Author: weberboo

Tracing the K-Pop idols’ challenging path…A week after this interview, the members of K-Pop group A.C.E. – Jun, Donghun, Wow, Byeongkwan and Chan – will meet their fans in concert. Like everything in 2020, it’s a streamed event but any opportunity to be in the company of their fanbase, Choice, is an important one. “Being with our fans who love us makes us feel even more complete,” says Chan, the youngest at 22. “That’s our driving force.”
This isn’t a new sentiment for them – like all idol groups they are vehemently passionate about those who support them – but there’s a deeper poignancy considering the challenging path A.C.E have walked since their debut in early 2017. Choice, they say, almost in perfect unison, have always been what’s kept A.C.E mentally strong in the tough early days when money and resources were limited, and when none of them knew where their careers were headed during long waits between releases.
So finding ways to be with their fans, whether through writing album tracks dedicated to them, video call events or digital concerts, aren’t just sweet gestures or business acumen, they’re lifelines.
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There’s also an understandable frustration: due to Covid-19 restrictions, for the past five weeks A.C.E have been performing to TV crews in empty studios as they promote ‘HZJM: The Butterfly Phantasy’, their first record in eleven months, which is a substantial period in K-Pop. The bittersweet irony isn’t just that there are more eyes on A.C.E than ever before, but that this is some of their finest work, from the exquisite teaser images shot in water tanks to live performances so uncompromising they deserved an audience present to leave breathless.
The EP’s title riffs off the Chinese fable, ‘The Butterfly Dream’, its opener is entitled ‘Golden Goose’ after the Aesop tale, and the lead single – “Goblin (Favorite Boys)” – bases itself around the playful, golden bat-waving goblins in Korean mythology. The video teaser – simply entitled ‘Opening Video’ – features dark fairy tale staples like spells, thorns, fruit and blood. Byeongkwan considers their affinity for tales to be a natural, effective fit for their song’s messages and “the good thing is that everyone knows the stories so it was easy to tell the story in a modern way.”
“Whatever you do, do it your way, don’t blame anyone / Be your style, your color, be one of a kind” raps Wow on “Goblin (Favorite Boys)”, a towering, muscular slab of pop-rock.
“There’s one message that we wanted to convey the most – don’t lose yourself no matter what happens,” says group leader, 26 year old Jun. He’s known for a physical, sometimes surreal, wit and elastic, spontaneous expressions but, equally, he takes his leader role seriously, dwelling on his replies. “A lot of people press forward because of their dream or because they’re being pulled along by someone or even because of competition. And because of those factors I think a lot of people forget who they are or what they like.”
Competition, and maintaining one’s identity in the thick of it, is nothing new to A.C.E who took part in the parallel-running survival shows Mix Nine and The Unit, designed to raise the profiles of lesser known groups at the time (Chan won a place in The Unit’s temporary group UNB and was absent from A.C.E’s 2018 promotions). During Donghun, Byeongkwan and Wow’s audition for Mix Nine, YG Entertainment’s CEO Yang Hyun-Suk made a snide remark about A.C.E’s eye-catching short shorts during performances of their debut single, ‘Cactus’. Main vocalist Donghun didn’t miss a beat, calmly pointing out YG’s own boy group, WINNER, had worn similar shorts for their own promotions, leaving the CEO speechless. To sass one of K-Pop’s founding fathers, the man who, for a short while, held their future in his hands, was wildly audacious.
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Donghun laughs at the memory. “I was like, ‘Whatever, I don’t care’,” he grins, “because we were confident in our dancing and singing skills, and the only thing we’d talked about [prior to the show] was if we show the world what we have, we’ll not regret it. So we didn’t worry.” This freedom of feeling is a vital part of the group’s DNA, from their busking days and the covers – whether it be 5SOS or Blackpink – they still release, to their vlogs and YouTube diaries in which they’re frequently chaotic, raw and unpretentious.
A.C.E are the only group signed to their label, Beat Interactive, which has helped smooth a way for their autonomy, but this alone doesn’t quantify the carefree authenticity of A.C.E. The first factor, Donghun says, is that “the company trusts us and just lets us make our contents.” The second is desire. “Above all,” he adds, “we want to show our daily lives, to talk about our offstage stories and natural sides.”
And while these are such advantages of a small label, the disadvantages can be intense. K-Pop is a costly business with comeback expenses running into the hundreds of thousands of pounds. Donghun has never experienced stress when “competing with other groups or other programs. The hardest time was when we didn’t know when our next album would come out, that was the only fear.”
A.C.E’s main comebacks have consistently been nearly a year apart. They filled their days with practising but time took on a painful slowness and Donghun admits that between 2018’s “Take Me Higher” and 2019’s “Under Cover”, he struggled. Jun empathises; he too has gone through “coming to peace with feelings of hardship and tiredness” on the long run-ups to albums, teaching himself how to see situations more positively. “That resulted in a deeper relationship between our members and [with] our skills, which allowed us to grow,” he says.
Their musical journey has been an exciting though creatively unpredictable one – from hardstyle techno to bubbly pop and blustery hip hop. It’s with the rock-tinged “Under Cover” and “Goblin (Favorite Boys)” that they’ve found their surest and flashiest footing, however, Jun, who trained for nine years before debuting, has no inclination to rest on his laurels. “It’s true these two songs showed the best performances of A.C.E but we haven’t wanted to limit ourselves to any genre since we debuted and we’ll try more diversity, we want to experience new stuff.”
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Byeongkwan agrees: “The genres have changed but the story hasn’t changed at all. On the next album I’d like a chance to challenge popular genres, such as Latin.” Wow is far quieter than his bandmates today but, given he’s the man who smouldered and thrusted through “Black and Blue”, it comes as little surprise that he’d “like to try hard rock”, much to his bandmate’s delight. Chan throws up devil signs, launching an onslaught of air guitar, Jun furiously drums, Donghun and Byeongkwan adopt The Beatles’ 1960s strumming head wobble, and Wow, with a sidelong glance, laughs at them.
Their trajectory in terms of charts and fandom numbers hasn’t always shifted in tandem with A.C.E’s growing sonic triumphs. A quick scan of stan Twitter and you’ll find the terms “slept on” or “underrated” frequently attached to their name. During this year’s On The Road, a series following A.C.E on a short trip, Donghun quietly noted that no one recognised them as they travelled, thus he needed to work much harder to raise their profile. “It’s not frustrating to the point where we want to give up or anything like that,” Wow interjects. “But we can have a hard time when the results don’t come out as well as how much we practised.”
It’s perhaps a strange crossroads to stand upon, to be loved so loudly and fiercely by their fandom, yet feel small in the wider scheme of things, but for Donghun it’s a better place than where he’s been. “At first I wanted to succeed sooner but I got resentful and frustrated,” Donghun says, neat in a black turtleneck sweater. “As time went by, [I realised] success is how hard I try and how happy I am every day. Living with the precious people around us is really important.”
The restlessness for momentum still lingers in their two youngest. Byeongkwan names himself and Chan, who listens intently and fidgets incessantly, as the most impatient of the group. “Honestly, at times it’s helpful because I can prepare non-stop. But it’s not helpful when I’m physically not in good condition, or on the psychological condition of our members,” muses Chan. To balance it out, his idea of what success looks like has evolved. “That we debuted and we’re doing what we love,” he continues, knees bouncing as he speaks. “Also being able to do what we want is fulfilling our desires.”
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Adds Byeongkwan resolutely: “After debuting, we shared all our goals and we’ve helped each other so much. As a team, we have only one goal and we go together.” What is this singular goal? Jun, Chan and Donghun begin speaking on top of one another. It’s not so much a squabble as a minor cacophony and ends as abruptly as it started. Byeongkwan pulls a face. “Ok, maybe there are too many goals….” he smiles as Jun doubles over laughing. “But there are so many groups nowadays,” Byeongkwan says resolutely, “we want to exist and last for a long time with our fans.”
A.C.E’s camaraderie is, for want of a better word, tenderhearted. For all the roasting and roughhousing that goes on between them, they’re also gentle and attentive with each other – ask Donghun for one of the biggest challenges he’s faced, and he says it was Chan’s absence from their “Take Me Higher” promotions. That’s not to say, however, life is always peaceful. “We’re all good when we’re at the dorms,” says Chan, “but when it comes to practice, we want it perfect so our opinions crash into each other. That’s the only thing we have arguments over!”
Byeongkwan insists they’re more “discussions” than anything else. A loud sigh escapes him. “Sometimes we fight dramatically, but we figure it out by talking.” Jun comes at it with level-headed practicality. “The best team gets stronger when they face difficult situations and win them together,” he opines. “That’s what we do. We have conflicts but we learn how to respect each other. It makes us more mature.”
This year has already been transformative. They’ve seen a 200% uptick in album sales. They performed at the Oscars afterparty for ‘Parasite’ (“We were so excited and still can’t believe we were there. After that we got more confident and it shows on stage,” recalls Byeongkwan), and scored their first nomination for first place on a TV music program. “Unfortunately we didn’t win,” smiles Chan, “but it was a really good memory.”
To get here, they’ve had to strive when others may have run out of strength. Theirs is a resilience and tenacity that began long before A.C.E debuted but continues to this day, and why the humble cactus – able to survive the harshest physical conditions, the title of their debut single and a recurring motif in their subsequent work – is their inner symbol. “The cactus has the meaning of being about our own self,” says Jun. “A cactus spends a lot of time and effort to make one flower bloom, and that really correlates to us in the way we’re achieving our dreams.”
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Words: Taylor Glasby
Join us on the ad-free creative social network Vero, as we get under the skin of global cultural happenings. Follow Clash Magazine as we skip merrily between clubs, concerts, interviews and photo shoots. Get backstage sneak peeks, exclusive content and access to Clash Live events and a true view into our world as the fun and games unfold.

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Hear our selection of the music legend’s best songs after the Beatles
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Founder Jill Brown on this powerful new project…All too often, music’s flirted with romantic notions of criminality.
‘Jailhouse’ rock. ‘Murder’ ballads. ‘Outlaw’ blues. Songs that dance on the knife-edge of violence, often strummed by hands who’ve never held a blade or held up a post office.
But a life of crime isn’t some usually a Bonnie and Clyde cinematic trip. It’s desolate and desperate. More often that not, it’s borne out of social deprivation and chaotic lives. And for aspiring musicians on their way out of jail, there’s often little-to-no support to help them get their lives back on track – let alone get their records out there.
Conviction Records aims to change some of that. Taking root at a series of songwriting workshops at Barlinnie Prison, it’s a social enterprise with rehabilitation at its heart.
A record label devoted to platforming the music of ex-offenders, all proceeds from its sales will be used to support their transition to a better life outside of jail: bridging the gap by building transferable skills and breaking old patterns of behaviour.
They’ll offer a range of courses in social media, presentation and positive personal impact skills. Workshops will be offered externally, as well as to those signed to the label.
Brought to life by musician and former journalist Jill Brown (facilitator of the workshops), she’s teamed up with Eric McLellan, former right-hand man to legendary A&R guru Seymour Stein, to offer these ex-offenders a hand-up, the opportunity to upskill – and most importantly of all, a spark of hope amongst the darkness.
We met to chat about the vision, future ambitions and the redemptive power of music.
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Could you tell us a little more about the project and where it came from?
I’ll keep a long story very short. Over the past ten years, I’ve been going in and out of Barlinne, putting on concerts with prisoners and my band. Mainly, it was covers that the guys wanted to do, occasionally their own songs.
Before lockdown, I decided to do song-writing workshops. It was just a pilot. It was really the guys in the prison who came up with the idea. They led me to it. They asked – what do we do with our music on the outside?
A record label seemed like the most obvious next step for them. And it’s obviously very different, because you’re giving them a chance to use their own words.
When you were working with the prisoners, what sort of music were they gravitating towards?
It was a real mix. Sadly, people just can’t get away from Oasis! So that always turns up in some form. But there are a few people who do like Johnny Cash. I was like, we’re not going to do that because it’s so obvious. Like, ‘you must do Johnny Cash’, with prison music. A lot of blues music, a bit of The Beatles. Nothing particularly obscure, just popular music.
Within the workshop, what was the level of access to instruments? Were the prisoners allowed to play?
They didn’t really have to – because everyone was hip-hop! They all wanted to do hip-hop, and they were already rapping – so I guess it was just a development of that.
Within the songs that they were writing, were there any stand-out lyrical themes?
They write about trying to build a better life for themselves when they get out. One guy wrote this thing about wanting to be a better father, because he had a young son. They don’t celebrate crime, let’s put it that way. It’s all about how they can make their life better when they get out, and various emotions that they might have gone.
So songwriting gave them a space to express what had happened to them, and a framework to explore what they wanted for the future?
Well, you have a lot of thinking time in jail. So I think it’s inevitable that those are the themes we dwell on, really. Because generally, no-one wants to go back there. There are some who are institutionalised who’ll re-offend to get back in. Because they don’t have any other life.
Within the prisoners you were working with in those workshops, what was the age range?
This time, it was probably guys in the 20s and 30s. But before, people of all ages. For some reason, when you say songwriting workshop, it seems to always be interpreted as hip-hop. I don’t know why, really.
Did you ever try to guide their listening? Or to steer them towards new music?
Well, no. Firstly, because it was a short pilot. And secondly, because hip-hop is not my specialism. They would be the ones who’d teach me about it. And it was so good for me to discover new things – I would tell them about people, and they would tell me about people.
They knew a lot more than I would about hip-hop. Where we complemented each other was that it was my job to create the melody, which they don’t do, and any words which were sung, which is what they don’t do. But then sometimes they wanted to sing it. It was all new to them.
In terms of the aims of Conviction Records, is it about music as a rehabilitative force?
In short, it’s giving a voice to people who are on the margins of society.
 Inevitably, a level of rehabilitation will be a part of that. But I’m not going to claim that if you come to me then you’ll come out miraculously transformed.
For ex-offenders, the act of people believing in you and giving you time is really important. For anyone to recover from anything, really. To be heard. To have your own words heard. That’s the part that I have to play.
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In helping those people realise that they have a valid voice?
I was a television journalist, so I tell stories whatever medium I’m in. It’s about drawing people out of themselves, encouraging them and equipping them to do that.
The social enterprise will do a lot of training which is not related to music: confidence training, social media training. It’d be great if we discovered the next Jay-Z, but we also have to be realistic about it. We have to get people accessing things, who are not necessarily signed artists. It’ll offer a whole suite of training.
Employability skills and things like that?
I think even employability is even a level above. Often, people who are in jail have very chaotic lives and they don’t have a lot of self-esteem. Even before you get to employability, I think believing in people and getting them to believe in themselves is foundational – and is the most important building block.
Establishing a base level of confidence in themselves, and their attributes?
Yeah. When you’ve been in prison, you’re not going to come out and go for a job interview.
I think the general public probably like to hear about employment – but when guys are released, they come out with a polly bag of their clothes and that’s what we’re talking about. We’re not talking about someone who’s ready to go to a job interview – it’s really about building a support network for them so that they don’t end up back inside again, and they’ve got a bit of hope, and they’ve got something to focus on.
It’s more basic. Although hopefully, it’ll lead to that. Trying to get to grips with yourself, and your life.
Will it be open to all ex-offenders across Scotland?
To begin with, we’re going to start with Barlinnie. Otherwise, it could get quite overwhelming. But as we go on, we’re planning to extend our reach.
Could you tell me a little bit about Eric’s involvement?
Eric McLellan, our A&R guy (former right-hand man to the legendary Seymour Stein, who discovered Blondie and Talking Heads)- he’ll decide what we take on. He has a saying – there are two types of music in this world: good and bad. We’re not necessarily just looking for hip-hop artists with the label. We’re just looking for talented artists, in whatever genre.
I met Eric at an event called Wide Days. He was a speaker, we were at one of the pre-launch events and hardly anyone there. For me, because i’m a professional opportunist – as all journalists are – i was like, ooh – let’s go for a bowl of chips and a glass of wine!
We kept in touch, became friends. I kept him up-to-date with what I’ve been doing and asked if he wanted to get involved with this. He was delighted, because his job is to find new talent. And this helps him find talent that most people would never get any access to. And talent who wouldn’t have had a platform to get signed or found.
It’s hard for any artist – let alone if you’ve got a criminal record. Let’s face it, we all know really talented artists. Trying to navigate the music industry these days – with Spotify, and whatever, is really difficult. Adding onto that the fact you’ve been in prison – you’re going to be way down the pecking order.
Do you have any artists on your roster?
Well, we’ve just started. We just need to work our way through. One of the ways we’ll find people is through songwriting workshops, which we can’t do just now obviously, because of COVID.
It’s all in its very early stages, but the first person who’s contacted us is extremely promising. We’ve got one guy. I don’t want to say too much – he’s voice and acoustic, but he shows promise. We’ve got other people who’ve contacted us. Eric thinks he’s pretty Dylan-y.
What do you want to achieve with the label?
To make a difference to people’s lives, really. I’m an artist myself, but I feel it’s very self-seeking. And I worked in television, which is all about yourself. I wanted to get away from that and do something tangible to make a difference in people’s lives.
You have to go with your strengths. I’m not one of those polymaths who can turn their hand to anything – but music is just something I can do, that I enjoy. Whenever I went to Barlinnie, I really enjoyed it. And that’s where I realised I could contribute: by using my skill-set to meet the need.
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You can donate to the label by purchasing Jill’s track ‘Promised Land’ – co-written and produced by ex-Prides drummer Lewis Gardiner – via Bandcamp for any amount.
All money raised will go towards setting up the unique enterprise, and towards the workshops. Find out more HERE.
Words: Marianne Gallagher
Join us on the ad-free creative social network Vero, as we get under the skin of global cultural happenings. Follow Clash Magazine as we skip merrily between clubs, concerts, interviews and photo shoots. Get backstage sneak peeks, exclusive content and access to Clash Live events and a true view into our world as the fun and games unfold.

Buy Clash Magazine

 

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Miley Cyrus performed a cover of ‘Help!’ by the Beatles from an empty football stadium for Global Citizen’s ‘Global Goal: Unite for Our Future’ livestream event on June 28.
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