Interview with KAFKA

Some bands follow the trend whilst others attempt to shape them. Self-professed "dream pop" band KAFKA definitely fall into the latter category. Beneath their serious exterior are two musicians on a mission to create their own sound, following their own rules. Needless to say, KoME were more than a little intrigued to find out more about this band. Luckily, they kindly agreed to answer a few of our questions.



Chaeyoung and Changyeol, can you tell us a little about the other member?

Chaeyoung: KAFKA consists of Chaeyoung (composition, lyrics, guitar, synthesizer, vocal) and Changyeol (composition, bass, synthesizer, sound design, guitar). When we have concerts, we usually play with session musicians (drum, bass, and DJ), but sometimes we have concerts with just the two of us.

I think Changyeol is a very friendly and sensitive person. I always feel his guitar sound is so beautiful and powerful.

Changyeol: Many people are frightened of Chaeyoung because of her appearance but she’s warm-hearted and friendly as well. Her voice is so distinctive that I think her voice itself is another unique instrument.

How did you meet and form the band?

Chaeyoung: Changyeol was looking for a vocalist and I was also looking for a band suitable for me early in January 2000. Then I happened to meet him and we both thought destiny drew us together.

Changyeol: At that time, I was in a band, with a drummer and a guitar player, as a bass player. Then Chaeyoung soon joined the band as a vocalist, but the band had a lot of problems from the beginning. So Chaeyoung and I formed a new band, Purple Shoes, with session musicians (guitar, drum) later that year. After that, Chaeyoung and I changed the band name to KAFKA in 2001. Since then, I’ve played the guitar instead of bass in our band.

You named yourself KAFKA after the author Franz Kafka, why exactly did you choose his name? Are you influenced by philosophy in general?

Chaeyoung : Franz Kafka is obviously one of my favourite authors and I’ve been influenced by philosophy in general since I was young. But that’s not all...

We named our band Purple Shoes. We didn’t like the name so we decided to change it, but we couldn’t find a name that represented us well. Then suddenly, Changyeol said, “The ID you're using on the computer is very simple and good. Besides, you like the author, so why don’t we name our band KAFKA?” That’s why we chose the name.

Changyeol: I like our band name. But I’d like to change it to another name at some point because whenever I search for our band, Franz Kafka is always the first result. But we need to think about that more deeply.

Do you share musical influences or do you have to compromise between your two tastes to produce your sound?

Chaeyoung: At first, we used to argue with each other about our tastes to produce our sound, so we had to compromise sometimes. But soon we realized the differences had an important role in making our music unusual.

Changyeol: We don’t share musical influences, but I like the uniqueness from the differences between us.

What kind of music do you personally prefer? It's clear you mix different elements in your songs together and the songs sound very different.

Chaeyoung: As for the first album, all the songs I made were slow and dry.

Actually, I don’t like hearing any music and people’s voices. I even hate hearing the radio. So, when I wrote the song, The Scentless Dream in 2000, I felt the song was like me. I don’t know why. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean I prefer that kind of music. I do just love all kinds of music that are made from within.

Changyeol: As Chaeyoung mentioned, I really love all kinds of music that have heart.

When I make new music, it depends on how I feel. For example, when I feel angry or excited, I usually make heavy sounding music and when I feel gloomy, I usually make calm music. That’s why our songs sound very different. Personally, I think when we make albums, they don’t need to be the same kind of music.

Which of your songs would you recommend to a first time listener of your music?

Changyeol: I’d like to recommend Silence from our latest album because I think it shows us, KAFKA at our best.

Chaeyoung: I would recommend When You Wake Me Up from our latest album because I’m sure that if anyone listens to the song, it can help them feel alive.

You were nominated for two Korean Music Award this year (Best Electronic Album and Best Electronic Song), how did it feel to be recognised in this way?

Chaeyoung & Changyeol: In fact, we were surprised at that news because mostly only male or female idol groups and famous indie bands were nominated until last year. Furthermore, we felt funny competing with those idol groups.

What do you think of the Korean music scene as a whole?

Chaeyoung: As for the so-called "Korean Indie" music scene, surely attention is being drawn away from bands and the rise of the singer-songwriter is emerging in Korea. I think most Korean people tend to keep up with fashion. They never want to be different from other people. For example, if punk music is having its fashionable moment, they like it. Many music fans in Korea have mainly been listening to Korean acoustic pop songs and trying to buy acoustic guitars in the past few years. Last week Changyeol and I went to the biggest mall for musical instruments, Nakwon mall, and we were shocked that every shop only sold acoustic guitars and they didn’t want to sell anything else.

Actually, I think it’s hard to have opportunities as bands, especially bands like ours, at the moment.

It’s highly regrettable that most Korean people and indie musicians don’t value musical diversity.

Changyeol: I also feel so sad about that. In my opinion, whatever most listeners want, all the musicians need to make their sound and genres unique because there are no variations in musical genres in the Korean indie scene. I think musicians should not be swayed by fashion and listeners.

Your last album, The Most Beautiful Thing, was released in 2010. Do you have any plans to release another album soon?

Chaeyoung: Honestly speaking, we would like to release another album but I don’t want to in Korea. Even if we release another album in Korea, most of the Korean listeners won’t even try to listen to it because they think our music is difficult and different from general music. They gave up the right to listen to diverse music and we gave up our effort to make them listen to our music. Therefore, I think releasing more albums in Korea is wasteful and meaningless. The first thing we should do is find another country to release our new album.

Changyeol: Like her, I’d like to release another album but I don’t want to do it in Korea anymore either. If we’re going to release something in Korea, it will be not a full-length album but a single. I do hope to release our new full-length album in countries outside of Korea soon.

Do you have a special routine when working on new music or has that changed with time?

Chaeyoung & Changyeol: We don’t have special routines. We work on our music on instinct all the time. We think when working on new music, following our instinct is the best way to show what we think and how we feel.

What can people expect from your concerts?

Chaeyoung & Changyeol: They can feel a newly born vibration from our concerts. Our concerts are dream-like and mysterious. We’re sure that they can feel something special if they see our concerts.

You have been in the music business since 2004, now 7 years later, what has changed and what remained the same? Are there other influences now that weren’t there when you started out?

Chaeyoung & Changyeol: We think it hasn’t changed much as a whole.
Basically, Korean society itself doesn’t value the culture of its country, so how could the music business or any art change or develop?

We think it’ll take hundreds of years for Korean music business or society to change. We haven’t changed either. There’s nothing to influence us or our music.

What are your plans for the future?

Chaeyoung & Changyeol: First, in Korea we would like to have as many concerts as possible. And we may release our single this year. Next, we plan to find a different country to appreciate the true value of our music and be able to play happily.

Do you have any plans to play overseas? Is there anywhere in particular that you would like to play?

Chaeyoung & Changyeol: We’ve been looking forward to playing overseas but we haven’t had the chance yet. We want to play in U.S.A and countries in Europe, such as Germany, U.K, France, etc. But it doesn’t matter. Anywhere is fine with us. It would be very exciting to play in different cultures.

Apart from music, what are your hobbies? What do you do in your spare time?

Chaeyoung: In my free time, I usually read books and watch different kinds of movies. My favourite movie directors are Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. I also spend my spare time drawing pictures.

Changyeol: My hobby is playing video games, but I like playing action, FPS (first-person shooter) and horror games in particular. I also like watching gore movies as well in my free time.

Do you have any guiltya musical pleasures?

Chaeyoung & Changyeol: Well, we and music made by us are entirely cut off from outside world. We sometimes wonder where we are and whether all the people passing by actually exist. So, our music often contains strange noises or words that no-one can understand. In addition, we think writing the words for some songs is like making unique sounds. So, we had a message in cipher hidden in one of our songs. And we have a cipher key. We think it’s very funny. That’s the very our guilty musical pleasure.

Any final messages for our readers?

Chaeyoung & Changyeol: We wish that all of you can enjoy our music, that our music can help you heal the wounds within you and get more energy. We hope all of you are always happy and healthy. Thank you.



KoME would like to thank Chaeyoung and Changyeol of KAFKA for making this interview possible. KAFKA's most recent album The Most Beautiful Thing can be purchased here.