Wednesday, August 11, 2010

[INTERVIEW] Part 1: MBLAQ Yozm Star Interview


Q. If you were to have a concert, what is a performance you'd want to do?

Thunder: I want to do Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean'. Wearing that outfit, I want to have a stand microphone and recreate it perfectly. With a live band.
Mir: When you do a concert at a place like a stadium, only the people in the front can see the stage; the fans in the back can't. So I thought, I want to do a performance that everyone in the stadium can see.
Mir: You might think I'm copying, but I saw that in other artists' performances, they were singing while running across the stadium. It might not be a performance, but I want to give enjoyment to the fans.
Lee Joon: I want to show modern dance, because people seem to have a prejudice towards it. I take off my clothes a lot on stage, so people think that I like to take off my clothes in public a lot, but in dance performances, there are times when performers don't even wear underwear.
Lee Joon: I want to make the arts area of culture known. I want to show modern dance in a modern way.
G.O: I want to have a stage in the middle, and for all the fans to surround it, so that it will be a performance in which we can all communicate together.
Seungho: I want to perform at a place with no ceiling. So that we can jump off from a plane? I want to show that sort of event, and also show magic tricks.


Q. Which member of MBLAQ has the most close celebrity friends?

G.O: I debuted first in 2007, so I have friends that I knew from then. After I debuted as MBLAQ, I greeted them and even introduced them to the members.
G.O: Because I debuted around the same time as the Wonder Girls, I did a lot of radio shows with them. But to be honest, I didn't have a lot of close celebrity friends then. When I debuted as MBLAQ, I met a lot of celebrities because of Rain hyung. I'm close with BEAST because we debuted around the same time.
G.O: Just a while ago, I was going to go see a movie with the BEAST members, but our times clashed, so I couldn't.
Lee Joon: For me, Park KyungLim nuna, Shin BongSun nuna, and Jung JooRi nuna. There are a lot of people who ask me why I don't know idols, but why not! I'm comfortable with these nunas.
Lee Joon: Oh, and I'm also close with C.N. Blue because we knew each other before debut. We get together to eat and go clubbing. I'm close with SHINee's JongHyun too.
G.O: Honestly, we're all closest with our members. We build a close friendship in the dorm. 
Seungho: Keu heu heu. I'm living in a windowless prison! We only get together by ourselves.
G.O: When I just have coffee outside, rumors get created that say that I drank coffee with a girl. Our dorm is close to Apgujeong Rodeo, so I went to go drink coffee with Mir. Just because of the fact that there were women in our surroundings, I was caught up in an unbelievable rumor that I drank coffee with women.
G.O: I didn't even get to talk to any of them. Heuk. I'm really sad.


Q. MBLAQ, who is the epitome of chic, turns into gag-dols on Starry Night and variety programs! What are your thoughts on this?

Lee Joon: In the case of Starry Night, I think it's a program we do to clear our image and play. To us, it's a very comfortable program. I don't know how this will sound, but we do the broadcasts with the feeling that we're just playing. On variety shows, I work hard to show an undecorated, natural image.
(In a previous interview, Rain said that he wants MBLAQ to become a group like g.o.d.)
SeungHo: Yeah, I like reaching out to the masses comfortably. However, I would like us to maintain a bit of mysteriousness. It won't be too late for us to completely get rid of the mysteriousness after some time has passed. That definitely doesn't mean that we'll be withdrawn though. ^^
Seungho: I want to become a singer who people want to see on stage when we're off stage, and a singer that people want to get closer to when we're on stage. 
Mir: I think that Seungho hyung and I have been let loose a lot. We each have some belly fat. ^^
Lee Joon: It's comfortable and I like it. Nowadays, the one-pack is the big thing. That's why I haven't been taking care of what I eat lately. I don't exercise that much anymore. I will go back to a one-pack one day! A one-pack with a scarcity value!


Q. Tell us a scary or flustering episode you had while promoting~^^

Lee Joon: I really have a lot. Because of this, I was seriously stressed and felt really sorry to the members for a long time. It's the live radio incident.
Everyone: Puhahaha!!!! (as soon as the word 'radio' came out, everyone began cracking up)
Lee Joon: I'm being really sincere. With the thought that MBLAQ should be accepted for vocals, I prepared a lot. At a really important part, my voice cracked really badly. It was a live broadcast, and my voice cracked twice. When you type in the name of the song on the Internet, there's so many files that come up.
Lee Joon: I will confess truthfully. It was 4men's 'Confession'. It wasn't even a high note, but my voice cracked because I was trying to enjoy myself and not be nervous while singing. I was really sorry to the members, because thanks to me, the song that we had prepared for was ruined.
Mir: But in that situation, I was making fun of him.
Lee Joon: Yeah, everyone else was worried about me, but Mir made fun of me. Even when we went to go perform at places, Mir joked, "Joonie hyung, I hope your voice cracks at this part!". And made my feelings sad~.
Everyone: Puhahahaha!
Lee Joon: Thankfully, my voice hasn't cracked since the release of our second album. I think it's because I practiced a lot.
Seungho: For me..I have a episode that not a lot of male singers might have experienced. During our last album at a concert, we were in the middle of singing 'Oh Yeah', and before Thunder began his rap, I felt my zipper slowly going down. I was wearing gloves.
Seungho: I was going to turn around and pull up the zipper during the rest time, but as soon as Thunder's rap ended, it was my part, so there was no time to try. So I just performed with it open! Thankfully, I saw a picture taken, and you couldn't tell. I think it was because my underwear was black.
Lee Joon: I have another sad episode. I didn't know that I had the H1N1 virus. I just thought that I was really sick and went on stage and couldn't see anything in front of me. I didn't know what I was doing. I fainted on that stage. When I went to the hospital, they said it was the H1N1 virus.
Mir: I think that was the concert in which Seungho hyung's zipper opened.
Lee Joon: A lot of episodes happened on that stage.
Mir: On our debut day (last year 10/15), I learned for the first time that they do pre-recordings. Our last performance went on air, but I was so tired that I didn't rap at the end. At our debut stage. After that, though, I did it all!
Seungho: At our first stage, I think I wasn't as nervous because we had the experience of performing at Rain hyung's concert, but it was really hard. There was a camera following us even after the performance. 


Q. I'm a Chinese fan..do you have any plans to promote in China?

G.O: Honestly, if we could, we want to go to a lot of countries. We can't do it by greed though. We want to be accepted in Korea first, so that we can also be loved overseas. The first thing we need to do is get first place, so that we can freely try different kinds of music.
G.O: I think that we should think about overseas activities after that.


Q. Rain once said that if he got first place, he would dance while holding fish in his hands. Does MBLAQ have anything similar? If we get first place, we will ~~~! I want to hear something~ kek (something possible~ not impossible~ kek)

Thunder: I will sing live while doing hand popping.
Seungho: All five of us will do nikes.
Mir: I will sing live while being piggybacked on Seungho hyung's back.
Lee Joon: I will hold fish and dance instead of Jihoon hyung.
Seungho: I wonder if we'll have time to do that?
Mir: To be honest, I think we'll just say thank you and end it..
Thunder: But I think mine is too hard, so I want to change it. What should I do?
Seungho: Do a windmill with me.


Q. A wish that you want to come true this year?

Seungho: I want to win DaeSang.
Mir: I don't wish as big as a house, but I want to buy my dad a new car. His car's a bit old. There's a new car series that came out, so I want to change it for him. Originally, I wanted to get them a new house first, but honestly I think it'll be a bit hard for this year. I said I would build them a three-story house, but it looks like that'll have to be pushed back a little.
Lee Joon: First place is important, but I want to show everyone a me that is improving more and more. The members were really sick during first album, so we couldn't promote a lot. I want to show our fans a healthy image of us.
Thunder: I want to put a song I made into our album.
G.O: That can't be called a wish, because Thunder's skills have been approved by Jihoon hyung, so I think that his wish is one that can be fulfilled.
G.O: And my wish is Korean unification. When the current state of affairs is unstable, it's hard to sing. The Cheonan sinking was sad, and it's hard these days because there's so much talk of war. It's important for us to get first place and win DaeSang, but I want to sing in a stable environment.
G.O: Because when the masses turn on the TV, it's anxious these days. In the back of my mind, there's always the anxiety that there might be a war erupting any moment. I want to sing after the Koreas unify. 


Q. How was the first meeting between the members? Who is the most sociable?

Thunder: G.O hyung had a lot of hair on the day we first met. On that day, his hair was particularly bushy, so I can't erase that impression on my mind.
Thunder: And this person (gestures to Lee Joon) had a really nice body. And his personality was so unique that I thought, "Why is this person like this?". I couldn't tell what kind of person he was..that kind of personality.


Q. What chore are you in charge of at the dorm? ke ke ke

Lee Joon: I'm in charge of making the dorm messy! The ahjumma cleans it all, and I feel sorry to her, but my mind feels strange when the room is clean. That's why when the ahjumma leaves after organizing everything, I sloppily take the clothes off the hangers. I must not like things to be uniform. I can't get used to it.
(What about cooking and things like that?)
G.O: Our house is not an environment to cook in. We don't have a gas range, and we use the refrigerator as a freezer.^^ The water purifier and the microwave are in charge of us. We don't cook.
G.O: We're rookies, so it's kind of a given, but the state of our dorm isn't very good. But we're going to move into a nice place soon.^^


Q. What is the best compliment you've each heard from Rain?

Seungho: The compliment that all the members did well, we heard when we finished our come back stage for 'Y' at Inkigayo. "If you guys keep doing it like this, then from now on, hyung won't need to pay attention". He said that, and somehow, it made me more anxious.
Seungho: When we finished the performance, we felt like we didn't do as well as we could've, so we had the thought that we should do better on next week's stage. When Jihoon hyung complimented us, it made us more anxious.
(We didn't hear an answer on individual compliments. Sorry to the person who asked!)


Q. What do you usually do on the computer?

G.O: I monitor and read the main articles. We stop at web surfing, but Seungho has a lot of interest in electronics, so he looks for news on new electronics and information on how to update the ones he has now.
(Is there anyone who likes gaming?)
Mir: We try not to game. We're bloodtype A, so we know that if we fall in once we'll never come back out, so we just don't try.
Thunder: For me, ever since our debut day, I wanted to play games, so I tried to install it several times but couldn't figure out how, so I still haven't.
Mir: Unexpectedly, he's not good with computers.
(You could ask Seungho to help.)
Thunder: I was too lazy to go to that room to ask for help.
G.O: When Thunder asks, "Hyung, how do you do this?", he's like a baby, so I always want to help him. So when I teach him and ask if he needs anything else and that I'll tell him, he says, "No. This is fine". And it ends like that.
G.O: Thunder has a tendency to act tiresome when the answer to the question he asked goes overboard. ^^


Q. You guys live together in a dorm. Are there any incidents that were funny or surprising? Tell us ^^

Thunder: I was watching a horror movie with Seungho hyung. I can only watch scary movies when I'm covered in blankets and holding a pillow with the lights off. With Seungho hyung next to me, I looked at him as I said, "Hyung! This is good!" at the climax part, and he was sleeping. He slept like that until morning.
Seungho: I like horror and thriller movies. If a movie is fun to watch, I sleep. The moment I focus on the movie, I fall asleep. I don't sleep at the theaters, but at home I always fall asleep. That's why I usually watch movies in parts.
Lee Joon: At the dorm, we don't really participate in others' businesses, because at the dorm, we want to rest.
Mir: After coming home, Joonie hyung comes out after about two hours on the computer. He stays in the dorm so quietly that you don't even know he's there. Joonie hyung is the type of person who lazes around and does nothing at home for long periods of time.


Q. The choreography for 'Y' is really powerful, and I saw that you guys pulled off the live well while doing the powerful dance. I was surprised because your live skills improved compared to the first album. Did you have a special practice method?

Lee Joon: There wasn't a method. We just practiced a lot.
Seungho: I think we put focus on the choreography and performance for 'Oh Yeah'. I can say this now, but when it was too hard to sing while dancing, I used to slightly not sing. We used to practice the singing and dancing separately as well. But when we stood on stage like that, it was really hard.
Seungho: I got the thought that even if we don't dance as powerfully, we should pay more attention to singing on stage. So we practiced singing while dancing.
(How is the choreography different when comparing 'Oh Yeah' with 'Y'?)
Lee Joon: 'Oh Yeah' had a lot of technical moves. It's a dance that anyone can do with practice. 'Y' is a dance that anyone can follow, but it's hard to follow really well. I think that's the difference.
(Do the members themselves feel that their live singing has improved?)
Thunder: (nods his head)
Seungho: I had a really hard time during practice and recording because I tried a voice that I had never done before. In the last album, I didn't have a lot of vocal parts, so there wasn't a burden. In this album, each member's parts are noticeable and I had a lot of vocal parts, so it felt burdensome. I'm just thankful that everyone sees us kindly.
Lee Joon: More than any other practice, I think the best and most effective way is to practice the choreography while singing live. What's fascinating is that at first, I couldn't even get a sound out, but as we practiced more, I found a breathing technique that worked with the choreography, and got used to it. I can now sing while doing a powerful dance.


Q. A while ago, the members of 2PM went on radio and picked MBLAQ as an idol group they want to get closer to. But Lee Joon and G.O are MCing for a music program with 2PM's Nichkhun, Junho, and Chansung. Are you guys still awkward?

G.O: We've only met while working and haven't met them outside personally yet. Interestingly, Rain hyung doesn't take us out anywhere. 2PM and 2AM hang out together, but he doesn't ever take us anywhere.
G.O: A while ago, I was supposed to go bowling with those friends, but someone called me and said, "Rain hyung said he was going too, do you want to go?". Then it makes it hard for us to go, because Rain hyung wasn't the one who first asked us to go hang out with him. 
G.O: So I don't think I've ever specially met with the 2PM members. Those friends' schedules are really busy. I want to get closer to them but I'm sad because there's not an easy chance to.
Mir: Park JinYoung sunbaenim told Jihoon hyung that he wanted to see MBLAQ, but Jihoon hyung told him that we had to practice and wouldn't let him. I think that Jihoon hyung feels a definite education method for us, his 'students'. All of the company singers are comfortable colleagues.



SOURCE: Yozm
TRANSLATION: ilovepocky@AbsoluteMBLAQ

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