1300 wrote the first demo of "ILLSAMGONGGONG" in 2021, the year the band formed. It didn't work then, but as Nerdie and pokari put it in their track-by-track for tmrw, the idea felt "worth holding onto." Five years and one Universal Music Korea deal later, the Korean-Australian five-piece – rappers DALI, goyo and rako alongside producers Nerdie and pokari – released their debut studio album, ILLSAMGONGGONG, on 16 July 2026: a 13-track project documenting a group who slowed down, took stock, and came back louder rather than softer.

That opening track sets the tone for the whole record. Rebuilt around a rallying chant and a taepyongso, the traditional Korean instrument Nerdie leans on again later on "100" as a nod to Seo Taiji and Boys' 90s production, it became the album's mission statement rather than just its first song.

"Headrock," featuring GIRIBOY, runs on a Korean proverb about charging forward against impossible odds; "Whistle," co-produced with Grammy-nominated NEZ, was written and mixed inside an hour during an LA session; "wheres my money," featuring Kim Ximya, got flipped from a dark, monotone demo into something brighter to sit alongside the rest of the tracklist.

Elsewhere, the writing turns inward. "Home" redefines the word entirely, not as a place but as the people who stay, a direct answer to growing up Asian in Australia and never quite feeling like the word applied. "sick," the closer, was left deliberately unmixed, the most unfiltered account here of what the last few years of doubt and momentum actually felt like.

Lead single "clear out the room" kicked off this era before any of the album followed: a return from hiatus dressed up as clearing a green room before a show, heavy, blunt and unapologetically theirs. Two sold-out Australian tours and a 425-million-viewer ABC New Year's Eve slot later, ILLSAMGONGGONG is 1300 stating, in full, what all of that was building toward.

We've been wanting to make this song for a long time, in fact we made the first demo in 2021 when we first started this band. It didn't feel right back then but the idea was worth holding onto. We re-worked the song and it became the opening track with its rallying chant that makes us feel ready to show the new 1300. It also features a Taepyongso which is a traditional korean instrument, which I (Nerdie) love the sound of and thought it made the song sound a bit more epic.

This song has a classic 1300 feel. There's a Korean idiom about headbutting the floor, we run into walls. Our journey has always been running headfirst into the unknown. "Headrock," featuring GIRIBOY, is a declaration that they will advance solely in their own way, even while acknowledging the recklessness of trying to break a rock with an egg. Their fighting spirit never stops. GIRIBOY spontaneously flew to Sydney to shoot a video with us and we shot it on the go on an iPhone.

Fever went through a lot of changes, like most of our songs but this one has a lot of dynamics. It was tough to figure out the structure and it was very chaotic for a long time, but I (Nerdie) think we got it somewhat coherent and it's been going great in a live setting for sure. I was listening to Madeon at the time and liked the sound of chopping synth samples and bright, colorful textures that you can almost taste. The lyrics revolve around the idea of being annoyed by people whose words and actions don't align, being hot and cold giving us a fever. The song also goes up and down in temperature suddenly and is pretty unpredictable.

This song is also completely different from the original demo apart from the main hook that DALI sings. It's really fun to perform and we have been getting a great reaction from crowds in Korea. It features Kim Ximya who we have wanted to work with for a long time, and he sent the perfect verse first try, without direction from us. He's a legend in the Korean scene and we are grateful to have him on our album. We made the song a bit brighter from the original which was more dark and monotone, to suit the other colors in the album.

We made this song in LA with NEZ, who's produced for A$AP Rocky and Schoolboy Q. The session was super fun and we had a great energy in the studio, which was a little box in the middle of an office space, kind of like a spaceship. It was pretty much done in an hour and we didn't change it much at all since the original demo. It reminds me of Lil B's old boy band and we really want to shoot a video for it.

100 was made by pokari originally and then I (Nerdie) changed the beat to be more inspired by Seo-Taiji and the boys. I was obsessed with this song 'Come Back Home' and the 90s production on it, but we tried a more modern approach to the songwriting. It's also a posse cut with 5 rappers on one beat, and we tried to make the song dynamic enough to be more than just a cypher but a full song. It features Taepyongso as a throwback to the Seo-Taiji boyband sound which is so iconic.

We all have jobs and we spend a lot of time trying to make a living, in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Naturally we made a song about work, it's not too serious and didn't change much from the original demo. It kind of has a loungey sound that reminds me of Jamiroquai or something. I (Nerdie) was obsessed with this 2-step beat which we have been using a lot and we started with the drums on this one.

When exploring the unknown, creatively, it can be dark and scary. However we believe it is necessary; and to do so we must be "BRAVE". "BRAVE" starts off dark and moves to a place where there is an epiphany.

This was our first single off the album, it's about clearing out the green room before we get on stage but metaphorically it's about our return from our hiatus. The track has the longest intro, its bold, its grand and its unapologetically heavy!

Home is a word we all aren't too familiar with. Growing up asian in Australia, we never really felt like we could call Australia "Home". Through music and finding each other, we feel like we've found home with each other. The song is a journey, it starts off with frustration, to the point where the only answer is to "GET HYPE" the outro is where the confusion stops and the tension releases.

This one's a bit of a curveball, it's a light hearted track about partying all night and not wanting it to end. It's the most melodic song in the album, it shows off our diversity and willingness to be open - 1300 is for everyone.

Sonically this one's a throwback to the Y2k era - somewhat inline with Shibuya Punk, it flows between melodic hooks and heavy breakbeat moments. The track is about "MUSIC" and how it's all that we have, pretty straight forward to be honest. This one's a fun one, hopefully it'll bring smiles to kids who grew up playing "Jet Set Radio" and "The World Ends With You" :)

This is probably the most honest song on the album. It's about how each of us personally feels about our current journey, the ups and downs, the excitements and doubts. To keep the song unfiltered, we made a sonic choice to not do any post production, any post mix - from the day we made it, it stayed the same.