This interview is part of my running-away attitude 8D;;

It was actually a nice read, I hope, I got it halfway properly into english :/ I kind of failed, I think.... NEVERTHELESS! wish you a nice read~

Oh, right, if it wouldn't be for IndiefulROK to retweet Jae Hyuk's tweet, I probably would have never seen it, so thanks orz *fails*

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

oh, and totally loving The Back Horn's 'Rafflesia' 8Dv
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Yellow Monsters “I want to throw away the ensign and start from the beginning”

We met the band Yellow Monsters who is becoming a topic just with the fact that the members of 3 representing bands of the Hongdae Indie Scene come together. Yellow Monsters, uniting Deli Spice and Omega 3’s drummer Choi Jae Hyuk, My Aunt Mary’s bassist Han Jin Young and GumX vocal Lee Yong Won, are getting popularity as a union of indie stars, but they call themselves newcomers. The newcomer band started their silent steps, making the indie scene go wild with enthusiasm.



Q: I heard that Yellow Monster’s members met for the first time April 16 this year. How did you spend your time before you formed the new band?

Lee Yong Won: I released a solo album and because of a problem at the company, I put it aside for 2 weeks. GumX releases an album and goes on tour for 2~3 weeks a year. Doing nothing besides that and occasionally going into producer work was everything I could show. So, I really wanted to do a band.

Han Jin Young: Sadly, I wasn’t active; I did a lot of outside jobs like performances or songs of other friends. I was at preparing a band with Jae Hyuk.

Choi Jae Hyuk: I was working at the café, performing occasionally with Omega3 and preparing a new band with Jin Young.

Q: I’m the most curious about how you three met and how you came to form a band.

LYW: Because GumX was also active in Japan, I really longed for different music. Then, I met Jin Young through a friend and the next day I thoughtlessly asked him if he didn’t want to do a band with me. Then he said ‘Thank you so much’ and we came to make the band and he introduced to me Jae Hyuk, the drummer he liked the most. We all get along peacefully.

Q: Each of you was active in other bands; forming a new band, what was the reason for choosing each other?

LYW: It seems we didn’t figure out much about our music dispositions. Because the genres are different, there were a lot of awkward feelings, but secretly I trust them. Because I watched them a lot since a long time ago, I have no doubt about their skills.

HJY: Each member in the band has his taste. But it becomes one band if you pick out the common denominator. Yong Won was in the punk scene, and Jae Hyuk wanted the most powerful music in the band. I’m also someone liking the straightest style in a band; when I received the call proposing to do a band together, the picture came into my mind. Yong Won send me the first track of the album ‘Destruction’ as a demo song and I got the feeling that we could make it together. What Yong Won wanted, was to fill it not with just dramatic, but also with a riff that has melody. Yong Won told about the 90s sound. Luckily the Yellow Monsters Yong Won thought of and the band I prepared had a similar character. And also, the drummer of the band I prepared was Jae Hyuk. So our chords fit well and there was no problem at all. Making sure of our each taste, we thought it would become a great success.

CJH: When what I prepared with Jin Young got kind of distorted and I was somehow in low spirits, Yong Won contacted me, and it was like a love call. When I listened to the ‘Destruction’ demo, it wasn’t biased onto one side, so I thought that it is something we just have to try. At the beginning I had a lot of worries ‘if I can correspond to what these friends want’. But I thought it would be fun if we do it together and I wanted to work with them, we trust each other and we give each other a lot of energy. Giving and receiving a lot of good energy, we got a lot of synergy.

Q: When you formed the band, was there a kind of music you did agree to do?

LYW: It wasn’t that we formed the band under the agreement of making some kind of music. I personally yearned a lot for Pearl Jam, Nirvana or Smashing Pumpkins. I wanted to try old American style music. While I was working with the band, it occurred that you can’t but lay stress on just one genre, and that was the greatest pity for me. I also wanted to try a natural beat and get rid of the stereotype.

CJH: I always thought lyrics and melody would be the core of a song. But I thought it would be nice if even I could be crude and wild with the sound making or packaging. Genre is a nametag splitting us and has no special meaning for us. In the next album we also could do Hip Hop. Having that possibility and flowing with the band is the most awesome thing. Chasing after just one thing is boring.

Q: Did you two also listened to and liked GumX’ music?

HJY: When we did the band together, I properly listened to it. It’s so fast, I was really surprised. What came to a burden to me, was BPM. Even though I constantly practiced, I couldn’t reach the speed. So I told it another guitarist, who said “Hyung, you can to do that only in the beginning of your 20s. But you’re already over 30.” Hearing that, I got angry. GumX’ music is no joke, so fast and it has the feeling of being played with having spare time. I thought that if you could play that with spare time, you’d be able to do a good performance, so I turned on a metronome, held the strings between the fingers and practiced, eating herb medicine every 3 hours in the morning. Blood was running over my hand, but I was really pleased when it worked.

Q: It looks as if Yong Won has the most musical stake.

HJY: I think it’s true that the person who sings carries the character of the band the most. When he sings and plays guitar in a 3 member band, if he sings lyrics that he doesn’t like, it’s nothing sincere. I think it is right, to let the person who sings the lyrics 100% take care of it.

LYW: I think that’s absurd. I absolutely think because we could work together as a trisection, this album came out.

Q: When you started your activities, did you have confidence?

CJH: I liked the fact that we worked hard enjoying it. The time we first met, when the two of them put on the lights and started working, I finished my job and went there in the night and we performed together, we lived like that every day for almost 3 months. We were busy like hell, but because it was the process of creating the music we wanted to do, it was really fun. The time run like crazy and now our album is about to come out.

LYW: There surely was a passion when I worked with Jin Young the first time we met, but our partnership goes so well that I want to ask why we just met now. With the belief of making new music I sped up the work.

Q: In what kind of form did you practice that time?

LYW: Jin Young and I worked on the demo songs and we practiced the songs Jae Hyuk gave his okay to.

HJY: We took out the songs someone felt as unsatisfying or lacking, and just did the songs that seemed to be good when playing them. We didn’t like to making them, rearranging when something doesn’t go well.

LYW: More than being active together for a long time, it’s that our mind fits well. I am happy right now. We’re one.

Q: While arranging the songs; into which part did you put the importance?

CJH: We thought that it’s right when all 3 are satisfied, so we did it until we 3 were pleased with it. Constantly playing together, we talked a lot.

Q: Wasn’t it difficult to fit to each other’s style?

LYW: Actually I was really afraid of the musical change. But when I listen to the songs we made, my song isn’t my song. Because those two made all the arrangements, I could carry those feelings.
I’m really happy to have this band where I can learn a lot while making music.

Q: The riffs of some songs are near Metal.

LYW: We wanted powerful music and I wanted to revive rustic riffs. Also the bands, who are playing metal these days, are thinking about how to give a twist to the beat, or how to make a difficult riff. I really yearned for more simply enjoying, rustic but exciting beats.

Q: The fascination for a powerful sound can feel reduced but on the contrary can also feel being increased. Which is better?

HJY: Being increased is better. Making the song or the genre heavy, if it doesn’t have a point it can lean on, it’s no fun. I think because of songs like ‘Benjamin’ or ‘비야’, other songs can rely on them. In an album a variety has to coexist.

Q: Out of the band members, who is the nearest to being a Yellow Monster?

LYW/HJY: Jae Hyuk. He is the oldest. He always knows how to listen and plays the role of the big Hyung in every fact really well.

CJH: I think we all are Yellow Monsters. I got famous through Deli Spice’s activities, so there surely is a sense of duty. But I don’t like to think of me as the drummer of a famous band or to say ‘none the less I have done it for over 10 years…’ I think even if you go on the streets and ask the people if they know Deli Spice, there are really a lot who don’t know. More than talking about how the music scene is, I have to work hard. And as I embarked in the Hongdae scene, I think denying the Hongdae scene or wanting to remove the indie tag, is dull.


I'm tired. who finds mistakes can keep them. :| raffureshia~