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Interview translation
I Wish That We Won’t Grow Old And Stay the Same (Personality wise)
B.A.P is a group that started as young boys between the ages of 17 and 23. Though the words “revolution” and “hypocrisy” from their debut song, “Warrior,” may seem inappropriate at a young age, they have always expressed the same meaning and point of view in their songs. For example, the song <BADMAN> in their 3rd mini-album that they have recently finished performing includes the lyrics “a war with the criminals.” Also, leader Bang Yongguk stated that he composes because he wishes to “express his words through music.” What is it that the group wants to say through their strong image and rough lyrics? Inside the stories that they personally tell, there were some surprisingly funny everyday life stories.
Question: We heard that B.A.P did great at the MBC <Idol Star Championships>.
DAEHYUN: We did the best at fast walking and indoor soccer/football
ZELO: We didn’t do so great last time, but I think it’s because the hyungs were tired from filming a music video overnight. (laughs)
Question: It must be physically tiring when performing your songs. How do you feel now that you’ve finished performing your title song <BADMAN>?
YONGGUK: In this album, we tried to make our songs, costumes, and artwork similar to each other. Having the songs as the main point, we tried our best to come up with ideas for them that would help express the lyrics. It was a fun experience. Like in ‘Warrior,’ ‘Power,’ and now ‘Badman,’ we tried our best to include a message relating to criminals in society and we wanted to present it in a way that we can do best.
ZELO: While Yongguk hyung also acts a producer, he talks a lot with the lyric composers. Once a concept is chosen, we are told what it is and if we had good ideas to share, we take part in the activity.
Question: Since Yongguk is also a producer, we think that you would have to focus more than the other members.
HIMCHAN: Yongguk tries to achieve perfection. When recording, we spend a lot of time because he tries to bring out the best of every member’s talent. When I watch from the sidelines, he barely sleeps and receives a lot of stress during the time we prepare our albums.
DAEHYUN: I think he’s more sensitive than strict. Because Yongguk hyung knows our of our talent more than anyone, he controls it perfectly.
Question: Since you’re the groups leader as well as producer, you must go through similar hardships as the company’s manager.
DAEHYUN: If any one of us show less than what we could’ve done on stage, Yongguk hyung is the one who notices and tells us. He lets us know by saying things like “What do think about doing this part that way?” but he mostly talks to Zelo a lot.
YONGGUK: Well, he is our maknae who will one day take care of our company in the future. (laughs) Also, I didn’t choose the music because I like it, I chose to do this because I felt that I had to express what I wanted to say through music ever since I was young. I think that’s why I talk to Zelo a lot more.
Question: You once said that you wish to present a solo album with your composed lyrics before you become an adult.
ZELO: I still lack in many ways, but I always practice. I want to show everybody what I am capable of, my eclectic thoughts, and something that can be done only at this age.
Question: After you’ve (ZELO) composed the songs, do you get feedback from the members?
ZELO: We did in the beginning, but I don’t show them anymore. (laughs)
DAEHYUN: A long time ago, Zelo would compose the lyrics and ask, “Hyung, is this an ‘ok’ word?” but he’s too embarrassed now.
YONGGUK: I saw the lyrics he recently composed. I tend to assess his work very honestly.
Question: We heard that during the Pacific tour in Hong Kong, Zelo lost his mic before he went on stage. What were your thoughts at that moment?
ZELO: As soon as I realized that my mic disappeared, I was perplexed. Thanks to Daehyun hyung, we had no accident because he handed me his mic.
DAEHYUN: The LED was already starting to open once Zelo mentioned that he didn’t have a mic. (laughs) So I told him that I’ll give him my mic whenever his turn came up. No one knew how the situation would end up, but Zelo acted quickly and handed me my mic before my part began.
Question: During the last year, you must have made some know-how’s to handle such situations.
DAEHYUN: If we’ve never had any concert experiences before, we would’ve have had any idea how to handle the situation, but because we’ve had a little experience before, we quickly thought of ways to handle them.
ZELO: Once we finish performing, we always discuss while monitoring our performance and because we continue to fix mistakes along the way, I think we’re becoming better at it.
HIMCHAN: One thing that surprised me during the Japan concert is that Japanese fans don’t shout out, but rather quietly listen to our songs. Before that, we sprayed water and enjoyed the stage together with the fans in America, but now I learned that each country has a different way of reacting.
DAEHYUN: During times like that, we shout “Shout Out!” or “sing with us!”
Youngjae. Because the members don’t usually talk much, I unknowingly act as an MC during our concerts and everyone reacts very nicely to my actions. I think that our real personalities are being shown because we act based on our styles. My fans say that my prime time is now. (HIMCHAN: In the music video, there is a scene where Youngjae looks the coolest out of all of us.) I actually lost more weight for my last album, but I guess I look better on screen now. The reason why I became a “handsome shoulders” guy is I think because I just have a naturally large figure. There are times when I look at Zelo and want to go back in time as a high school student. When I was in school, I was very envious of other friends who can dance, but I think that if I went back in time now, I would become one of them. (laughs) I used to cry a lot while watching cartoons when I was young. I like a baseball cartoon called <Major> and sports cartoons have a lot of morals. It may seem typical, but you can agree with it. I sometimes think that it would be great if I could have teleportation powers. The transportation and waiting time is very long, so you can read a book or practice, but it’s actually really hard to use those times for such things. For example, if we had to go to Busan, I can teleport to our scheduled location and the members can call me after they arrive 5 hours later. (laughs)
Himchan. I’m one of the oldest members in B.A.P like Yongguk. Since we are touring around the world, Daehyun, Youngjae, and I are in charge of Japanese and Yongguk, Jongup, and Zelo are usually in charge of English. The cute/aegyo act that we put on stage is honestly all ad-lib. The reason why we bear it is because if we decline when 4,000 people want to see it, the mood might become very gloomy. (laughs) It’s different type of cuteness than when we perform “Stop It” and “Crash.” When you’re performing, we can do it together, so it’s less nerve-wracking. (laughs) I once tried to impersonate Hwang Jungmin’s “Deuruwa” from the movie <New World>, but the reactions were very harsh. The fans commented that it wasn’t similar at all no matter how they look at it, so I stopped impersonations altogether. Yongguk is very knowledgeable on what he’s interested in, but if it doesn’t interest him at all then he’s lost. He’s very good at composing on his computer, but the younger members tend to teach him in everything else. It’s fascinating to see that Jongup grew 1-2cm these days. It’s becoming harder to put my arms around his shoulders. (DAEHYUN: I think it’s because he’s growing smaller since he’s aging.) Jongup and I usually fight over the smallest things. When I say something, he says something like, “No way, stop lying” and I always lose to him. (DAEHYUN: Thanks to that, we laugh a lot. It’s very friendly in the sidelines.) If we get to do a world tour, I want to go to the Republic of San Marino. It’s a small country that looks like a dot on the map and I want to learn their culture. I have a dream about how my future marriage life would be like. I want to live a very long time loving with my one and only person. If one of us doesn’t live that life, it’s probably going to be because of my childish self. Ah, this article better disappear once if that happens! (laughs)
Daehyun. I am the main vocal in B.A.P along with Youngjae. There’s a song that we sang together during the concert in August called “Running in the sky” by Lee Jeok and it’s a song that we sang a lot when we were bored when practicing. Since B.A.P’s overall theme of all the songs are dark and powerful, we wanted to sing a fun song when performing. Because I’m a vocal, I tend to take care of my condition a lot by drinking warm tea. It’s best to not talk a lot, but because our members don’t talk a lot, Himchan hyung, Youngjae, and I usually take the lead. I listen to a lot of hard rock and jazz. These days, I listen to Linkin Park, suggested by Jongup, and Ray Charles teacher. (HIMCHAN: Teacher?) I’m not sure what to call him because he’s much older than me and passed away (Korean culture/manners). (laughs) I actually plan my days by the hour. Whatever I have planned for that day, at that time, I must do it. (HIMCHAN: We do it too, you know? It’s just that we do it after we wake up the next day.) All the members had no problems waking up early, but once we made our debut and started going on shows and performing, they had a hard time waking up. They all think “Daehyun will wake us up” and trusted me, but there was one time when I overslept. It was chaotic. My hometown is in Busan, so I like to go to the beach, but when we went to Sokcho for our schedule, I only saw a glimpse of the sea. There is just one time where I cried while watching a cartoon and it’s called <One Piece>. It was a scene where Usopp and Luffy were fighting about leaving Going Merry and getting separated. The scene was too sad that I cried alone, secretly. Though our fans say that they love us, I think they can also be very cold/strict. When the members jokingly call me “Busan Wonbin” while performing, the fans say “Leave our Wonbin alone!” (laughs) I wasn’t the one who made this nickname, so I’m kind of sad. (YOUNGJAE: We made fun of him because we thought he was saying “stop it” because he was embarrassed. That wasn’t the reason, though. Haha) There was one time when they told me to impersonate Wonbin from <A Man from Nowhere> and I felt bad for doing it though it wasn’t my fault. (laughs)
While on the overseas tour, which member adjusted the best in the field?
Youngjae: As expected the younger members. Himchan-hyung is a little sensitive,and Daehyun and I had a hard time, but interestingly, Jongup and Zelo went right to sleep at night without worrying much about the time difference.
Himchan: When we saw them wake up, they were like people who lived there. I was a little jealous.
Daehyun: Because they became a local in jut one day. (Laughing)
Ever since your debut, you’ve been getting a hot reaction on the German Music Chart. Why do you think you’re getting such a good response when you haven’t even held a concert in Europe?
Youngjae
It can be said that Jongup has been the center of B.A.P’s performance and I think he liked the fact that he was able to show the krumping skills he’s been interested in, in ‘Badman’. Do you dance for not just the stage but just for fun once in a while?
Jongup: When I want to dance, I often turn on the music and practice by myself; I’ve always wanted to practice like I’m just playing during those times. I want it to feel like street culture where a bunch of people who dance gather. Of the friends I used to dance with, there was a friend who was a street dancer, and when I hear about that, I wish I could dance in a free atmosphere.
Daehyun: Even yesterday and the day before, during our tight schedule where we rarely have time to even sleep, Jongup and Zelo keep practicing making me feel that they’re really amazing even thought they are younger. I think it’s been that way everyday while doing our activities. As expected being young is nice. (Laughing)
Jongup: It’s not because I strain myself to practice, it’s like the feeling when you were younger, where you want to play more games when you should be sleeping to get to school early.
Are you saying games and practice are the same? (Laughing)
Daehyun: Oh….
Youngjae: That’s a lie!
Daehyun: Liar!
Jongup: Actually we play games in the practice room. (Laughing)
Himchan: Because the wifi is good. (Laughing)
I think that even when you practice steadily, you can’t see much progress but when you rest for a while, you can quickly feel yourself falling back.
Himchan: Rather than practicing to the needed amount, we regularly do it. Because it’s something we’ve been doing together since we were trainees, we’re used to it.
Daehyun: Like how people eat food and drink water, to us practicing is like that. It’s lie, ‘What about practice? It’s not difficult’. It is absolutely part of one day’s work.
It’s been a long time since Himchan has stood on stage because of his injured hand. I think it might have made you nervous and the emotions you felt must have been different.
Himchan: After healing, I stood on stage for the concert in America, and when I saw the fans at the concert in Korea on August crying a lot, I felt something new. While resting I practiced singing a lot. I also concentrated on learning Japanese during that time so it’s also when my skills in Japanese increased the most.
Not long after you debuted, Zelo entered high school and has had to juggle activities as a singer and school; isn’t that difficult?
Zelo: I first attended an academic high school but I transferred to a preforming arts high school. Although it’s nice to go to school with kids who similar dreams, it’s a little sad that I can’t go every day because of tours and activities.
Himchan: I feel sorry for him because he doesn’t get to go to school much.
Youngjae: (Laughing) You’d think that people who go to school don’t want to go. But I realized that I liked time spent at school the most after graduating. I didn’t think I’d agree with this thought. (Laughing)
I heard that Zelo told the members he wanted to go to a water park together.
Zelo: When I said it a few days ago, Jongup hyung asked, “Have you gone to a water park?” He talked about how he goes every year, how there are waves and how fun it is in the water. I haven’t gone before but knowing the hyungs went, it kept bothering me, so I felt we should go together. (Laughing)
Himchan: It’s true, If you get the timing right, the wave will go up to 8 meters!
Yongguk: You’re not the only one who hasn’t gone to certain places. There are places you’ve gone that we haven’t.
Zelo: Oh,really?
Daehyun: I haven’t gone to Lotte World before.
Youngjae: We went last time.
Daehyun: It was for a concert not for fun!
Zelo: When we go to an overseas concert we should go to the hotel swimming pool. (Laughing)
You have a really tight schedule, and you’ll be busy from now on as you’ve grown popular, but is there one thing you wish wouldn’t change?
Himchan: I think it’s perfect right now since everyone is happy.
Youngjae: I also hope it’ll keep being this lively. It could seem selfish, but I hope we avoid anything bad.
Yongguk: I’ve kept it well up to now, but I hope my greed for music will continue to grow and not turn to something else.
Zelo: The hyungs are my second family. I hope we will continue to live harmoniously.
Himchan: Why are you guys being like that? Did someone say something to you guys? (Laughing)
Daehyun: I just hope our thoughts of a family don’t change. A family is the most comforting existence in the world and those who you can share anything with, so, as long as that doesn’t change, I think we’ll be able to go on for a long time without anything too bad happening.
Jongup: I thought of saying something similar…
Daehyun: Something else then. That’s no fun. Do something new!
Jongup: I hope we won’t grow old or change. (Laughing)
Bang Yongguk. B.A.P’s leader. When we went to LA for the Pacific Tour, I bought a LP record player. Because it was the first time buying this, I kept it with me for the course to Korea from LA, San Francisco, Washington, New York and back to Korea which was around 1000 miles. The music heard on the computer is clean so it’s no fun, but if you listen to it on the LP, you can feel the analog so it’s nice. I’m thinking of buying an LP player every time we go overseas. I like exercising but it’s not to make my body look better, it’s because I can feel it if I get fat even in the slightest. I like doing it for fun, not to win. I think that’s why the fans make fun of me saying I’m lethargic. (Laughing) Last February I took off my shirt at the concert but that was only to fulfill our promise; I actually don’t like taking my clothe off. (Laughing) In the past I was in charge of waking up the members but now its Daehyun’s job. The younger members know that I sleep later because I work on the album, so they wake me up the latest but that’s 5 minutes before we have to leave. But I don’t care much even if I just wear a piece of fabric so it’s fine. Haha. It’s been some time since I last watched TV. Instead I read the newspaper or look up news on internet apps. I play games once in a while too and in a one I’m playing right now, I’m the boss of an airline. I’ve even gotten 13th place worldwide. While playing I also learned about the economic index, travelers index, etc. I quickly want to go on a world tour. (Himchan: Next time when we’re buying tickets, tell us where it would be nice to go to.) Ever since I was young, it’s always been my dream to go to Santorini, Greece and I’ve recently wanted to go to Africa. I want to go with the other members and do a <LIVE ON EARTH>. I want to do a charity concert like U2 and also volunteer activities. They didn’t just have a concert as a foreigner, they also learned about the culture of that place, and became one with the people there, which was a great shock for me. We also wanted to become that kind of an artist.
Zelo. B.A.P’s youngest member. I have a great interest in fashion so while we were going around on the concerts in America, I like how I was able to see a lot of stuff that’s not sold in Korea. The people who dressed in a hip-ho style were really cool. But truthfully, I didn’t have a lot of money so I only had fun looking. (Laughing) When I don’t want to practice or even play, I read books. In the past I read books like, <100 Stories a Person in Their Teens Should Know>, but these days, I read stories about youth and travels. (Yongguk: I think it’s important to know a lot about politics and the economy if you want to correctly do music. I wanted to give Zelo <The Biography of Che Guevara> because I thought it would help him in the future, but I haven’t had the chance.) I tagged along when the hyungs would exercise but because my body started puffing up, I’m not doing it these days. I also learned aegyo from the hyungs. (Laughing) I think all the members have no shame. Because I’m the youngest, only I got a baby perm, but because there were no complaints, I’m getting greedy over it. (Daehyun: Zelo contributed a lot to the hair concept this album. He takes in hairstyles that are hard to do at that that age.) I’m pretty good at concentrating on movies. It’s to the point where I dream about it for a while after watching it. When I watched the whole Harry Potter> movie series with Jongup hyung, I would dream about being a wizard everyday. But of all the things, I would be using magic that harmed people in the dream. (Laughing) If I really could become a wizard, I want the invisibility cloak the most.
Jongup. He is in charge of dancing and vocals in B.A.P. I always wanted to feel American street culture myself, so when I was able to do so in a number of cities because of the Pacific Tour, I was really excited. When we were in LA we went out shopping, but maybe because there were so many cool people, whenever I saw people on the street I felt like I was looking at celebrities. It still feels like a dream and I want to go again. Because the fans gave us the <Harry Potter> full set DVD, I watched the whole thing from the beginning to the end with Zelo while we were traveling. Usually when I go out I get shy, but when I’m with people I’m friendly with, I think I have a tendency to get quick-tempered. Because I sleep a lot, I sleep whenever, where ever, so once when Himchan hyung came to wake me up by hitting my stomach, I remember cursing. So I also shook him awake the next time saying, “Hyung! Wake up!”(Himchan: Jongup is actually the type to insist that he’s right, not get angry.) I’m slowly growing taller. But, if I had to choose between my shoulders and my height, I would still choose my height. I need the thing I am lacking more. (Laughing)
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