Q. Please introduce yourself.
Moos (MS): Angel-liked, Moos here! Haha. But as you can see, I’m the eldest among the members, so I’m taking care of them a lot, and I buy many delicious things for them. Thats how I got my nickname.
Heojun (HJ): In charge of reversed charm and vocal, Heojun. I also have particular ability that can make people laugh.
Leegeon (LG): In charge of main vocal and disciplinary leader, Leegeon. Because of Moos hyung being an angel-liked, he cant be in charge of “the whipping” (being strict).
Buffy (BF): In charge of rap, Buffy. Um… I’m the team’s magnae (youngest member) but the hyungs (older brothers/big brothers) have up and down charms. Should I do the push and pull well? haha
H.O: 3 days younger than Buffy, in charge of being super magnae, H.O. I also in charge of ‘african feel’ voice (deep voice). I also doing good as super magnae. I dont want to be recognize as super because my big tall body.
Daewon (DW): In charge of vocal and being the main dancer, Daewon. Ah! I also in charge of being pure and clean. And depend on MADTOWN’s peace, I can also be the cupid.
Jota (JT): In charge of rap, Jota. My role in the team is as the middle/being in the middle. there are 3 hyungs (older brothers) and 3 dongsaengs (younger brothers), so I’m taking a role as the middler. As the team’s middler, I’m coordinating too.
Q. How come your group name being MADTOWN? There wasn't anyone who against it?
BF: It’s a name that came up from a vote. Anyway, ‘crazy village’ is suitable for our ‘being carefree’ concept, thats what we think.
DW: Members picked it directly so they are satisfied. There was ‘unicorn’ too but… hahaha.. MADTOWN is the one who came out well.
MS: It’s a name that can cause misunderstanding but it’s suitable for our 7 members image. Upon hearing it, they accepted it right away.
Q. Please introduce your debut song, YOLO.
BF: YOLO is a song that use a trap beat dance genre which is very popular in America. It’s a song that you can be addicted easily on if you keep listen to it.
Q. Is there any interesting episode/moment when you produced your debut album?
MS: Um.. we were really nervous when we recorded for the first time. We tried to keep up and sense and also focus on the recording.
HJ: We think it should came out well, we did preparation beforehand strictly.
H.O: When we think the first recording, it is true that we have some moment that we regret.
Q. We are curious about your feeling when you debut.
BF: It was on KBS2 ‘Music Bank’, we appeared on the ‘Next Week’ corner. When we saw it, “Wah! What to do!”. We became really nervous. Before we thought we only need to do our best to enjoy the stage but suddenly we thought we need to practice harder.
Q. MADTOWN is known as the younger brother of MBLAQ. Were there any advice that MBLAQ gave to you for your album project?
MS: When we practiced, when we shoot our MV, MBLAQ sunbaenims (seniors) came. Especially when MV shooting, that time they told us advice such as gesture, or the dance form.
HJ: Seungho hyung also plays piano very well, I’m his ‘student’.
LG: Because I’m the main vocal, I got vocal lesson from G.O hyung, he also gave me alot of advice. I also did exercise with Thunder hyung and Leejoon hyung. Because they are our senior, they also gave us many advice how to get camera’s spotlight for our image on stage. “Try to catch the attention through your eyes”, “when you are on stage, dont think too much about you being the main on stage, just enjoy it”, we received that kind of advice.
BF: When we saw the article about us being MBLAQ’s brother, there was a burden. We were worried about MBLAQ hyungs’ reputation. But again, it’s a sure that our style is different, I hope people can see the new charm from MADTOWN.
Q. Then, how different is MBLAQ and MADTOWN’s concept?
LG: If MBLAQ has this a bit of heavy aura (being charismatic) around them, then MADTOWN’s concept is being carefree. I think being carefree is a suitable concept for us.
Q. Can you tell us how you wanted to be a singer?
MS: When I was in elementary school, I lived at Hampyeong, Jeolla province. There is one of my older cousins who do dance, when it was vacation, I came to his house to play. Because I followed him, I came to the broadcast station, that time I was thinking ‘I also want to stand on the stage like this’.I told that cousin of mine, we also convinced his parents. When I was on 6th Grade on elementary school, I started to learn how to dance at my cousin’s base. And on middle school, 3rd Grade, I came for audition, passed and started to be a trainee.
HJ: There was an announcement when I was play at theater, contemporary dance and gigs in the university. Through a friend’s suggestion I did the audition and passed.
LG: When I was young I know music because of my father. I was preparing to find a job after my senior high school graduation, my best friend, Daewon, asked me what if we try to be singers. I’m really close with Daewon since we became friend on elementary school.
BF: Originally I was preparing to enter a school, so I had study constantly. But I’ve fall for the charm of bass guitar, and I made it from a hobby to lifestyle. So I changed from try to enter the school to learn the bass guitar and dance. I also learned how to dance at Moos hyung’s cousin’s base, and I had received the audition proposal from the company.
H.O: Since I was in the 1st year of junior high school, I had dream to become a singer. I also learned how to dance in dance school. I went to competition after learned dance for 2 years. I received a lot of casting offer when I did performance, and I did the audition too. and that was how I became a trainee.
DW: I did an activity as a part of dance group. When I did the dance group activity, I followed and learned MBLAQ sunbaenim and BEAST sunbaenim dance choreo, I did record a video too. And the video gained a popularity, and that's how I got casted.
JT: I did Judo since I was in 1st year of elementary school until 1st year of university. But I quit when I got injured. But at the same time, beside Judo, I had a dream to be a singer. Since I quit the judo because of the injured, I tried to do my other dream by doing an audition. I challenged the JTune Camp audition, passed it and now I become a part of MADTOWN.
Q. It’s good to see the MADTOWN’s individual teamwork. Now you’ve debut as a group, is there any secret of your teamwork?
MS: Surely we’ve been together for 2 years to share the sweats and bitterness. We’ve practice together, we also take bath together and sleep together. and after a long time did practice, we went to the sauna together and drank banana milk after we worked hard. Like this we dont need words to understand each other, sometime by only by action we can also understand each other.
Q. Now you have debut, how is the response around you?
LG: For the first time my relatives and the group chatting room became active. They told me that they are really proud of me and asked me to be more responsible. I feel thankful to my parents and relatives, that's why I’m going to do my best.
DW: My friends’ response was good. especially our (Daewon and Leegeon) friends, we heard many said, “those two are doing really good. I’m jealous”.
Q. Is there any special things from the music genre that MADTOWN does?
MS: MADTOWN is going to Hip Hop way. That comes together with the choreography and addictive song that we’re looking for.
BF: Especially it’s been hard for Daewon hyung to created a choreography that suited the song title, he endured well. He is really good in dancing.
DW: Haha. It’s a relief to know that the choreography came out well.
Q. The, there is a point of the ‘YOLO’ choreography? Please introduce it to us.
DW: The point of the choreography is a combined dance. The millstone dance is the main. Actually there is a reason MADTOWN using the millstone word (맷돌). if you pronounce MAD (매드) fast, it become ‘Maet’ (맷), the ‘Dol’ (돌) part came from ‘IDOL’ (아이돌). And if you see, it’s a dance from the turn movement of the millstone.
Q. Lately there is a flood of boy groups. Among the boy groups, is there any strong point of MADTOWN?
MS: MADTOWN is not going to be well prepared. From the company, we always consult together if we have ideas or opinions. (Moos is saying that the company doesn't prepare everything for them (choreography dance, some songs))
HJ: That’s right. MADTOWN is a group that its independent being emphasize a lot.
H.O: The choreography too, to make it more carefree, we changed it to martial arts in the last half of the song. Rather than make it same, that time we got a feeling to show people the different color.
LG: This is the kind of music that expressing what you feel on that exact day, like that? That's the dance/choreography’s concept.
Q. Martial arts! Isn't your sunbae (senior)’s group, GOT7, famous of it?
BF: GOT7 sunbaenim are people who we admire. If you see, maybe our concept is similar but we’re going to do ours in a way that suits MADTOWN. When you listen to the sunbaenim (any group)’s song, you will go “Ah, isn't this that group’s song?”, we also want people do the same thing to ours, “Oh? This song is MADTOWN’s, right?”, that will be great if that happens.
Q. MADTOWN’s role model?
MS: J.Cole. That person is a rapper who has a smooth voice that has a background on acoustic melody. I like that kind but I also like a genre like RnB and smooth sensibility hip hop. if there is a chance, I wanna make a rap that has sensibility.
LG: I admire MBLAQ sunbaenim. We’re just juniors from the bottom, but they care alot about us. Me too, when I have juniors I will do the same thing like MBLAQ sunbaenim does. and I really like Bruno Mars. I will do my best in practice so I can sing Bruno Mars’ songs for our fans.
HJ: Rain sunbaenim. He did everything and not afraid to do it, he is really cool. I wanna have a clean good look like him. It’s not only the songs, his acting skill too is successful, that make me respect him more, he is cool.
DW: Jay Park. His personality is nice, his color of music also good, our representative (CEO) is also really cool. I also wanna be someone cool like Jay Park sunbaenim. How great it is when I have a chance to do a performance together. Ah! BEAST’s Lee Kikwang sunbaenim and MBLAQ’s Leejoon sunbaenim too! My wish is to perform dance together with them.
H.O: Chris Brown. It makes me teary just to think of it. Really, only by his existence, he is really a cool person. His skill and of course his self-management and also his thorough image are impressive. it will be great if I can practice with him in the practice room for 30 minutes.
BF: Our nation’s rappers, San-E sunbaenim and Zico sunbaenim, I really respect them alot. Outside rapper, Tyga is my role model. That person is a reason why I do rap. When I listened to his mix tape, I thought the rap is really cool if I did it.
JT: I really admire MBLAQ hyungnims (older brother/big brothers)! Especially Leejoon sunbaenim, he is an artist that can sing well and act really good. I wanna be someone who can learn a lot and can be teach on daily.
Q. MADTOWN’s goal?
LG: We want people in South Korea know MADTOWN as soon as possible. If we have chance, we also want to receive the rookie award. And if we get a bit bigger, we wanna do mini concert together with our fans, it will be great.
H.O: It will be great if our MV view hits 1,000.
JT: make it big! How about one hundred million views hahaha
Q. Last one, tell us your debut resolution please.
MS: MADTOWN members, for 2 years really spent their blood and sweat to did their best on the practice. I think the only left is how to show the fun. Everytime we’re on stage we will be very nervous, we won’t even blink our eyes and it will be great if people can see how hard we do our best.
Cr. TENASIA
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