10Asia spoke to Daybreak, a four-man band formed in 2006, composed of members Lee Won-suk (vocalist), Kim Jang-won (keyboard player), Kim Sun-il (bassist) and Jung Yoo-jong (guitarist).
10: You've released your second full-length album for the first time in three years. How does it feel?
Kim Jang-won: There's always more to be desired when working on a song or an album but I think with this second album, I feel it the least. I've done all I can. (laugh)
Jung Yoo-jong: I think we feel more satisfied this time because we talked more about ourselves than we did in our previous albums.
10: How did you come up with the title song?
Lee Won-suk: I came up with the motif -- it just popped straight out of my mouth while I was making the guide lyrics. Of course, I had to be very careful with the pronunciation when recording the song (laugh) but we didn't think of looking for another phrase because the pronunciation and groove was too good.
Kim JW: I came up with the rest of the lyrics but I'm actually that falls for people pretty easily, particularly women. (laugh) Once, I was drinking with a girl that I like and we decided to start dating but she didn't remember anything the next day so I got embarrassed. I could feel my face turn red. That's why I said I'd try writing the lyrics this time. (laugh) I'm in charge of the incidents in Daybreak. I give every song its story.
Jung: Now that I listen to it again, it's not all that cheerful.
Lee: Oh really? I do think it a lot of effort went into what was inside the song. That's why we didn't necessarily put an effort into shortening the song from seven minutes. Our experiences and thoughts are reflected into all of our songs, not just that one. I think it would all be a lie if that wasn't the case.
10: "Autumn, Again" has a similar vibe to "My Hair is Growing." I heard Kim Sun-il, you worked on it by even going on a trip alone.
Kim SI: I actually didn't go on the trip because of the lyrics. I went to the West Sea for a while to take photographs for the image of our band for our second album. In my case, writing lyrics is difficult so rather than thinking that I need to write, I started thinking that I want to write. And I too immediately came up with the phrase 'fall again' when making the guide lyrics for "Autumn, Again." Won-suk helped a lot with the lyrics.
Lee: I'm in charge of checking the lyrics in the team. (laugh)
Kim SI: 'fall' is a epicene word. It means autumn as well as the act of falling.
Jung: And falling in love.
10: I listened to the songs that you three worked on. Which did you work on Jung Yoo-jong?
Lee: Jung wrote "Fantasy." How the lyrics for that song came out were... Jung, you explain it yourself!
Jung: I got the motif from comic "Onepiece." It's a very immature comic but if you leave that out, it's very moving. I became very moved upon seeing main character Luffy do something. So I tried writing lyrics based on Luffy.
Kim: This guy has a comic-like sensitivity to him. (laugh)
Jung: I've always liked comics. Different from the past, I've become increasingly drawn to comics and have started buying and collecting them.
10: Like Kim Jang-won says, I think you're very sentimental.
Kim JW: Even now, while he was talking about the comic, he was completely into it. (laugh)
Jung: I'm very quiet when I talk about anything else.
Lee: He's in charge of being the cute guy in our team. (laugh)
Lee Won-suk: I think it's true how they say a band's fate follows the name of its title track. We really became a good band while promoting our EP album so I'm hoping we'll rock the music industry with our new song. (laugh)
Kim Jang-won: Wow, to think you'd refer to the music industry with it! I thought you'd answer that you'd hope to rock women's hearts with it. (laugh)
10: How dismal were your activities that you would say that?
Lee: We were with another agency for our first album but we were very frustrated because there weren't that many stages our band could perform on. I think performing in the Hongik University area was it? We really wanted to go to music festivals but they didn't ask for us. (laugh)
10: Why didn't you try expressing that to your company?
Lee: Of course we tried suggesting it. But the company can't always give us everything we want. But that's why we left the company and started performing on our own, when we auditioned for 'Hello Rookie' last November. We thought 'We have to do this!' because we can perform at the Grand Mint Festival if we get picked as the 'Hello Rookie.'
10: What song did you sing at the audition?
Lee: "It's Good" and "Photograph." We had almost no fans back then.
Kim JW: Now that I think about it, we're in the complete opposite situation from then. (laugh)
Lee: I think we've gained on the number of fans bit by bit since then.
10: So you ended up being chosen for the 'Hello Rookie' and got granted your wish of standing on the stage of the Grand Mint Festival. What was the atmosphere like there?
Jung Yoo-jong: It was very quiet. We were the second ones on stage and it was in the afternoon. I think there were maybe about a dozen people in front of the stage? The rest of the people were sitting on mats and chatting.
Kim JW: And eating lunch.
Jung: But interestingly, more and more people gathered with every song. There were two lines of people after the first song and then four after the second song. We only got to perform for 20 minutes but it was very moving. A lot of people gathered after our performance.
Kim JW: I guess you could say that we got the crowd at GMF going.
10: I was actually very surprised by your performance at the Mint Festa in July -- your songs for one but the remarks you said really rocked the hearts of your female fans. Do you actually prepare such comments separately?
Lee: Not separately... Should I say it just comes naturally? (laugh) I think it's because none of us are introverts.
Kim JW: I think we have a lot of female fans because of our taste in music. And it's just because it doesn't show on the outside but about 35 percent of our fans are men.
Kim Sun-il: We have really improved a lot. When we're performing on stage in particular, we have a lot of eye contact but if one instrument is too loud and I somehow signal that to that person, he somehow knows and will reduce his sound. Our chemistry has improved greatly.
Lee: In the beginning, we were trying to look cool as well. But with time, I think we came to make more songs through which we can tell stories about ourselves because we became more comfortable around each other. That's how much our band has matured.
10: I have seen clips of you rehearsing and it seems that Kim Jang-won is the funniest member. Do you like impersonating others or making jokes?
Kim JW: I'm not good but I like imitating others.
Jung: To us he says he's good.
Kim JW: Ah, well I'm the best amongst us.
10: Have you ever dreamed of becoming a comedian? (laugh)
Kim JW: I've actually tried prepping to take a test to become a comedian with my junior from college. We were going to use bizarre props. But we didn't actually take the test and I don't know what has happened to him. (laugh)
Lee: People in bands aren't usually greedy about appearing on variety shows but this guy is a lot.
10: I think your band also stands out in terms of constantly trying to communicate with your fans.
Lee: Because we live in times where communication is important. I think we're past the days where charisma or mysticism is the trend. Of course, it won't be easy to manage them once we start getting too many fans but it's fun for now.
10: You guys are also on Twitter?
Lee: Just me and Jang-won. The other two don't have smartphones.
Jung: The mobile phone I use right now is very smart too.
All laugh.
Kim JW: Wow, that's the quote of the day! He's very happy over the fact that you can press a hotkey to dial in certain numbers. (laugh)
Lee: Jung is a stubborn one.
Kim JW: And he's a mania of analog.
Jung: I'll say it again but my phone is smart enough right now. I think it's cool how these guys use smartphones but I don't feel the need to buy one. And my phone isn't neither a 3G phone nor touchphone. It's a 2G phone.
10: I guess it's really a phone with just the necessary functions.
Kim JW: It's like phones for old men which just make calls. The surprising thing is that it's actually a new phone. He came up to me recently saying he changed phone so I thought he got a nice one but it was 2G...
Jung: [Takes out phone from pocket] Here's my new phone.
All laugh.
10: Last question. You're spending very happy days -- your concert set for the 29th has sold out. What hopes or goals do you have for the future?
Jung: I was having a hard time because our band was actually in a lull after we finished promoting our first album and I wouldn't feel any particular emotion even from listening to a lot of music but I'm having so much fun these days. I hope we'll be able to maintain this.
Kim JW: This was what Jung always used to ask me. "Where did we go wrong?" (laugh)
Jung: Rather than talking about any concerns that we had in particular, [I said that because] that situation was just very funny. Anyway, I hope we don't lose the fun we're having right now from doing music, playing the guitar and being part of this band.
Kim JW: Our second album has to do well for Jung to keep having fun in doing music. (laugh) If it doesn't, he's going to ask it again. "Where did we go wrong?"
Lee: I too just hope for things to stay the way they are right now. There's nothing more that I need.
Kim JW: That's why our second album has to do well. (laugh)
Reporter : Lee Ga-on
Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@
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Source 10.asiae.co.kr