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입만 살아 시끄럽게
떠들어 대는 건
그들의 몫이지
그깟 욕 좀 먹음 어때
꿈을 좇는 자여
너의 그 깃발을 들어
There’s nothing wrong
하루에도 수백 번
We rise and fall
신경 쓸 필요 없지
They all come and go
They come and go
상처뿐인 영광이 아닌
영광뿐인 상처를 새긴 자여
작은 불씨 하나면 돼
널 다시 일으켜 세워
모든걸 불태워
‘Cause nothing’s wrong
하루에도 수백 번
We rise and fall
신경 쓸 필요 없지
They all come and go
They come and go
고개를 들어 너의
그 목소리를 높여 넌
누구보다 강하고 아름다워
널 가둔 감옥 같은 두려움
그 안에서 벗어나
Don’t be afraid
We all rise and fall
우리만의 riot
It will take us higher
꺼질 수 없는 fire
Yes this is our riot
There’s nothing wrong
사는 동안 수천 번
We rise and fall
얽매일 필요 없지
‘Cause forever young
We are forever young
they’re all talk, so loudly
the way they keep going on
it’s their right
so what if you’re cursed at some
those who are chasing your dreams
raise that flag of yours
there’s nothing wrong
hundreds of times a day
we rise and fall
we don’t need to care
they all come and go
they all come and go
those who’ve taken on a glory that isn’t just hurt
a hurt that isn’t just glory
it’s enough to have just one small ember
raise yourself up again
set fire to everything
‘cause nothing’s wrong
hundreds of times a day
we rise and fall
we don’t need to care
they all come and go
they all come and go
raise your chin
you, raise your voice
be more strong and wonderful than anyone else
the dread that’s trapped you like a prison
come out of that
don’t be afraid
we all rise and fall
a riot that’s our own
it will take us higher
a fire that can’t be extinguished
yes, this is our riot
there’s nothing wrong
thousands of times as we live
we rise and fall
there’s no need to be held down
‘cause forever young
we are forever young
시간은 날 어른이 되게 했지만
강해지게 하지는 않은 것 같아
시간은 날 어른이 되게 했지만
그만큼 더 바보로 만든 것 같아
그땐 잘 몰랐고 그래서 무모했고
또 그래서 더 아름다웠던 것 같아
부서질 정도로 하는 게 사랑이고
굳이 그걸 겁내진 않았던 것 같아
i didn’t really know then, so i was reckless
because of that, i think it was also more beautiful then
a human is someone who gives and receives hurt
i don’t think i was very afraid of that
because tears end when you wipe them away
because memories also end when you embrace them
sometimes, i still think i can be that away
but, then, immediately, again
even if it were a little awkward and i couldn’t get used to it,
because of that, i think it was also more beautiful then
i would collide with things with all my strength to the point of breaking
i don’t think i was afraid of doing that
because pain ends if you fight it out
because sadness also ends if you embrace it
sometimes, i still think i can be that way
but, then, immediately, again
dread comes before me, and my heart becomes heavy
before i know it, a sigh forms on my lips
time made me an adult,
but i don’t think it made me strong
time made me an adult,
but i think it made me that much more a fool
i didn’t really know then, so i was reckless
but, because of that, i think it was also more beautiful then
love is something you do to the point of breaking
i don’t think i was very afraid of that
나의 눈을 바라보면 왠지 모르게 편해진다고 했잖아
슬퍼지려 하기 전에 날 떠올리면 미소가 흐른다 했잖아
한 번 더 딱 한 번만 더 입맞춰 달라고 그랬잖아
한 번 더 딱 한 번만 더 사랑을 속삭여 달라고 했잖아
눈물이 앞을 가려
우리를 떠올리면 그래
눈물이 앞을 가려
그때를 떠올리면
눈물이 앞을 가려
if i block my ears, does it become quiet?
if i close my eyes, can i not see?
if i were to close my heart,
i believed i couldn’t be hurt at all.
after time passed, i could hear everything.
after time passed, i could see everything.
after time passed, all that hurt rushed forward like the tide
and it was very difficult.
if we’re together, does time stop?
if time stops, do we become happy?
if you try to leave, what should i do?
even if i hold on and you still try to leave?
now that time’s passed, it was all the same.
now that time’s passed, it was all in vain.
now that i think about it, even when we were together,
we were very lonely after all.
you said that, when you look into my eyes,
for some reason, you feel at ease.
you said that, when you start to feel sad,
if you think of me, you smile.
you asked me to kiss you one more time, just one more time.
you asked me to whisper love to you one more time, just one more time.
tears blind my way.
when i think of us, they do
tears blind my way.
when i think of that time,
tears blind my way.
source: gongrot (+ my ears) (+ the internet for the original lyrics)
translation: jjoongie@countingpulses
wow ok this took forever-and-a-half. again, skipped the intro and concluding blurbs. and the 3-4 lines with an asterisk (*) are just lines i may or may not have gotten wrong, though i'm sure i got the proper gist of them.
this is a whole lot of text, but i really liked this interview. enjoy!
“The Trace of Nell”
2008 December 9, 5 p.m., a tree-lined road
Today, I think we’ll have you ask each other questions and answer them. How about we start with Jae-won who’ll be enlisting soon?
JJW: Please ask me questions.
LJH: When are you going to get out of my life?
JJW: Tomorrow.
Everyone: Hahaha.
KJW: The most painful part of married life.
JJW: Having to make some kind of excuse when I want to go drinking with friends – also, when I’m home and really want to listen to music, but my kid wants to play together.
Jong-wan, why do you ask about the most painful part? And not the good parts?
KJW: I don't care about the good things. He can like it or not. (laughs) Do you like the good things?
Usually people ask, "What do you like about being married?"
KJW: Because I feel like there isn’t anything good about it.
Haha, did Jae-won change before and after he got married?
Everyone: He got a bit boring. / He’s all droopy. / I feel like he has less energy.
KJW: What's good about being married?
Everyone: Hahaha.
KJW: I'm suddenly curious.
Have the rest of you ever thought you want to get married?
LJH: When I was young. If I were going to get married, I wanted to do it sooner than later, but, as I got older, I started to change. Because I get to see the unfair sides of marriage up close. (laughs) You can’t live the way you want, and you have to set aside some of the energy you need to pour into play or work. And that seems like a bit of a waste.
But a family is a precious thing.
LJH: It’s precious if you have ne, so, rather, if you don’t start one at all.
KJW: If you have a family, you have to take responsibility for it.
Don't you think you want to gain something precious in life?
LJH: What I have right now is precious, so if I were to get something more precious …
Do you hang out individually? Like in pairs of two?
LJH: Not really, but Jae-won and Jae-kyung are rivals in life and Jong-wan and I are rivals in pleasure.
What does it mean to be rivals in life?
JJW: We wage war.
LJK: I don't think so.
KJW: They’re just rivals in name, but these two fight over useless things. “I study better than you,” things like that.
Who did the best in school?
Everyone: Jong-wan.
KJW: It's not that I did well in school but in this group.
Were you a model student?
KJW: What do you mean, a model student.
Or a problem child?
KJW: I wasn’t a problem child either, and, after I started playing the guitar in my third year of middle school, I didn't have many problems. Even at school, I’d just talk with friends who had the same interests, but I didn’t go to school regularly. I mean, as a third-year. But, it’s not that I have a personality that likes to cause problems. My parents might have seen me as a problem child, though. I would try to do only what I wanted.
Is there something that makes you angry?
LJH: When I hear something that puts everything in chaos. For example, I’m the type of person who usually laughs a lot. I’ve been told this before, “You just keep on laughing.”
KJW: Lazy people. When lazy people pretend to be diligent. When words and actions don't match.
JJW: When I start to dislike myself. "Why is this all I can do?" Moments like that.
KJW: (to Jae-won) You're like that when you have to go home. (laughs)
LJH: He looks like he's in a good mood in the morning, but, when it comes time to go home, he sighs deeply.
Everyone: Hahaha.
LJK: There are times when we feel our limits, regardless of our efforts. There are lots of times I get frustrated because certain conditions fall short. Because we’re a band, the most frustrating thing is that we can’t do a nationwide tour. There isn’t much land, and there aren’t concert venues. There aren’t many venues even in Seoul, and I feel like there aren’t many people around either. Internationally, even bands who aren’t that famous can still spend a year going to different cities. I envy that and get irritated because of it.
You like lives, right? What kind of feeling is it?
KJW: There are things that people like. For someone who likes to fish, he’s most happy when he’s fishing, so, similar to that, for us, it’s when we’re performing. I don't think we have many other hobbies other than music. That’s our only hobby, and it became work. In the case of television broadcasts, those really feel like work, but, when we’re holding a concert, it often feels like fun. Something we enjoy without caring about anything else. Because we aren’t alone in that fun but other people are participating in it, there’s also the benefit of that synergy. Whether it’s ten people or ten thousand people, their energy moves toward us. Although of course there are probably also people who have their backs to us. (laughs) Those people’s faces energies and ki are turned toward us, and we receive that energy, so we feel full. There’s that saying – if you haven’t tried it, don’t talk. That there’s a healing that only people who’ve stood on stage can know.
You like it more than dating, don't you?
LJH: In that moment, I don't envy anyone else. When I come out of that moment, I envy everyone.
Everyone: Hahaha.
LJK: After it's over, there's a nothingness. That's fun, too. Instead of living on a flat plane, living on a curve.
How do you deal with lethargy?
Everyone: We drink!
KJW: We drink to maintain that feeling. We prepare for a concert for a few months. After really enjoying the two hours on stage, after the concertgoers leave and we start to dismantle the stage, as we tell the staff they’ve worked hard, then I feel really empty. And there are times when I feel useless. Like, is this only my fantasy?
It seems like there wouldn't be a sense of reality.
KJW: Even an hour before, when the venue’s packed with people and the energy is overflowing, when it’s like I’m removing an old burden from myself, then there’s a bitter taste in my mouth. That’s why Jae-kyung says he envies them, too, because foreign bands can perform (at any time). In Korea, after you hold one concert, you have to wait two, three months.
LJK: We’ve made a song that we think is perfect. But you have cut out roughly a third of it for television. When I’m doing that, I feel really detached. I feel angry. But because it’s important to spread our music …
KJW: When you’ve met someone you really love, this sounds childish, but the statement, “I love you so I'm sending you away” – I think it’s similar to that, chopping up a song. We go on those shows so we can keep doing music. Because, doing music without any kind of plan rather means that we won’t be able to do it for very long. We could end up quitting music for practical reasons. Because I want to keep what I like, I’m chopping it up, but it’s an awful thing to do, so I feel detached. But I feel like it’s the right thing to do, so I do it. I think of the entirety of television shows as work and as a way of letting our music be known. Let’s do it. But, even so, my heart feels …
LJK: To be honest, we shouldn’t even cut out one second. If the song on the record is five minutes and fourteen seconds, not even those fourteen seconds should be cut. We worked really hard on the song and made it work exactly as it should, but because we have to cut it.
LJH: Whether it’s a book or film or art or photographs, all of it, if someone were to say, “These are the important parts, so just show these,” that wouldn’t make any sense. If you watch a shortened version of a film, it’s weird. It’s like that.
KJW: It’s like Depart! Video Travel.
Everyone: Hahaha.
Is there something you can't understand about each other? Will you go first, Jung-hoon?
LJH: (to Jong-wan) It’s not that I don’t understand this but that I can’t stop him, something like that. When we go drinking, he goes all the way to the end. When I don’t want to go all the way to the end. (laughs) For Jae-won, that he got married.
Everyone: Hahaha
LJH: In this day and age, we think, that he got married early. There are a lot of things I don’t understand about Jae-kyung, so I can’t pick one, but it’s nothing bad. Just, like, that he says things that make no sense.
LJK: The thing I like about Jae-won is that, even if I do a gag that makes no sense, he was brainwashed by my gags since we were young, so he has to laugh.
LJH: When Jae-kyung talks, Jae-won laughs all by himself.
LJK: Then everyone else looks at us like we’re pathetic.
KJW: I can’t tell if he's laughing because it's really funny. When they were young, apparently, Jae-kyung tortured Jae-won a lot.
LJK: No, that's Jae-won's opinion.
KJW: Spitting at him and things like that – isn't that torturing?
LJK: Would I have spat on someone who was innocent? I told you he flipped over my lunch.
KJW: I think that the things you experienced when you were young are important in shaping your personality.
LJH: Like how, when you give a dog food, he'll drool. Like that.
LJK: Pavlov's dog?
KJW: The reason Jae-won laughs is that he was tortured since childhood if he didn’t laugh.
JJW: Rationally, he’s really not funny. I think, “Why is he saying that?” But, then, while I’m thinking that, I suddenly start laughing.
LJK: The spitting story is true, but, a while ago, he got his revenge on me. I was driving, and he spit in my ear. I didn't get angry. Let's just end it at this.
How many years ago was that?
LJK: It was around 1991, so he got his revenge in 17 years.
Why did you spit on him 17 years ago?
LJK: I put my lunchbox on my desk to eat it, but, as Jae-won was walking around, he knocked it over. But he didn't apologize. I was so angry. And I couldn't eat. And my mom had packed it lovingly. I couldn't use violence, so I spit instead. It’s different when you spit as a kid and when you spit after you get older and know better. I think I suffered more harm. In the end.
Everyone: Hahaha.
Then, Jong-wan, is there something you don't understand about Jung-hoon?
KJW: Ah, what I don't understand is why he has such a hard time when we're drinking. (laughs) That's never happened to me. Even when my body is in terrible condition, when I drink, while I’m there, I feel better.
LJH: In a year, there are one or two times when I drink like that. At that time, I think, “Ah, this is the feeling Jong-wan drinks with.” He probably can’t normally understand me.
Jong-wan, is there any time you don't like to drink?
KJW: When I'm with people who make me feel uncomfortable, but I'm not the type to go to those places, and because, when I drink, I always drink with people I like. When I'm in an uncomfortable place, I want to leave fast. Then, if I do drink, I don't get drunk. I leave quickly and call up friends and drink. I get angry drinking with uncomfortable people. Because alcohol isn't good for your body. If you look at it one way, I'm drinking while throwing away my body.
And you're sorry for the alcohol.
KJW: Exactly. That's not polite. Alcohol has to be drunk with fun.
And something you don't understand about Jae-won? That he got married? (laughs)
KJW: Why he laughs at Jae-kyung's gags. (laughs) I can understand why he got married. That’s something you could do at that age. I think it was possible because he was immature. Jae-won has a bright personality – or maybe more than being bright, it’s that he has a fun personality, but, weirdly, when other people are feeling down, that’s when his energy seems to overflow. I think that’s good. Because he reverses the mood and makes it good. But then there are times when the mood is good and he’s down by himself. I think he enjoys that sometimes.
Jae-won, why do you do that?
JJW: It makes me focus. (laughs)
LJH: When we’re talking and Jong-wan or Jae-kyung or I put on earphones, we assume that we’re going to listen to music, but, when Jae-won does, we wonder what he’s doing.
KJW: I get curious about his thoughts. He might be doing it thoughtlessly, but I wonder if Jae-won’s trying to draw some attention to himself like that. (laughs) I think he got married so he could get attention. After he got married, he keeps clinging to us. So we can hang out together.
Everyone: Hahaha.
And to Jae-kyung?
KJW: Ah, I have one. He showers for a really long time. There are many times when we can't go home because of our schedule. We have to sleep together, but, even when we wake up at similar times, he won't come out. If we're waiting, he's showering. He probably showers for about 40 minutes.
LJK: If I don’t do that, I feel out of sorts. Like something will go wrong today. It's a disease.
LJH: He's the one who gives off the most mysterious air. The only person I’ve never gone to the sauna with.
KJW: He might have some kind of physical deformity.
LJK: It could be the opposite, too. When it comes to washing, I'm seriously trying to fix it, but I do have a bit of a compulsion. Unattractively.
Then it's Jae-won's turn. Something you don't understand about Jung-hoon.
JJW: Sometimes, I feel like he goes too far with Jae-kyung. Whether he’s embarrassing him or attacking him.
LJH: It's fun. Doing that to Jae-kyung.
JJW: Or telling him he did something wrong.
LJK: And then when I counterattack? Then he gets really sulky. Even though he laughs when I get angry. And then when I say something? Then he gets totally serious. Like, “hey, give me a cigarette.”
Everyone: Hahaha.
LJH: That, I really don’t understand. Taking care of his image.
LJK: Isn’t that a given? If I’m just going to show myself as I am, then why try?
KJW: Usually, people try to show themselves as they are.
LJK: But if my usual self isn’t good, even when I think of myself – and I’ve never heard anyone say it’s good – then I’d definitely try to show a good side. But, nowadays, I don’t really take care of my image. Because no one really cooperates with me. I think that’s good, too. Rather, after you’ve built up an image of yourself, it’s fun to destroy that. From an image of not talking a lot to an image of talking a lot. When Jong-wan had a radio show, at first, they told him to expose himself, but, later, while cursing, they told him to restrain himself.
Everyone: Hahaha
JJW: Jong-wan has these moments when he’s really tired and drinks to the point of not having the strength to walk. Times when he drinks to the point that I don’t understand why. Like he knows he isn’t feeling well so he’s torturing himself.
LJH: His liver function is good, but, normally, even as we saying, “You shouldn’t do this,” once it becomes night, it’s like, “Should we drink?”*
Do you not think you want to control it [your drinking]?
KJW: When I exercise control, I do. The day before an important stage, I don't drink at all, but, implicitly, there's still something like it. I don't even sleep until I'm dizzy. Before that, even if I'm lying down, I can't sleep, so, as that became a habit, even if my body is tired, I feel like I can endure it – there are times I think like that.
No matter what story you tell, all Jong-wan's stories go to alcohol.
KJW: Other than that, I'm very rational.
Everyone: hahaha.
Last Pentaport Rock Festival, there was a lot of talk that you drank and went on stage. What happened?
KJW: We were supposed to perform on the first day, but because we ended up performing on the third day. Before, during Pentaport, we couldn't enjoy it. Because we constantly had something on our schedule, we would just perform then go back to Seoul. Last year, we went the first day, and it was so fun. We thought, “Let's have fun no matter what,” and really had a lot of fun for two days. This year, we went to Summer Sonic Rock Festival, and performing there for us had a very big meaning, but Pentaport is more fun, to an extent. I had no worries.
LJH: The performance is important, but enjoying ourselves is important, too. The audience might have thought it’d be better if we’d gone on sober, but that’s their opinion, and we wanted to enjoy the festival itself.
KJW: To be honest, as I was performing there, I was really happy. I learned this for the first time then. That there's a gap between my thoughts and what others see. If I perform while sitting down, people could see it as me not having the strength even to stand, but instead, when I drink, I'm the type who gets a lot of energy. But the mood was so good. It was a little hot, but I think the wind was blowing, and I did it because I was so happy to sit on that huge stage and sing, but that that was the impression people got. When we were done, we were so happy.
LJK: I think prejudice is a scary thing. Like, “They drank and performed,” because of that.
Sort of like, so what if you drink a little before performing?
LJK: Exactly. It’d be one thing if we hadn’t performed, but we did everything we were supposed to. We thought we did well, we felt good.
LJH: There were a lot of people who liked it, too.
KJW: I think it was something that broke the image we’d created. Because of that, there were some people who got the wrong impression, but, on the other hand, others thought, “So they have this side, too.” Because this isn’t something you’d see on television.
Is this like Nell?
LJK: That’s not the entirety of what Nell’s like, but it is one side.
KJW: I feel like I got more comfortable after that. Before that, we would speak really carefully at performances and not really talk about how we felt inside – there used to be things like that.
LJK: We aren’t people who really tend to be service-oriented. We aren’t people who need to laugh all the time or be friendly all the time, but we think we need to be people who do music well and be grateful for the people who like that, and, because of that, we want to do as we like, even in the future. But we’ll have to do music well. That’s most important.
Jae-won, then something you find hard to understand about Jae-kyung.
JJW: What he thinks when he's at home.
LJK: When I'm home, I call Jae-won. He hasn’t picked up one. But friends also tell me they can't get in touch with Jae-won.
Jae-won, why don't you answer the phone?
JJW: I only do that these days, but I keep my phone on vibrate most times.
LJK: Then you should check it and [call me back].
JJW: When I see it, it's already too late.
LJK: He doesn't even pick up our manager's calls. And he gets angry later. Like, why can’t we just text him. I really don't understand that.
Why don't you answer the members' phone calls? By any chance, is there a girl attached to the name Jae-kyung?
Everyone: hahaha
Jae-kyung, it's your turn. Something you find hard to understand about Jung-hoon.
LJK: These are good and bad points, but, his strength is that he rides the mood well. When it’s good, everything’s good, and, when it’s bad, everything’s bad. But he doesn’t do anything by himself. He doesn’t take the initiative. If someone else does something first, then he’s the type to follow along.
His style is to follow along?
LJK: Because it’s not like Jung-hoon doesn’t think about things. He has his own opinions, and you think that it’d be great if Jung-hoon would just take it from here, but he doesn’t. Jae-won just doesn’t have thoughts of his own. I think it’s a sin if you talk when you have no thoughts.
KJW: They keep asking him, people do. What he thinks. It could just be that he doesn’t care, too.
Isn’t it good to have at least one member like that?
KJW: For a team like ours, it wouldn’t work if there were four people like Jung-hoon, four people like me, four like Jae-won, or four people like Jae-kyung, but the reason we work as a team even while bickering, just like a cogwheel works, is that, even though we aren’t the same, even though we go against each other, we still go round-and-round in gear together.
JJW: Is it okay if I have no thoughts even in the future?
KJW: When you say whatever you think, I get annoyed. (laughs)
LJK: I think Jong-wan pushes himself too hard. He’s like that even when working and even when drinking. He says that that side of him comes out more when he’s upset, but, when I think about it, even if he doesn’t push himself too hard, he tends to do it, anyway.
K JW: I’m pushing myself without you knowing.
Jong-wan, are you a perfectionist?
KJW: I tend to be lax about other things, but I want to do the things I like perfectly. If I sleep a few hours less, then, there will be less things I regret later. Because music is an incredibly important thing in my life. Ever since I realized that, I don’t want to leave any regrets at least in that regard. Because, even if I think that, I’ll still leave regrets. “So what about that” – if I think that, my regrets grow, so, instead, even if I’m a little tired and even if I don’t sleep, if I could draw out just a little more, then I’ll regret less later. Because that, I think that’s why it comes out more. That’s for certain.
If you push yourself that hard, it seems like the other members aren’t trying as hard in comparison – do you ever think that?
KJW: I did in the past. And I would say as much. But, these days, I don’t know if it’s that I’ve matured some, but I’ve started to acknowledge at least a little that everyone has a different personality. When I was younger, I really couldn’t acknowledge that. I used to think, “I’m like this, so why aren’t you?”, but that it’s a difference in personality, at least part of it – I stubbornly can’t acknowledge it all the way, but I acknowledge what I need to, and, instead, that there’s something this person definitely does better than I do. I think it’s right to tune myself up this way.
LJK: I understand. And there’s something I want to make clear, that, even while pushing himself, even though he’s having a hard time, he still keeps going. And a good result definitely comes from it. But then there have also been times when he rested a little and finished twelve hours of work in two hours.
KJW: But if I rest while expecting that …
What about Jae-won?
LJK: I think that, compared to before, Jae-won’s died down a little. I understand that, but it’s regrettable. If it isn’t that his spirit’s died. But, compared to other people, he does have a lot of spirit.
JJW: I had too much before. I was an energizer.
KJW: He doesn’t just say funny things, but he’s a person who has the ability to draw energy out. Nowadays, he’s calmed down some. Because he pours it out in other places. (laughs)
LJK: There are lots of times I get nervous over his calm self. And, when you ask him something, he’ll try not to talk. Even though he should talk when there’s something hard.
KJW: Honestly, we probably can’t understand. We can understand on the surface, but we aren’t in the same place.
LJH: If there’s a married guy in a gathering, Jae-won always talks to him.
Everyone: Hahaha.
Now should we talk about each other’s good points? Starting with Jung-hoon, to Jong-wan.
LJH: He’s a friend who always upgrades my musical ability even by a little, and I really like that. Even if he’s forceful, he still tries to make me better, so I like that, too. When I see Jae-won, oddly, I’m able to find a sense of calm. Like I’m looking at the ocean when I’ve got complaints or am having a hard time.
KJW: Because he’s completely empty?
Everyone: Hahaha.
LJH: Jae-kyung when he shows me an unexpected side. Or when he breaks a fixed view. He does every so often.
Then Jong-wan to Jung-hoon.
KJW: Jung-hoon isn’t biased. I think he plays the role of maintaining the balance in the team. Because I have times when I appeal to them strongly. This isn’t something you do this way. Jung-hoon has the personality that accommodates that. Or has a neutral attitude. He has that sense. “This friend is thinking deeply about something,” he’s the type who quickly realizes that. And there are times when he’ll bring it up first. Things that are hard to talk about. And he listens very well. Jae-won has an affirmative personality. And he brightens places. The three of us really fail in that regard. And his friendliness is good, too. If I didn’t have Jae-won, it’s not like I have a lot of friends as it is, but I think I’d have even less. And, when he doesn’t have many thoughts, I envy him often. Because thoughts drag me along by the tail. Jae-kyung is very meticulous. Though sometimes he’s so confined to himself that it’s a problem. (laughs) He’s an atmosphere maker. And, when we’re with close friends, he tells a lot of fun stories, too. He does so many unfunny gags that, eventually, you laugh. It’s fun to drink together, the two of us. If I drink alone with Jae-won, I feel burdensome to be drinking. He’s too healthy. (laughs) And it’s good to talk to Jae-kyung about things I’m worrying about. And Jae-kyung also surprisingly talks a lot about things on his mind.
It’s Jae-won’s turn. To Jung-hoon.
JJW: That he absorbs shock. In really good times, he suddenly has too much sense, so, because my friend has this side to him, I really like it. When it’s hard to work, even when he’s irritated, he still has his wit. Jong-wan is really good at writing songs and lyrics and works really hard, and, when I think I’ve gotten lazy, he’s a friend who wakes me up and makes me try harder. When it comes to music, he’s so passionate about it; he’s a friend who makes me want to be more like that. Jae-kyung’s a really old friend, and, because of that, he’s very comfortable. He doesn’t really express himself on the surface, but he’s a good friend, and he’s very sturdy.
It’s Jae-kyung’s turn.
LJK: “Jung-hoon is just a friend who plays the bass,” I used to think, but he said that he didn’t have any dreams to become a bassist since he was young, just that he wanted to become a musician. And I see that more and more. And, as a bassist, when he shares ideas that help things come together, I really like that. He’s a big support. There’s nothing to say about Jong-wan as far as music is concerned; he’s good at managing things. As far as music goes, of the people I’ve seen, he does the best, and, if you look at Jae-won musically, he’s second to none when it comes to playing the drums.
You’re a really great team.
Everyone: We’re packaged well. / We’re good when you look at us like a team. / Now that it’s been ten years.
Hahaha. Our readers are curious about Nell and asked, “Are you in love?”
LJH: Even if you ask us that, we won’t tell you honestly.
Everyone: Hahaha.
K JW: I’m in love with my work. I think other people are suspending performances, having a hard time, holding some kind of anger, but I feel good these days. Until now, I haven’t rested once in ten years. There were times when it seemed like I rested, but because I was constantly working. If I don’t work, I feel like I’ll miss it. Even though I didn’t know it when we were always together. And, if I don’t do this, then, starting with me, our members won’t feel exactly how precious this is.* People are selfish, so they try to catch whatever it is that they really like. And then, somehow, we’ll be upgraded.
I guess you’ll keep working?
KJW: I don’t think I’ll ever lose the feeling of being chased while working.
LJK: On the other hand, I think we can’t ever get lazy. You think you’ll do better if you have more time, but, if you really end up having a lot of time, then you could get lazy.
KJW: I like it when I get a lot of time. I think we didn’t have time to look back on music. We kept going, just looking forward. I think it’s a good opportunity. I’m really blessed to be someone who makes music, I feel that.
There’s a question that’s curious about “the world Nell sees and the world Nell wants.”
LJK: I think the world we see personally isn’t that great. It’s become crooked. That feeling has been getting stronger. From where I’m standing, I’m not that satisfied with our country. I think the world the teams I like live in are good. Musically, they’re rich and full. And I envy that. On the other hand, our country isn’t like that. But there’s also the fun in shattering that.
JJW: I don’t have any complaints. I’m not interested in politics and don’t know much about it and don’t expect anything from it, but the thing I find regrettable is that, compared to before, people have been losing interest in music or culture. I think it’d be better if people would take a stronger interest and like it more. If a lot of people like music, they can talk about it together and listen to it together. I think that’d be good.
KJW: The world I see is a world that goes around very quickly. Because the tempo is so fast that every day goes by without even the chance to think about what’s important. It’s vexing. The good thing is, like the saying that truth is anxious, to a certain extent, you have to wait to see what’s happen, but it’s also regrettable that I don’t have the time to sit and watch. The world I want is one where you have the time to think about what you really like. It sounds so obvious, but we have a tendency to be too attached to money, and I think it’s getting worse. Like we’re forgetting what’s really important. I really hate multi-storied buildings, and I think only our country tears down buildings that can exist with nature and builds tall buildings like in the West. We should protect what needs to be protected, but we ignore all that and think just money, money, money. I’d like a world without that.
LJH: I think I feel the same. Our economically strong country is now wearing hip support, and so I’m grateful that we can enjoy culture and do music even in the midst of that, but, looking at it culturally, our generation feels like it’s in a transition period culturally. This is a selfish thought, but it’s also a complaint. Of all places, why have we gotten caught in it? If only we’d been born ten years ago, or even twenty, thirty years ago. If we were doing music during a time when there was more room, then maybe we would have been able to do music with a little more joy and happiness. In the end, it feels like that kind of world will arrive [later]*, so that irritates me.
K JW: I don’t have a sense of duty, and, for musicians, their first priority is creating their own music, but I do think a lot that it’d be great if things could change in these ways through us, even if it’s just a little part. I don’t know if it’s that I’ve gotten older, but I’ve started to think that’s rather important. Before, I used to think, “What can I change?”, but, nowadays, I wonder, if we do well even a little, maybe we could change even 0.5%. If we try and end up not changing a thing, then there isn’t anything we can do about it, but isn’t there value in trying. Isn’t there a chance we could change things? Not in its entirety but even just a really small part. Isn’t that work with meaning in it?
Aren’t you changing things? Before and after listening to your music, one individual must have changed. Because one person’s change becomes the change of the whole.
KJW: If we look at our team like a staircase, I think we’ve gone up exactly one step. I’m excited for the future, but there are so many stairs. Couldn’t we create a lot of change? And we have a little bit of confidence, too. This is something we tell our juniors, but, because the reality is that musicians can’t protect music just by creating music, after you make a record, you should think of ways to make that music known in the best ways possible. That’s the way you’ll be able to do music. Usually there are people who specifically do that for you. The musician makes the music, and the label handles PR. But, in our country, a lot of things get done through bad PR. And it’s very limited. To protect something precious, let’s first think of ways to protect it. If there are any ways that are even a little new and good.
L JK: I have a desire to reclaim things, and I also want to go back and feel those things again for the first time. Instead of just taking things back and saying, “I’ve opened the road, so bye,” more along the lines of, IWe’re going, so you come along, too.” That’s fun and has merit, too.
This question asks, “If you were to gain tomorrow right now, what would make you happy?”
LJK: I’d like it if really good music came out. Although there’s no way it would pop up out of nowhere.
JJW: For now, I’d like it if tomorrow would create thoughts [in my head].
Everyone: Don’t do that; you’ll lose your charm.
KJW: What I envy are foreign concert venues. Because it’s so important not only to musicians but also listeners. No matter how well you do, if you go to a big venue, there’s such a difference between the stage sound and external sound. People might not be able to feel the emotions because the sound that comes out is bad, but instead think, “They suck” – I’ve seen that happen too often. Department stores and multiplexes are being built extravagantly, but we’re a country that doesn’t have one proper concert venue. It’s an embarrassing thing. It’s something I think would be great if it were to happen tomorrow right away. A good concert venue being created.
LJH: To go to Incheon Airport by myself and board an international flight and wander around by myself amongst people I don’t know. To be in a city but not have a car or anyone, like in a place in a zombie movie, I want to stay somewhere like that. For about as long as tomorrow.
There are a lot of people who listen to your music and feel sad. What do you do when you’re feeling sad?
KJW: I sleep. Because, after I sleep, my thoughts change. Although there are times when they don’t, too.
JJW: When I’m sad, I’m just sad. While listening to sad music.
LJH: I look for friends I can meet without thinking, who just make me laugh.
KJW: When I’m drinking, I’m not sad.
Everyone: Hahaha.
source: lyrical epik high
translation: jjoongie@countingpulses
oh gracious, i know i promised end of may (was it may? ohhhh even more terrible) for a new translation, but, clearly, it is now end of july. sorry, all, i've been crazy swamped, but here's a short translation of jong-wan mumbling about kurzweil (they manufacture keyboards; jong-wan's specifically asked about the artis at one point). no promises about when the next translation is coming, but i'm not dropping this blog and will continue updating it, so don't give up on me!
Hello, I’m the one who sings in Nell, Kim Jong-wan.
Q. How did you get to know Kurzweil?
In the case of Kurzweil, I don’t know the exact year, but, around 2000, I think I got my first Kurzweil, a PC2X. It’s the same now, but, even back then, Kurzweil made instruments that musicians used a lot, so, after I graduated high school, I thought they were instruments I definitely had to buy, so I think that’s when I first started using Kurzweil.
Q. What did you feel was the appeal to Kurzweil?
At that time, honestly, I would see the instruments musicians I liked during live performances — they were musicians I really respected, so naturally I’d want to use the instruments they use. When I would watch their lives, at that time on DVDs, a lot of bands were using Kurzweil, so I don’t think I really debated about it. “Of course, I need this,” I though and bought it.
Q. You’re an artist who does everything for the whole album, composing, writing lyrics, arranging, even recording, so do you have specific criteria for selecting instruments or equipment for producing work?
First, I think they have to match our music. So, according to my criteria, it doesn’t matter how good an instrument it is; if it doesn’t fit the music, whether on an album or during a live, it’s hard to use. My criteria for picking equipment — I think I use instruments that have the sound that’s necessary for the music. Especially when recording — during a live, you have to take into consideration the venue of a live, but, when you’re recording, it’s all about the sound.
Q. Kurzweil’s slogan is, “It’s the sound.” You [Nell] are famous for your sad but lyrical melodies, so, when you talk about sound, what does that mean to you?
I think sound is the tool that lets musicians express their thoughts or ideas, whatever they’ve first drawn out. For us, music is something we first hear with our ears. Nowadays, it’s combined a lot with videos, but, first, because it’s sound … I think it’s a means that let me express my thoughts.
Q. You’re a musician who communicates with your fans through themes in your albums and lives. If there’s a distinctive characteristic for your lives, what would that be?
First, music is … our music is our most distinctive thing. When we’re recording, honestly, we don’t think about anything else, but focus on the sound and the themes we want to express, but a live isn’t just listening, so we do think it’s important also to show things visually … We think that music has an image of its own. We also think that’s impossible to visualize music. We try a lot to show the attendees the images that we saw when recording music — and, to do that, what I think is most important — not only me but also our members and our staff — after the sound is the lighting. So our lives … this might sound a little arrogant, but I think that our lives use lighting in a way that’s more distinct than other lives’ might.
Q. Nowadays, we’re in a time where people make music using software instead of real instruments. What do you think of that?
Instruments are, if you look at them one way … they can be the difference between a CD and an MP3. Not only the quality of the sound, but also as something I can touch with my hands and can see — I think instruments need to have that charm. I’m sure that musicians especially will agree, but an instrument isn’t just something that gives off sound, but it could also be like an accessory to me, or there are instruments that make me happy just to look at them. I don’t have anything like a VST, though, so I think I have some regrets there — but I think that, as long as it has a good sound, it’s okay.
Q: What are the differences between the existing Kurzweil and the Artis you’re using now?
First, the sound is … Kurzweil’s distinctive feature … on the side of synths, I honestly can’t tell the big difference between Kurzweil then and now — to be honest — but, on the side of pianos, I think that it’s become much more detailed, specifically with, like, the pedal noise or the sound that it makes when the hammer closes and falls … I think it’s changed to sound more realistic. Of course, that’s the goal of the digital piano, but I think it’s gotten much more detailed, and the strings, in my personal experience, have gotten much better. You can create expressions in more varied ways, and the sound itself has a different charm than real strings, definitely. Some people think digital strings should sound the same as real strings, but, even if it isn’t exactly the same, if it has its own charm, then I think it can be a special and good sound. As I’ve been using the Artis this time, I’ve felt that this kind of string sound is something I could use often enough in an album. I think the width of expression has definitely broadened, and the strings — honestly, in the past, the more varied the sound of strings were, the more the quality would fall, but I liked Kurzweil because it had a reason for the variety. To be honest, there are many other instruments that put in like eighteen, twenty-four different sounds, with each being a little different, but Kurzweil really gives each string sound a different color, so it’s something that’s very satisfying.
Q: The Kurzweil Artis is called a stage piano, so are there any significant points to using it on stage?
The keyboard touch is good — and it’s very handy. I said before, but, for a live, there are things that we have to consider, but the thing I really liked was that the transpose button is right at the front in a place you can see easily. Usually, you have to go in and press a lot of buttons, but, during a live, you need to go right on to the next track a lot, so I think it was made really well. And of course you have your favorite buttons. There are a lot of synthesizers that have favorite buttons, but it’s so easy to set up your favorite sound sources, so, as soon as you make the sound, if you press the favorite button, it’ll go into number 1 right away. So, during a concert, I found that it’s really easy to make a sound and store it right away. Also, in a song, honestly, you can just use the piano, but there are many times when you have to transition to strings in the same song without a break, but the button is put so neatly right where your hand goes naturally to it, so I liked that. So they definitely thought a lot about it, they thought a lot about musicians who perform live — so, intuitively, if you’re performing, and the button’s over there, you have to turn like this, but, instead, you can just press a button and it’ll change, so I think I was very satisfied.
Q: What are Nell’s future plans?
Our plans are … as then and now, we want to try to make good music, and we continue to think that that process should feel fun. So, for that, we’ll try even harder. In the future, I guess you can’t know what’ll happen to people, but I think our greatest goal is to make music with the greatest joy and also with even more passion than we had when we were younger. And it’d be nice if Kurzweil would come up with better instruments. When I come across a new instrument, I get happy because it’s like discovering a new world, so I’d love to experience more of that. I think that’s all included under “goals.”
(ok i know i said i'd try to get a new translation up by mid-/late-april, but, clearly, it's may, so that didn't happen. i've been swamped with work these last few weeks, but i will have something up by the end of this month! promise!)
생각해 날 그리워 해
아무렇지 않은 듯 그러지 말고
조금은 나의 생각에
슬퍼 눈물 흘리고 그래
guess i'm still just a little selfish boy
* love 아름다울 수 있었는데
행복할 수 있었는데
부질 없는 나의 자존심 땜에
우리 이렇게 돼버렸죠 아프게 돼버렸어
너무 어렵게 만나 쉽게 멀어진 것 같아
더 이상 줄게 없다고
이게 내 전부라고 속삭였지만
솔직히 (말하자면) 너무 많은 걸
잃게 될까봐 두려웠어
** love 아름다울 수 있었는데
행복할 수 있었는데
부질 없는 나의 이기심 땜에
우리 이렇게 돼버렸죠 아프게 돼버렸어
너무 어렵게 만나 쉽게 멀어진 것 같아
이젠 주고 싶어도 (받아줄 네가 없는 걸)
후회라는 건 항상 늦게 오기에
*
너무 어렵게 만나 쉬운 이별을 했어
forgive me, dear, for my worthless selfishness
think about me, long for me
instead of pretending like you're okay
while thinking of me,
shed a few sad tears
guess i'm still just a selfish little boy
* love, it could have been wonderful
we could have been happy
but because of my worthless pride
we became like this, we were hurt
it's like we had such a hard time when we were together
that we drifted apart so easily
that i had nothing left to give,
that this was all of me, i deceived you
to be honest (if we're going to be)
i was afraid i was going to lose too much
** love, it could have been wonderful
we could have been happy
but because of my worthless selfishness
we became like this, we were hurt
it's like we had such a hard time when we were together
that we drifted apart so easily
even if i wanted to give (you aren't there to receive now)
this thing called regret always comes too late
* (repeat)
because we had such a hard time when we were together
we separated easily
3-part interview combined here into one long post. awkward photos are awkward. introduction paragraphs go ignored as usual. the next translation probably will not be here until mid-/late-april, but i guess we'll see. :3
enjoy!
The Gravity trilogy is finally over. How did you become interested in gravity as a theme?
(KJW) We thought it had its charm. Because it affects everything in the world. We can’t feel it, but it’s always there, and it’s something we can’t refuse. We thought that gravity was something that had a lot of implications. We felt that it was similar to how, as people live, they come across situations they can’t do anything about. And so we wove gravity together with stories anyone can experience. Love, dreams, time, etcetera, they’re all things we can’t avoid. We started planning the Gravity series with the purpose of telling the stories of the despair or the collapse that results from these unavoidable forces.
(LJK) We started with Jong-wan’s proposal. But we couldn’t have imagined that it would become such a large-scale production.
You released the trilogy over the course of approximately two years. What are your thoughts now that you’ve finished the final part?
(KJW) It was hard because there were a lot of songs. We went at it passionately, but it was a production that consumed a lot of emotion. This time, there are 21 tracks included, but we worked on around twice that number of songs. It was exhausting, but we’re feel very full. When we were given the completed album this time, we thought, “So the last two years weren’t for nothing.” Because we were fully able to put out something we wanted to do.
In this album, you (KJW) wrote, composed, and arranged all the songs. I’m curious about your working style.
(KJW) Since a few years ago, whenever I think of something, I record it on my cellphone. Because I can forget things immediately. After time passes, as I’m going through my phone, I find songs I’ve recorded and work on them, too. I write the music first. There are a lot of times when I write the lyrics right before recording. Of course, I do record words or whatever that could become motifs. Because all that groundwork is there, it’s not that hard to write the lyrics before recording. I work on the songs steadily [one-by-one], but we record them all together.
(LJK) When I watch Jong-wan working, I get surprised. It’s normal for him to work for three days without sleeping. Ever since elementary school, his stamina in particular is really impressive.
The lyrics to “The History of Silence” are incredibly sad.
(unspecified speaker) You know how guys don’t really say anything when their hearts grow distant or there are problems in their relationships. They don’t tell you why and just get annoyed, and I’ve had times I’ve been like that, too. I used what I felt then in those moments as a foundation and made this song.
What kind of song is “Memories of Another?”
(KJW) It’s a song where I sing about how one person is forgotten in my memories. Because my memories become dull just like another person’s stories. I didn’t think I’d be able to forget, but, in the end, I do. Of course, the deeper I loved someone, it’s harder to forget, and, also, sometimes, it takes me longer to forget than the time we were together.
“The Earth Around the Sun Four Times” is also about separation.
(KJW) It’s a song that talks about a man and woman who are of really different minds who break up. We made it by comparing the four years it takes to forget someone you’ve loved to the revolutions of the earth. There was a woman I really passionately loved but fought with intensely. It’s a song that melted away all the emotions that started with our break-up, and all the things, despair, and the mentality of wanting to emerge from all that. Now, I don’t think I could meet that person again. I want to meet a women who’ll be able to fit me in every way.
How long does it take you to forget someone after you’ve broken up?
(KJW) It takes a while to forget. In my 20s, I had a crazy hard time after breaking up. After I entered my 30s, it’s the same when it comes to how hard it is to forget, but the period where it’s really hard isn’t as long anymore. But, in a quiet way, what I keep thinking of is how I can’t help it. I feel like the time it took to collect memories and the time it takes to forget are proportionate to each other.
(LJH) I feel like it takes around 2-3 years for someone you loved to become a perfect stranger.
(LJK) I feel like the pain lasts the same length of time we were together.
There are a lot of songs about separation.
(KJW) They’re not all about the relationship between a man and a woman. I don’t think only humans deal with separation. If we’re talking about situations we can’t help, I also have to say farewell to my dreams, too. As people get older, there are lots of cases where their lives grow distant from their dreams.
There are a lot of dreamlike songs. Do you also record when you’re in a drunken state?
(KJW) Since we debuted, we’ve made around 100 songs, and I think we did for maybe 2 songs. “Meaningless,” which was included in our third studio album, Healing Process, and “Underbar” from our fourth studio album, Separation Anxiety. When we were recording “Meaningless,” we couldn’t really create the feeling [we wanted], so we drank a little and tried recording when we were a little drunk. We were satisfied with the result. “Underbar” is a track we recorded after we drank and were feeling good. It’s a song with just an organ and vocals, so we were able to record it really quickly.
Do you decide the title track then work on an album?
(KJW) The way we select our title track is very simple. We pick a song that we’d like to hear when passing by a street. A song that we feel would make a lot of people feel good after listening to it. Because it’s weird if a heavy and deep song starts playing on the street. (laughs) We don’t have a hard time picking the title track. Instead, we consider the arrangement and meanings of the other tracks more importantly and put our heart and soul into them.
(JJW) In this album, we thought we could pick any song from tracks 2 to 6 (track 1 is an instrumental track, so it’s omitted) as our title track and it’d be fine. Because they’re all good songs and they’re songs we’re confident in.
If you participate in music ranking programs, live performances are usually impossible. Isn’t that regrettable?
(LJK) We can perform live at concert venues. We think of broadcast shows as a part of promotions to show our music and let it be known.
(LJH) They’re like music videos. But broadcasts are nice because it lets us meet fans. Because we only have concerts about twice a year. Other than concerts, we can’t meet fans, but it turns out there are fans who’ll come to the music programs.
SNSD came back at a similar time; have you heard their music?
(KJW) Of course. SNSD is definitely the beginning and end of girl groups. It seemed like all the members’ personalities and individual voices were put together very harmoniously.
(LJK) The title track is good, but the track “Goodbye” is really good. The guitar sound in particular is great.
If you have any complaints about the music market today?
(LJK) It’s a bit regretful that the value of music is determined by its financial success or failure. Isn’t music something that you should assess after listening to the whole album? If you only look at it from a business perspective, then I wonder if good music will come out.
(KJW) Creative people follow the public. I started to notice that a while ago. It’s good to meet the demands of the public, but I wonder if it isn’t more important to move the hearts of people. It’d be nice if there were more musicians who’d take the lead. I try to become a musician who moves forward in my own way.
You’re going to perform in the States?
(JJW) We’re going to SXSW in Austin, TX, on the 11th [of March 2014]. Around 1000 artists from around the world are coming, but, from Korea, other musicians like Hyuna from 4Minute, Kiha and the Faces, Jay Park, etcetera are participating along with us. We’re performing for about 40 minutes, and I’m curious how foreigners will respond to our music. Because it’s our first performance in the States. We’re totally excited.
Is that why you sing in English?
(KJW) I haven’t thought about in any definite way, but I try not to think about that. I recognize the importance of lyrics, but I believe more in the strength that music has. Because a band isn’t a group that’s made just by vocals. Even if the lyrics aren’t in English, I believe that we can communicate with the audience through the guitar, bass, drums, etcetera. Because music is a common language across the world.
What album would you choose as the best from Korea?
(KJW) Lee Seung-hwan’s fourth studio album, Human (1995). I think it’s an album that anyone with ears will feel that it’s a good album. The lyrics and melodies convey a lot of emotions. And the construction of the album is very good, too. Whether through the sound or arrangements, I think it’s one of the best of the best albums. Even when I listened as a fan, even when I listen to it now 20 years later, I think, “I wonder if an album like this can come out again.”
(LJK) Seotaiji’s first studio album, Take One (1998), is the best. It came out two years after Seotaiji and Boys broke up, so I really looked forward to it. When I listened to it, I felt, “He really wanted to do music.” I also thought that it had musical colors that only he could create.
I’m also curious what you’d pick as Nell’s best track.
(KJW) “How Do You Think” from our third studio album, Healing Process (2006). We made it when we were 25, but it’s a song that captured what we think about human relationships. When you’re writing lyrics, there are lots of cases when you look back by yourself. Of course, as time passes, your thoughts can change. The thoughts I had regarding human relationships when we made “How Do You Think” have carried through until now. Although I was very innocent before then. (laughs) Before I wrote that song, I believed that I could understand everything about the other person. However, around the time I was writing that song, my thoughts changed. That was the changing point for “human Kim Jong-wan.”
If you look at it one way, your music is so melancholy.
(KJW) When you’re struggling, I think it’s good to hit rock bottom once. If you pretend that nothing’s wrong, or if a wound festers, then you’ll stay in that state. Then won’t it be too hard? Whatever it is, if you hit the floor, then I think things get better. I think it’s the same idea as paying to watch a sad movie. Because, somehow, that connects with the situation in your heart and makes your emotions spill over.
(LJH) When I’m not in a good mood, if I listen to songs that have a bright atmosphere, I’d get irritated. I tend to listen to those kinds of songs when I’m in a good mood. When I listen to songs that are similar to how I feel, I form similar feelings and start to stabilize.
Do you ever feel compelled to make trendy music?
(KJW) Never. Trends change quickly. My ability to identify things like trends isn't very good. I work while thinking that it’ll be good if I don’t fall into mannerisms.
If you listen now to the album you released in the early 2000s, it doesn’t sound unrefined/unpolished.
(LJK) That’s the best praise. Haha. Sound has a tendency to ride the time. Technical elements are constantly developing. So I think that’s why we focus on mastering.
Now you’re already in your mid-30s. What changed since your 20s?
(KJW) Overall, I feel like my feel of music has changed. Because my thoughts at the time are melted into the music. In my 20s, I responded strongly to small stimuli. So I think I was really flexible to things, whether in life or music. Even if I got into a fight, I fought very furiously. Things like that became buried in our sound. Now, my ways of being inspired and expressing that have changed a little. I’ve started to hide things like the meanings of lyrics and such a lot. Lyrics are important, but I think I’ve started to focus more on the harmony of the sound.
Was there ever any danger of disbanding?
(unspecified speaker) There was a time in 2000 when we got into a huge fight. It wasn’t bad enough that we were in danger of splitting up, but I think we really fought intensely. It started when we’d gone drinking, but we don’t remember exactly what we fought over. Our personalities are all different, so I think we’re able to maintain the team well.
You’re satisfied with your age. Do you have any kind of selfishness about family?
(LJK) I still don’t have any desire to get married. I suppose I’ll start wanting that as I get a little older. Because there’s a lot I still want to do. When we’re working, I can’t say how comfortable and nice it is that I’m single. I want to enjoy that.
(KJW) I wonder if I wouldn’t feel anxious if I had a family. Because, right now, whatever I do, I just have to take care of myself. If I were to have a family, I’d have to take care of everything. I don’t have any thoughts for family now. Sometimes I think, “Shouldn’t I have someone who’ll observe my funeral for me?” Haha.
(LJH) I haven’t thought yet about a spouse at all. But watching Jae-won’s kid or the variety shows about child-raising has made me start thinking, “I want a kid.”
Which member is most popular amongst women?
(KJW, LJK, LJH) Jae-won. He has the most charm. Which is probably why he’s the only married one.
You happen to be a rock band, but, as artists, are there any dreams you want to achieve?
(LJK) I want to tour around the world. There are bands abroad who perform around 200-300 times a year. It’ll be hard, but I really want that. Because that’s like performance and life totally becoming one. I just think about it. It’s enchanting.
(KJW) A human is someone who achieves one dream and then forms another goal. We’ve been like that since we started as a band all the way until now. When we first started, our goal was to stand on the stage of a club live house, and, after that, our goal was to release an album under our name and hold a concert. There were small and big things that came from that process, but, fortunately, I think we’ve made our way through well. Presently, our goal is to travel through different countries while performing.
source: part 01 - part 02 - part 03
translation by: [email protected] -- please take/use with credits
went over a few articles, extracted quotes, and cobbled them together in one document. quotes without initials in parentheses are generally attributed to nell.
(i keep typing "newton's album" instead of "newton's apple." no, nell is never living this album title down.)
Re: … friendship?
“We’ve been together almost 15-16 years now, and almost all our friends overlap. The span of human relationships is very small.” (KJW)
Re: the listening event
Jong-wan said that they held this listening event because “we were most curious about how people felt their music, how they interpreted their music.”
Re: the Gravity series (or “gravity” as a word and theme)
“We started planning our Gravity series after noting ‘something you can’t refuse’ as the focal point. The previous albums talked about yearning or attachment, things that you want to hold onto, but, this time, we [pursued] a meaning of wanting to escape from longing.”
“Because the nuances of the word didn’t really fit music, I thought about it a lot. I thought that, if I kept pushing it off, I wouldn’t be able to use it, so I made it the central motif of this series.” (KJW)
“As I thought about gravity as a theme, I thought of so many subtitles. I tend to believe in destiny, so I think that you can’t reject everything. Should I say that’s like gravity? Personally, the things I think are most important are dreams, love, and longing. These three are the feelings that exert the most influence [on us]. The first album was [about] love, and a lot of longing went into the second album. But, when the second album came out, ironically, a lot of people said we’d gotten brighter. This time, we tried to express all three things. Dreams and love, as well as longing – I don’t know why, but they feel like gravity.” (KJW)
“The feeling is this thing called gravity. Sadness, happiness, love – these are all things we all feel. We thought that they were similar to gravity, in that we can’t reject them. And that’s how this series was started.”
(Comment: You didn’t try to express gravity through sounds.) “Because gravity isn’t something we feel, it was hard to express. We don’t link the message with the sound. We try to create the sound we want to try at the time.”
Re: “The Memory of Another”
the you i had to send away then with tears, i talk about now with laughter
are you living well? i wonder without feeling anything
“Nowadays, I don’t know if it’s that my memory’s getting bad, but I can’t really remember the happy memories or the painful memories I had with a girlfriend I really liked. Even when I try to remember, I can’t really think of them. But I feel regretful that I suddenly can’t remember. Then, I had a hard time, thought that it’d have been better if I hadn’t experienced any of this, but, as time passed, I thought it was better than not being able to remember, so I made this song.” (KJW)
“There’s a woman you love a lot. When you break up, in that moment, all you can think is that you wish time would pass faster. However, when you want to remember now, you can’t remember clearly. You start to regret that your memories of that time aren’t clear. Instead of not remembering, you feel that it was better when you wished time would pass faster.”
Re: “The History of Silence”
“Because I was obsessed with this idea that ‘Nell’s music is dense,’ I purposely composed this song really simply.” (KJW)
“This is a song simply constructed with the electric guitar, drums, bass, piano, and a bit of tong guitar.”
“We were born in the 80s, but we wanted to create a sound from the 70s.”
“I wanted to create the sound of the 70s. I even sang the vocals clearly without any embellishments. We also recorded the drums in a simple way, unlike the way we usually do. The point in the lyrics is in the refrain, ‘Love is two people meeting and two people breaking up, but a farewell isn’t always fair.’” (KJW)
“It’s hard to express how I feel. That’s why there are times when I get annoyed at my inability to express myself. So I start to think that I’d like it if the woman talking about farewell could feel like that, too. The woman’s ideal farewell is one when they both say ‘farewell.’ However, separation is not always so fair.”
Re: “Four Times the Earth the Sun”
“Compared to the other songs, you can hear the lyrics well. I wonder if ‘Four Times the Earth the Sun’ won’t appeal to women’s feelings well. I also think that it’ll gain a lot of people’s sympathy, too.” (LJH)
“It’s a sound I like, and it feels comfortable compared to other music. Because we decide everything according to how we feel when making the song. And we don’t really know how people hear it. We just thought that we’d like promoting with this song or hearing it on the street.” (KJW)
“It takes the earth four years to circle the sun four times. Originally, it meant that, in four years, I’ve yearned for you thousands of times, but, because that didn’t flow easily, I changed it* to hundreds of times.”
* I’m assuming he’s talking about the lyrics here
“Gravity” is the theme of this album. The things we feel, whether it’s love or happiness, we can’t deny them. Similarly, like gravity, everything we feel, all the things we experience, longing, and the desire to escape all these things – these are also the things we’ve put in this album.”
Re: “Grey Zone”
“Of all the lyrics I wrote so far, these are the shortest.” (KJW)
“We wanted to go back to a more basic feeling.”
“This might sound animalistic, but we move according to what we want. This time, we decided to create music where you could hear the bass and drums well.” ( KJW)
“It’s true that more weight has been placed on the guitar this time. And it carries more melodies. Because we couldn’t also raise the vocals, we said we should moderate it.”
“The intention was a track where the rhythm’s been combined well. I wanted to make a guitar sound that sounded like a piano.” (LJK)
Re: “Newton’s Apple”
“We thought about having this as our title track. It talks about how my gravity also goes toward ‘you.’ The story ends with the realization that, even if I tried to deceive you or tried to hide it, I move toward you, and, even if I said I wouldn’t, after a long time passed, in the end, you were the greatest love of my life. Love isn’t perfect, and neither is it such a perfect feeling that I think it doesn’t exist. I wanted to write it as a failed emotion in the end.”
“In ‘Newton’s Apple,’ the track that shares the same title as the album, I said, ‘My gravity is moving towards you,’ but, the truth is, I don’t think people have pure feelings. Even if I say something is for you, in the end, I fail. My feelings were inevitably inflated.” (KJW)
Re: “Dear Genovese"
“We usually think, ‘That person does this, so it’s okay if I do it, too.’ In the midst of that, there are also times we fold over our dreams and go on with life. That dream is then hacked to pieces, and, in the end, we regret that the dream disappears in the end, and we start to wonder if we’re just standing on the sidelines and observing it – these are the thoughts I had while making this song.”
Re: Newton’s Apple
“Like Newton’s apple fell to the ground, my gravity is moving towards ‘you’ – I wanted to say that. Happiness, sadness, love are things we have to experience; aren’t they feelings like gravity that we can’t refuse?” (KJW)
“This time, instead of focusing on storytelling, I wrote lyrics that follow the flow of feelings. After I wrote them, I was able to think, ‘I’m in this state [of mind].’” (KJW)
“There are words I just like. ‘Gravity’ is a word I’ve liked for a while, but it’s also a word that’s hard to match with music, whether because of pronunciation or nuance. In a song, the communication of the lyrics is important, but, because my pronunciation also isn’t clear, even though I like the word ‘gravity,’ until now, I didn’t really use it in my lyrics. In the first part, Holding Onto Gravity, we sang about love, and, in the second, Escaping Gravity, we captured longing. This time, we tried to include dreams and love, as well as longing.” (KJW)
“Since we started thinking conceptually about the album, we wanted to lay the sound of the band as the foundation. For starters, we said that we should make it so that the bass, drums, and guitar could be heard well. Then, in comparison, I think the weight of the vocal was lessened. I don’t like music where the vocal is loud. That’s why I wanted the vocal to go inside the sound of the band. Because, that way, you can hear the other instruments well. Rather than cutting the vocal out, I’d say that the weight shifted to the guitar. Because you can’t increase both.” (KJW)
“There is no sound that definitely expresses gravity. We captured gravity through the messages. The albums we’ve released thus far haven’t been directly linked, whether in sound or title. We made music that we wanted to try. Even when we were underground, we thought we were very mainstream**. (laughs) This album, too, in our hearts, is mainstream.” (KJW)
** “mainstream” is the best word I can come up with here; basically, they’re saying that they thought they were very “of the people.” or something like that.
Re: Infinite and CN Blue
“After we finished our activities in 2008 and went to the army and came back, idols came out of our agency. But then there was no need for us to worry. Because we don’t think of Woollim as our company. Lee Joong-up is like a close older brother, and Infinite are cute friends. Rather, because of Infinite, the mindset of the agency employees has become more varied. In that sense, it’s a good thing. There’s no problem with the music we make.”
“CN Blue has their strengths, and there’s no saying that a band has to be a certain way. Through them, many people were able to learn about bands. In our country, band music is still very weak, but I think they’ve been helping on that end.” (KJW)
“I’d love it if there were lots of different bands. And CN Blue are good at performing. I’ve heard that they’re working really hard.” (KJW)
Re: the presence of rock/band music in the Korean music industry
“The place for rock music or band music hasn’t become smaller lately. Rather, there isn’t a place [for it].”
“I don’t think very much about the public. If we’re satisfied and our music moves us, then, when other people hear it, wouldn’t they also be moved?” (KJW)
“You have to work hard at music, and you have to make music you’re not ashamed of.”
“If people who never touched band music are able to find other bands through us, then I think that’s the best thing we can do. If that were to happen, I wonder if a place for band music wouldn’t be created.”
“The way is to work hard at music. We’re not a team that goes out on variety shows, and there’s no way to make Nell or rock music known that way. I think it’s enough to work hard at music so that people who hear our music think, ‘Ah, it’s charming.’ I want to make them find other bands’ music that way. As those kinds of people are made, wouldn’t the place for rock grow in the music industry?” (KJW)
“I’d like it if more varied bands came out in the future. I mean, there’s no such thing saying that ‘a band has to be like this.’ If there are people who enjoy our music, we can go perform anywhere. Particularly, we’re always open to promoting abroad. To be honest, six years ago, since 2008, we’ve been preparing to promote abroad, but it’d be nice if our agency could hurry up and make it happen. We were in our 20s then, but, somehow, we’ve come to our 30s.” (KJW)
sources: star news, oh my star, newsis, emetro, xsportsnews, segye
oh, hey, good timing there, nell! my mid-february translation as promised! next translation probably will not arrive until end of march, although a new album means new interviews! so we'll see!
i like what i'm reading about this album so far (other than the cheese-tastic title). feb 27th! only ten days away, y'all!
Band Nell: "It's an album that captures dreams, despair, love."
The release of Newton’s Apple, which closes the Gravity trilogy
“I talked with the members about bringing out the sounds of the band. For a while, we’ve been mixing elements of electronic music with elements of band music, but, this time, I think I felt strongly about going back to a more ‘basic’ feeling. In particular, we tried to make an album that pulled the vocals in while the sounds of the bass, guitar, and drums could be heard well.” (KJW)
Rock band Nell (Kim Jong-wan, Lee Jae-kyung, Lee Jung-hoon, Jung Jae-won) has come back with their sixth album, Newton’s Apple. On the 13th, at their music listening event, I met with the band and listened to the album track-by-track and listened to their explanations. Vocalist Kim Jong-wan did most of the explaining.
This is the final album from their Gravity Trilogy, which includes their previous two singles, Holding Onto Gravity and Escaping Gravity.
The album will be released on the 27th. Because they’re at the very end of recording, the titles of the tracks played were all tentative.
“I wanted this album to envelop the previous two albums. It’s an album that’s captured the feelings of dreams, despair, love. At first, we thought of putting in 22 songs and making it a double album, but, in the end, we picked 11 songs.” (KJW)
At the listening event, the first song, “Deeper,” was a track driven by rhythmic drums and brilliant chords by the guitar and keyboard, invoking the feeling of Brit rock.
Segueing from that, “Insane” started with a calm acoustic guitar as Kim Jong-wan’s plaintive voice slipped into your ear. The third track, “Trees,” also blended clear vocals with clean instrumentals.
Kim Jong-wan laughed and said about “Insane:” “an acquaintance said this song sounds most mainstream, but I don’t really know.” About “Trees,” he said, “For a while, we’ve made a lot of music with a lot of space, but we didn’t put them in the albums. So, this time, we included this in a simple composition."
They said “The Earth, The Sun, Four Times” was most powerful as the title track, but, while it was charming with its nimble rhythm and catchy lyrics, there was no significant rise and fall at the beginning and end of the song and the voice was relatively inconspicuous. As the perspective of the public, I titled my head a little.
“We evaluate things solely from how it feels when recording. When we choose our title song, we tend to agree. We worked on this song very simply, and we all thought, ‘It’d be really nice to hear this song on the street.’” (KJW)
I don’t know if it’s because they weren’t done recording at the time, but there were some parts where the instruments weren’t mixed well. As a whole, though, the songs gave off the airs of a band sound that had increased in density. They smoothly expressed the feelings of a love, attachment, and longing you can’t escape with varied consistency in music and voice.
In particular, the album revealed a dramatic guitar. From time to time, it wailed strongly in a coarse rip, and, at other times, it sang so calmly that it sounded like a piano. The members said that, in this album, they placed more weight on the guitar.
Guitarist Lee Jae-kyung said, “I want to express any sound with the guitar. I like a clear sound, so I pay a lot of attention to the tone." Further, “I think that, this time, there are parts where it doesn't sound like a guitar but fits really well.”
At some point, Nell became one of the bands that represent rock music, so maybe it’s because of that, that, at the listening event, someone asked what they think about “idol bands” like CN Blue.
Kim Jong-wan said, “I think that they have their own strengths, just like we have our own strengths. I don’t think there’s anything that says, ‘A band has to be this way.’” He also said, “Through [CN Blue], young fans can realize, ‘Oh there are things called bands.’ Honestly, they perform well, but I feel like their music will also become deeper as time passes.”
(skipped two very short paragraphs here, nothing relevant to the album or this, really, because we all know they formed a band in 1999 and have thus been around for 15 years)
“We don’t think that the place for rock or band music has gotten particularly narrower. Rather, because it was never there. (laughs) The mainstream can’t know it. I don’t know if it’s that we’re simple-minded, but we believe that, if we can move our own hearts, then we can move other people’s hearts. That’s why we feel like everything we do is of the people. Because we like it.” (KJW)
nell appeared on lucid fall's remocon in 2012, and there was a fair share of talking between the songs they performed. i have no idea if this show were subbed? this isn't transcribed, though, just a summary of what they said.
(the world must be ending or something. two posts in a week??? again, though, next post is aimed for mid-february ...)
(“cliff parade”)
they greet each other, and lucid fall asks them to introduce themselves individually. then jong-wan’s asked to talk about the song a little, and he explains that, in january, they released a teaser using “cliff parade” without vocals.
jong-wan thinks that a lot changed in the four years they were gone. for example, there wasn’t such a thing as twitter before they went on hiatus, so they thought a lot about how much they should follow these changes — like should they change? and, if so, how much should they change? but the decision in the end was to make the album they wanted to make so that, instead of focusing on each song track-by-track, the album as a whole flows. and they were also able to work with people overseas.
lucid fall asks if this is the first time they’ve worked abroad, and jae-kyoung says that they mixed an album in japan once before but this was their first time actually recording abroad.
lucid fall then asks how long it took to record. jong-wan says that slip away took around five months, four-five months.
they all kind of laugh when lucid fall asks if they’re all satisfied with the album, and lucid fall says that, of course, there’ll be things that they regret. jae-kyoung says that the album was released because they were generally satisfied with it but that there are always things they regret.
lucid fall says that he heard that their promotional period was really short. jong-wan says that, if you include the time spent writing the album, it took around one, one-and-a-half years, and, generally, when an album is released, there’s a feeling that something’s been finished. for the people around them, though — for example, the people waiting for the album — they think more along the lines of, “now that the album is out, they’ll promote a lot,” but maybe because it was so long since they’d released an album, once it was out, he just kind of … stopped.
(“in days gone by”)
lucid fall asks if they’ve known each other since their teens, and they say, yes, they met as early teens. jae-kyoung says he and jae-won knew each other since elementary school, that they were a pair through high school weirdly enough and are now in a band together. jong-won says that he started going to the same school as they were in middle school, and they met jung-hoon in high school, although jung-hoon didn’t go to the same school — jung-hoon was a “neighborhood friend.”
but so when did all four of them get to know each other? jong-wan says around 18, 19 when jung-hoon met them. lucid fall asks if they met then to play (hang out) or to be part of a band. jae-kyoung says they were all individually doing music then, but they had similar tastes and “jammed” together a lot, so they very naturally started a band.
as jong-wan starts laughing …
jong-wan says that he doesn’t think they were each doing music but just playing on their own.
lucid fall laughs at that and says that, okay, as they were all playing together, did they start off as nell? jung-hoon says that jong-wan was part of a band called “ilot” with other guys, but, because he didn’t work with them well, jae-won and jae-kyoung came in one-by-one (thus replacing the previous members), then jung-hoon came in, and that’s how the four of them got together. they used the name “ilot” for about 7-8 months, but, for some reason, it didn’t work, so they decided to change their name, and that’s when they came up with nell.
lucid fall says that they’re called a “sensitive band” and asks how they feel about that. jae-kyoung says it’s a good term because sensitivity is important. however, he’s not really fond of terms like “depressing” or “sentimental,” but that seems to follow them, too.
lucid fall says that a lot of people say that jong-wan writes music when he’s depressed or alone. jong-wan says that lyrics and music flow best when there’s something he needs to think deeply about, that he tends to work on music more when there’s something that isn’t going well.
lucid fall says, about 10 years ago, when he first met them, they went drinking together, and he thought they were the funniest band in the world. jong-wan says that, in their memories, too, lucid fall was also … (they laugh) like lucid fall went running off somewhere. jong-wan says that, yes, it was like he was trying to ride the wall (like in action movies when the hero or whomever runs along the wall) after he had a drink. jung-hoon says that, in his memory, lucid fall was one of the people who drank the best.
lucid fall asks if, as they’ve been together for over 10 years, there are any ways in which they’ve become similar. jong-wan says that, nowadays, it’s like they’re gaining weight together. jae-kyoung says that, as they’ve gotten older, they’ve gained weight. he’s gained the most, but jung-hoon and jae-won seem okay, but he and jong-wan have gained weight. (pause then laughter)
(“기억을 걷는 시간”)
lucid fall refers to a previous interview in which they were asked what they would do if they weren’t musicians. jong-wan had said he’d be a chef, jae-won said he’d own a PC room, jung-hoon said he’d build computers, and jae-kyoung said there’d be nothing for him to do. jae-kyoung immediately says that’s changed and says that he wanted to be a track and field athlete in long distance because, when he was young, he was good at it. lucid fall asks for their reasons why they said what they did, and jae-kyoung says that, like he experiences joy through music now, when he was young, he experienced similar joy while running. lucid fall asked if he competed, and all the other members laugh as jae-kyoung says that he did when he was in elementary school. lucid fall asks why long distance? jae-kyoung asks, “do you know carl lewis?” and the other members laugh, but lewis did the 100m and long distance, so, when jae-kyoung was nine, he saw that and decided he wanted to do the same.
lucid fall asks jae-won why he wanted to own a PC room. jae-won admits that, when he was asked the question before, nothing really came to mind, but he figured he would have to maintain his lifestyle and feed himself, so, for some reason, he figured he could do it if he had a little money. so he said that without really thinking about it.
lucid fall asks if jung-hoon also didn’t really think much about it when he said he wanted to build computers, and jung-hoon says that, yes, there was that, too, but, also, when he was in high school, he liked to buy computer parts and put them together. however, once he put the computer together and turned it out, he’d lose interest. so he figured that, if he got older, he might enjoy doing that, but he ended up not going in that direction.
lucid fall asks jong-wan if he likes to cook. jong-wan says yes, and lucid fall makes a cheesy quip, and they all laugh, and jong-wan’s like, “idk how to respond to that,” jokingly. he says that, at home, the easiest thing to make is pasta, but, because he gained so much weight, he’s trying not to make pasta. lucid fall asks if pasta is his most confident dish, and jong-wan says, “yes … because that’s what i make most often.” lucid fall asks specifically what kind of pasta, and jong-wan says, “… all pasta?” he says he also likes steak and making it himself, but steak is … steak creates too much smoke, so he gets annoyed. lucid fall says he can just turn on the fan, but jong-wan says that the fan isn’t enough because you have to cook a steak on a really hot pan, so there’s a lot of smoke. so he likes eating it, but he wonders why he has to go through so much just to eat it.
(“white dwarf star”)
lucid fall says they’re holding concerts in the autumn (their “standing in the rain” concerts). jong-wan says that, now that it’s been so long, they have a lot of songs, so they have to pick around 23 songs out of the 100 or so they have. jong-wan says that there are a few songs that you always perform at concerts, like songs you have to perform (lucid fall says) or songs that get a good reaction (jong-wan says), but, this time, they’re thinking of deviating from that. he says that the people who come to the concert probably have songs they want to hear, too, so, taking that into consideration, they’re preparing songs they haven’t normally performed in the past. jung-hoon says that it’d be hard to be able to satisfy everyone, but maybe people just want them to do what they want because then they can also enjoy it more — but jong-wan laughs because, if they just do what they want, people might hate it, too. it could be what they really didn’t want.
jong-wan feels like, if they don’t perform a song, it feels kind of like it’s been thrown away, so he feels regretful.
lucid fall says that, when it comes to bands, there are songs you always want to hear, like “creep” for radiohead or “wonderful tonight” for eric clapton. jae-kyoung says that he, too, when he goes to a concert, likes to hear songs he knows. (lucid fall cracks up at that.)
lucid fall asks if nell has any other specific plans for the rest of 2012. jong-wan says they’ll probably work on a single (which turned out to be holding onto gravity) and will have their end-of-year concerts, which they always did but weren’t able to for four years. and that’ll probably be their schedule for the next 4-5 months until the end of the year.
(“standing in the rain”)
source: i'm pretty sure i torrented this
translation: jjoongie@countingpulses
caps: by me
so jong-wan guest DJed this radio program in june 2013, and this is from his second day when he DJed with nine (vocalist of dear cloud). i just started from when nine appeared. audio file can be found here.
i transcribed and translated the program myself, so there are a few words and lines i missed. apologies! otherwise, enjoy! and please remember always to credit and link back -- i know my transcriptions/translations aren't perfect, but they do take a lot of time.
also, this has been edited for brevity and clarity. and i'll aim to have something else posted by mid-february!
JW: Hello.
Nine: Hello. It’s nice to meet you.
JW: To be honest, I heard that you were coming today, so I’ve really been looking forward to it. Because we’re both in bands, but, to be honest, we haven’t had many opportunities to meet …
Nine: Right? That’s true.
JW: There was one time a while ago when we saw each other, but that was …
Nine: Yes. Because of alcohol … although I don’t really remember it well.
JW: Ah, do you also not remember?
Nine: I actually remember it well. But because you didn’t seem to …
JW: Yeah … it would’ve been nice if you didn’t remember …
Nine: (laughter)
JW: I apologize.
Nine: There’s no need to apologize.
JW: Before we begin, I’ll … apologize.
Nine: But, because I’ve been working with DJ Jeong-hyeok for so long, I was wondering what it’d be like if someone else were the DJ, but you’re just as greasy*** as he is.
*** 느끼 is one of those korean words that’s impossible to translate fully/accurately. t means “greasy” but, in this context, also kind of “creepy” and kind of generally off-putting?
JW: Really?
Nine: Yes.
JW: That’s not good.
Nine: Being greasy …
JW: I don’t really like that greasy feeling …
Nine: Oh …
JW: Am I really being greasy right now?
Nine: Yes. I think it’s the way you speak.
JW: It might be because I mumble.
Nine: Ah … I see.
JW: Because this is a broadcast … when I’m not on broadcast, I’m more …
Nine: You’d mix in some curse words …
JW: Then I could be very frank, but … I’m sorry.
Nine: No need to be.
JW: Anyway, after people heard that we would be on air together, many of them already sent messages to Blue Night via SNS and the message board. First, Lee Seon-jeong said, without even having heard the broadcast, “I already like it. To be honest, you know that there are a lot of people who say your bands have similar styles. What are your thoughts?”
Nine: Ah … I was really curious about this. I was going to ask you this today, too. We debuted in 2007. You did long before that?
JW: … we’re old now.
(laughter)
JW: But are we older?
Nine: No, Yong-rin is older? Yong-rin is a 1979-er, and you are …?
JW: We’re all 1980-ers.
Nine: Then the rest of us are slightly younger than you, and Yong-rin is older.
JW: I see.
Nine: So, after we debuted in 2007, we heard that a lot. That we’re similar to Nell. We heard that a lot, so I wanted to ask you myself, if you ever listened to Dear Cloud.
JW: Yes, of course. I really like the track “Late Monologue.” Honestly, I feel like musicians don’t really think they’re similar at all, but, if we’re talking about 2007, it’s honestly already been a while, hasn’t it. But, at that time, compared to now, it wasn’t so – it wasn’t a time when bands could really shine, compared to now. So maybe that’s why people probably said that?
“late monologue” is a track off dear cloud’s second album, grey.)
Nine: If you look at it one way, we like the same music, so we have the same roots, but don’t we go in different directions?
JW: Exactly. Radiohead and Coldplay and such – you like them, right?
Nine: Yes. I like them a lot.
JW: Yes. I like them a lot, too.
Nine: Exactly. That’s our commonality and … weakness? (laughter)
JW: Even though we’re not like them at all. Because we can’t be like them. I think this is how we always think – even though we’re similar, we’re not, and don’t we all have our own characteristics (? 계상?). So, well … I don’t know if you’re ready, but it says here that if we’re ready … Let’s just say we are, and start this corner officially now. The production staff sort of explained this to me, but you’ve been doing this corner so far, so I think it’d be good if you explained it a little – and I’d be grateful if you’d explain it to me, too.
Nine: It’s not that hard, but I think this corner can be a little tricky. I’ll try. Nowadays, first of all, even though an album is released, people only listen to the title track. Because it feels like a time when only the title track gets a lot of attention, we thought of listening track-by-track to albums that musicians had worked diligently on and came up with this corner. This is Music Commentary Nine. First, we pick an album we want to play for you every week, and, as we listen to that album in its entirety from the first track, we talk about what we think about the music – but there’s a mission, too. This is the kind of tricky part, but, as we listen to the music, we write down something we feel or a memory we think of using one word or a short sentence, and …
JW: This is really hard honestly – to listen to music and describe it in one word. Then it’s like we should make music with one word …
Nine: So I’m really curious to see what you write today. Jeong-hyeok’s are always very long. With his sentences, he just …
JW: So, then, it doesn’t really have to be just one word or a short sentence.
Nine: Of course. Moreover, you can also ***. Then, after you write them all down, we’ll put them together and make a sentence that describes the album well. That’s what we do on Blue Night with an album. What do you think? Do you think it’ll be hard?
*** missed this.
JW: Yes … did you do this with a Dear Cloud album, too?
Nine: Yes, I did. That time, it was … “A friend who dances beside me, who understands even if I don’t say anything, even when I laugh, I cry~” … (laughter)
JW: Ah, is this something Jeong-hyuk made? Or … ah, you put it together.
Nine: Yes, Jeong-hyeok and I and the listeners together. When you look at it, for some reason, three sentences come out.
JW: But, when you look at it one way, this could also be a corner that our agency would like a lot. Because, usually when they have to release news reports, they think about it a lot, whether it’s the NR team or the publicity team …
Nine: “Summarize it in one word.” Or like, “Is there an association?” They talk about that a lot.
JW: Yes. I tend to get really annoyed then.
Nine: Right? Today let’s try to do this even if we have to force ourselves to.
JW: Okay. I hope I do well …
Nine: You have to do well today because the album we’re going to listen to today is Nell’s album.
JW: I think that’s really embarrassing to be honest …
Nine: To be honest, I also came here wondering, “Ah, what do I do?” What am I supposed to say about Nell’s music in front of you?
JW: I honestly – after you release an album, are you the type who listens to your album a lot?
Nine: I don’t really. I think I’m the type who doesn’t. Do you?
JW: I almost never do. After an album is released, I’m the type who almost never listens to it, so …
Nine: Then, today, the opportunity for you to listen all the way through has been prepared.
JW: Seriously. And it hasn’t been long since it’s been released …
Nine: But why don’t you listen to your albums? Do you not like it when you listen to them?
JW: First, because there are parts that I still feel anxious about, when I listen to my albums – you know how, when you have an itch but can’t scratch it, it’s really frustrating, right? So it’s not like I can mix it again or record it again, so I feel frustrated, so there’s that, too.
Nine: So you don’t listen because you don’t want to regret things.
JW: And just … I don’t know. I always think that an album is like a steak.
Nine: A steak. Okay.
JW: When I’m making an album, I might marinate it and do everything I need to it. I work really hard and make it, but, after an album is released – after that, it’s not mine. A chef, too, after he cooks the steak, lets go of it and puts it out. Then, after that, it belongs to the person eating it, so I, too, when my albums are done and released, I tend to think that they’re not mine.
*** haha jong-wan and steak. when nell appeared on lucid fall's show in 2012 september, jong-wan says he hates cooking steak because there's too much smoke.
Nine: But, as you cook, you taste it, right? “Ahh, what does this taste like?” Just think of today like that – if you do that, I think it’ll be okay.
JW: I understand. Thank you. Also, beyond that, thank you for explaining things to me so well.
Nine: Because we’re going to listen to two albums today. The Gravity Trilogy. Right? Gravity Trilogy.*** It’s on a very large-scale. December – Holding Onto Gravity that was released last December, and when was it this year? June – was it in June?
*** she says “gravity” once in english and then in korean.
JW: It hasn’t been that long.
Nine: Right? Escaping Gravity … we’re going to listen to these two albums.
JW: Yes. But, looking at this list – there are songs on this albums that have been banned. Yes, two songs are missing.
Nine: Why are there banned songs? Are they scandalous?
JW: No. Scandalous songs aren’t usually banned songs – it’s not, now that I look at this.
Nine: Then they must be violent?
JW: They’re not really violent, either, but I can never figure out what the broadcast listening standards are. Because they seem vague. So, if someone tells me, “It’s banned,” then I just think, “Ah, so it’s banned.”
Nine: I really like it when there are banned songs.
JW: Why?
Nine: I really want to write a banned track once.
(laughter)
JW: Why … why, why do you?
Nine: Just … how should I say this – I think I have a fantasy about taboos. So, even if a song is banned from broadcast, it doesn’t always mean it’s a song about a taboo subject, but I don’t know, that kind of image. It could be that.
JW: Then just put a curse word in the lyrics.
Nine: Oh, that’s what I say. But I haven’t been able to do that.
JW: “The *beep* lover I love” – if you did something like that, it’d work.
Nine: But, anyway, there’s no cursing in this. But there are banned tracks.
JW: In one song, in English. I didn’t curse just to curse, but I wrote it as emphasis, but …
Nine: “Very,” like that …
JW: Yes, exactly. “Extremely,” “excessively” – I wrote it to express that, but I guess it’s been banned.
Nine: Ah, I think I know what song it is. Anyway, should we listen?
JW: Yes.
Nine: We’ve put Nell’s album Holding Onto Gravity into the CD player in the studio. We’ll start listening from the first track.
(“Coin Seller” starts to play)
Nine: This is the first track on Nell’s Holding Onto Gravity. You’re listening to “Coin Seller” right now. This is a guitar instrumental track that really calms you.
JW: Yes, it seems like that.
Nine: But, when you say “Nell,” your voice has such strong character that, when your voice isn’t there, there’s a totally different …
JW: It’s better, isn’t it?
(laughter)
Nine: Should I say it’s a little quiet?
JW: Yes, when I come out, it feels a little frivolous. It’s nice because there’s only a guitar.
Nine: But, when you look at it one way, it’s the first track of the Gravity Trilogy. I’m curious why you made it an instrumental track.
JW: To be honest, in the case of this song, we’re planning to include the full track in the third album that’ll come out later, but I don’t know. To create the feeling of a beginning so, instead of a song that was too complete, just an intro? Also something that opens the door to the concept we’re preparing – because we wanted to capture that feeling, we also deliberately shortened it. Sometimes, language is like – when there are definite words, there’s higher anticipation.
Nine: Yes. And sometimes there’s a slightly bitter feeling. A song I really like is playing now. Shall we listen?
(“White Night” starts to play)
Nine: Yes. This is the second track. This is also the title track to this album. “White Night” is playing. The chorus is really strong.
JW: A hook … is it a hook song?!
Nine: It is. It really seems like a hook song. When you listen to it once … After I listened to it once, I memorised it all. The chorus and the melody are … so I became really curious: do you decide, “Ah, we should use this as the title song” first and then work?
JW: I don’t do that, but, when we look at the album after it’s done, when it’s about 80% done? As we’re working, I think we arrive at the conclusion that “ah, this song could be the title track.” Because, in our case, to be honest, we don’t play our music for anyone until we’ve finished recording, the vocal recording. Not even for our agency, so, when we get to about 80%, we monitor it, and, around then, I think we generally say the same thing. “I think this is the title.”
Nine: Then you decide as you’re monitoring …
JW: Yes, yes ….
Nine: Ah. That’s impressive.
JW: Oh! Do you not – how do you do it then?
Nine: We’re like that, too but you know those bands where the songwriter says, “This is the title track no matter what,” and they go from there. Because you write the songs, I thought that you could also start from “the title track is this.” Also, was it Slip Away? The title of that album was the only Korean title.
JW: But, in the case of that album, like you said, I think our agency was a little against it.
Nine: Oh, in what way?
JW: Our agency is – they don’t oppose us strongly but just say something like, “Oh, instead of this, we think another song could work, too.” But, in the case of that song, we really wanted it as our title track, so that’s how that song came to be the title track.
Nine: Ah, I see. Then was this song that unanimous “White Night”?
JW: Yes.
Nine: It’s very excellent.
JW: As it is, there are only 4-5 songs on the album, so there was really no one to fight over it.
Nine: The third track is playing. “Holding Onto Gravity.”
(listening to the song)
Nine: This song has the same title as the album. It’s “Holding Onto Gravity,” so, another thing we have to discuss is why this story has to be something that has to do with gravity?
JW: When you think about gravity, everyone is – there’s honestly no one who’s free from gravity. While you exist on earth. I mean, of course, you could create an anti-gravity space, so I don’t know about that. But, as we live day-by-day, it’s not like we live feeling that gravity is pulling on us. I thought that that was very similar to our lives. As we live, the things we feel or the things that happen to us? Like sadness, happiness, hope, despair, all these things – just because we refuse them doesn’t mean that they’ll go away, and, just because we try to escape from them, it’s not like we can so freely escape from them. But, at the same time, we also don’t live thinking about those kinds of things. So I thought, “Ah, the term ‘gravity’ can have so many meanings. Especially when it comes to the things we can’t do anything about …” – so I wanted to make a series of albums that explored those things, and gravity seemed to fit perfectly.
Nine: I see. This just played, but the line “I bite my lip” – that part weirdly gave me a lot of strength. Because the lyrics are actually rather dark, but, even so, despite that, it has a feeling of courage? Ah, this man is enduring life so diligently, so I should live well, too – I think it was a track that made me think that.
JW: It must have been a very positive track to you.
Nine: Beyond that, I really like the guitar line in this song. Because it plays one rhythm all the way through the song. ***
*** missed the rest of this line.
JW: Something that, as you play, you get kind of spacey …
(laughter)
Nine: Exactly. But Nell and Dear Cloud know the kind of catharsis that could come from that, so, as someone who loves ***, it’s a song I like very much.
*** I think she uses the word “posture,” so it would be like, “as someone who love posturing”? – but I really don’t know which word she uses here.
JW: Thank you.
Nine: Right now, the song we’re listening to is the fourth track, “Blue.”
JW: This is a really short song, so, to be honest, as we’re talking, time can feel weak, but, in the case of this song, I think it’s a song I personally listened to a few times on this album. After the album came out.
Nine: Ah, because you like it.
JW: Because it’s a song we made really fast. As I was on my way to the recording studio, it was raining that day, and there was so much traffic on [some road]. So, as I was in the car, I thought, “Ah, I guess I can just write a song about this.” The lyrics are also very – I didn’t really think about them, and, after I got to the studio, it took maybe forty-five minutes to an hour? To finish the song.
Nine: Even the instrumentals.
JW: Yes. Well, when you listen to it, the drums are also very simple. So we just got a pad drum and went straight from there. Because we worked on this for a really short period of time, I think maybe that’s why I listen to it a bit.
(laughter)
Nine: I see. I think this song also has a sort of remixed feel as compared to the usual tracks. Whether it’s the tone of the guitar, or … So I think …
JW: Oh, it does, now that I’ve listened to it. This is the last track of our first Gravity album, Holding Onto Gravity. We’ve listened all the way to the fourth track, “Blue.”
(commercial break)
Nine: Right now, you’re listening to the second track on Escaping Gravity, “Ocean of Light.” The first track has unfortunately been banned – was it called “Boy-X?”
JW: Yes. “Boy-X.”
Nine: Why was it banned?
JW: Uh … I think the people who deliberate things in our country don’t like puppies very much.
Nine: Ah, animals make an appearance.
JW: Yes, so … although I like it a lot. It’s unfortunate.
Nine: I like it, too. Personally, of all your songs, my favourite is a song called “Island.” *** But, after this Escaping Gravity album came out, my favourite changed to this song.
*** there’s a story related to "island" here.
JW: Ah, really?
Nine: I really like it.
JW: Thank you.
Nine: Really … and the rhythm changes. It goes straight, and then it takes a groovier feel. I really like it, seriously. When I listen to it while walking, I can walk in a very ugly way. As I’m dancing …
JW: I really like that kind of thing. The ugly thing …
Nine: When you read them, the feeling of your lyrics changed a lot.
JW: Yes, but, in the case of this song, the truth is – it’s been a long time since I wrote the song, but, at that time, I didn’t really think much of it. This time, as we were working, when I listened to this song, for some reason, this time, I thought that we should put in a song that sends out a positive message.
Nine: Why?
JW: Maybe we’ve changed mentally as we’ve gotten older. I think I just thought that it would be good if we could give people, our listeners, courage or strength with this kind of song at least once.
Nine: I feel like that also goes against to the general world these days.
JW: Like healing?
Nine: Exactly. Healing, or, if not, then happiness or …
JW: If you look at it one way, as a whole, because there are a lot of sad things, I think it could be that way, too.
Nine: I think so. Instead of just listening to a song and feeling like that sad feeling has been reversed, I feel like I’ve also started to listen to music that refreshes me and gives me strength. Recently, Coldplay’s new record – when you listen to that, you feel good you know? Coldplay’s getting brighter, too.
JW: To be honest, I was the saddest as we were recording this song.
Nine: Why?
JW: I don’t know. When I’m singing, because I feel like I want to be like that … is it that I want to be full of happiness, and, in the present, I’m really doing that? It’s not that, though, but that I want to be like that, so, when I look back on myself, I feel a bit regretful – and, so, to be honest, when I sing this song, I feel the saddest?
Nine: Something really touched you. But I can feel that. I just naturally …
JW: … feel shameful?
Nine: … instead of being happy or all excited, I think what’s inside is more elegant. Until now, if we say that your music has been filled with the hurt of a solitary kid, I feel like that kid has woken up, so I think that’s why it’s more touching. I think.
JW: Like he’s suddenly shouting …
(laughter)
Nine: You’re currently listening to the third track, “Perfect,” from the second album, Escaping Gravity, of Nell’s Gravity Trilogy. Rainbow sent an SNS to Blue Night, saying, “Until now, if Nell’s lyrics used the perspective of ‘I,’ then the songs in this album have the perspective of ‘you’ and feel like they’re words being said to you. I’m curious if this change is significant, Jong-wan.”
JW: I don’t know. Instead of “I” or “you,” in the case of this album, to be honest, I wanted to make something like an omnibus film, so each song has a main character? Each main character has some kind of despair as he escapes from hard times? Because it’s an album that expresses a different process for each method? That’s probably why, compared to our previous albums, there are a lot of those narrators, so I think it might feel that way.
Nine: Ah, so that’s why the themes are a bit different. And they felt really relational.
JW: Exactly, but there is just one big theme. What is it – that process of escaping from a completely hopeless place? We’re showing a way out, but that way out is different per person. So one person might express it through rage, and another person might go a more positive way like in the previous track, “Ocean of Light” – there are people who come out more positively, and, in a track like “Perfect,” the main character, with the person he loves, through these moments, if you look at it one way, is escaping from reality? That’s what he’s doing.
Nine: Which one are you? When you’re having a hard time or feeling exhausted, how do you find healing?
JW: I think I’m honestly all of them. If you look at it one way, these are all characters, but, because they’re all songs I’ve written, I think that all these things are part of me – but, of course, I want to be like this character in “Perfect.”
Nine: When I saw that there were two banned tracks, I thought, “Ah, it must be ‘Perfect.’” Isn’t it too scandalous?
JW: But, to be honest, instead of it being scandalous, if you look at it one way, I think it’s quite beautiful. Those moments – they can also be the most beautiful moments, you know.
Nine: I think the same way. The most scandalous thing in the world is the most beautiful. The way I feel about it.
JW: Ah, do you?
Nine: Yes, I do.
JW: (laughs)
Nine: Anyway, when I hear this song, I get a similar feeling to “Good Night,” from a previous album.
JW: To be honest, it also has a similar feeling to “Island.”
Nine: Yes. “Island,” and was it “A.S."?
JW: Yes.
Nine: I wonder if this isn’t between those two … I think.
JW: It certainly could be.
Nine: We’re listening to the fourth track, “Burn.” Through SNS to Blue Night, 80Nell sent the message, “I heard that the mastering for this album was different from previous albums. I’d like to hear how it was different and what the results were.”
JW: To be honest, in the case of mastering, usually, we just send our work to one person. We used to send it to one mastering engineer, but, for this album, we sent it to Metropolis Mastering Studio in London and Sterling Sound in the States. So, to be honest, I was so curious.
Nine: Oh, that must have been fun!
JW: Because, the reason is there’s the European, the British, sound, and there’s the American sound, so I was curious how they would interpret the same music, and I was really curious how our music would change. So, even though I’m sure our agency hated it, we sent it to them, and, well, because this was a single, I thought we could mix them up, too. If this had been a studio album, then, we would have honestly thought about it more, but, because the two styles are so different, this time, we decided to focus more on each track’s individual characteristics and just chose the mastering version that fit each track best individually.
Nine: Oh! Really? Then they’re all different!
JW: Exactly.
Nine: Then what was the general winner? Overall?
JW: At first, it was three and three, but we really thought about it a lot, in the end, it was 4-2 for the UK.
Nine: Ahhh, as expected.
JW: I think our music fit that sound slightly more after all.
Nine: How were they different?
JW: I felt like the UK mastering tried not to touch the mixed music at all …
Nine: Ah, a cautious feeling.
JW: And it was very well put-together. It felt more crisp, and, in the case of America, I think it had a more stimulating sound. ***
*** missed the rest of this.
Nine: A more fresh …
JW: Yes, really fresh and stimulating and, if you look at it one way, when we listen to it, a bit contemporary? Like a modern feeling.
Nine: Ah, like music these days. Then which version is the track we’re listening to right now, “Burn”?
JW: Ah, this one’s the UK’s.
Nine: Ah, I see. It’s nice.
(laughter)
JW: I really liked it, too.
(“Walk Out” starts to play.)
JW: Nell’s … it’s a bit much for me to say “Nell’s second album” with my own mouth, but, yes, the second Gravity album – we’ve listened all the way through the sixth track, “Walk Out,” on Escaping Gravity.
Nine: Ah, this track honestly has to connect with the fifth track, “Haven.” This really hurts my heart …
JW: Because that’s also a banned track …
Nine: You know why that track was banned, right?
JW: Yes. “Mother father,” something like that …
Nine: It’s like “mother father gentleman.” It hurts. Because “Haven” is also a track with a very strong sound. Overall, it has a huge scale.
JW: Like you said, “Walk Out” is a track I wrote to be like the ending credits of a movie after you come out of “Haven.”
Nine: Like ending credits.
JW: Yes. So, because “Haven” isn’t there, it feels a little like it would sound abrupt … well … please listen to it, people who’d like to.
(laughter)
Nine: You’ve written a lot of keywords.
JW: Yes. I wrote a lot, but this is a bit … I feel like it might not seem sincere, so I’m a little worried.
Nine: Wow. I think this is what I'm most scared of while doing this corner. I can never know what I should write.
JW: Mm. Nothing must come to mind for you.
Nine: No, the things that come to mind … I think it’s more that I’ve listened to a lot. Because I’ve listened to a lot, just … the feeling that this song is like this? But, if you could share what you’ve written …
JW: I, first of all … I have one, two, three, four, seven …
Nine: Oh, you have seven from listening to your own music.
JW: No, I just wrote one per song. So, for the first track, “Coin Seller” – “winter.” “White Night” is “Im Soo-jung.” Because Im Soo-jung came out in our music video, the only thing that came to mind for me was Im Soo-jung. And, number three, “Holding Onto Gravity,” is really simple, but I wrote “gravity.” After that, “Blue” – “wave.”
Nine: Is “wave” like the tide or …
JW: No, that … how do I put this … ***
Nine: ***
*** missed what they said here
JW: I didn’t write anything for “Ocean of Light.” “Perfect” is “bed.” (laughs)
Nine: Bed. Oh, that’s wonderful.
JW: “Burn” is “fight.”
Nine: “Fight?” Is “Burn” about a fight?
JW: The character of this song is very – if you look at it one way, he’s consumed poison* and decided to confront it, thinking that this is the last time … To get what he wants, without thinking of others, this character is the type to collide with things and see what happens.
* more like “he’s embraced a poisonous nature.” or something like that ...
Nine: Then compared to “Boy-X” …
JW: But, in the case of the character in “Burn,” he’s doing this to achieve the dream he’s held in his heart, and the character in “Boy-X” has honestly just expressed that as rage, just resenting everyone.
Nine: Without a goal.
JW: Yes, a little bit … to be honest, that’s a song I made while thinking about why things like murder occur. ***
*** there was more to this line, but I missed it.
Nine: Ah, I see. Then what’s the final seventh one?
JW: I just wrote “lo-fi.” I remember that, when we were recording this, we tried really hard to create a lo-fi sound.
Nine: Why did you record it that way?
JW: First off, because “Haven” – the song before this is a song on a large scale – “Haven” is – and, after that, I wanted to end things on a rather deafening feeling.
Nine: Ah, just a second, there’s a part where you sing in a *** way very briefly. But, it’s very natural and feels like you’re in the recording studio.
*** missed this word
JW: Mm. That’s why, in the case of this song, when we were recording it, our members would walk around holding the mic here and there – like, hey, do you think it’s better here or there, or do you think it would be better there? We recorded the song that way.
Nine: Oh, I see. Oh, you wrote a lot. I wrote a little, so I’ll say them quickly. I wrote “the deep sea.” First of all, because I felt like I was listening in a deep underwater place. And, like I said before, “a loner.” And “a pained voice” – I wrote these three.
JW: It’s short, but they’re so much better than mine. I’ll do it again!
(laughter)
Nine: Please read some of the keywords the listeners sent in.
JW: Kang Soo-jung said, “The boy who sits at the back of the class room, my first love.”
Nine: Oh, he must have been a bit dark. This first love.
JW: What is this? (laughs) Was he maybe the kid who sat in the very back and smoked? (laughs) I’m sorry? Choi Yoo-Jung said, “A sad castle that’s been soaked by waves.”
Nine: Oh, that’s good.
JW: Kanghada says, “99% cacao chocolate.”
Nine: That’s bitter, right?
JW: Exactly. Lee Joo-min says, “Water soap.”
Nine: Water soap.
JW: What’s water soap?
Nine: I’ll say. I also …
JW: Why am I thinking dirty thoughts right now? (laughs) Water soap …
Nine: We keep going towards a scandalous side today. Gyu-gyu-gyu: “Packed nothingness.” Oh, I think we know what this is, right? Gu-reu-ma says, “The monologue of the people left behind.” Masterpiece says, “A roller coaster of feelings.” Ah, this is really good.
JW: I’ll put a little mark next to “a roller coaster of feelings.”
Nine: It’s good, right?
JW: I’ll give it to our agency’s PR team …
(laughter)
Nine: Oh, Masterpiece has been recommended. Yeol-yeo: “A swing that’s still shaking.” This is a bit creepy …
JW: Kind of like the feeling of a horror movie.
Nine: Right? And it also feels like a playground in the middle of the night. If you’d read the last one.
JW: Chae-chae-chae says, “With short steps from time to time.” ***
*** ok, I’ve no idea if I got this right.
Nine: What is this? “With short steps from time to time.”
JW: I feel like this person just wrote that without thinking, like me.
(laughter)
JW: I apologize.
Nine: Then the one we like most is “a roller coaster of feelings.”
JW: Instead of liking it the most, it feels like something you could copyright. I think it’s like that. Instead of me liking it, the feeling that my agency would like it.
Nine: Oh, I understand. Of the ones you wrote, I feel like “winter” fits the most, and “gravity” is good, too, but it’s a little …
JW: I just threw it out there.
Nine: Yes, a little, so I think “winter” is the best.”
JW: “Winter.” Then I guess we should also pick one from what you wrote? Mm. I think “deep sea” is the best. I don’t know why, but that feeling is … if you say ”deep sea,” then … It’s cold, but, for some reason, at the same, it feels warm, and it seems like there’d be light, but also like there’d be no light, so …
Nine: Exactly. Because you’re alone. It has that feeling of being alone. Winter, deep sea, a roller coaster of feelings. We have these three, so how should we …
JW: Should we also put in Im Soo-jung?
(laughter)
Nine: You really want to include her!
JW: Because I thought of her suddenly.
Nine: Now we have to make this into a sentence. “Winter,” “deep sea,” “a roller coaster of feelings.”
JW: Please do it for us. I can’t do it with my own music at all because it’s embarrassing.
Nine: I’m really bad at this … Winter …. Winter. A roller coaster of feelings in the deep sea … don’t you think we should go that way?
JW: Ah, in the deep sea of winter ..
Nine: Yes. Han PD wrote something very similar for us. “A roller coaster of feelings that goes racing in winter’s deep sea.” How is that? Is that okay?
JW: I think our studio album will be coming out in winter, so maybe it’d be good that way? Although it could also come out in spring? (laughs) It’s just something I said.
Nine: A roller coaster of feelings you ride in winter’s deep sea.
JW: Ah, I think that’s good.
Nine: Is it good? Is it okay if Im Soo-jung doesn’t go in it?
JW: A roller coaster of feelings Im Soo-jung rides … I think that’d be good, too.
Nine: Ahh, that’s really amazing! I like it. Then, what Im Soo-jung rides. Nell’s albums Holding Onto Gravity and Escaping Gravity are … exactly. This should be okay, right?
JW: Yes. I think I had a good time. I liked being able to listen to so much, and, first of all, because we’re out of time, let’s say that we get a drink and have a clean start.
translation by: jjoongie@countingpulses . use/take with credits, please.
wow, so, happy new year? i haven't fallen off the face of the earth, though i guess i've fallen off the face of this blog ...? my apologies -- the latter half of 2013 was insanely busy, but i do have a bunch of translation projects i've been working on and trying to finish! i'm aiming to have something new (translation-wise) (probably a translation of this radio appearance) posted by early february, so please keep an eye out for that!
(also, jung-hoon tweeted about an hour ago saying the band's been sick and "reduced to ashes by the cold all week" but that they're all getting better. "the cold is vicious this time, so it's best to take preventive measures.")
I don't have a tumblr account but I want to thank you for all the translations you did. You're amazing. Thanks a lot. Without you I don't know how to understand all the things Nell said. Thanks again ♥♥♥♥♥
thank you for the message! :D it's no problem at all -- my pleasure, really. hopefully, i'll have time to post more soon, so keep an eye out!
& the things left behind @whitedwarfstar-blog - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
