Name: Glen Check
Members: Kim June-one, Kang Hyuk-jun, Zayvo
Interviewee: Kang Hyuk-jun
Nationality: South-Korean
Current release: Glen Check's new single "Thrifty Issue 01" is out via EMA.
Recommendations: One of my favorite books is Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It’s a beautifully written work of fiction that brings me to tears everytime I read it.
One song that I think is immensely underrated is “Farewell Transmission” by the band Songs: Ohia. I honestly think it could be one of the greatest songs ever written and it was recorded in the studio live and unrehearsed.

If you enjoyed this Glen Check interview and would like to stay up to date with the band and their music, visit them on Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, and twitter.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

I do a lot of listening while driving, so hopefully they are open most of the time.

I enjoy the irregular commutes between Seoul and Paju where I am residing currently - and listening to music during that time is quite a different experience compared to listening at home or in the studio with good speakers or headphones on.

I find that the lower resolution of car speakers along with the dullness of being on the road allows me to enjoy the music as is rather than focusing on specific details and elements.

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience - can one train/learn being an artist?

The very first steps in music for me was learning the guitar from my grandpa. I didn’t learn much from him, just the basic scale, but it’s what got me interested in playing musical instruments and I am eternally grateful for that.

I have his guitar now that he passed away and we use it from time to time for our shows. I like to imagine him watching down on us with a grin on his face watching us play on his old Fender Strat.

To answer your second question, I believe that not only can one train/learn to be an artist, it is the only way. Even naturally gifted individuals need to develop techniques to master their craft, and anyone with enough time and effort devoted to mastering their craft can do it.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

That’s interesting because that is right around the time that I started listening to rock and electronic music. I was listening to a lot of Korean indie bands at the time like Sister’s Barbershop, Sugar Donut, and Humming Urban Stereo.



I still listen to these groups a lot although my musical taste has expanded quite a lot since then.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

Our key idea when approaching music making is diversity. We started Glen Check with the idea that we wanted to make all different kinds of music. This is because we shared a love for music from all genres may it be rock, hip-hop, electronic, jazz, whatever.

This idea of genre mixing and pulling elements from different types of music to fit with one another is inspirational to us and it’s what keeps us going when it comes to making music.

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

I think an argument could be made both ways but personally I think the latter.

For me, musical ideas are in essence a certain combination of musical elements. A melody is a combination of pitches and rhythm, chords are a combination of notes, lyrics are a combination of words.

These combinations, or at least the potential for those combinations, exist somewhere and are waiting to be discovered.

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

I share a similar sentiment when it comes to listening back to our own songs.

The chords or lyrics or any other specific element of the song are all things that I have listened to many times during the creation process and usually does not pull my attention. Rather, the overall sound, or how the elements are mixed is usually more interesting.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

There are some clips on YouTube of cricket chirps slowed down and they sound like a choir singing. It is amazing how sounds from nature are so harmonic and have so much in common with human made musical notes and harmonic scales.

It makes one think that mankind’s musical endeavours are simply an effort to mimic what nature has already made.

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

There isn’t one specific trait that I am particularly always drawn to. I enjoy all types of sounds, what I look for are how those elements are combined to produce a certain atmosphere or mood and how effectively it is done. Some songs are shorter or quieter than others and they are good because they are short or quiet and vice versa.

For instance, “Say Yes” is one of my favorite Elliott Smith song and it is just over two minutes long – quite shorter than most pop songs that are in the three to four minute range.



But I like how this song is short as it emphasize the feeling of longing that is the theme of the song for me.

On the other hand, Mew’s “Comforting Sounds” is around nine minutes long and the song would never have achieved the gloriousness that you experience at its climax had it been shorter.



Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

Our method very much resembles design. I think every musician has their own unique way of approaching music making. I remember reading somewhere that Damon Albarn wrote over a hundred demos for one of the Gorillaz albums and many artists I know make albums this way, by making a bunch of songs and selecting the ones to be released.

When we make an album, we decide how many songs will be on the album, what kind of songs they will be and just make those specific songs. As an example, our first album, Haute Couture, had eleven songs on it and we made just eleven songs.



We would never be able to release a B-side for any of our albums because we are never left with any B-sides when we are done making one.

Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

I think music making very much resembles scientific experiments. It is all about testing how certain musical combinations evoke certain emotions or certain reactions when listening to them.

There is a lot of testing to see which ideas work and which ones don’t, a lot of trial and error.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

I think music, like all art forms, reflects how we live our lives.

On a macro level, the music that was popular at a certain time in history tends to reflect the social sentiments at the time. The social turmoil of the 60s and 70s gave rise to the rock and roll and punk rock genres. The rebellious sentiment towards the government during the 90s can be felt in the hiphop lyrics of the time, and so on.

The same applies on a personal level, the musician creating music can’t help but be affected by what is going on in their lives and I think this is also a crucial aspect of the product that should be appreciated as is.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I think inherently, they are the same – they share the essential characteristics in that it takes some amount of practice and repetition to make a great cup of coffee or a great piece of music. They both also can be evaluated, albeit on subjective standards, as being good or bad.

The difference in range however is radically different. I do like coffee, but I couldn’t say that a cup of coffee was so beautifully brewed that it brought me to tears, but maybe some baristas and coffee lovers would disagree with me.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

For me it’s Siriusmo’s “Einmal in der Woche schreien.” Besides the singing in German (which I don’t even understand), the instrumental part of the music is a very upbeat, even funky, danceable tune. But somehow it makes me feel like tearing up for some reason.



That’s why I completely disagree with the people who say that electronic music is boring because it is emotionless. Synths and other electronic instruments are just instruments. If used well, they can conjure up any emotion.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

My biggest wish regarding the music industry is to embrace more diversity. This may be something more specific to the music industry in Korea, but there is a tendency for certain genres to gain nation-wide popularity for a few years only to almost completely disappear from music portals when the next trendy genre takes over.

I think Koreans are very sensitive to trends and often bandwagon on things that are currently popular. This can be positively interpreted to mean that we adapt quickly to the changing environment, but the downside for the music industry is that there isn’t enough time for a proper scene to take root.

It makes me sad to see the once popular rock clubs in Hongdae closing down and the entire population listening only to Hiphop. I have nothing against hiphop and I very much enjoy it but it would be healthier for there to be multiple local scenes growing simultaneously and harmoniously in my opinion.