#jonghoon

Jaejin:“We are preparing music and various other things so our fans don’t get bored in the meantime.”

Hongki:“Musicality depends on a band’s colour, but I think conveying your favourite genre, your favourite stories, your favourite songs, from yourself to your audience is what a band is.”

The band who celebrated their 10th anniversary last year, FTISLAND, will release their 8th album ‘Planet Bonds’. Even though the members produced songs rich in variety, listening to all the songs resulted in a fully unified, FTISLAND feeling. In preparation for their Spring Live (tour), they also talked about various things which occurred from production until now.

Interviewer: It’s your 11th year and you’re entering a new chapter with a new album! Last year you celebrated your 10th anniversary and this year it’s now your 11th, isn’t it?

Hongki:“The enthusiasm from our 10th year still remains, so I don’t particularly pay attention to the fact that it’s our 11th.”

Minhwan:“We all met in our teens, so it feels strange that our 20s will be over soon (laughs).”

Jonghoon: “As we’ve all reached adulthood, I think we need to work harder.”

Seunghyun: “Making music is fundamentally working hard together as a band. However, we show ourselves individually in front of our fans, so I think as individuals we also have to grow.”

Jaejin: “I feel that we’re starting anew now that our 10th anniversary is over. As we must fulfill our duties as Korean men (and enlist) soon, we are preparing music and various other things so our fans don’t get bored in the meantime. With these thoughts, we’ve been doing a variety of things lately.”

Interviewer: They created their 8th album ‘Planet Bonds’ with these feelings. What kind of album have you made?

Hongki: “There are many (songs) with bright lyrics full of hope. There are also powerful songs and softer songs reminiscent of our indie days. As implied by the title ‘BONDS’, the flow between songs is quite important. So, to begin with, we wish for you to listen to the songs in order, from the first track.”

Jaejin: “The word ‘PLANET’ holds great meaning, including Earth. However, recently, I feel like there are many ways to understand the word. Not only Japan and Korea but as we are able to communicate across various worlds, I feel there is only one ‘PLANET’. Therefore, I believe that ‘PLANET’ also means (large) scale bonds between people.”

Interviewer: The lead song ‘Hold the Moon’ is composed and written by Hongki. Please tell us about what happened during production.

Hongki:“Recently, I’ve really liked the atmosphere of songs featuring synth. I actually thought the song would have been good for my solo and was warming up to it, but I decided to provide it for the production of this album instead.”

Interviewer:‘Hold the Moon’, is different from Jaejin’s works: ‘Dancing On’ which has a band sound, and ‘Game’ which has an impressive bass.

Jaejin: “I created ‘Dancing On’ while imagining it performed by a different band. It’s nostalgic as it’s got a similar atmosphere to the songs FTISLAND performed a long time ago. It’s been a while so I asked the members ‘what do you think?’ and their thoughts were, ‘let’s put it in!’. ‘Game’ is a song I originally made while thinking about FT songs. As there aren’t many bass-focused songs, I made the song while trying to be conscious of the bass sound. I adopted the same arrangement (although the chords changed) as Hongki’s ‘Champagne’ (included in the 7^th album ‘United Shadows’) as I wanted to try something more fun.”

Interviewer:Did you insert the impressive bass line later?

Jaejin:“This time, I put it in from the beginning. From there, I put in the drums and guitar, then decide on the overall composition and then attach a melody. Usually, there are a lot of times I would create it from an orchestral accompaniment. By doing it like this, the way the melody unfurls will suit the song. There are many cases where the melody comes first in order to create the feeling of freedom. However, recently, we’ve been creating a lot of songs starting with the musical accompaniment first.

Interviewer: It’s been a while, but ‘Skyway’ is written and composed by Minhwan isn’t it?

Minhwan:“To begin with, I wished to convey feelings of hope in my song. Because I like the night sky, I wrote this song while thinking of the fans as I star-gazed.”

Seunghyun: “I also worked hard on composing, but the colour of my songs was a bit different from this album’s so unfortunately they weren’t included (laughs).”

Interviewer:During the ‘FTISLAND POPPING MINI LIVE’ in Nagoya in February, Hongki said Seunghyun’s song was ‘an amazing song’ didn’t he?

Hongki: “It felt a bit like 80’s rock and it really conveyed Seung-chan’s feelings well, so I liked that about it. When we met up to decide which songs to record, I said I wanted to arrange it and include it. However, we ran out of time, so it didn’t make it in this time. It might be in the next one!”

Seunghyun: “The songs I make all tend to be a bit different from FTISLAND’s colour. Next time I think it would be nice to make a song which suits the member’s performance style, so that no matter if Hongki-niisan or Jaejin-niisan sings it, it’ll get the ‘OK’.”

Interviewer: We anticipate it!

Interviewer:Composer Jonghoon’s ‘Flower Road’ is a song where everyone sings. In FT’s case, there are many songs where all members take the vocals aren’t there?

Jonghoon:“Yes, it’s always there. It’s been a while since everyone’s sung, so I have brought this song to close the album, but there’s also meaning there. From the very beginning, as I created this song, I was thinking all 5 of us would sing. I will be happy if you feel like your heart has been cleansed after listening to it until the end.”

Interviewer: Although the members created the songs separately, there’s a sense of unity when listening to them all.

Jaejin: “Even if we say it feels like FT, I don’t think it would be an FT album unless each individual’s personality was mixed in. So it goes without saying that it’s natural for us, as FT, to make songs and arrange them.”

Interviewer:What’s happening with your Spring Arena tour in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka?

Jaejin: “Nothing has been decided yet. We are releasing a new album, so while we prepare our new live I think it’s important that we show everyone a new (type of) rock. We’re thinking of making the image a little more ‘pop’ so that even people who don’t know our songs can sing along.”

Seunghyun: “When making a setlist, it’s usually Hongki-niisan who creates it initially. Then, after that, the four of us will check over it. However, as it’s a live in the Spring, I really want to line up songs which will suit the Spring. I like all the songs, but I really want to play ‘Sayonara’ while conveying the feelings of the lyrics.”

Hongki: “But I haven’t decided on anything yet, ok? (laughs)”

Interviewer: Although it’s a bit abstract, what does the word ‘band’ mean for FTISLAND?

Hongki: “Generally speaking, in simple terms, the word ‘band’ gives the impression of being cool or free. However, our true experience is that being in a band gives us a chance to translate the things we want to express about ourselves by our own hands. I think that’s good enough. Musicality depends on a band’s colour, but I think conveying your favourite genre, your favourite stories, your favourite songs, from yourself to your audience is what a band is.”

Translations by AdminA@fti5 (@OnAFallingStar)
Original article @Lily120227