Q. I heard that your mother doesn't like your long hair which you have now become famous for. She even sent in a complaint to one of your radio appearances asking 'Why on earth do you grow it'.
A. I didn't grow it because I wanted to. I didn't have time to cut it before some gig so I went on stage as is and the fans really liked it. So I kept growing it since.
Q. There's the story with your mom, and looking at other stories here and there, I burst out laughing so many times. It seems like your life is a sitcom without intending it.
A. I'm a bit like that. Life is like a sitcom, just like the saying "Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up but a comedy in long-shot." There are obviously things you really hate and you could get stressed but in the long run, it's all comedy. You can only laugh.
Q. Jannabi's 3rd album 'The Land of Fantasy' has finally come out. How do you usually feel after putting out an album?
A. This time it was similar to the first album. I think about how will it be received and wait for reactions. I was very nervous when we released the 2nd album. The latter part of the mastering was critical so the intended arrangement was completely crushed. I sobbed like a baby back then.
Q. But the 2nd album 'Legend' had its own special meaning too
A. Since it gained lots of love from the public. If the first album included songs that were like our portfolio, the 2nd album was an album that was less compatible with that portfolio. The 3rd album completes the first one. So many people waited for the vibes from the first album, us included. Long time fans have been showing the best reactions to the album, unexpectedly. I feel good.
Q. You expressed confidence in the 3rd album during the release of your EP 'Small Pieces I', you said you'll finally be showing music you've always wanted to show
A. These days it seems like band music focuses on the sound, is choosing a good sound the top priority? Of course, I'm confident in how The Land of Fantasy sounds but our main concern was something else. The narrative that is produced by the message and music, a narrative that best represents the band. Our philosophy is that band music should use that as their weapon. Even if someone hears it just once and stops, I wanted them to be able to listen from the first track to the last track in one breath.
Q. It might be Jannabi's, who said they hate cool and hip things, song of victory. In an era where many musical aspects have been dismantled, you created a fairytale with a full plot starting from an opening, to the climax and bravely leading to a happy ending. ‘
A. We also once thought we should keep the flow of the melody. Should we break the flow by writing a counter-melody song? Of course, this too is a bit of a dated trend. Regardless, if we do that our strength disappears. Jannabi has come this far with well-written melodies and each song having its own storyline, if we break that shall I say it seems like our core disappears? I worried about what we should do to survive.
Q. The word 'Song of victory' shows up in the latter part of The Land of Fantasy, it even appears in the narration 'Goodbye Dreamin' Old Stars'
A. That's right. ‘If you dreamed a dream that can't be accomplished / a self-proclaimed fool on a hill / if you've come this far believing in the song of victory that you've picked up / it will eventually be sweet / the stars and dreams I've been singing about so far..' There seems to be an increase of songs avoiding sounding new. When a song has a little 'dynamic' even the musicians themselves find it tacky. That's what I thought to be the essence of music though. What I've been chasing after while promoting as Jannabi might've been a fantasy but as long as I've been chasing after the illusion or myth, I choose to believe in it. I wanted to send this message.
Q. Sounds like 'We achieved it in the end' ‘
A. It's closer to we failed to achieve it.
Q. I always thought of Jannabi as a poet but with this album it seems closer to a playwright. It keeps making you picture narratives and scenes. Do you have a favorite scene in The Land of Fantasy?
A. From Track 6 to Track 9, it's the middle of the album. If the first part was to explain the concept of the album, we could be more experimental with the latter part. It's a part that includes the words we've been holding in for years. All the tension that build up on the 6th track was let go in the 9th track, that's also how I felt while writing the lyrics.
Q. Did you arrange the tracks in chronological order from the time of writing them?
A. That's right, it was done on purpose. I first wrote the first song, and later I even wrote the lyrics in order from the first track.
Q. Last year we met during Elle music project. I want to ask you the same question again, did you experience the power of music after the pandemic as well?
A. It was right around when I was writing the 6th track (laughs). Did I strongly experience the power of music during the pandemic... not at all. Since this is not something you feel from listening to good music. However, seeing how many people say they want to go to a concert or music festival once this is all over, it makes me realize the undying power of music. These days I hear this a lot, might make sense if each track had a music video, but because of the pandemic you can't even hold concerts so why on earth did you release this kind of album, should've released another album first. But, doesn't that make it better?
Q. Since it leaves room for imagination
A. I don't know if the pandemic provided some extra time to be able to get immersed in music. No one really has the time to entirely get immersed into every song. You can never catch the meaning of this album if you play it in the background, it has a clear goal where you need to be immersed in order to get something from it.
Q. How did you fill the gap created by the members' absence? Because of enlistment and other reasons bassist Jang Kyungjun and drummer Yun Kyeol didn't participate in this album, and guitarist Kim Dohyung enlisted before being able to complete the later part of album production.
Fortunately there were many suggestions. Hearing that we're working on an album an orchestra from outside reached out to us. Our 2019 concert, 'Fantastic old-fashioned returns' triggered the start of this album so we worked together with the people who were involved in that concert. This might upset some people but... everyone who works with us has this old-fashioned aspect to them, they have this humanly side and innocence, I wanted to capture that.
Q. The word 'old-fashioned' is a compliment in Jannabi's world
A. It's good to have people who don't bluff and show their emotions, if something doesn't workout, I like it when people stress about it. The music of people who hold old-fashioned sincerity has a special charm to it. I'm the type of person who remembers the expressions of people I'm working with while singing or playing instruments. If we sing the same song twice I go with the one with better expressions, that can be felt as a true sound you see.
Q. At some point the word 'retro' has been associated with Jannabi, do you agree with this?
A. Band music in general has a past-oriented aspect. But all of a sudden, they started calling that 'retro' which confuses me. Does that mean everyone who does band music does retro music? Which is why, with this album, we incorporated things that could be called classical. At this stage, it seems right to call rock music from the 60s and 70s classic. Many people think that the 3rd album was inspired by The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's album but that's far from the truth. We were heavily inspired by a 60s UK rock band 'The Moody Blues'. I wanted to find a slightly different direction this time around.
Q. Some people might find Jannabi's music 'Hip'
That's right (laughs). It's really not 'hip' though. The 'hip' we think of is something limited to a minority. In that sense, we want to stay away from it as far as possible. We want to be approachable to people. Some people say that this album isn't public friendly but in fact, it's just not their cup of tea, I think our approach is public friendly and universal. But, the fact that we can't 100% deliver our intentions and sincerity at the moment is, of course, not ideal but we try to accept it to a certain extent
Q. I could feel the unusual optimism of "it's ok even if you fail or lose your way" penetrating through Jannabi's music. Is Jannabi also fueled by optimism and positivity?
A. In reality I'm actually an extreme pessimist but I don't write my lyrics like that. In there exists another child, a child that doesn't grow old and isn't pessimistic.
Q. The real Choi Junghoon is?
A. I always tend to put myself down. When I start seeing positive results I sometimes tell myself out of the blue "hey, that's not it you fool, what the hell are you saying, you just got lucky" it's a mix of that. This kind of me and that kind of myself. At times, extremely pessimistic, while writing lyrics, very optimistic. My mind is always wavering between that.
Q. Jannabi was formed in Bundang and didn't affliate with the Hongdae indie scene. Do you think that kind of start created the Jannabi-like music?
A. Some people created these absurd rumors, that we aren't an indie band but a planned idol band. Why do they keep underestimating us? When did we ever make enemies with outsiders? When we perform in Hongdae we ask about the performers before and after us. Then we pick the next team as our target, we go "Ok! let's smash it so they won't ever be able to perform again" even if it was in a club with an audience of ten or so.
Q. You're very high-spirited!
But looking back at it, there were a lot of people who supported us as well. I think they concealed us with the intention of protecting us. Of course, those times made Jannabi's music. We were outsiders in Hongdae and outsiders in broadcasting channels. Also if I go around dressed like this, I'm an outsider in Bundang as well (laughs). It's something unusual to a new town, a man gets stares simply by wearing earrings.
Q. Still, since you were young, you made it obvious that you did music in Bundang. I heard you even purposely took your guitar with you to your after-school language class.
A. I had to make it obvious. I went around carrying my workbooks in my guitar case (laughs).
Q You've been writing songs since 5th or 6th grade, do you remember the very first song your wrote?
A. I'm leaving the universe / to a world without you / I'll forget your trace / and forget your smile / far far away / I will put my heart in this rusty rocket and go far away.’ It was called 'Gravity'. I sometimes sing it, when I'm bored, while smiling alone.
Q. When you were a student you were crazy about Ozzy Osborne and metal music, does that still influence Jannabi's music today in any way?
A. Metal music is surprisingly very lyrical, it's also hot. You can just light a fire, and burst out that something that's stuck in your chest. It's very different from today's sophisticated and 'cool' music. I still gain a lot of inspiration from it. Even in terms of the structure and melody.
Q. You said the reason you could continue making music is because you met friends who could join you
A. Correct. Especially meeting Dohyung was a big factor. Musically, the two of us are a match made in heaven. I think I was really lucky - Since it's not a relationship that you can find by searching for it. I never put much thought into recruiting members. We are just people who came together at some point and did what we had to as the opportunity arose. We aren't even completely compatible musically, and at the start, all of us had below average skills too, we just hit it off. Even in times where one could pack their bags and split, all of us held onto the name Jannabi.
Q. Being gutsy is a skill in itself
A. It's just, we're a little stupid in general (laughs). We're out of touch with reality too...
Q. Is there anything that your particularly tormented by?
A. Why is it only band music that has such a set limit. Or is there something about band music that makes it inaccessible to some people? These kind of thoughts. There are many things that make it difficult for bands to continue with the same flow. I have so much respect for long lasting bands. I actually consider maintaining a band for a long time an incredible art form to begin with.
Q. Where does Choi Junghoon's confidence come from? I mean your ability to believe in what you want to do and doing it
A. From the time and moment I poured my love into it. Thankfully, the outcome of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd albums weren't bad but I made a promise to myself. Staying up working all night, living such an irregular life, to do that until the 3rd album only, no actually to do that until I'm 30. I decided each night while washing up before going to bed.
Q. You turned 30 this year (Korean age)
A. But since fans really like this album... I have to continue living like that. I guess it's my fate. I read it in some book, there's just one word similar to fate, innate, I was born like that, and growing up my parents constantly told me 'you have to try, nothing is impossible' I grew up hearing that a lot. There's a lyric in this album that goes 'the song of victory I heard', it's talking about what I heard from my father. He always said "Be the real deal just once".
Q. It's a rather philosophical teaching
A. That's right. Even the narration in the 2nd track, I wrote it thinking it's something my father would say. 'Love isn't a fantasy beyond the clouds but foolish faith is needed, come on, pick the fragments of the dream that was broken overnight before you go'.
Q. Will Jannabi continue to venture?
A. I think it's closer to drifting than venturing. I wish it would continue like this.
Q. What's something you want to treasure for a long time to achieve that?
A. For starters my body needs to be in Bundang. I don't need to know much more about the world, and I need to read more. My hometown is Seohyun-dong Bundang, I sometimes go there. I worry it'll wear out if I go frequently so I'm saving it. I get a warm feeling in my heart when I go there. My boyhood, my neighborhood where I spent that time, I have a special attachment to it.
Q. You were happy
A. Very much. I realized it during the second album. The fact that I gained something from my happy boyhood. I still have a little of the child feeling, that's about to explode if you slightly provoke it, remaining.
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