The music on this page is a demo of my band Trim recorded 9 years ago when I was living in Korea. Bono gave us that name..more on that later.

Most musicians would say they have an eclectic taste in music and I was no exception. Having gone through dozens of bands playing (or attempting to play) the gamut of genres available, my American-Korean friend Jerome and I decided to form a band where we just stripped things down a bit, keep it simple and, most importantly, try to write some songs. The thing with a lot of bands was they were all too busy being 'alternative,' doing weird shit and avoiding the mainstream. I myself was guilty of that (for those of you that don't know, my favourite musician of all time is Frank Zappa..I have 45 of his albums) until I realized there have been countless bands that had genuine integrity and yet were very much part of the mainstream. So we formed a band putting more emphasis on sing-along-able melodies in the context of nice, simple songs.
Like every band, internal troubles soon ensued resulting in our drummer and us parting ways and me switching to the guitar (I was on the bass when we formed). During this time a friend of ours in Japan handed out our very rough demo to a whole bunch of her friends until it ended up in the hands of one Toshi Kasuga, a well respected session drummer in Tokyo, who liked it enough to fly to Korea with his own money and help us record a better demo. Although he came empty handed with none of his gear, as soon as he called Yamaha and Zildjian (he endorses their products) and told them exactly what he wanted they came running with brand new shit. This impressed and humbled me to no end ha.
The following is actually a very long story but in the interests of keeping it short..we sent this demo and a press kit we put together ourselves to hundreds of labels worldwide (we actually got offered a deal in Korea but it turns out the government won't let me make any money until I've fulfilled my military obligations..so no thanks). We eventually landed a deal with Toshiba EMI in Japan...but! Seeing as how I haven't been to the army yet the Japanese embassy wouldn't issue me a visa of any kind, fearing that I'd stay in Japan illegally to evade the draft. Same story in England and the US. We wrestled with this problem for about a year before we decided to break up and go our separate ways. Jerome currently resides in NY.
Oh, also...it was a Sunday afternoon in March, the first sunny day in months. Jerome was sitting on a bench in St. Stephen's Green Park, Dublin, Ireland, when who should walk by with his wife? Why, it was none other than Bono himself. Without another thought Jerome made a beeline straight to them and started talking..
Jerome - It's pretty much just rock n' roll. Kinda like if you took a motown singer and gave him the Pixies as a backing band.
Bono - Hmm. Sounds cool. Sounds..really trim.
Jerome - Sorry?
Bono - Yeah. Sounds trim. Sounds simple.
Jerome Kim - vocals, rhythm guitar
Joe Choi - guitar, bass, backing vocals
Toshi Kasuga - drums
Fun factoid: Jerome was a professional skiier and was in line to represent the US as a member of the Olympic ski team until he tore his ligament, sending his career down the drain..or slope, as it were. It was while bedridden in the hospital that he learned how to play the guitar.
footnote: I just realized the uploaded songs are incomplete. I have sent the administrator the full versions so hopefully they will be replaced soon haha
toenote: the complete songs are now uploaded ^_^