[INTERVIEW] B.A.P Bang Yong-guk, Him Chan

Interview with boy band B.A.P

B.A.P member Bang Yong-guk [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

My name is Bang Yong-guk. In the past, I used to pursue a career with underground music under the name 'Jepp Blackman.'
I was born on March 31, 1990. I have an older brother and a sister who is six years older than me.
I said in the past that I’m from Ijak Island, located in West Sea, but I was actually born in Incheon. Ijak Island is where I lived for a short period of time when I was young and I moved to Incheon, then to Seoul when I was in middle school. So basically, I don’t have much memory living in Ijak Island. (laugh)
My goal from the beginning wasn't becoming a K-pop singer. But seeing Supreme Team or Dynamic Duo who have popularized hip hop music, I wanted to take part in it and make my contribution to the genre’s development.
Few scenes where I expected that it will be cut out while shooting for MBC’s “Our Sunday Night-Lulu Lala,” was actually deleted from the final version on the day it aired. (Him Chan: He knows exactly what was going to be edited out.) I’m quick-witted (laugh). I think I learned a lot while appearing on variety shows as a fixed guest.
We usually target Him Chan and tease him, because if people tease me, they know that I won't respond to it very well. (Him Chan: I can’t guarantee the consequence of that. Haha.) Him Chan is a good listener and the most fun one from all six of us.
At our house, we put three bunk beds in one room and sleep altogether. I don’t complain about sleeping on the bottom bed but sometimes I want to sleep on the top bunk. (Dae-hyun: So we sometimes switch beds.)
I’m starting to enjoy using Busan dialect. Dae-hyun rarely uses his dialect but sometimes when I ask him to use it he speaks in Busan dialect. So from time to time when I’m calling his name I use the dialect and say “Moon~ Jong~ Up~ Yi!” instead of just calling him “Jong-up.”
Last year, I watched the movie “World Invasion” with Him Chan but I don’t remember the story that well. (Him Chan: He got me into watch it saying that it's a must-watch piece and he fell asleep.) I thought it would be a sci-fi movie after watching the teaser video. But it turned out that it was a movie that praises the U.S. army. I thought about taking a nap after figuring it out. Hmm. I usually don’t prefer movies that brag about something.
I like North America’s major league baseball, especially the Texas Rangers, it is better than Korea’s baseball league. My favorite player is Mark Teixiera, whom I liked since he was in Texas’ youth baseball team. He is tall and has a big body but he is a fast runner and quickly adapts to changing situations. I was inspired by seeing someone like him who is the same age as me but works so hard. Of course, I don’t know him personally.
Our goal is to get popular in overseas. Some people ask if we’re going to dominate the universe after that but I don’t think we’ll be able to reach that point. (laugh) First, the world and we will prove it.

B.A.P member Him Chan [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

My name is Him Chan and it’s my real name. I got teased a lot when I was younger because of my name (meaning “energetic”) but after I grew up, my name helped people to remember me better. So I like it now.
I was born on April 19, 1990. I have a sister who is two years older than me. My dad got inspired by someone named “Golden-eagle-surprises-the-whole-world” (translated) and that almost got my sister’s name to become one.
My sister is obsessed with B.A.P. One day she was screaming, saying “Bang Yong-guk is so cute!” and I made fun of my sister by telling her not to let anyone know that I’m her brother. Oh, and I said on a radio the other day that I don’t like it when my sister doesn’t take a shower. I think that hurt her feelings and I want to let her know that I feel bad about it. I should say something good about her this time. Uhm...My sister is...My sister is very artistic! (laugh) (Bang Yong-guk: She even designed all our signatures.)
I used to do Korean classical music and started training to join an idol group after someone set me up an interview with my current agency. The common thing between Korean classical music and becoming a singer is that I get to go on stage which why I decided to get professional training for K-pop music without holding any bias.
We recently wrapped up our promotion for “Warrior” and started performing “Secret Love” but it doesn’t feel real. "Warrior” is our debut title and there were numerous events that happened since our debut, like breaking a microphone and a stage, not to mention our hands getting hurt. We will never forget the process.
I was the emcee of MTV’s music program “The Show” for a while and that helped me to react quickly to changing situations. I don’t think too deeply before talking so sometimes I talk without noticing that I am saying something (laugh). I hope that I can officially make my debut as an emcee of a TV music program with my experience.
When I get “Him Chan Mol-e,” which means everyone targets me to make fun of, I can’t react to it fast. I get abashed by responding to all five members throwing jokes at me. It’s worse when the younger members do that. Sometimes I feel the need to draw a line. (Bang Yong-guk: If teasing Him Chan cheers up the mood, he needs to be sacrificed.) I kind of do...agree. Yes. Hmm.
The game we love to play these days is called “Yoo Young-jae’s music friend” (translated name). There was a time when we had to sign our autographs on our CD albums and we each requested songs to DJ Young-jae. He’d pretend to be a DJ on a radio, saying “Our story today is sent from Jung Dae-hyun who lives in Hannam-dong, Seoul,” and play the music we requested.
Usually, the younger members decide the menu for our meals. I usually end up eating alone whenever I ask them if they want to eat chicken. I make it into a question to be nice but it actually means “Let’s eat chicken” (laugh).
Yong-guk and I are the oldest and there’s no difficulty in leading the other members because they’re all nice. But since we all grew up in different environments we have disagreements from time to time. We tried to make a compromising point when that happens. (Bang Yong-guk: pfffttt. No, It’s true, it’s true.) It’s not?

※ 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.

10 아시아 Reporter : Hwang Hyo-Jin seventeen@
10 아시아 Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@
10 아시아 Editor : Monica Suk monicasuk@
10 아시아 Editor : Jang Kyung-Jin three@