© Seoul Selectioin

GALAXY EXPRESS: TO THE UNIVERSE AND BEYOND!

KOREAN ROCK TRIO TAKES THEIR SHOW TO SXSW

Written by Monica Suk
Photographed by Ryu Seunghoo

Watching Galaxy Express’ performance, it takes less than 10 minutes to realize that the greatest compliment for a rock band is, “They’re nuts.”

And that’s exactly what Korean rock trio Galaxy Express wants to hear.

Since forming the band in 2006, members Park Jong-hyun (guitar/vocal), Lee Ju-hyun (bass/vocal), and Kim Hee-kwon (drums) have built a solid ground in the local music scene as a true one-of-a-kind band. In the seven years of their career, Galaxy Express has already invaded other planets with their signature mixed genre style of garage rock, punk, and psychedelic music.

They’re the first Korean artists to be invited to South by Southwest (SXSW) for three straight years (since 2011), the first in the country to hit the road for a US tour in 25 cities in 14 states, and the first to set the milestone of winning Album of the Year at the Korean Music Awards for their debut album Noise on Fire only three years after they debuted.
In an interview with Galaxy Express on Feb 28, a week before they kicked off their second US tour, the three musicians were just being them—Jong-hyun taking the lead in the conversation, Ju-hyun chiming in every minute with his typical sense of humor, and Hee-kwon silently exuding a free-spirited rocker energy.
Below is an excerpt from the interview, with the rockers sharing their thoughts on music and their excitement before the tour.

© Love Rock Company

SEOUL: It’s quite impressive that you guys have expanded into other countries in just six years.

Jong-hyun: Wow… I haven’t even realized that it’s been six years. Times does fly. Six years would have felt like a very long time when I was in school, but it passed in just a second while doing music.

Ju-hyun: I wonder if I’ve ever worked hard for anything other than music. I was literally living for music the whole six years. Back in school, I was doing bad, bad things (chuckles).

SEOUL: So at what age did you guys start the band?

Ju-hyun: I’m now 22 so that means… (laugh) I’m 36 now.

Jong-hyun: At least we formed the band when we were in our 20s.

SEOUL: I hear there’s a whole theme and story behind your band name, Galaxy Express.

Jong-hyun: Ju-hyun suggested a name with the image of the universe or aliens.

Ju-hyun: We were basically like otakus (a Japanese term referring to people with obsessive interests) at first. We even had nicknames to go along with our whole galaxy theme. But we’re back to normal now, living ordinary lives.

SEOUL: If I had to compare your personas to a musical genre, all three of you would be very different. How did you guys decide the band’s main genre?

Jong-hyun: Me and Ju-hyun used to be in punk bands before Galaxy Express. So naturally, we started off as a punk band. But because we refuse to be normal or obvious, we thought, “Why not just mix everything together?” From psychedelic music to classic rock, putting all those together made this (pointing himself with a poker face).

SEOUL: You’re one of a handful of local musicians who know how to have fun onstage. Where does that energy come from?

Jong-hyun: We’re really having fun on the stage. I don’t like to pretend to look cool in front of audiences. The moment I go up there, it’s all about enjoying the moment.

Ju-hyun: I think all three have us were born with that energy. Even Hee-kwon, who is normally very quiet, pounds and beats drums like his arms are gonna fall out when performing. I didn’t even know he was [active and energetic] like that until we watched our video on YouTube.

SEOUL: What’s the most memorable comment you guys saw online from your fans?

Ju-hyun: “This is nuts.” (all three break into laughter)

Jong-hyun: That just means he knows all about us!

SEOUL: It’s been about four years since you started taking your tours abroad, including to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and France. Do you guys have a sense of duty as a pioneering Korean rock band?

Jong-hyun: We were born and raised in Korea so that comes out naturally. But we don’t think it’s like a mission for us to let the world know more about Korea. We’re just doing what we like as artists.

SEOUL: It’s amazing that people are attracted to you and your music without even understanding the Korean lyrics.

Ju-hyun: It’s not just melody that matters. It’s the whole spirit or energy in the room that makes people understand who we are.

Jong-hyun: Music is the universal language of humankind. When we go crazy onstage, people know we’re excited, and when singing slowly, they know it’s something sad. We don’t have problems with singing in Korean. You don’t even need a special education to listen to music.

SEOUL: In recent years, the word K-pop has been in everyone’s lips, everywhere. Do you worry about people around the world understanding Korean music as something that’s only limited to girl groups and boy bands?

Jong-hyun: I fear such a trend could show the world only a part of K-pop. But using this fever as leverage, we can introduce them to other genres of Korean music.

Ju-hyun: Because we pursue different things from K-pop artists, the popularity of girl groups and boy bands does not have a big effect on us. In fact, we’re just paving our own road.

Jong-hyun: But we do get a lot of interviews from foreign media thanks to the K-pop boom.

Ju-hyun: Years ago when I was visiting France, all people asked me about were North Korea, Kim Jung-il, and missile tests. They thought Korea was at war and asked me if I was okay (laughs). But I don’t get that now. K-pop is more popular than Kim Il-sung now.

SEOUL: What do you want to gain from touring overseas?

Ju-hyun: Wealth and fame (laughs).

Jong-hyun: We just want to live to the fullest by experiencing what you can’t here in Korea. Something new, and something crazy.

© Love Rock Company

FYI>
www.galaxyexpress.co.kr
www.facebook.com/GalaxyExpressKR

BORN TO CLIMB

Meeting sports climbing champion Kim Ja-in 김자인

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Written by Ben Jackson

Photograph courtesy of All That Sports

They say the very best pianists are the ones that make even the hardest pieces look easy, their hands gliding effortlessly up and down the keyboard. Watching the world’s No. 1 sport climber Kim Ja-in scale a climbing wall gives a similar sensation: each move is controlled but fluid, perfectly considered and executed, with no jerking or grunting betraying the difficulty of the contortions required or the unnaturalness of such blatant defiance of gravity. The scattering of notes on an IFSC World Championship wall is ungenerous, but Kim plays her way up the vertical score without missing a beat. And like other virtuosos, Kim lets on that behind her competition-beating success lies pure enjoyment.

“By nature, once I start something I want to perfect it, but I also try hard to enjoy it to the fullest. Climbing is what I enjoy most of all, so I work harder at it than anything else.”

Kim’s hard work and enjoyment have brought her multiple sports climbing competition victories and podium results in the IFSC (International Federation of Sport Climbing) Climbing Worldcup, overall victory in the 2012 IFSC Climbing World Championship, and constant first or second world rankings over the past three years.

Family of climbers

Kim’s parents met through their mutual hobby of mountaineering; some of Kim’s earliest memories are of going to parks with climbing walls on weekends and watching her elder brothers climb. Perhaps inevitably, Kim soon found herself up a wall, her initial unease rapidly transforming into pleasure.

“My whole family enjoyed climbing, so I think I started doing it naturally,” she says. “Perhaps climbing is my destiny. When I climb, I sometimes feel this is the thing that best suits me, that best suits Kim Jain. It’s what makes me happiest.”

Kim currently competes in the world of sport climbing, which takes place on indoor, man-made climbing walls or on building walls with artificial holes and grips attached. The IFSC divides the sport into three disciplines: lead, bouldering, and speed. Among these, Kim excels at and enjoys lead, which involves climbing as high as possible, with a rope, on a predetermined 15 meter-high route within a given time of eight minutes. Climbers clip the rope into pre-attached carabiners as they progress up the wall.

“It’s a discipline that challenges you to think about how you’re going to climb a route you’re seeing for the first time in your life, so each person comes up with her own different way of climbing the same route. It’s fun because of these creative aspects, and because you can learn more by watching how other climbers go up the same route as you using a different method.”

Bouldering differs significantly in nature as a discipline: climbers compete to see who can reach the top of four of five walls of around five meters in height in a fixed, five-minute period. Speed, Kim’s least favorite discipline, involves simply determining which climber can complete the same course in the shortest amount of time.

“All three disciplines are part of sport climbing, but their characteristics, their lines of movement, and the muscles they require are all different, so it’s not easy to do all three. I started doing bouldering because I thought practicing the big, dynamic movements it demands would help me with lead, too,” says Kim. “But I found it so fun that I now compete in both disciplines.

“I also climb natural rock faces whenever I get the chance. I want to do plenty of natural rock climbing when I retire from competitive sport climbing.”

Solitary focus

Kim’s success, she believes, comes from focusing purely on climbing itself, rather than on competition.

“Ultimately, I think, climbing is a fight with yourself. So I always go into competitions just wanting to reach the top of the route in front of me, rather than beating other competitors. I’ve had some hard times recently when interest in and expectations of me have grown and I’ve felt more of a burden. I really like climbing and I was afraid that I would be judged only according to competition results. But I think the most important thing is for me to enjoy climbing. So these days I’m using mind control techniques, telling myself not to feel ashamed of whatever the competition results are because I’ve faithfully gone through every process and worked hard.”

“My most memorable moment was at the IFSC Climbing World Championships in China in 2009. Ever since I first took part in the Worldcup at the age of 16, my dream had been to complete a course in the Worldcup finals; in China that year, I fulfilled the dream, and at the biggest competition of all, the World Championships! I ended up taking second place that time, but I was so moved at having completed the course that I remember crying.”

Continued enjoyment

“To be honest, I still can’t believe I’m ranked number one in the world,” says Kim. Though maintaining this position would be nice, she claims, enjoying the actual sport itself is her highest priority and what she wants to do for as long as possible.

“I want to climb well enough that people who see me can feel how attractive and fun climbing is as a sport,” she says. “I want to help, even just a little, to increase the number of people enjoying sport climbing in Korea. If sport climbing is included as a sport in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, I’ll be 32 by then, but I definitely want to keep in good shape and take part. I don’t have any specific plans for after retirement, but I want to keep doing things related to sport climbing. I’m currently studying sports psychology, which I chose because I think it will be helpful in the future.”

Kim is quick to emphasize how safe and fun her sport is and is keen to get as many people involved in it as possible.

“Go and find a climbing wall this weekend with your partner or your family,” she says. “Climbing is great for all-round exercise and helps with mental concentration. There are almost 30 indoor and outdoor climbing walls in Seoul alone.”

FYI>

http://jainkim.kr