Interestingly, the band's title originates from a fan who saw them perform on the streets. The fan felt the music was truly heartfelt and named them Joa Band short for Joa Se Hanen Band, meaning the band who enjoys playing music. The band evolved from the underground scene. Their constant performing created more fans, until they appeared on media under the name of Joa Band. The band members liked the name the fan gave them and have been sticking with the same members and the name till today.

 

The Joa Band has first been nominated for the best Rookie of the Year at The Grant Mint Festival in 2009. Jo Jun Ho, Son Hyun, Ahn Bok Jin are the four members, and have been playing together since 2007. They started moving from city to city in Korea, busking around the streets. Their street performances steadily gained popularity throughout the peninsula. In 2009, they appeared on the Educational Broadcasting Station (EBS) channel on Korea Pop Music Festival, winning first place after their sixth trials.

 

This led them to come up with their first mini album, Newspaper Distribution(2009), which sold 20,000 albums. The popularity led to a second mini album and their first official album. However, because of Korea's rigid and archaic music industry, commercial success has been slow. As an attempt to secure a toehold for their music, Joa Band began just showing u p a t e n t e r t a i n m e n t offices and performing for free. By 2010, they began collaborating with other bands giving concerts to companies. Joa Band has their own unique non-imitable style of music. Their own style of playing music allows them to create their fan base. One of their best known songs, "How are you?" is not only loved for its sweet melody but also for its empathic lyrics that listeners can easily empathize with.

 

The reactions to their new album I hope I am your First(2014) was subtle but at the same time powerful, receiving more than 20,000 likes on Youtube. They referred to the band as the 'Band that gives joy to the listeners' - Joa se Dednun Band. One of the comments includes, "I repeatedly listened to the song more than ten times, and I am not tired of it." Likely, the reactions showed that their unique songs are very interactive with the listeners and truly captivate listener's heart.

 

Joa Band is one of the thousands of underground acoustic bands. However, there is definitely something special to the band. Once you listen to their songs, there is something that catches your ears. Maybe this is because of the joy that they deliver through music or maybe it is their lyrics that we all empathize with. Either way, there is a strong power to Joa Band that makes the listeners play their songs over and over again.