[INTERVIEW] Indie band "Broccoli You Too" - Part 2

Hyang-ki (guitar) [Lee Jin-hyuk/10 Asia]

10: There were many tracks that sang the importance of talking and telling the truth like ‘Understanding Communications’ and ‘A Matter of Heart.’ Were those songs reflection of the past experience?
Duk-won: I don’t really write in detail about provocation from outside or other outer-events. I touched on only the simple and logical parts. I wanted to write as simple as possible the irreversible part of life such as encounter and separation. While Words get strict in numbers in that sense. Writing down the lyrics I revised the words again and again thinking how certain parts can be misconstrued which led to me write things that are more intimate.
Hyang-ki: Lesser the words, larger the space for empathy.

10: That may be why people say Broccoli’s songs are “songs of comfort.”
Duk-won: To be honest I get embarrassed when I hear that. I didn’t mean to comfort anyone but to share the pain that is hard to be comforted. When people are busy seeking only their happiness they usually forget those feelings. They want to push down those emotions because it only leaves them uncomfortable and disturbed. But it is important that we confront those feelings. The piece “Not Even Comforted by Words of Love” too sings of a suffocating ache that cannot be comforted.

10: If you do much of the revising during lyrics what about the sound work?”
Duk-won: After making the lyrics and the length of the song as “thin” as possible we start running from there.
Jandi: Duk-won shows us his composition and tells how he wants it to be done but he never forces certain emotions or feelings to us. We don’t really talk about it, either.
Duk-won: Even if we start with so little it is not that much of a problem because we still have rhymes and rhymes. The only tricky part is to bring the different interpretations of those rhymes and rhythm together but we have been lucky so far, seeing accord in most parts.
Hyang-ki: This is thanks to the time we spent together as members for all those years.

Ryuji (drum) [Lee Jin-hyuk/10 Asia]

10: In the piece “The Change of Seasons’ I heard you made it by just giving out the main riff and let other members perform on the spot. Were you going for some kind of experiment after coordinating with your members for so long?
Duk-won: By minimizing the using of melody we tried to bring out more of our sentiment than usual. We were so much freer in the process because we could keep doing variations while repeating the riff. If one person makes variation we would start moving on from there, again and again.
Jandi: It was really fun.
Hyang-ki: An hour went by just like that. (laugh)

10: I believe all six sang to the song “Half Past Five” for the final hidden track.
Jandi: We recorded the song that our viewers sang together at the outdoor theater Sangsang Madang in September this year.
Duk-won: We performed that song for the first time but they sang to the music.
Ryuji: I almost cried.
Hyang-ki: They were good, too.
Jandi: Perfect in tone and the beat.
Duk-won: Why is audience singing better than me? (laugh)
Hyang-ki: I felt warmth in the air.

10: Duk-won came out as a main vocal, singing together with Ryuji. How was the change in the arrangement?
Ryuji: Hmm...because I was not a singer to begin with I did have this burden. Because I’m not the kind to do any fancy singing I tried to make the songs come out as comfortable as possible.
Hyang-ki: There isn’t anyone in our group who is out to prove something big. Rather we worry more about how to best deliver the music.
Duk-won: It seems like hiding behind the song.

Indie band "Broccoli You Too" [Lee Jin-hyuk/10 Asia]

10: Looks like no one wants to stand out among others exactly.
Hyang-ki: I may be a guitarist but I hate the solo time. Usually guitarist likes to come forward from the band to show off their style and such, sometimes even fight for it. But that is not me.
Duk-won: None of our members like to stand out among the crowd so we just do our own thing to express our sentiment otherwise. That may be our advantage.

10: What kind of responses do you want for your second album?
Duk-won: I wish people can immerse deeper into our music than the first album. I wouldn’t mind our album becoming more widely known but more than that, I wish the album to be truly meaningful for someone.
Hyang-ki: I wish our album to be played more frequently rather than widely.
Ryuji: I wish… both?
Everyone: (Laughter)
Hyang-ki: That would be the best.
Duk-won: Yeah, we must dream big.

10: Here’s the final question. When can we listen to “No More Encore Request” again?
Duk-won: We receive lots of request for that song whenever we perform too. But the session arrangement for the song changed since the release of the album and we haven’t practiced enough yet.
Hyang-ki: Because there are lots of people who like that song we want to excel in the actual performance too. We are just looking for the right time.
Duk-won: We had people demanding this piece in the final day of our exclusive concert after we went through encore session of all other songs. Even we start to reconsider if upon receiving demands to such extreme - but we stopped ourselves on the last minute. Besides isn’t it weird to sing a song titled “No More Encore Request” as the final piece? Not that this isn’t my best hit song! (Laugh)

Reporter : Lee Ga-on
Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@
Editor : Heidi Kim heidikim@