hellokpop’s exclusive interview with J Rabbit!

Previously, I covered an interview with Lucite Tokki. Not giving up in my quest to find out more about K-indie bands and their mystical power to create beautiful lyrical tunes and romantic rhythms, I set out to interview another popular K-indie band, J Rabbit (제이레빗). Being a popular name, and a representation of cuteness, both bands seem to take a huge liking to rabbits. Or simply put in Korean: Tokki. 

Here are some mini-info pops (as I like to call it), just for you: J Rabbit are a popular K-indie band consisting of 2 female members – Jung Da-Woon(Guitarist) and Jung Hye-Sun(Vocalist). Interestingly, both of them are also born in the rabbit year with a fondness for rabbits! Based in Seoul, they hit the k-indie scene with a huge bang in March 2011 with their very first album “It’s Spring”. The talented duo continues producing music with an energetic and fun approach, creating lovely music that will pepper up your day with romance and sweetness.

JK: Could you start by introducing yourselves to our readers?

J-Rabbit: Hello everyone, good to see you all!

Hye-sun: Hi, my name is Hye-sun and I’m the main vocalist of J Rabbit.

Da-woon: And my name is Da-woon, I usually write the songs for J Rabbit and am in-charge of playing musical instruments.

JK: How was your band name created? Is there any special meaning behind your band name?

Hye-sun: Well, it’s a little embarrassing to mention.. [laughs] The letter ‘J’ was derived from the first letter of both our surname ‘Jung’.

Da-woon:  Yes. Also, the both of us were born in the Year of Rabbit, 1987.  We named our band in English because we imagined that foreigners can easily remember us when it is in English.

JK: We know that your first album – It’s Spring – was released in March 2011, when was your group first formed?

J Rabbit: End of last summer, we finally found a place where we performed our first mini-concert. The owner of the cafe wanted to have our band to promote for a concert day. That’s when we suddenly named it, J Rabbit and It’s Spring. We needed to make it work… [laughs]

Hcube wiv J Rabbit – 힘든가요? (R U tired?)

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JK: What made you choose this path of being a musician, and how did you find each other?

Hye-sun : We were classmates in college, Seoul Institute of Arts and graduated in the same year. Da-woon studied Jazz Piano and I studied ‘Vocal’. We took a same class to study for MIDI, and we became a partner for the group assignment. That was the first project by Da-woon and me. We felt that we had a good partnership through this project, and began to build a good relationship.

 Da-woon: Yes, also, we met a very important partner, Hcube, who was the professor of MIDI class (who also gave the first group assignment to J Rabbit!). Now, he is our producer and the representative of ‘Friendz.net’.

JK: Who are your favourite bands / singers?

Hye-sun: I like lots of musicians. However, among those musicians, Lena Park is my favorite. She participated on “I Am a Singer” which is currently one of the famous TV show programs in Korea. I love her expression when she is singing. It feels like I’m watching a musical!

Da-woon: I like her too! Apart from Lena Park, I like Israel Houghton and his band.

JK: You girls can play many instruments! How many instruments in total can you play? Can you list the instruments?

Da-woon: I play most of the instruments for J-Rabbit’s music. But actually, we both can play piano and guitar. But, we still need more practice… [laughs] We use bells, violin, cello, marimba, and melodeon for our tunes. We have fun playing with various percussions and any new musical tools!

Hye-sun: Yes, that’s why we keep buying the new-instruments to try to make novel tunes.

JK: How many hours and days a week do you spend practicing?

Hye-sun: Well… we do not decide our practicing time, but we meet almost everyday. We play and sing together naturally.

Da-woon: But we have individual practice time, when we think we need it! Especially, when we need to prepare for the concert or any other performances.

JK: Does the band handle everything – from composing to production of all the lyrics and tunes? Do both of you write the music together?

Hye-sun:  Yes. Da-woon writes most of our tunes. I love her songs in all ways 🙂

Dawoon: I’m very very thankful to Hye-sun for loving my notes. But, we complete most of the songs together because it’s still hard to complete both lyrics and tunes for me. So we spend many times discussing about each of our tunes. We learn so much through this process.   

JK: Where does your inspiration on lyrics and tunes come from?

J Rabbit: We wish that people can be consoled, cheered up, and receive happy energy through J-Rabbit and our songs. So we try to get the lyrics from the ordinary days because it is the way where many people can feel sympathy. Also, we get some inspiration from our dairies, movies, books and from many other songs.

JK: How many concerts / live performances have you participated in, and which performance is your favourite? Why?

J Rabbit: Actually, we are unsure of the numbers of the concerts that we’ve participated; however, every single concert was very precious to us.

J Rabbit – 요즘 너 말야 (feat. Yana)

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JK: Friendz.net is an record label, who are the other artistes are in there? Have you collaborated with them on any songsbefore?

J Rabbit: There are Hcube, LeeSA and YANA. We have collaborated with Hcube and also with YANA. We hope to be able to collaborate in many projects with various artists. 🙂

JK: What is the favourite song in your album and what songs would you recommend to new listeners to your music?

Hye-sun: Every single track is my favorite! (just kidding :P) My favorite song is ‘Asking Tomorrow’. Just the thought of our first recording makes my heart flutter.               

Da-woon:  I would like to recommend our music to people who are in love, wants love or needs love. The fundamental message that we try to embody in our music is love. Based on love, we tell the stories of hope, joy, sorrow, depression, peace and blessing in our lives.

JK: Where do you hope to be or hope to achieve for your band in another 2 years time (year 2013)?

Hye-sun: J Rabbit Concert with 10,000 audiences! It is our goal… 😉

Da-woon: Brilliant! Pray for us… God will bless you! [laughs]

JK: Following your debut album – It’s Spring – are there any plans to release another album soon? When is the targeted date?

J Rabbit: Now we are preparing for the Christmas Project with members of ‘friendz.net’. It will be released in the season of Christmas. Also, we plan to release J-Rabbit’s second album early next year.

JK: Is there anything you would like to say to your supporters out there?

J Rabbit:  First of all, we appreciate for your time to read our interview 🙂 God bless you all, and always take care and please check our updates! We hope that this will be a little relaxing time in your life!

Hope to see you someday! Thank you so much, bye! 🙂

To find out more about J Rabbit, visit their website at http://friendz.net/

And to end off this interview… Here’s Hcube with J Rabbit, bringing to you:

aMorejo

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