[INTERVIEW] Rock band Walrus - Part 1

Walrus [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

When told it took them a very long time to release their first single album, Walrus' Kim Jae-wook (vocalist, guitar) answered with a smile, "The fact that we made it happen is what's important." It has now been close to ten years since they met as seniors and juniors of the same major in college in 2002 and started their band. And during that time, Kim has pursued a modeling and acting career, Kim Tae-hyun (drums) has worked in over 20 bands, and Yu Seoung-beom (guitar) has gained on his experience in bands and as a member of the chorus to pop singers. The group gained speed when former Bremen member Yang Si-on (bass) joined and finally, early this year, they released their first single "WALRUS." Below are excerpts from 10Asia's interview with the four who are still not rushing things and not compromising.

10: I'm curious to know how you guys became close -- whether you guys became close on a personal level first and then came to share your interest in music or if it was the other way around.
Yang Si-on: When we were at school, we majored in applied music which preferred genres like jazz, fusion jazz and acid but we liked old-school rock instead of music that a lot of people were already doing. I think that's why we became close so easily and continued to share that interest in it.

10: It seems like you guys had discussed on forming a band for a while. How did you come up with the exact timing of when it would happen?
Kim Jae-wook: I got done doing KBS' "The Kingdom of the Winds" in January 2009 but Tae-hyun had started living in my house a few months before then. There was a time when he went from house to house like a gypsy, staying at each place for a few days, and he ended up living at my place a year and a half after that.
Kim Tae-hyun: He had a big house. (laugh) And from a certain point on, I had my own mattress and room.
Kim JW: For me, spending time alone is very important and a necessity for me but I had no problem living with Tae-hyun because he's someone who makes you feel like you're alone, even if you may be in the same space with him. I talked to him a lot from then on while on my break. Hanging out is different from talking but we really talked about a lot of things back then which is when we were asked to take part in the Grand Mint Festival. But even if we wasn't for that, we'd been thinking we should start our activities anyway.

Walrus member Yu Seoung-beom [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

10: Did you already have a few demos prepared? As much as you've known each other for a long time, I'm sure you would've wanted to produce some results soon.
Kim JW: We worked on things here and there but never prepared crazily with the thought "We'll show them when we get the chance!"
Kim TH: We're lazy. (laugh)

10: Do you think Walrus would've never come about if you had been like that then?
Kim JW: None of us are the types that try frantically. No matter how pressed we may be, we'll move only when things become extremely urgent. (laugh)
Kim TH: I don't know why you need to try so hard. I'm not saying that I'm not serious, although it sounds like an excuse. (laugh)
Yang: I might've come out of the military if I had joined it before I left for it. I'm impatient and need to get things done quickly so I wouldn't have been able to wait two years. I think it's good for me, timing-wise, that I joined this group after being discharged.

10: You've pursued a variety of activities and have worked with many bands. What is it about Walrus that has made you stay with the group for so long?
Kim TH: More than anything, it's fun being with them.
Kim JW: While everyone else was pursuing careers in music, I took on modeling and acting but when it comes to doing music, not once have I considered doing music with other people. I always thought 'The band I made with these people = Music I do." No matter how big or successful their other bands might become, I knew they'd come back as soon as I say "Let's start our band now."

10: So are you saying what's important is the band itself and not being able to do music that Walrus does not matter?
Kim JW: They'd be able to play our music but they wouldn't actually be doing our music.

10: But I think being good friends and being part of a band that makes music together are different things. You may exchange opinions or worst case, end up yelling at each other. How was it prepping for your single?
Kim JW: I think we may all have different thoughts on this. In my case, I'd do what I want and these guys would come and cut or bring out what they want. The other guys might've felt like dying. (laugh) These three let me do whatever I want to my hearts content.
Yang: I'd be lying if I said we agreed on everything. I'm sure that everyone didn't agree with some things although they didn't show it. But whoever gave an opinion or not, we were all able to agree on the end product so we never clashed. It's because we were all sure of what we were going for and what our goal was.

Walrus member Kim Jae-wook [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

10: And what was that goal?
Yang: To look cool? (laugh)

10: What do you think is cool? Even the three tracks listed in your single album are all of different styles so I'm curious to know what sort of 'cool' you were going for.
Kim JW: When you listen to a song, there's an effect the energy coming from that music gives off to you, aside from it being good technically such as having a nice riff, containing good vocals or having great structure. That's ultimately what we're striving for as well. But we don't know exactly what creates that so us four want to create that through a filter called music. We're trying to think of how in the 21st century, when we're close to 30, we can do never-before-seen music and express an explosiveness that can only be felt from rock music. We also want to express resistance or rebelliousness toward systems.

10: You must've thought about that a lot for your lyrics as well.
Kim JW: Whether it be the song or its lyrics, we like things that are raw. "The Witch of Seoul" is an exception because we came up with the title first and tried writing soft and pretty lyrics to the song Seoung-bum came up with. Some people say the lyrics to "To be" or "Mosaic" are difficult to understand, although I thought I had written it with a very clear-cut topic, so it's interesting to see how people are laying forth different interpretations for it. Rather than feeling frustrated about people not realizing my intentions, I've realized that what people accept is beyond my power. That's why I feel even more so that I can write whatever I want.

10: "To be" sort of seems like an homage to Nirvana's "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" from their album "In Utero."
Kim JW: Nirvana is the band I had listened to the most since elementary school. I listened to a lot of other music as well while growing up but there's still a lot of Nirvana influence that comes out of me when I make music, for the riff or melody.

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Reporter : Choi Ji-Eun five@, Wee Geun-woo eight@
Photographer : Chae ki-won ten@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@, Jang Kyung-Jin three@