Royal Pirates
| Royal Pirates 로열 파이럿츠 |
|
|---|---|
| Origin | Seoul, South Korea |
| Genres | Rock |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Labels |
Apple of the Eye Co. () Universal Music Korea |
| Website |
royal-pirates |
| Members | Kim Moon-chul Kim Soo-yoon (EXSY) |
| Past members | Richard (Moon-chan) Kim James Lee |
Royal Pirates (로열 파이럿츠) is a Korean-American rock band debuted in 2013. The band consists of Kim Moon-chul (vocals, guitar), and EXSY (drums)
Royal Pirates has two members. Moon Kim (Kim Moon-chul 김문철) is the lead vocalist and plays guitar. EXSY (Kim Soo Yoon) plays drums. Former bass player and Moon's brother, Richard Kim (who was there when the band was still called Fading From Dawn) passed away in a fatal accident. James Lee (Lee Joo-hyun 이주현) played the bass guitar and later the programmer/keyboardist, following his injury in 2015. On January 31, 2017, James left the band due to worsening health conditions.
The group was formerly known as Fading From Dawn from 2004 with the guitarist-vocalist Kim Moon-chul, drummer Soo-yoon (later changed his stage name to EXSY) and bassist Richard Kim, Moon-chul's older brother. They used to play at several Korean events in California, such as the annual Korean Festival in Orange County. After Richard's death in April 2008 in a car accident in Pomona, California, they rarely played live anymore since they had no bass player. They changed their band name to Royal Pirates, as they could no longer be Fading From Dawn without Richard.
With their talent and originality, Royal Pirates gained fame on YouTube by uploading covers. In September 2008, Moon-chul and Soo-yoon posted their first cover "Time is Running Out" by Muse on their YouTube account. After that, they kept uploading rock versions of hit songs such as "Nobody" by Wonder Girls, "Mirotic" by DBSK, and "Circus" by Britney Spears, the latter reached 18 thousand viewers in just two weeks and was also featured on Britney's homepage.
Their first original demo was released on the internet was "Royal Villain". Soo-yoon's song "Like Butterflies" was also released soon after.
In May 2009, Royal Pirates appeared on Korean News Channel YTN where they were presented as an independent rock band which became a new YouTube sensation, getting over ten thousand views with their powerful instrumentals and brilliant videos.
They covered the song "Sorry Sorry" by Super Junior in Spring 2009 and after the video was posted on the Korean website Cyworld, the band received an invitation from the writer of Star King to appear on their show. However, the band declined the invitation since they had "major conflicts with school" and "scheduling was difficult for both of [them]". Also, they did not want to leave the image of a "Cover Band" to the world and to Korea.
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