10cm, consisting of Kwon Jung Yeol (vocal, percussion) and Yoon Chul Jong (guitar), became a trend. On a list of 'bands that had the most performances in Hongdae Clubs in 2009' they reached the 2nd place.
They describe themselves as 'expressing music full of sexiness with the smartness and arrogance of the NY Manhattan style'. But asking what exactly the Manhattan style is, you'll always get the answer 'it's just a bluff'. Never having been in Manhattan, not knowing where it is, Jung Yeol explains that it is just to make it look as if there's something; it's just the coolest word he knows.
They are lazybones who just do what they want, enjoying coffee and cigarettes. They search for 'the new world where you can pay monthly rent, communication bills, price for coffee and cigarette, PC bang and Date expenses through making music.'
Warning! CUT~
Starting in High School…
Both coming from Gumi in Gyeongsangbuk-do, they know each other about 12 years, when they came together in their High School band. It was a Middle School+High School complex. One day Jung Yeol send a self-recorded tape and a letter saying (with a heart) that when he enters High School he will join the band. When he finally entered High School, there was this rumor that he is really good at singing. So Chul Jong, who was the leader that time, just had to take him, or else he might have been scolded. Actually Chul Jong wanted to do the vocal, but changed to guitar then. In their High School band they rather made "loud, cute and lively music".
…Continuing in the Army…
After graduating, everyone went their ways. They met again in 2004 and formed a 4-member band called 'Ghost Of Sea' (with Chul Jong as bassist). They have been active and released an album called 'Virus' in 2005. Then, they went together to the army. They wanted to continue to make music, but there was no proper room. So they pretended to go to church and practiced there. A band in disguise. The band's name was 'Seven Hills' because their corps had the name '칠봉' (~seven hills). They say that probably the motive of 10cm's music already started back then.
…And came till here
After leaving the army, the band broke up, but they still wanted to continue (as in "we have to do something for living"). So they came to Seoul, but it was difficult for them to organize members and they didn't have a proper practice room. So they started to practice on the streets. Jung Yeol's voice is quite loud and a lot of passersby stopped, watched and even gave money. Like this it became street performance. Half a year passed and when it got cold, it was impossible to play on the streets. So they decided to call themselves '10cm', their height difference, and started to perform at clubs.
Finally making their EP
As expectations, support and demanding were rising, they felt they had to record something. They even got proposals from labels, but they rejected with the reason "If it’s not SM, we won’t make a contract. If it’s not making us Idols… Because we’re people who are able to suddenly dislike doing the schedule tomorrow, we’re sorry, but we can’t make a contract." (Considering here that Jung Yeol is said to actually have gone to official Auditions.)
So they had to do it themselves. They started to prepare an EP. And then they prepared the preparations for an EP. And when they decided to start the preparations for preparing an EP, half a year was over. They recognized that they "never will be able to release anything like that".
One day Chul Jong posted on his cyworld "End of March EP will definitely be released". After that the atmosphere of the fanclub changed and they couldn't push it back anymore. They recorded the nights through at Chul Jong's home and since they made the EP themselves they had the idea to also make the case themselves. A leather case with '10cm' on it. It even would be not as expensive.
At the end it was really difficult. Friends who helped them were staying up several nights to finish them and it was as double as expensive as they thought. They were sorry to their fans but limited the quantity. And after one year since debuting, they released their first EP.
As it is their first EP, they wanted to test. They excluded the songs that are charming people right away and took those, which "stay in heart after listening to them several times". The title song of the EP is 'Good Night'. The reason? Well, "just without any special meaning, it seemed okay … this song seems the best, so we decided for 'Good Night' to be the title song."
On a final note, all songs are fiction and it's Jung Yeol who likes americano (he generally really likes coffee, drinks 3~4 cups per day), Chul Jong rather likes coffee latte.
Recently, there also has been a 10Asia Interview, I hope to translate it soon (if no one else does) as it seems to contain lots of info.
sources: Mintpaper, Hyang Music, hani TV (interview and video)
4 comments:
thank you very much for this!
love these guys and i'm glad to know a little something about them. ;D
thank you!
10cm is gearing up to popularity for sure XD getting to see them in a performance is getting more difficult nowadays. thanks for the article :) they are one of my faves!
This is so informative. I love this band! Thank you so much. I can't read korean very well, so the translation is really helpful.
Wow! Thank you very much. This is exactly what I wanted to read. All information about 10cm is in Korean, which I can't read.
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