[INTERVIEW] Project group M&D - Part 1

Project group M&D members Jungmo (TRAX) and Heechul (Super Junior) [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

Trying to define the identity of project team M&D, formed of Super Junior's Kim Heechul and TRAX's Jungmo, based on the structure of the music industry these days is difficult. They are members of different groups so they cannot be called a unit and they themselves have decided to perform their duo song on television just once so they are probably not trying to increase their popularity. On top of that, they requested their agency SM Entertainment to give them permission to pursue their activities as M&D after turning in a proposal they wrote themselves.

So how is it that these two, under Korea's most successful agency for ten years, formed a team which will "not appear on TV for the fear of getting greedy" and giggle over the fact that their song ranks No. 400 on a music chart. Below is 10Asia's enjoyable conversation with this queer team which seemingly does whatever they want 'because' they are under a major talent firm, not 'despite' it.

<#10LOGO#> You performed your first single "Close Ur Mouth" for the first time on cable music channel Mnet's "20's Choice" awards. But it must've have been very hard because it rained so much.
Jungmo: There's so much I wish we could've done better with.
Heechul: We screwed up. (laugh) I was supposed to be on the sofa with the women and at the end, I was going to put on a kissing performance with the last woman standing. But she was shivering although I don't know if it was because she was cold from the rain or scared. So in that very short moment, I thought of whether I should kiss her or not until I decided that I shouldn't give my all to her so I ended up giving her just a peck on the cheek. (laugh)

<#10LOGO#> Jungmo, don't you wish even more that you guys did better? You were supposed to play the keyboard, guitar and drums all by yourself.
Jungmo: I come up with the format for our performance and rearranged our music for the stage but because of the rain, my movement was limited and a tent had to be set up to keep the instruments dry so there was only so much that the camera could show. From the very beginning, "Close Ur Mouth" was made in a way that would let me move about the stage. The company had originally thought I'd need an entire band but I said I'd do everything myself so I had asked just for someone to play the electric drum and bass. I had played a variety of instruments since I was young but I focus on the guitar when I'm with TRAX so I wanted to show our fans me playing many instruments this time.

<#10LOGO#> I heard that "20's Choice" would be the first and last stage on which you'd perform "Close Ur Mouth."
Heechul: We plan to appear on public networks only for our activities as Super Junior and TRAX. We started M&D to do music that we want to do as us who have been like brothers for ten years but you want to go on music charts once you start looking at music charts. And I felt that we'd become too greedy then.
Jungmo: We started this as a project through which we said we wouldn't ask for anything that would reach beyond our friendship. We felt that we'd distance ourselves from our original purpose if we become greedy so I wanted a team where I can have fun with Heechul and be able to show our fans all the music that I've wanted to do. We'll be performing the song just once more at Lee Seung-hwan's concert on August 6. We're acquainted with him so we had cautiously asked him if he could which he willingly said okay to.

<#10LOGO#> Will you be playing the keyboard and guitar then as well? (laugh)
Jungmo: No. Just the guitar. (laugh)
Heechul: Lee asked, "Heechul, what are you going to do about the songs?" so I told him, "We only have one song. We're going sing one." Then he said no guest sings just a single song. (laugh) So we prepared a few more songs. That'll be the last time we'll promote "Close Ur Mouth." (laugh)
Jungmo: Who knows. If the girl groups all suddenly decide to appear on music shows... (laugh)
Heechul: Ah, then we'd have to go the shows.
Jungmo: We'll go on even if they ask us to cut our song to one minute and 50 seconds.
Heechul: I'll go on even if they want it to be 30 seconds long.

<#10LOGO#> The reason you're not greedy about appearing on television is probably due to the nature of your group right? I heard that you, Heechul, got permission from your agency to form this group by submitting a proposal that you wrote yourself.
Heechul: I wrote up a proposal after asking Jungmo 'Hey, should we try forming a team?' And I submitted it to our CEO and Mr. Lee Soo-man.

Project group M&D member Heechul (Super Junior) [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

<#10LOGO#> Why do you think your company let you go ahead with M&D?
Heechul: We didn't know we'd be given the green light this quickly. (laugh) Actually, my agency likes everything I do to the extent that I myself sometimes wonder why they'd let me do what I do when I watch the programs I've appeared on. Even Mr. Lee Soo-man always said, "Okay, let Heechul do it if he says he wants to" so I sometimes wondered whether they'd given up on me. And of course, I'm only human so there are times I won't be happy about my agency but this occurence had made me realize that they like me. (laugh) And we had originally planned on releasing just a song but they're the ones that rather suggested shooting a music video for it. We also said we wanted M&D to be a team we make, not one they make for us, which they okay to as well. And they told us to do whatever we wanted to.
Jungmo: We did everything ourselves, from start to finish. I had been in a band since middle school so there had been sort of this stress I felt over being a member of a rock band under SM Entertainment. However, it was by getting to do M&D that I became proud of the fact that we could do something like this under our agency as well.

<#10LOGO#> It couldn't have been easy for a major entertainment firm like SM to make a decision on a project that wasn't expecting to make any money.
Heechul: Well, this is what I wrote in the proposal. That M&D's role model is UV because I pursue my activities in show biz just like Yoo Sae-yoon and Jungmo would make the music like Muzie. And that we're expecting to see enormous profit while pursuing our activities to the extent that we would not tarnish the images of SM, Super Junior and TRAX. (laugh) I wrote extensively on that and even used color which they liked a lot just by looking at, saying they hadn't seen the likes of me before. (laugh) Mr. Lee Soo-man said, "I feel great that you want to do something. Do everything that you want to."
Jungmo: I too wondered how we got the okay sign in one go. But I thought about it and realized that we're not friends that go way back but are people who have an understanding of each other after meeting through our agency. So I think they thought our idea was cute. For them, I think it could've felt like their children have come a long way. (laugh)
Heechul: Sort of like, ah, aren't they growing fast. (laugh) That's why Mr. Lee Soo-man himself gave a helping hand for the lyrics for "Close Ur Mouth."

<#10LOGO#> Which part?
Heechul: In "Close Ur Mouth," the lyrics goes, "There are many women looking for me, but no men looking for you." And then it goes, "But you're still going to leave me?" But it was supposed to be, "Get it?" Something along the lines of "This is the difference between you and me, get it?" And he said, "This is too mean!" (laugh) He told me I should change it if I want to meet women and talk about people. What I'm grateful about is that he gave us the green light to the lyrics after looking through all of it. And he said, "Okay, the lyrics are a lot of fun and it's great that you're doing this with Jungmo but just (change) that part of the lyrics. (laugh)

<#10LOGO#> Since you guys still are idols. (laugh)
Heechul: I know this is just an excuse but I really should date women. (laugh) I really wrote "Close Ur Mouth" in ten minutes. And the lyrics so hatefully say, "Shall I dance for you or rap for you. Get lost!" to a woman when she's crying after I tell her we should break up. But when Jungmo handed me a sad ballad and asked if I was done writing, I really couldn't come up with anything. That's why I wrote about how I broke up in the past but he told me that something was missing. Honestly, I included only about ten of the 100 things I wanted to say in "Close Ur Mouth." But for the ballad that Jungmo gave me (not included in this album), I had to write about 20 different things when there was only one story for me to write about so I realized this is why people fall in love. I'm going to meet so many women. (laugh)
Jungmo: What was really funny was that Heechul really wrote "Close Ur Mouth" in ten minutes of me sending the song to him. I was expecting to have to change this and that but was surprised I wouldn't have to. (laugh) For the ballad however, the moment I saw the lyrics... It wasn't like I could tell him to rewrite them since he's older than me. (laugh)

※ Any copying, republication or redistribution of 10Asia's content is expressly prohibited without prior consent of 10Asia. Copyright infringement is subject to criminal and civil penalties.

Editor in Chief : Kang Myeong-Seok two@
Reporter : Yoon Hee-Seong nine@
Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@, Lee Ji-Hye seven@