Interview with Motion Dive

How did the band originally form?

Motion Dive: Ich (drummer) started the band in 2002 as the [bri:z]. The band was mainly influenced by Japanese Visual Rock and was appearing at many gigs in Los Angeles. Ich saw the word "breeze" in his dream and that's how the band's name was made. With Iru on guitar, Kore on bass, and Ich on drums and Jin (ex-vocal) as the vocalist, the band started their long journey.

Has the band's sound changed since you were [bri:z]?

Motion Dive: When Woomin (lead guitar) joined the band, the band became more "Americanized". He suggested changing not only the name of the band but everything the band had. We threw out basically every song that we had except for 2 songs which are on our 2nd Single Album. The band used to sound like Japanese rock bands but we started to mix the hardness of American Rock with the catchy melody of K-pop and it has been working great so far.

As a Korean band in America, do you feel that your music is more influenced by the Korean or American music scene?

Motion Dive: We would have to say both because even if we're in the US and we're into American music, we're targeting Korean people.

In your opinion, what are the main differences between the US and South Korean music scenes?

Motion Dive: The music business is declining everywhere as the internet and technologies are growing. It's a tragedy that there is not much of band culture in South Korea. Some of the bands that are out there don't have originality and it's sad that they don't have any choice about it because they have to make living off of it. You make tons of money if you make a hit song in America. But, on the other hand, you have a long way to go in Korea even if you do. The main difference between the two is that an artist can focus on their color and sound in America but one has to copy the styles that have been copied and copied over and over in Korea. Didn't you ever think, "Oh. I think I heard this somewhere" even though it's your first time hearing it?

How is the song writing process? Do you write the lyrics first then add music or the other way around?

Motion Dive: Lyrics are always the last in process. We mostly record the instruments first then write the melodies and lyrics. It's different for every musician. Most of the composers write melodies first so the people can sing along easily but I think you get really limited if you do that. Woomin mostly writes songs since he's the one who suggested to change the band's style.

Who is in charge of the lyrics and from where that person gets his inspiration?

Motion Dive: Ich (drummer) mostly writes lyrics in Korean and Woomin (lead guitar) writes in English. Most of the time, Ich writes a story line about a person and we just let all of our thoughts out and write. Then he changes the words like poetry. Woomin just writes what he wants to say or what he feels and just put it on the paper. That's how he wrote the lyrics for Chase your Dream, which is the title song of the first album.

Iru: do you have any "heroes" that inspire you to play?

Iru: hide (note: guitarist for Japanese band X JAPAN) and Yngwie Malmsteen (note: guitarist for Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force). I fell in love when I heard X JAPAN in the 4th grade. I've watched their videos on the Internet and wanted to be like hide and that's why I started playing guitar. As I copied their songs and got serious about music, I started listening to Yngwie Malmsteen. Copying his solos really helped me to improve my techniques on guitar playing.

Woomin: you recently released a DJ album, what inspired you to do this? How long have you been DJing?

Woomin: I really love every genre of the music and trance is one of my favorites. I started listening to Tiësto, Quick Silver, Mystik, Aura, ATB, Gouryella and so on...

It's bit of a problem for me that if I like something (not only music), then I must make something similar or better one of my own. The 3 songs that are on the album are first 3 songs that I have ever made in my life. I started writing trance 2 or 3 months ago so... 3 months at the most.

Ich: you've been in the band longest, which moments have been most rewarding to you?

Ich: The day when the band broke up. After Kenta (ex-bassist) and Woomin's (lead guitar) departure, the band [bri:z] broke up. It was really a hard time for all of us. Kenta decided to not to come back but Woomin did. It helped us to bond more after the break up.

How are you coping without a bassist? How did it affect the new album or were the parts already recorded?

Motion Dive: Every recordings were done at Woomin's apartment with equipment that is worth $300 all together. Woomin played bass for every single song so we don't have any problem at the recording sessions. But we're slow on playing gigs because we couldn't find the right one yet.

Could you tell us a bit about your new album?

Motion Dive: The songs that are on the album are songs that we've made when we were [bri:z]. We couldn't just throw out everything out so we decided to record and publish it. We re-arranged the melodies for both songs, and added more instruments (orchestra, scratch, keyboard) to make the sounds full. The songs have lots of memories for us and I hope you guys feel it too because we put lots of passion to it.

Are there any artists you would like to collaborate with?

Motion Dive: We collaborated with lots of artists and it has been great experience for us. There were artists who are doing jazz, hip-hop, dancing (b-boy), ballads, k-pop and so on, but we felt that we're more comfortable with artists who sound like us. It's our dreams to play with the bands like The Used, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, 30 Seconds to Mars, Seo Taiji and so on...

Your music has been used on the game Freez On Air, how did this come about?

Motion Dive: A guy from the game company contacted Woomin after we released our first album saying that they love our music and that they want to put our songs in their game. He asked if we can write other genres of music and I sent him some samples that I made. All of the songs that I sent were picked and being used on the game. Funny thing is that 2 days before the open beta, they decided to add I still... on their game too.

As a band do you have any dreams or aims? What are your future plans?

Motion Dive: Simple, being "musicians" until we die. It's really hard for us right now because we are not that rich so can't afford to improve our equipment and we're not signed to a label so they can make an album. Everything that we published was done by us. We just hope that someday we find a supporter and get big. REAL BIG.

Do you have a final message for our readers?

Motion Dive: Thanks for reading this long article. We're Motion Dive and our 3rd album is coming soon!!! We're planning to release it in 3 months from now.

KoME would like to thank Motion Dive for making this interview possible.