Already on their 10 year since their debut, FTISLAND reflects on their music, talks about the band culture in South Korea, and reveals their future aspirations as musicians in a recent interview on July 19.

They discuss the diminishing market for band music, and how it has become a genre that only exists because of its fans, or “maniacs,” referring to how the genre is not widespread amongst the general public.

The members explain, “This kind of inclination seems to be the most severe in our country. Internationally, bands make up the groundwork of music. [Our country] often tends to lean towards one thing when it comes to diversity in music.” However, FTISLAND continues to make music as a band despite knowing all this purely because they like to. Lee Hong Ki also comments, “Someday, the era for bands will come [in South Korea].”

While they’ve been active in the industry for a little over nine years, FTISLAND claims that they feel like they just released their second album, because their latest album, “Where’s the Truth?,” is their second album that is entirely self-produced, following “I WILL.”

The members elaborate that they feel like the biggest change over the years is being able to finally sing the kind of music they want to. They explain how in this newest album, they zealously portrayed what they see and feel through the lyrics and melodies. Lee Hong Ki says, “In the past, there were songs that we didn’t like, to the point I’d think, ‘Why am I singing this?'”

As for disagreements, the lead singer replies, “Even if we argue, we solve things on our own privately amongst ourselves,” and clarifies, “All the members participate in the production process from the very beginning.”

FTISLAND then speak about how they look towards the future, and want to age alongside music, just like the bands they respect and admire.

During the interview, the members also discussed starting as an indie band in Japan, and how their corresponding experiences shaped them into who they are as a band today.

What do you think about their commentary?

Source (1)