FTIsland Facts · @FTIslandFacts
7th Sep 2012 from Twitlonger
[NEWS TRANS] Fighting among members in idol groups have been an issue in the music industry for a while recently. Even among managers who have been saying "where got any groups which don't fight among members", they will put FTIsland forward when talking about 'sticky teamwork'
They became at the top of popularity immediately with 2007 debut song 'Love Sick'. They left their Korean fans and left to Japanese market in 2008. They restarted from the bottom and climbed up step by step like other japanese bands. They were criticized that they have 'already passed' but they topped the Oricon chart and made hit songs such as 'Love Love Love' and 'Severely', showing that they were not dead yet.
Experiencing the sweet and bitterness of popularity at a young age, the support is the sticky friendship among FTIsland members. "is there Amy team with no conflicts. We fought and had crisis of breaking up too" but now they show deep friendship "now we are amazed at how only good people have gathered. Even if we have something on by ourselves, we will always return home with the members in the end"
"the fortune teller said that it will be a big hit"
- they start bragging about their 4th album FIVE TREASURE BOX first.
Jonghun: "since we are a 6th year band we tried to make it on our own accord. 6 songs out of 10 are our own songs. We touched on guitar lift, sound genre for all these songs."
- title song 'I wish' is by Kim Do Hun. Do you feel upset?
Jaejin: "honestly we feel upset. But in the company's point of view they need to think about the general publicity. Not saying that our songs don't have publicity but we comfort each other by thinking that ours must have been not enough by 2%. 'I Wish' is pop rock style. But we are attached to our own songs much more. We think that perhaps in the next album, or the next next album our songs will become the title. Our close fortune teller told us that it will be a big hit so we have great expectations."
"there were sasaeng fans who Did X"
-there were lots of overboard fans since debut.
Minhwan: "we asked the sasaeng fans to refrain so it's not too serious these days. It was great during 1st album. We heard the dorm door lock opening all the time and sometimes they followed us in taxi and banged into our van. There were numerous times when they came into the dorm or the van to take our stuff. There were fans who set up a living in front of the emergency exit and there was someone who did big business there so the security guard went crazy. Haha"
-you left to Japan leaving behind the popularity. I think you wouldn't have wanted to leave.
Seunghyun: "we really didn't want to go. We couldn't even speak a word in Japanese and we couldn't understand why we had to go. But now we thank our company. If they didn't make that decision, we would have become just idols who listen to whatever they say."
-How was life in Japan.
Minhwan: "we lived in a small Japanese house with manager hyung. We started recording after one week. We didn't even know what we were doing. At first we couldn't communicate so we only ate ramen, bacon and others. We did housework by ourselves too. There were three bicycles from our fans. Whenever we felt stuffed, we rode from yoyogi to harajuku. Hongki hung had a hard time suffering homesickness."
-when was the most 'mental breakdown'
Jonghun: "we suffered so much in Japan and then released an album I Korea but it didn't succeed. We cried a lot while going back to Japan. It was really hard but we couldn't change reality by complaining so everyone was like living with a tumor. It was unfair and frustrating. I think that's when we opened our eyes to band music. The only thing we could do was band music and the only way to relieve stress was music."
-there has been issues on fightings among idols these days. How is dormitory life?
Hongki: "we really like living in the dorm together. We don't know about other groups but we can compose together through the night and play instruments together right away while talking about music. 'Wanna go' (composed by Minhwan and Seunghyun) which is in the album wad the song i monitored and said it was good while I was in the toilet."
-did you fight often.
Hongki: "of course. Isn't it weirder not to fight? We fought everyday in the beginning of debut. There were members going through puberty, and lots of schedule so everyone was sensitive. I think it was the process of getting use to each other. Cuz we are boys we fought physically too. But thinking back I think it was really a small problem. I cooked bibim noodles and previous member Wonbin tried to eat suddenly so we fought."
-Even with many fightings, how did you achieve good teamwork
Seunghyun: "I think our secret is not teaming up to fight one person. And after a while, the person who did wrong will admit it cooly. And if someone seems to feel bad or tired, we care for them. Now we thank the god for how we all met well."
-you got your phones confiscated by the company. Will you confiscate if you become a producer
Minhwan: "if the members are like us I'll never give them. We get tempted by the surroundings easily. And sunbaenims keep asking is to come out for a drink. Definitely we get easily tempted when we get handphones. Although we used public phones to go out and play when we didn't have handphones."