FTISLAND ∞ INFINITE

――Ho! As expected of FNC’s first artists! What about the collaboration stages?

I like that we get to have many collaborations and perform together. I like stages where I can show my colors properly, and the experience of performing with members of the other teams is precious, that I think it would be nice to have more of this. This time, FTISLAND will have less power as Hongki isn’t here, but our juniors that sing well (N.Flying’s Seunghyub, Hweseung) have come to help, and N.Flying have also come to help to be my back band for my solo stages. I am looking forward to that. I am busy thanks to FTISLAND and my solo. (smiles). 

As a soloist, it is the most important to be able to show how much I enjoy music

――Please tell us more about your solo album and tour. You have just finished your Tokyo concert. You previously said that “the completion of an album is its concert”, but in reality, how was it to be able to sing live in front of fans?

I was nervous (laughs). At first, after completing FTISLAND’s FIVE TREASURES TOUR with its encore concert “ARIGATO”, I wanted to take and dedicate some time to prepare and perfect the (solo) concert. However, suddenly I had to take over the I Loved You musical from Hongki hyung, so I had to manage doing the musical (in Korea) at the same time as my mini live in Japan. I still had preparations for the mini live, and there were things that didn’t go as well as I wished, but I was happy that I was able to perform at the musical. I worked hard on the preparations on my own, but when I did my first solo live in Tokyo, there were staffs and fans who put in so much efforts to help me, I thought one again, “ahh I have this many fans..”, “I can’t just let it be like this!”, “I have to crazily work hard for this!”, I was incredibly motivated. “Let’s do this!”, and that’s how I have become so much ambitious now. (laughs)

――I’m looking forward to it (smiles). You seemed really nervous during your first live in Tokyo?

On the first day, there were so many things that were unexpected to me. I have always performed as a band, but this time, I am performing a solo. That’s why, there are so many things that I didn’t know about. Not only that I had to change my singing techniques, but also how to center the sound that came through the in-ear monitors, a lot of details that had to be done differently. That’s why, no matter how many times that you did rehearsals, when the actual audience came in, unexpected things still bound to happen. So whenever I felt that I did a mistake, I would feel really nervous because of that. Especially, in the first concert, when I started singing, my voice came out too loud that I was surprised myself. And that’s why I became really nervous suddenly (laughs). I knew clearly that if I feel troubled by it from early on, it will just follow me around to the end, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I just wanted it to be the best.

――I could feel that by the night performance, you were already more relaxed.

Yes. I have been around for 12 years, I have an excellent adaptability (laughs). From now on too, I hope that I would be better and better in every concert.

――Jaejin is a bassist, but during your solo live, you only touched your bass once, during the Polar Star performance. How did it feel to perform without bringing along your bass?

As expected, I feel safer if I bring my bass~ (laughs). I have been doing live performances for 10-ish years which made me develop singing while playing my bass pose, so now that I have to sing without bringing along my bass,  something just felt wrong to me. Even more, I was already too used to being in the position to support Hongki hyung, so it felt unfamiliar and strange that I was in the position to lead the band and everyone. As FT’s bassist, I have developed the mindset to play and have fun on my own, but now, not only that I have to be the main vocal, it had just been brought into my attention that it is important that I develop a good rapport with the audience as well. I wanted to apply this right away to my next live performances, but now that I have to enlist first, I guess it would have to wait (laughs).

Now that I have tried out being the main vocal, I could see the efforts that Hongki hyung put in.

――What kind of image that you want to show as a soloist?

I am still a rookie soloist, so I think that my top priority for now is to show what is it that I’m doing properly. That’s why, nowadays, I’m learning how solo artists engage the audience in the fun. I’ve been watching foreign R&B solo artists’ live these days. What I learned from there, is that they all instead of actively telling the audience “what”, they actually put importance on thoroughly enjoying the show themselves. I think they were so mature and cool, I want to do it like them too. Indeed, it’s also something that differentiate it with a band too. In a band, it is important to be able to harmonize, but as a soloist, you only need to 100% focus on yourself, I feel that it is important that you can show how much you enjoy the stage yourself. 

――After trying out being a main vocal singing by yourself on stage, is there anything that you have come to realize in regards to Hongki as FTISLAND’s main vocal?

I have come to realize... a lot of things. In regards to doing recording for example, as I already said before, all this time, my responsibility has always been to support. But using the same singing methods as a main vocal, it actually turned out too weak, it just didn’t turn out well. In FTISLAND, Hongki and I not only have different vocal style, but we also hold different roles. I have been doing music for 12-ish years, but as expected, it is hard to be the main vocal. 

――Then, how did you overcome it, being a main vocal?

I’m doing something that I really have never done, so I shared my worries with Hongki hyung who has a whole lot more experience on this, and I tried out a lot of different things too with him. However, he then had to go enlist (laughs) However, now that I have given this a try, I got a little more sense of responsibility. The responsibility not only to support, but also to lead. Once more, I feel how Hongki hyung is amazing.

――As expected, Hongki! like that (laughs)

That’s right (laughs). We also did musical practices together, and I asked him a lot of things like what has he been doing all this time (for the musical). I have come to know things like, “Ah Hongki hyung was doing something like this at that time..” or “Ah Hongki hyung has been working hard on this” that made my respect for him grew. I couldn’t help but to wish Hongki hyung for more strength as there were things that actually were too bothersome (laughs) but Hongki hyung put so much efforts into them - and he knows it himself too, that’s why he has such a great confidence in his singing.

――Ah, I also felt the same about Hongki when he became the vocal trainer in Produce 48.

Right? For Hongki hyung, 3/4 (of his talent) is something that he got naturally (laughs) but the other 1/4 is hard work that I didn’t know he put in until now.

――How would you like to advance as Jaejin, a vocalist? 

I feel that being a vocalist is a new thing to me. I feel like I am starting over as a rookie. I am happy that I also get to do a musical during this rookie phase. I learned a lot from these people who are vocal experts. I also found out a lot of things that I want to fix, it turned out to be such a great experience. It also gave me a lot of motivation to advance myself.

――You are doing your musical while also doing your tour simultaneously, but I feel that your throat is doing just well.

No, it’s not well at all.

――I didn’t know.

Is that so? That’s a relief then.

Through FTISLAND and solo, I want to try out different characters.

――To sing the songs from your album live, are there any changes that you made from the original version? 

I made some changes to Love Like The Films and Oasis. I sang Love Like The Films more softly when I did the recording, but for my live, if I sing it the same way, the sound of the band will overpower my voice. That’s why I sang it more strongly in the live. For Oasis, because it’s a cool sounding song, I thought that it would be better to arrange it more cleanly and tightly for the live performance, that’s why I made a bit of changes to the sound. I think it is just right to have the recording and the live versions sound differently.

――You also did the arrangement for FTISLAND’s live too, but for your solo live, what kind of arrangement that you had in mind?

If want my concert this time to have the mood of the album Scene.27. I said, let’s make it Jazz and ballad sounding.

――Among them, there is FT.Triple’s Love Letter, it made think of the old times.

That’s right. I also sang it after a long time. Fans were like “Oh! Love Letter?!” (laughs).

――Why did you select this song to be included in your first solo live?

It’s also one of the challenges that I took upon. I can’t do FT.Triple anymore now in FTISLAND, but it’s one song that is most well known with my voice as the main one, so I thought that it is a good opportunity to bring it back.

――You also did Polar Star, the song that Hongki said “I’m not gonna do it”. 

Everyone likes it, right? I like it too, as it is a song that gives you the feeling of hope. As Hongki hyung already said no to performing it, I’m doing it instead (laughs).

――How was it, singing an FTISLAND song as your own?

I only played my bass for the Polar Star stage, and the fact that I sang it while playing the bass gave me the FTISLAND song feeling. It felt like I sang to support Hongki hyung, so it was like the feeling of meeting someone after a long time. I am working hard for my solo, but as expected, I want to be able to perform as FTISLAND again as soon as possible. Doesn’t everyone feel the same way?

――That’s right, that’s right. As I watched your Polar Star stage, I felt that, indeed, Jaejin is the best when playing bass.

Well, it can’t be helped. It’s something that I have been doing in the past 10 years (laughs).

――As we all miss the you that is playing bass, what about making a song that you can sing while playing bass?

No no no. The way that is used to catch the rhythm for bass and for vocals is different, so it is hard to play bass while singing the melody. That’s why I chose to not play bass during my solo live this time around. Adding to that, as Scene.27 has Jazz and R&B underlying to it, even just playing the bass is already hard, so to do both, for me it would be impossible~ (laughs) Indeed, I’m presenting different characters as FTISLAND and as a soloist.

When we tune in to each other in FTISLAND, I am just too focused that I can’t remember anything else.

I am working hard as a soloist, but indeed, I want to perform as FT again as soon as possible!

――As you embarked on your live tour, was it able to make you look back on the Scene.27 album?

I still don’t have a clear map on this, but I am starting to have a bit of direction that I want for my next album. For my next one, I have a certain music style that I want to try, as lately I have been listening to it.

――What direction is it to be exact?

It would still be Western style music like Scene.27 but with simpler melody and I will add more repetitive parts to it. I won’t pay attention much to the lyrics, the songs will be easy for everyone to sing along, something like songs that you can party with. But it’s not a concrete plan yet, for now, I am still gathering ideas. It’s because, in 2 years (note: after he finishes his military enlistment), I will prioritize FTISLAND first. And so, doing solo could be in plan in about 3 years from now. By then, my musical interests might have changed too. I have a lot that I want to do (laughs).

――Was it a new experience to be able to work with a band of Japanese musicians for your solo tour?

Yes. As expected, they have different styles in many ways compared to when I am in FT. In FTISLAND, as a bassist, I have a lot of challenges that I took on, there were a lot of cases where I went, “How should I do it?” that it gave me headache. In the band here, everyone is pro, and I am free to do anything. “Ah this is the feeling of being the main vocal (laughs). I only need to memorize the lyrics and sing. I don’t even have to do tuning, I don’t have to change my instruments too. I’m liking so much the freedom that I have. 

――In 2019, you were not only lead a band as a soloist, you were also able to participate in N.Flying’s tour. Through this experience, were you able to see the good points of being in FTISLAND once again?

That’s right. I might be just boasting, but I did feel, “As expected, FTISLAND has an amazing vocalist!”. Of course, please don’t take it that I’m saying that N.Flying is bad, but I feel that Hongki hyung is just that even more amazing. Also, (in FTISLAND) as we have spent so much time together, I feel that our bass and drum is much tuned to each other. I enjoyed playing bass with N.Flying’s Jaehyun, however, I feel that I can match with Minhwannie’s drum playing energy much better that I always enjoyed it so much. I think, even if I play with other bands, I would feel the same way. In N.Flying, I’m in charge of keeping the rhythms, but in FTISLAND, I feel that we all are in charge of it together. When we tune to each other in FT, I would become too focused that I don’t remember anything else. Really, (laughs) I wouldn’t even know what I did wrong or what I do, to that extent. However, I think I can only say this (about FT) as we have been around for more than 10 years (smiles).

――I think, it’s more that you would feel a lot of things as you work together for a long time. 

As Hweseung entered the band, I feel that there seems to be more balance in their vocal department. The fact that they have a twin vocalists, where hweseung can take on the parts that require long and high notes, while Seunghyub can take on raps with his low and deep voice, I think it has become their strength. They have nice vocal and music style, they also have grabbed their balance. They also have a bit of this Western music style to them, as well as band style, it feels like they have a little bit of FTISLAND and CNBLUE. It feels like they are able to absorb a lot of different things. They also have good songs and live performances. The harder they work, they more time passes by, I feel like they would be able to be an excellent band. They are a band that I am looking forward to see how they would advance in the future. That’s why, I hope you will be able to support them while FT and CN are away. You can like them, but don’t forget that FTISLAND is still the number 1!

―How do you want to express yourself the most as?

For me, I had always felt like I would describe myself the most for my FTISLAND-ness. After all, I have dedicated all of my youth for FTISLAND. I would propose melody and lyrics that I made from my point of view, and these ideas would collide with the other members’ (Lee Hongki (Vo.), Song Seunghyun (Gt.), Choi Minhwan (Dr.)) as they have strong personalities. That’s why, I thought, if I want to honestly express myself as a soloist, I would have to do the opposite method, making it “Lee Jaejin’s uniqueness as seen by other people”. I tried to extract how is Lee Jaejin seen by other people, from people who inspired me - the members, fans, family, staffs, seniors and juniors from the same agency, friends, colleagues, and people that are precious to me, and from these people, their impressions of me and advises to me are reflected in my music.

―So it was a reversed method, it is surprisingly quite out of the box. 

It’s because I have always expressed how I view things through FTISLAND already. Through my solo work, I actually get to have an opportunity to show another side of me, and I thought it would be interesting to show a mix of the Lee Jaejin that other people think of and the Lee Jaejin that I think of. That’s why, from my way of singing to the way the songs were recorded in the studio, I made it different than how I would usually do it.

―Is there any impression that other people have told of you that you found “eh, that’s unexpected!”?  It was when people told me that I produce high pitch voice easily.

―It’s because the audience always listened to your live singing attentively.

No, it’s not like that! (laughs) My role (in FTISLAND) is to harmonize with Hongki-niisan’s voice, so that it sounds nice to hear; however, if I sing using the same way that I did for FTISLAND for my solo release, it would sound strange. I’m still retaining my ability to control my voice easily. It turned out that all of the songs that I had picked for my solo album had higher pitch than my usual voice, so I thought it could only be done with adding in more breath and warmth than usual to my singing. It was really hard when I did the recording. Particularly, when I recorded for Love Like The Films, the key was lowered and raised several times, that we had to repeat the recording for 3 or 4 times, and the entire recording process took about a total of 6 days. 

―In the “Love Like The Films”, Hongki is credited under vocal directing.

Frankly speaking, image that I have of Hongki-niisan is “the bad person who never practices”. Of course, he is an excellent singer, he also does a great job as the band’s frontman, however, as fellow team members, I wished he would practice more. However, after he helped me with vocal direction this time around, I would like to review that. (laughs)

―Ah I see. (laughs)

For me, as a main vocal, I still need to find something that can stand out and be my point of attraction. I haven’t really calculated the way that I sing in the way that “if I sing a song this way, it will be delivered to the audience also in a certain way”, so I thought that Hongki-niisan who has had a long career as a vocalist would know more about it, so I asked him to watch over the recording. Lately, niisan is working hard practicing and he also has a musical coming up, he just has been really busy so I didn’t have the heart to ask him to do it at first. But our agency then said that “Hongki will give (vocal) direction to Jaejin”, so it was sorted out that way.

―So, that’s how he came in!

That’s true. In reality, the moment that he heard the song, he told me “This is Jaejin that is singing, but it sounds somewhat not right”. “This song is putting together the ideas that everyone suggested Jaejin should do” but “in this part, you sang this too softly, you should give more power to it, so the audience can still hear it clearly” or “in this part, your pitch should be more straightforward” - all kinds of possibilities that I wasn’t even thinking of. Hongki-niisan is very knowledgeable in techniques on how to “sound good”, he taught me these in great details.  

―As expected of the vocalist who has carried FTISLAND on his back. With just one added detail, the way that a song could be expressed could increase greatly.

That’s why, we were able to complete the recording of the song with satisfaction, I felt really grateful that Hongki-niisan was willing to help. When we asked him “please also look at the recordings of the other songs”, he replied “I don’t want to, it’s too bothersome”. (lol)

―Ah, that’s what happened.

It was unfortunate that he was able to only look at the title song, however, niisan was really busy that he didn’t even have any time to sleep. FTISLAND also was working on the preparation of our encore concert at that time, so it couldn’t be helped. 

―Then, Scene.27 is packed with all of the efforts poured into it.

Thank you. I hope the message could be delivered well.

―Other than that, are there comments on the album that you found refreshing?

I heard things like “R&B suits you well” or “you can take on Jazz if you work just a bit harder”.

―The voice that has a bit of huskiness in it, it is Jaejin’s voice charm.

I appreciate any feedback. I have prepared myself to accept any feedback, whatever it is, so I actually would be grateful if the listeners could give me a lot of them. Actually, in this album, I wanted to focus only on the vocal and let go of my bass. 

―And as a result, it purely shows Jaejin as a vocalist.

Please indulge in thinking of this as someone completely different, not the Jaejin from FTISLAND. I am challenging myself to take this opportunity to present myself as an entirely rookie solo artist. I also am planning to hold a mini live this coming October with band style performance, so please look forward to my vocals. 

―Your agency junior, N.Flying is also starring in the MV. As they played with so much fun there, the MV also turned out to be full of energy.

These guys were actually busy too, but for me, they deliberately made the efforts to empty out their schedules, practiced and filmed with me - “we will help niisan with everything!” and somewhat I felt “ah, this is the weight of being an older brother”. 

―You guys really have a good relationship.

I can only reply with “Me too, I will work hard!”, and paid them back through my (bass) performance. Actually, this is the first time that I felt such a proper give and take relationship with my juniors. I supported N.Flying by helping out in their live concerts, and this time, they came to help me instead. This made me feel such a brotherly relationship with them, that lately, I thought of how cute these guys are.

―In fact, you have been seniors-juniors for a long time in your agency, but “lately”?

Yes, lately. Originally, I am the kind of person to not really think of any other relationships other than with the FTISLAND members.  

I usually listened to anyone who asked me for counseling or just to share their worries, but I don’t usually feel that “we are one team at heart” with my juniors.  Honestly, in the past, I used to not to be too fond of N.Flying (smiles), I thought that they didn’t really put in enough efforts and seemed to be still too premature.  For me, I am solely the bassist of FTISLAND, and my team is solely FTISLAND - if we put it in the extreme, “I am only the bassist to FTISLAND”. However, lately, these guys have worked so hard and have grown rapidly too. I have come to “If it’s N.Flying, I can play for them too”. Now, they are such a team of cute juniors in my eyes. I’m not that great of a senior either, but now, I want to share with them and have talks on things that I have knowledge on or things that I can give them advise on.

―Why did you choose bass in the beginning?

I only realized recently, but I was an introverted kid when I was in elementary school. I didn’t have any friends, so when I entered middle school, I wanted to brighten up my image. I had started to have friends then, and they asked me, “do you want to make a band together?”. I didn’t have any experience with any musical instruments back then, so I only replied, “Sure, what should I do?”, and they said, “Drum and guitar are hard, so you’re bass”, and so, that’s how I started bass. Compared to guitar, it only has 4 strings, and I could just start by producing the “dung, dung, dung, dung” sound riding the rhythm, it was easy. It was also popular with the girls. 

―Most of bands indeed start with “I want to be popular!”.

For me, it is the case (laughs). However, it is for sure that it was how my life began. My sister is an actress, and she used to be under the agency that I am in now. She told me, “I think my agency is setting up a band, do you want to give it a try?” - she recommended me to an audition, luck was on my side, and I managed to debut. 

―You debuted in 2007, in the midst of the heyday of idol teams that sing and dance, why did FTISLAND aspire to be a “rockband” back then?

Actually, in the beginning, the aim was a multiplayer kind of band that can play a lot of genres. However, if we look at the world, there are a lot of rock bands particularly that are charming. The more that I immersed myself in a new genre, and the more that I practiced, I was captured even more by the rock genre, and swore to myself, “Let’s become a rock band!”, and here we are now. I am crazily in love with the kind of power that only rock holds, and the feeling of catharsis that one gets when they perform. I feel the pride of this band called FTISLAND that possesses the charm to suit not only upbeat rock music, but also are good at pop ballads, and any types of music.

―So, what types of bass that you like?

Currently, I’m mainly using SPECTOR, LAKLAND, and Fodera. However, when I am discharged later, I want to buy Fender.

―Are there any differences between doing activities in Korea and in Japan?

Honestly, I think FTISLAND can best demonstrate 1000% of their charms in Japan. In Japan, we really feel that we can play comfortably and with a peace of mind. As stages and sets in Korea are centered around idols and hiphop, there isn’t many place where we can perform as a band properly, so honestly, we have had a hard time because of this. There is also the case where we don’t have much choice but to give up the (musical) direction that we want. So, when we want to perform properly to the audience in Korea, we got our PAs, sound directors, concert managers, and staffs that we trust in Japan to come to help. Doing major debut in Japan and actively promoting there is highly regarded in Korea. The home of the rock genre is the US, and so I don’t know if it’s a country thing, but the staffs there (in Korea) seem to just have “Going my way”-like mindset to them. There have been instances where it was hard when we tried to request something when we had performances. For example, when we asked them “please slightly raise the volume of the kick drum in our ear monitors, and please make the bass sound harder” or something like that, they would reply “Is that necessary?” or the like. They did follow our request, but I guess if we think about it, those who think that these kinds of exchanges are what rock is all about and those who enjoy these, thinking that these are merely differences in culture and way of thinking, are those that are winning.(smiles) 

―I love that you are looking at it positively (smiles). Now, what are your dreams for the future? 

If I get to be a bit richer, I dream of building a nice livehouse in Korea. It will be an ideal place, where performers can perform properly, and audience can listen to music properly as well.

―In a RollingStone Japan interview too before, Hongki also said that he wanted to build a music studio.

That would be nice! However, for Hongki-niisan, even if he does build a music studio, I think all that he does there will be just play games. He would say something like “You guys, do your best!” and leave the trivial or bothersome things to us, and when he feels like he is in the mood, he would say “This is nice” when he does vocal recording. However, songs that are made in such lively atmosphere will end up pretty rock, so I guess everyone would enjoy such songs anyway.(laughs)  

~~

Disclaimer: Translated by Lu. This translation is based on the Japanese - Korean translation credited to fprit. Due to the indirect translation, inaccuracies are likely and possible, but I will also refer to the original article here to do double checks whenever needed.  

Yoon Jungsoo: Please also tell us his weaknesses, not only his strengths. lol

Physiognomy expert: He is the type to be passionate and also not passionate.

Gong Hyunjoo: Whoa a bad man..

Han Eunjung: You get tired easily then..

Jonghoon: ... no NOO!!

Han Eunjung: He is the type to try to get a woman’s feeling, and then, after he gets her heart, he grows cold.

Everyone: .... whoaaaaaaaa 

Jonghoon: NOOOO!! Why are you making me a bad man here?

A guy’s voice (I dont know who, sorry): Guys like this tend to be more popular you know..

Physiognomy expert: Let’s see his hairline now. His hairline is uneven (zigzag), people who have this type of hairline tends to change their mood really drastically. One can go from a warm countryside-type of man into a cold-hearted guy.

Jonghoon: About this, I hear about this a lot too (about me).

Han Eunjung: haaa.. youre so charming..

Physiognomy expert: He is the type of man who makes women cling to him.

Han Eunjung: whoaaa you’re bad.. you’re bad..

Physiognomy expert: If we look at your eyes, you have double eyelid right?

Jonghoon: Yes, only on one side.

Physiognomy expert: People who have double eyelid tends to be emotional and sentimental. 

Gong Hyunjoo: But I heard that people who have double eyelid only on one side are players?

Physiognomy expert and Jonghoon: Ah thats right

Gong Hyunjoo: So is that right, you’re a player?

Jonghoon: No no.. I only heard about that a lot.

Yoon Jungsoo to Gong Hyunjoo: But you’re being weird.. everytime we talked about Jonghoon, you are so interested. I think you have fallen for him..

Gong Hyunjoo: /smiles/

Han Eunjung to Jonghoon: No but honestly, when I take a look at you again, you’re really handsome..

Lee Jaejin wasn’t satisfied with his (acting) performance. He is upset that he couldn’t draw more from his character and settings. “I really was upset for more than 90% of the time. At the filming set, with that many staffs and actors, it would be better if I could focus a little bit more, but I just couldn’t get myself to. There is no problem with the scenes and characters, and they were made well enough, however, there were a lot of scenes where I ran away after getting beaten up by my mom and dad, that I could have made more fun, but I was lacking energy that I couldn’t make out more of those scenes. I couldn’t make those ordinary scenes to come more alive. Since this is a weekend drama that the directors, actors, and staffs are the people that I worked together with for a long time, the directors and the senior actors just told me that “you have done well, it is right to not go too hard on (the scenes)” but I think I am still far from being an actor that can go beyond the standard to make the scenes more alive.”

Before Lee Jaejin, his bandmate, Lee Hongki, has started to go acting first. It is true that the as Lee Hongki brings people’s awareness toward him through his acting, at the same time, he also has helped people to raise their interest to FTISLAND’s music as well. As Jaejin saw the advantages that Hongki brought by the synergy of doing music and acting, his desire to try out acting grew too.

"Frankly speaking, I have always had the desire to go acting too. My bandmate, (Lee) Hongki hyung was able to communicate a lot through his dramas, he has also garnered people’s interest, and he has also received much love, that it also helped with the band activities too. Lately, we are strongly venturing to a more non-mainstream music, that you can feel the most fun when you are actually there to see us in person. If you only listen to our recorded music, I can only tell you “well it’s just strong”. As hyung does dramas, it also helped a lot with our music life, as he would have more opportunity to tell more people about us. Also, I think my experience in acting helps with my music, and the other way around, so I want to excel in both areas. Since then that I started to diligently study acting.”

Lee Jaejin who played a playful character in Sister is Alive, similar to himself, expressed his desire for a character that is the opposite now. More importantly, for the coming future, he wants a character that can improve his acting skill.

“I want a villain character, a character that seems to not have anything much to say, a chic one. I want to try comical roles too. Even though so, I want to study (acting) more now. I want to jot down things that I experience now on my acting note, so I can study more from it.”

To Lee Jaejin who is used to work in a band of 5 persons, working just by himself has its difficulties too. However, he was able to gather more strength as he received support from his members. For him who has been in FTISLAND for more than 10 years, the relationship among the members is like that of a family.

"Our members are like real brothers. I have met our drummer (Choi) Minhwan since he was in 5th grade. We know what’s going on with each other’s lives, we are just like a family. When they saw my acting, they didn’t seem to bee too impressed. “You’re working hard” they say, but I’m not sure if that’s a compliment, I think it’s more like teasing me. “Well, he will take care of it” its closer to that feeling. But when I cried in the drama, they took a capture of it and to their friends, they used it as an emoticon along with this message “today, I’m sad”. (laughs)  

Even though they are colleagues in music, in the acting world, Hongki is a senior. Before Jaejin made his character, Hongki offered his advises too.

"Hongki hyung always had a funny character except for his role in Bride of the Century. Therefore, before I met with the director and the writer, I went to him first to ask about how to build the character. When I asked ‘Hyung, what should I do?’ He replied ‘I have done it that many times that this is the thing that I often overlooked. We should build the character from things that don’t appear in the script, that person’s gestures, way of speech, his childhood accidents, or how he grew up, make the character concrete.’ When he said that I thought of, ‘Ah, a senior is indeed a senior.’“

FTISLAND is a group of longevity that is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. There is this thing called the 7-year jinx in which a lot of groups either disband or have a member leaving, but FTISLAND is an exception.

"If you look at the members, we’re all like Peterpans. When adults see us who are emotional and don’t want to grow old, they would tell us “think a little bit more wisely”. But, we as a group have done well in coming this far. When we fight, we will fight like elementary schoolers, we would get sulky and all, but the next day, we would tell each other “let’s work hard together”, and our fights just end like that. That also shows on stage. FTISLAND consists of 5 persons who don’t want to grow old like Peterpans.”

FTISLAND’s bond can also be seen from their plan to enlist together. They have said it several times that they are going to enlist together. Jaejin revealed that there is no plan to change that.

“We want to enlist together. I want to use the time efficiently, so when hyungs go, I will also go too. I still have things that I want to accomplish both in the band and as an individual, so I still want to work hard a little bit more in a lot of things.”

They also have a long history with their agency, FNC ent. FTISLAND had expressed their regret and dissatisfaction toward their company. Jaejin revealed that indeed, there have been some disagreements in the past, however, now they have come to understand each other better, so they would like to put it all in the past.

"It is true that there were some instances that our relationship with the company turned sour. However, we are good now. We have our own stances, and when we look at each other’s stances, just like an old married couple, we would go “if it is things that I have to understand, then, I have to understand”. In the past, we would say “We can do these abroad, why can’t we do the same in Korea?” and the company would tell us that the situation is not the same in our country. We are not a country that gives a lot of love to the very existence of band music itself. So, they told us to be more realistic. Now, we focus more on what are more feasible to do, and the company would tell us “Whatever it is that you want to do, OK! In return, please also work hard on the other things.” So, no we won;t really clash with each other. This year too, as we celebrated our 10th anniversary, our (HSH) CEO gave us a call and told us, let’s gain strength.”

As a musician, Jaejin’s goal is for the group to last for a long time. Following music, as an individual, his goal is to succeed in acting. We look forward to Lee Jaejin who aims to be a good person, musician, and actor. "As a musician, I want our group, FTISLAND, to be a long-lasting group. It is not easy to be a long-lasting group you know. As we downscale, it is not easy to keep operating as a group, but, even though so, we will still want to confidently and passionately stay in this place as we aim to stick together as a group for a long time. I also want to succeed as an actor. I want to be an actor that is recognized by the seniors, and juniors think of “I want to work together with this senior”. When I first learned acting, I thought of “as long as I become a good person, I will also become a good actor”. There are busy people who just take care of their own matters but I want to be an actor who is considerate of the others, so when I take care of other people, won’t I receive more then? My goal is to become a good person and a good actor.”

Hongki: Oh, it was the best! I wasn’t scared at all!

-- What about Jaejin?

Jaejin: Its scary for me, so its a pass for me. (laughs) But, for me too, Hawaii is paradise. I can never forget it~ Its easy to drive in America and Korea, because people drive on the same side of the road, the right side. Minhwan and I took an international driving license together and we drove together there. The weather is nice there, when its night, its not hot. Its a nice feeling. 

Hongki: But, Hawaii cockroaches! They’re amazing!

Jaejin: Indeed. But I wanna go there again. Next time, I wanna go surfing.

Jonghoon: My paradise is golf. When we’re in nature, its really nice to be able to breathe in the fresh air. It’s been about a year and a half (that he plays golf), I like nature, and I like sports. So it fits. (laughs) My score is 80 so its about in the middle. In Japan too, I’ve been to the Shinto shrine. I wanna go to a course in Japan too.

Hongki: For me, its the girls!

-- Hongki, let’s have a bit of image control here, shall we?

Hongki: That won’t do! Like girls’ nice smell and more, isn’t it natural for men to be attracted to things that can’t be found in men?

-- Leader Jonghoon, is that okay, can you approve it?

Jonghoon: It’s okay, it is impossible to stop Hongki. (laughs)

-- In Korea this year, you have released your 10th anniversary album, Over 10 Years. In the album, the song Champagne that was composed by Hongki and released previously in United Shadows in April, is also included. 

Hongki: Yes, because its a song that I like, I want everyone to listen to it. Since there is world tour coming up in October, I recorded it in the Korean album too in English so everyone around the world can also enjoy it.

-- In Korea, aren’t you guys starting to do the youth self-production era, that you have been releasing only hard rock songs? So it was surprising to see that Over 10 Years is packes with various genres, including Champagne.

Hongki: About that, everyone was actually also saying the same thing, it’s really strange. (laughs) Because this is our 10the anniversary album that it contains various genres. In Japan, we have the image of “rock”, but in Korea, we have the image of “rock ballad”. That’s why, from the melody, we are trying to present rock ballad. We thought about mixing our colors in the past 10 years with our sound that is growing now. We arranged it this way on purpose.

-- I see. That’s why you also did a self-cover of Love Sick that you sang 10 years ago. The appearance of the song was unexpected.

Hongki: Because it is our debut song, we tried to do a self-cover of the song, as a surprise. It is a song that became a hit when we debuted, and a song that is remembered by a lot of people. When the self-cover was out, it went popular and it even in the no.1 of the karaoke chart for a while. However, it turned out that the song gained more popularity than our title track, “Wind” and there are people who even think that we made a comeback with that song. 

-- To think about it, Love Sick is not a song suitable to be sung by 17-year old high school students.(laughs)

Hongki: Indeed. It is rather a mature song (laughs). It might be good to sing it now. But, I think that I sing better and better as I live my life. My color and emotion has become deeper, I feel like I’m different from the me from 10 years ago. So I think in 10 years, I will change again. I think I will become better.

-- To promote Wind from Over 10 Years, you did tv broadcast for a while. How was it?

Hongki: Yes, it was serious, so early in the morning (laughs).