It may be a little exaggerating to say this, but even those who aren’t extremely familiar with Lunafly will know that pianist, percussionist, and vocalist Teo is no longer part of the band. No one really knows why he decided to leave, even though he cited “personal circumstances” as the key reasons for dropping out of the group. However, Lunafly also did not disband because of that particular reason.
Their talent agency, Nega Networks, has instead expanded them into a 4-piece pop band, with Jin and Yub joining the group as drummer and guitarist respectively.
Before Yub and Jin debuted as part of the band, Lunafly was just a small multi-talented band with a huge fan following outside of Korea. They made their official debut in 2012 with their self self-composed track, “How Nice Would It Be”. Having toured extensively overseas, they slowly became a multilingual band as they also learned how to sing in other languages such as Spanish and Mandarin. They then shared their covers of foreign pop songs on their official YouTube channel.
Lunafly broke the typical Korean boy band stereotype by writing, composing, and singing their own music. Though they are considered underrated in the Korean music scene, their international fan base is constantly growing, proving that their musical talents are not ones to be overlooked.
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And now, having covered most of the events organised by our friends from M.E. Malaysia, we managed to get in touch with Lunafly, who told us about working together as a 4-member band and their upcoming concert tour.
Not much has been revealed about Jin and Yub, who officially joined Lunafly earlier in March this year, but you’re about to find out how they got together and what made them decided to join Lunafly in our exclusive interview with the group below:
Lunafly recently reborn as a 4-piece band with the additions of guitarist Yub and drummer Jin. How is it like working together? Did it become easier or more difficult for you all to decide on the overall sound of the band?
Lunafly: At first, it took some time to get to know each other and what music we like. As soon as the guys came in we had to record our Spanish album “Hermosos Recuerdos (Beautiful Memories)” together so that helped with getting to know each others’ work ethics. Our new sound is something that we are working on and we have written some great songs together already so we are looking forward to our next album’s release.
Let’s talk a little bit about the new members – how did Yub and Jin join the group? In terms of hobbies and talents, tell us more about yourselves.
Yub: I knew Sam and Yun already and actually recorded my guitar parts for some of their previous tracks. Sam, Yun, and our producer asked me to come in, which was an easy decision.
Jin: My professor at my university knows Lunafly’s producer who asked me to come and meet Sam and Yun. After a long talk together, I was honoured to be asked to play drums in the band.
For Jin and Yub, what did you guys think about LUNAFLY before eventually joining the group? Are there any other artistes that you guys look up to?
Yub: As I said I knew Sam and Yun before from playing guitar on some of their tracks and was always impressed with their passion for music and their songwriting skills. I like many guitarists, such as Eric Clapton.
Jin: I knew of Lunafly and knew them as a group who makes great music. I like a lot of jazz and funky music.
How will you guys be involved in the creative process of the band’s future albums?
Yub and Jin: We have already started writing and producing new songs with Sam and Yun. Luckily we realised that with Sam’s skills in the studio we have no need of an engineer and are able to record at any time. We are looking forward to finishing up our next album together.
The band already pulled fans from a lot of different countries for being able to cover songs in different languages. With the new members, does it open up new avenues for Sam and Yun to perform in ways that you might not otherwise?
Sam and Yun: It is something that we are thinking about a lot. We have already performed 2 shows together in Guatemala and Canada and had a lot of fun. We definitely want to keep singing in different languages but perhaps focus more on producing original songs.
“Hermosos Recuerdos” is the group’s 2nd studio album, but it is also the 1st-ever Spanish language album. How long did it take for you guys to learn Spanish and rearrange the songs in the album?
Lunafly: The songs in the album have been written at different times. A few of them were written late last year and another few of them were written 2 weeks before the album was released. Sam firstly wrote the lyrics in English and then we had some friends from Venezuela and Chile help us with the Spanish lyrics. We sung in Spanish before from doing covers so we were comfortable, but our friends really helped us out with the pronunciation.
What were some of the songs that inspired you to work on a Spanish-language album with your producers?
Lunafly: Definitely the songs we’ve covered before from artistes like Jesse & Joy’s “Corre” and “Me Voy”. Reik’s “Creo en ti” also inspired us a lot.
Other than the language itself, how do you think this album is different compared to the previous albums? Were you guys nervous about how the album will be received by fans?
Lunafly: Most songs on this album are very much an acoustic band sound, so we felt like we were kind of reproducing songs from our first ever album which was nice. We were of course very nervous like we always are! But luckily our fans have been very supportive of the album.
Lyrically, which song is your favourite and why?
Lunafly: The title track “A ti” is a very sad song and is our favourite on the album. It’s about a guy who’s going through some tough times because of a girl.
Since the band already released a Spanish-language album, have you ever considered releasing a new album in other languages?
Lunafly: We definitely want to try other languages too. We want to try Malay for sure so you guys should hook us up with some lyric writers!
Are there any moments you remember as particularly exciting while recording the album?
Lunafly: Well, we had to finish the recording very quickly by ourselves so we couldn’t have as much fun as we wanted to, but certainly singing in Spanish brought some very funny moments in terms of pronunciation.
In a recent interview with HelloKpop, Sam stated that the band is going for its 2nd Latin America tour this April. How will Jin and Yub be involved in the tour and what fans can expect from them in the future?
Lunafly: We now perform as a full band on stage so fans can expect a great live show.
Lunafly went on a sold out Latin America tour and European tour last year. What’s the weirdest thing that has happened on tour?
Lunafly: In Latin America, we had some underwears thrown at us on stage for the very first time. That was quite an experience.
Have any other artistes ever reached out to you after the tour? Any personal checklist of artistes that you guys would like to work with?
Lunafly: Recently in Canada we met a lot of great artistes and bands after our show and hung out a bit. We are actually terrible at networking with other artistes because we are always just working in our studio. That is something we will work on this year!
Sam: They’re are a lot of producers I would like to work with. Steve Aoki, David Guetta, Timbaland, and Pharell being some of them.
After the Latin America tour, any plans of coming back to Malaysia with the new members this year?
Lunafly: We would love to go! We haven’t been to Malaysia for so long now and we miss the people and fans there a lot. We are waiting patiently for a call from our management in Malaysia!
Finally, what’s next for Lunafly?
Lunafly: We are going to Bolivia soon to do a show and have other shows lined up later in the year like Australia and some other countries have been in contact. We are currently working on the next album which we are really putting a lot of energy into.
Sam: I have been producing a few tracks for other groups so please look out for them too.
Once again, we would like to thank M.E Malaysia for arranging this interview for us.
For more information about the band, visit Lunafly’s official Facebook page and Twitter. Don’t forget to subscribe to their official YouTube channel for more melodic tunes from them.
(Featured image: AU Review)