areas where the other person might lack. That's what really made our group super tight.

Justin Trash: That's what really turned on a light for the fans that we've gathered because there's such different personalities and sounds coming from each one of us, but they're so cohesive that it works.

Joe Rascal: You guys are the missing piece to my puzzle.

“We're so different - personality wise, our tastes, where we come from, we're all completely different. I feel like we complement each other in areas where the other person might lack. That's what really made our group super tight.”

In searches of Uptown Boyband, the term “anti-KPOP” comes up a lot. Can you guys explain what that word means to you?

Justin Trash: That's on me. Basically, my whole image is that I look like a scumbag but I'm not. But I kind of have the KPOP “aesthetic,” so it's more of the rock-star energy meshed in with KPOP.

Joe Rascal: I think the word 'anti-KPOP’ - we have a different meaning for it. It's not that we're against KPOP, we actually embrace it, we love it, we grew up with it, right? But for us, it's more of wanting to break barriers. We wanted to be more of ourselves in that sense, not saying that KPOP is not being themselves, but there's a lot of structure in KPOP, in the industry, and we want it to show that we can just have raw energy, raw sound, and do what we can as us being from Korean-Canadian backgrounds. Just showing what we love to do.

Justin Trash: That term does not really represent us. The core principle of anti-KPOP is definitely like the core principle of UPTOWN BOYBAND, but it's like a joke now. It's my nickname. I have a couple nicknames. I have 'KPOP demon' and I have 'anti KPOP star.' So I just ran with it.

“There's a lot of structure in KPOP, in the industry, and we want it to show that we can just have raw energy, raw sound, and do what we can as us being from Korean-Canadian backgrounds.”

You explained a little bit of your Canadian background. How do you think you're changing the current image of KPOP, especially to your Western audience?

Justin Trash: Growing up, we didn't have a lot of role models to look up to. Now you see a growing number of Asian American, Asian Canadian artists, actors, getting the spotlight. But 10-15 years ago, we barely had any. We feel that this is super important, because we want to be the voice, we want to be the role models that we didn't have growing up, and we want to impact our community. Our community is so young, the Asian American, Asian Canadian community of second-gens. These two guys were born and raised in Canada. So this culture is super young. I feel that at times like this, our roles are that much more important, because we want to make sure our culture gets represented in the spotlight.

Joe Rascal: Through our music and our performance and what we do, we want those that feel lost at times, or who feel that they don't have somewhere to go, to feel at home. So that they can be themselves.

What other artists inspired you guys to either get into music other than KPOP, or what other things motivated you?

Justin Trash: I think the most common answer that we have to that question is A$AP Mob, Tyler the Creator, N.E.R.D. The Goats, Big Bang. Those are pretty much the summary of where we take experimental things, tap into different sounds.

Roc Lee I think we've all been creatives, even before we started doing music. Joe and I danced. Justin was always a big fan of like art and creative stuff in general. I feel like that naturally just ended into us making music.

Being from Canada with our Asian heritage, we see things in a different lens. That really helped shape our craft to where it is today because we're able to see two sides of the world. We bring those together and we spring out what we really feel.

“Through our music and our performance and what we do, we want those that feel lost at times, or who feel that they don't have somewhere to go, to feel at home. So that they can be themselves.”

You guys haven't been shooting a lot of music videos because of COVID-19, but you have been releasing these dope visualizers. Are you pretty involved in making what you want your music to look like, and which parts of the process of creating your visuals?

Justin Trash: We have a creative team that goes by ANDRAS and they are our older brothers. We got some [], 친구's (friends), there too. Basically, when the song or the concept of a project is created, we usually talk about what messages we want to be transcended through the visuals. Although we don't have music videos out now, there are going to there some shot. You're going to see a little bit of cohesiveness in terms of what the theme is. I don't want to touch too into it because I want it to be a reveal for you guys. It's something we have a hand in, for sure. We do edits and we have notes. It's a really fun process.

What do you guys miss most about filming on set?

Justin Trash: Being outside with people. Even though it's tiring work, it's so fun and rewarding to see the outcome.

Joe Rascal: Definitely the people we work with. It's always family, right? It just feels so good to be around people who we are comfortable with. So I miss that a lot.

Speaking of you guys being from Toronto, how has the support been from your communities when you started? From the people who showed up to your shows to your friends and family, how did you feel?

Joe Rascal : Our last show was the 'BEWHY' show. We went to Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto with BewhY and Ted Park. When we were performing in Toronto, it’s a great feeling and the support from the community is amazing.

Justin Trash: We were still getting used to being on tour and stuff like that. The shows were a little shaky, I'm going to be honest. Then when we went to Toronto, that was when all our people came out, and we turned up like we've never turned up before. My mom lives in Gardena, California, so she's never at my shows, but she was super proud that I got to be on a big stage. She knows that this is the reality, not a dream anymore.

Roc Lee: We've been in Toronto, we've played countless shows. I would say 40-50 shows, maybe even more. It's great to see how our friends and family react to our growth in Toronto. There's not a better feeling than having your family be so proud of us and coming out to all of our shows, whenever they can, and getting the support. We just want to give back to everybody.

Joe Rascal: It's definitely been a long run. Some people may say it's short, but we've been playing underground shows for two, three years before we came to this point. Like Roc said, we played maybe 40-50 shows, starting from the underground. Hence now that we're seeing our growth now, it's unbelievable to see all the people around us supporting us and saying how much we grew.

Justin Trash: I think the greatest thing about our group is that there's no other company that does it like us. We're not YG and we're not JYP, we're UBB. We're self-made - we were literally doing trap shows, SoundCloud sounds throughout Toronto and now we're self-made pop singers and aspiring pop stars.That's what our energy shows when people see us because they see that growth.

“There's not a better feeling than having your family be so proud of us and coming out to all of our shows, whenever they can, and getting the support. We just want to give back to everybody.”

Do you have any advice to anyone who might want to get into the industry who might not have that support from the communities that you had?

Justin Trash: Like we said before, we did this by ourself. That's what our whole group is- we wanted to be KPOP singers, and we're doing that right now. My only advice is literally to find a good team of brothers. I'm blessed to have Roc and Joe- they’ve become my brothers. I'm super lucky to have my manager Andy. But those things come with time. All you need to do is to work on your craft. Look down, focus, have that tunnel vision, and grind. Don't look anywhere else, don't ask for anyone else's opinion, just do you, if it makes you happy. It's going to show out and it's going to express your music and your craft.

Roc Lee: Think about why you want to do this and what this means. We always say this with the boys, but our music is bigger than us right now. We're not doing this for our personal life - like we want money, we want this. Getting money with what you love to do is great. But really think about the reason of why you're doing this, what motivates you, what makes you get up and put in all these hours to do it. For us, there's a lot of different reasons. We want to break barriers, we want to change the culture, a lot of that stuff. That's not something that anybody can teach you. You got to really get into your head, think about it. If that really pushes you to continue this tough road, then nothing's gonna stop you. Anything's possible.

Joe Rascal: I also think just being vulnerable, being yourself, as cliché as it sounds, but it's very hard. Nowadays it's very hard because everything's so fast-paced, come and go, come and go. So I'd say to slow down. Think simple. Be yourself. Do and be what you want to be. Also have that right community around you. We're so lucky to have each other but also our Club UBB fan group. They always support us and love us so much. It's good to be around this community that supports us. So finding the right people to be around you as well.

“We want to break barriers, we want to change the culture, a lot of that stuff. That's not something that anybody can teach you. You got to really get into your head, think about it. If that really pushes you to continue this tough road, then nothing's gonna stop you.”

Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?

Joe Rascal: This is hard. Probably the whole DPR camp. I really like their music these days and their visuals. We were talking about hitting home, it kind of hits home for me too. They mix English and Korean, and I can understand both. They're also coming from similar backgrounds.

Roc Lee: I have so many but if I had to pick one, it's got to be the man G-DRAGON.

Justin Trash: I love working with women artists. When we do work with producers or writers that are women, it definitely brings a more vulnerable side. A couple of female artists that I would like to work with [] is definitely a top for me and BIBI. 100%. She's super talented. I think her music videos and sounds are always on point. I think she kind of has the same kind of mentality as us. She has that K-Hip Hop, K-R&B sound, but she's also very in tune with vulnerability and showing her soft side.

What have you learned in the blowing up experience on TikTok and getting exposure from an audience who probably became fans from that app, or social media in general?

Justin Trash: I have a love and hate relationship with TikTok. I did it as a joke when quarantine started, and then I realized there was an opportunity to meet new people and bring them to UPTOWN BOYBAND. We recently started our UPTOWN BOYBAND account and it's been super fun doing it with the guys, more than doing stuff by myself. Sometimes I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. The algorithm doesn't like me at all, it just punishes me when I want to take a break. But working with the guys and doing funny videos and skits is super fun. I think we found a really good balance of work and play with TikTok and it's definitely been super helpful getting new fans to listen to our music.

Roc Lee: I think TikTok is a great tool. We've garnered so many fans on that platform, and that's an amazing thing. We have fans all over the world. They first saw us on TikTok and they become real fans. So that's an amazing thing. TikTok’s a great tool for artists to really get out there. It's just like what Justin said- balancing it out. As artists we don't want to be too engaged in TikTok where we don't really work on that crowd. Just Getting that balance right and using it to your advantage.

Joe Rascal: I'm the worst dancer on TikTok, honestly. So it's very fascinating to see the comments. As the videos progress, I feel like I'm getting better at dancing, so you can find my dance progress on our TikTok.

You're not bad.

Joe Rascal: All the comments are always like, "Oh look at Joe, he's trying to catch up," or "Joe is trying so hard"

Justin Trash: But I think that's “quirky,” I like that.

Joe Rascal: No, I love it. I was talking about vulnerability. We're just on the spot there, we're showing our true selves, just having fun.

Justin: Wait till you see Joe pop off on the 'Rich Girl' choreo though.

Joe: We got some choreo coming for you guys.

What is your favorite song off of your entire discography and why?

Justin Trash: I think “Rich Girl” for me is still my answer. The reason I like it so much is it's kind of like the beginning of something new for our boy band. We've had a lot of trials and errors with our earlier sound. Don't get me wrong, I'm super proud of what we've done. But I think “Rich Girl” is a staple of a new beginning. A lot of people have given me messages and DMS being like, wow, this is the level you guys are on now. It just gives me a good reassurance that yeah, we're on a path to taking over the world.

Roc Lee: For me, from the first discography, one of my favorite songs is Club UBB. Straight up, that's for the club. That's for fans. That's for everybody that loves us truly. We just wanted to make a song dedicated to the ones that support us like that. Club UBB, they've been going strong for us all the time. We first started with probably like 30-40 people on Discord and now it's like a couple hundred people. We just wanted to give them a shout out, give them a salute, and always tell them that we appreciate all the love all the time.

Justin Trash: Yes, sir. We love you Club UBB. 사랑해 (I love you).

Roc Lee: UBB world domination. That's the thing that UBB is pushing these days. I'm just going to say UBB world domination.

Joe Rascal: Yeah, personally, my favorite was 'Roller Girl' just because it was our first song that we released and made a music video, too. We worked with our friend named Lafic on the music video and I just remember the experience and what we did for that song and it just really brings back all this. This was the first of our first.

Justin: A defining moment in our career.

Joe: Trying not to tear up.

What's next for Uptown Boy Band? What can Club UBB expect?

Justin Trash: We have a lot more content coming out. We've been working on vlogs, we've started doing Twitch streams, just to engage with the people that support us. We want to keep the entertainment alive, if you will. We have a lot more music coming out, so much in the vault that 'Rich Girl' was truly the tip of the iceberg. There's so many future favorite songs for Club UBB. We've teased a couple, so if you want to join our next Stationhead, it's an app. You can join and we basically DJ, and we just play music from our playlist. Who knows, we might do a little sneak preview of the next track.

Joe Rascal: You can find us on all of our socials: @uptownboyband, some of them have underscores, but most of them don't. You can keep updates from us there.

Roc Lee: Just for the sake of it, like what Justin said, we have so much content. We're filming music videos this weekend, as well. So we're super excited for that. Hopefully, by the end of near fall of this year, we're planning to go play shows, hopefully LA, New York. We've also submitted ourselves for a really big KPOP artist to do a tour. We'll see what happens. Fingers crossed. Hope everyone stays excited for it.

Justin Trash: We love you Club UBB.

Do you guys have an ending you want to say to your fans?

Justin Trash: I just wanted to personally thank you guys. I always spill my heart to you at the end of my streams and my lives. But thank you so much for the continuous support. We love you so much. We literally could not, or would not do this without you. You guys give us the energy that sometimes we lack during the day when it gets hard. We're so glad we could be there for you just the same. So thank you so much. 사랑해 (I love you).

Roc Lee: Thanks for Club UBB, be all the time. They always bring out the best in us. And we really do this for the fans, for the people. It's not about us, our music is bigger than us, like I mentioned before. All the support that we always get, we always appreciate it. We always want to spread the message of positivity, showing love, no hate, no negativity. I know everyone in the club, they're all beautiful. So always appreciate it. Thank you so much. 사랑한다고 (I love you). UBB world domination.

“We really do this for the fans, for the people. It's not about us, our music is bigger than us.”

Joe Rascal: For me, you know I'm not perfect. I have ups and downs. There's days where we feel low, but I get DMs or messages and Discord, from Club UBB. It's surprising, the amount of things that we can talk about and the amount of ways they support us and show us love. They send us food pics sometimes and all that stuff. I just feel like I have people around me to talk to. So I want to thank Club UBB for always being there for all of us. And always giving us the energy to keep going. And what Roc and Justin said, 사랑해 (I love you).