changbin | two kids room | seasons 1-5

Your bag looks like a bulletproof bag. It’s my work bag. I thought it’d be good for working while moving around, so I bought it. My notebook, hubs, license, mini keyboard, charger, USB… I put in things that I must have when working on tracks. People say it’s like a weapon, so they call it the ‘007 bag’. I think they’re right? To Bang Chan, it’s a weapon, is it not? Ah, that’s right. It’s my weapon. If I carry this around, even on days that I’m really tired I can think of ideas. Amazingly. If there’s one thing you must bring besides you ‘007 bag’ when working on songs? A drink or jellies, chocolate. I have to eat something sweet while working to feel like my brain is working. I don’t drink coffee. I’m the type to avoid caffeine or carbonated drinks. Didn’t you say before that you like working during the night so you work on tracks with the lights off? Nowadays you must be constantly working regardless of the time. That’s right. Then, when I worked on tracks the atmosphere was really important. Nowadays I work a lot in planes. Since there’s not much to do inside the plane. I even work in the waiting rooms. Recently, there’s a track I worked on with Changbin and Seungmin, it’s a track I made in the waiting room on the day Stray Kids stood on stage on for the first time. Almost all the tracks on Stray Kids’ albums are made by the group’s internal producing unit ‘3RACHA’, made up of Bang Chan, Changbin, and HAN. I’m curious about 3RACHA’s collaboration method. It differs per song. There are times where we put the lyrics HAN wrote on top of Changbin’s melody… we work together with the most appropriate method for each track. Overall there’s lots of times when I take the role of organizing and arranging. I do almost all of the track work. Changbin and HAN and my colors and criteria are each a little different so when we work together it’s fun.

“The world of music if very deep and wide, so the feeling of excitement is very big. Since there’s so much that I’ve yet to try. I still get excited when I work on songs.”

Stray Kids’ new single ‘Double Knot’, released this past October 10th, is also 3RACHA’s track. It’s extremely powerful. What kind of song did you want to make? ‘Double Knot’ is a track overflowing with the fighting spirit of double-knotting one’s shoelaces and being ready to go anywhere. It has a mix of powerful genres like electronic, hip hop, etc. We worked together with the composer DalasK in America. It’s a song that runs straight in C minor, but I think we were able to capture the sound and feeling that I wanted so I’m happy with it. For ‘Double Knot’, I wanted to go with C minor from the start. When I played the chord and melody that I first thought of on the keyboard, it was C minor. Compared to D minor and A minor, it’s a bit more comfortable to sing. While making ‘Double Knot’, what were the keywords you thought of? I thought about the performance. The first thought was that I wished the performance would be really showy. I also wanted to express a showy and intense performance with the track. I especially paid attention to the impact during the drop. For some beats I completely got rid of all other sound and just focused on one instrument. ‘Bbam!’ ‘Bbam!’ Like this. I put emphasis and priority on the performance, formation, a strong and intense feel, and fighting spirit, etc. The fighting spirit was important. I wanted to make a song with fighting spirit. Generally, how you go about working on tracks? Do you have a specific method? It’s different depending on the circumstance. There are times when I start with the drums and layer sounds, and there are times when I play a few chords and then put chords that suit them on top. Do you tend to take a lot of time when working? It’s different every time, but sometimes I get caught up on one thing and finish within 2 hours. Of course, there are times when it takes a week. The song ‘Maze of Memories’ was like that. I wrote the rap really quickly. It was finished within an hour. The song ‘Rock’ on our debut album was like that as well. It took around that long. There are tracks that took a week to make but were still thrown out as well. When did you start really working on making tracks? I think it was around 2015. I already knew how to play piano and guitar, and around then I tried making sounds with Logic, but while Logic was comfortable it wasn’t suitable to really start working with. I put aside making tracks for a but and then around 1 year after I tried again with Cubase and it was definitely better. Now it’s been around 3~4 years since I’ve worked on tracks. During that time I’ve make around 7 albums. While release 7 albums, you’ve continuously been producing results, don’t you feel any creative strain? Occasionally there are moments, but the world of music is quite deep and wide so the feeling of excitement is bigger. Since there’s still so much I’ve yet to try. I still get excited when I work on songs. Ever since Stray Kids debuted you’ve continuously been both a player and a producer at the same time. From the perspective of someone doing both roles, I would think your way of looking at things must be different from someone who immerses themselves in just one. Maybe that’s why, but I think I’ve always been the middle-man. If there’s anything the trainees wanted to tell the company, it would always be that I would relay it in their stead. I liked it. I’m the type to like having responsibility, so to me, that role fit me well. I also have tendency to want to please everyone, I don’t know if that’s a positive attribute but… I have yet to experience any sickness from this kind of personality, since I’m living healthily, I’m thinking of continuing to run on like this. Haha. Between an artist and a careerman, what kind of person do you think yourself closer to? I don’t think I’m either. I’m just a person who wants to say something through music. A person who wants to approach people with music. To fans, Stray Kids members, and to people who listen to my music, if I can give a good influence and energy to them then that is enough. Those moments are happy and fun enough, that whether I am a careerman or an artist it doesn’t matter at all.

Nowadays, what do you want to say with your music? What theme have you become immersed in? The topic I want to handle is always very diverse. But in the end, I tend to think of the people who listen when I make music. When talking to the 3RACHA friends while making songs, we tend to go in that direction. Most recently, to talk about a personal idea, I want to make a song with a calm melody about the topic ‘I don’t like outside the blanket.’ Fitting for the cold winter, I hope it can be a song that contains the coziness of being under the blankets. Because I think there would be a lot of people who would relate. This is an idea I had while showering a while ago, but I only thought about it. I haven’t started it yet. Good melodies or good lyrics always come to me in the shower. Maybe that’s because that’s when you’re most comfortable, when you are most relaxed? That must be it. Because it’s when I don’t think of anything else. Since it’s comfortable.

“While working on songs the are times when I’m unsure, The words my members say from beside me become an immense help.”

If there’s a music producer you like in particular, who would it be? Hip hop producer Metro Boomin. And Drake and Travis Scott. There was a time whe I really liked Drake. I became interested in making songs after watching Drake’s engineer Noah Shebib work with sounds. I raised my dream thinking that it’d be fun to work together with those people later. I still look up to Metro Boomin, Drake, and Noah Shebib. Where do you get the energy to do good work? There are two. One is fans’ feedback. If they felt good through Stray Kids’ music, or when I hear they gained hope, I come to make the resolution that ‘I really must keep doing this’. Another one is when Changbin and HAN say, “Huh, hyung. This track is good.” From that one phrase a lot of strength flows forth. While working on songs there are times when I’m unsure, the words my members say from beside me become an immense help. I love receiving feedback from Stray Kids the most. As both a producer and player, what is the one point you worry about the most? Until now, with the series and the series we’ve talked a lot about our story, but from now on I kind of want to show a song or performance with a bit of a different direction. I am thinking a lot about a new way to show the genre that is ‘Stray Kids’ well. When you define the genre of Stray Kids, what is one word that must be included? Energy. Musically, or on the aspect of the group’s identity, ‘energy’ is the word that defines us. If there’s an artist that stimulates Bang Chan the most nowadays? People might not know them very well, but the kids called Stray Kids are quite good.

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█  the world needs to █  |

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█ the way chan █ |

█ treats the world. █  |

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