Cheese | JooHan

⚡︎ PART ONE ⚡︎

The door to the practice room slammed open, the handle knocking loudly against the wall. Jooyeon's voice came ringing through the room even before he was fully visible. "Cheese have a new single!" he shouted, waving his hands above his head triumphantly. "It's by far their best work yet!"

Jiseok was already rolling his eyes, turning his attention back to tuning his guitar. "You say that every time."

"Yeah," Jooyeon grumbled, his arms falling back to his sides, "because every time it's true. Cheese are probably the best metal band around at the moment. Every one of their singles is a step up from the last. How can a band get so much better with every song? It's crazy!"

"What's this single about?" Jungsu asked.

The question almost brought stars to Jooyeon's eyes. Since their first single 'Say Cheese' had gone viral almost a year prior, the band had instantly become one of Jooyeon's favourites. Their style was unique, the two band member's identities completely shrouded by the masks and distortion in every one of their videos. They always dropped their songs without any warning, and the only videos on their page were the stylistically shot music videos that went along with each one.

"Being forced to hide your true thoughts," Jooyeon replied. "It's called 'Digress' and it's so good! Can I play it to you? The breakdown is so insane that when I first heard it, I was genuinely worried about passing out!"

"Okay, sure. I'm curious," Jungsu hummed, sitting forward in his seat and holding the aux cord out to the maknae. The practice room had a good sound system, but there was only one aux cord. It was stationed on the wall just beside Jungsu's keyboards and over the years, control of it had fallen solely to him.

Jooyeon plugged his phone in, practically hopping from one foot to the other as he loaded up the track. Everyone knew by now that when Jooyeon wanted to show them something, there was no satiating him until it had finished. Jiseok and Hyeongjun dropped their guitars into their stands and Gunil put down his drumsticks.

The song started with a heavy guitar part, the bass thrumming beneath it. The drums kicked in soon after, followed by the vocals. The whole song sounded messy in the perfectly curated 'Cheese' way the band had become known for. Just enough vocal distortion that the singer's original voice couldn't quite be found, but not enough that the words were undiscernable.

The video on Jooyeon's phone was shot in a small garage, the metal door closed firmly behind the drum kit. The singer had a guitar strung around his body, shoulders hunched as he leant into the mic. His mask cut open around his lips to reveal the messy black of his lipstick. The footage was flickering, the grain so heavy you could physically see the noise as it danced across the screen.

The shots were close up and awkward, the camera using a fisheye lens and never settling one thing for too long. Jooyeon watched with awe, almost like he was hearing the song again for the first time.

It ended with a complex drum section, the singer's voice cracking over it as he screamed 'digress!' over and over again. The song ended suddenly, cutting away until all you were left with was the whine of an amplifier and the singer's laden breathing.

Jiseok let out a huff, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest. "Alright, you're not wrong. That was pretty good."