[INTERVIEW] Neon Bunny - Part 2

Neon Bunny [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

10: When is it that you realized that you really like music?
Neon Bunny: Recently. There have been a lot of supplementary things that have happened after releasing my album and starting to promote it. I need to send out information, my profile and photos so I sort of don't have a lot of time to work on my music. And it may sound like an excuse but I also have to prepare for my concerts which I need to include show-like elements to. I still feel awkward and uncomfortable when it comes to interviews. I think that's something I need to work at overcoming. But music I think is something I just really like to do and have fun with when making an album.

10: Well, interviews and other promotional activities you carry out may seem separate from your music but in the end, it's all for your music. Does it still seem like they're separate things for you?
Neon Bunny: They do. But people around me are telling me, "You're a female so you need directing in terms of your visuals as well. You need to act a bit more cuter when you're performing. You need to go to a dance academy." (laugh) I love the French band Phoenix. And in their interviews, they say that all of the songs they write while on tour are bad. And that rather, the ones they write when they're feeling lonely, or when they're on the bus or subway, are the ones that end up being good, which I'm agreeing with these days. I think I write the best when I'm behaving like I'm a miserable person. (laugh) I think writers think and write with more depth when they're alone, as if they're digging for a rough gem, but I can't do that these days because there's so much of a lot of other things to do.

10: Well maybe that's why but your music sounds the best when you listen to it all alone in your room with your headphones on. I think you made the album in a way that makes the listener focus on it. It sounds very rich. On the other hand, I think it may be difficult to reenact it in exactly the same way live.
Neon Bunny: That's what I'm in a fix about. I'm most worried about how to go about my concerts. I think I was really looking at one aspect while working on the album... Just on the album when I was working on it, then just on the album's jacket, then just on practicing. Up till recently, I had focused on only the showcase. I couldn't go to sleep thinking about two things at once.

10: Before getting to meet you in person today, I thought that your personal stories and experiences were injected into your album, probably because of the prejudice I have of female singer-songwriters and because you sang of dating. More so because this is your debut album. But I've rid myself of such thoughts of you now. It rather seems like it's quite refreshing because it didn't seem to plea, "Listen to my story!"
Neon Bunny: Well a few of the songs are about me but some of them, I wrote thinking of what women would think in general. "Long-D" and "North Pole Bear" are based on my experiences.

10: Did you come up with your name Neon Bunny yourself?
Neon Bunny: My friends came up with it. And it's not a nickname. I like objects with rabbits, like the Sylvanian families, so I've collected a lot of them. So my friends came to me and said, "Don't you need a name since you're going solo? Be a bunny since you like them. But it can't just be plain bunny if you want it to sound like you." which is when they decided it should be neon bunny. There really is no particular significance to it.

10: Why did you decide to go solo when you said you were going to do something outside of The Black Skirts? For example, you could have formed another band where the keyboard could be central.
Neon Band: I was part of a band very briefly. But it was difficult for everyone to agree on things. We kept adding and taking out things. That didn't suit me either. I guess this is what I would describe it as. The Black Skirts and other bands I've been with are like my kids but adopted ones. But Neon Bunny is like my very own. I think that's the difference between them.

10: Is there a particular song you're hoping a lot of people will listen to?
Neon Bunny: The first track titled "Long-D." It's about myself but both the producer and I liked it the best so we decided that it should be the title track. But I was told that in Korea, you can't go with a title track that's in English. (laugh)

10: The name of your album is "Seoulight." You've lived overseas before so as someone who has experienced life in various locations, what meaning does Seoul have to you? Some people love Seoul but some feel out of place here.
Neon Bunny: I like it. If you change the spelling for it, it means a Seoul person, like 'New Yorker.' That's why I played with the words and tried to make it sound like 'Seoul person,' 'Seoul light,' and then 'soul light.' When I was young, I used to think that I shouldn't stay in Seoul and that I should learn English and other languages and succeed in those places. So I became sad when I came to Seoul after thinking I want to become a New Yorker and a Londoner. I wanted to achieve a dream in a bigger world while thinking I would come to a halt if I came to Seoul but when I ended up wrapping up the album here, I kind of felt that maybe it's the city that chooses me instead of me choosing the city. I wouldn't be coming to a halt just because I came here but I think I just wanted to go out somewhere when I was young. Like a dog. (laugh)

10: Where in Seoul do you feel the most comfortable?
Neon Bunny: At around Changgyung Palace. The flowers have blossomed very nicely there so I'm thinking of going there to take photos with my friends. I also love Samchungdong. I feel like home when I'm there.

10: Is there anything you had hoped to be asked? (laugh)
Neon Bunny: I've made a club on Cyworld but I only have about a dozen members on it. (laugh) Please come and join.

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Reporter : Kim Hee Ju fifteen@, Wee Geun-woo eight@
Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@, Jang Kyung-Jin three@