After completing their 'Stand Up' U.S. & Canada Tour in early 2025, ROLLING QUARTZ returned to Atlanta and graced the Anime Weekend [Atlanta] stage. The convention hosted VIP experiences for DIADEMS (Rolling Quartz fandom name), and allowed fans and the artists to participate in autograph signings and meet & greets.
The room thrummed in anticipation and as the lights flooded the stage, each member-- YOUNGEUN, IREE, JAYOUNG, AREM, and HYUNJUNG, took their first bows to thunderous cheers.
Tuning and starting the show with 'Seven Nation Army' [by The White Stripes], was a perfect choice of introductory hype song. Throughout the show, Rolling Quartz explored both their own discography and covers that highlighted each of their talents. Many songs, like ACDC's 'Highway to Hell' and Rolling Quartz's own 'ONE' included interactive chants that helped keep the audience hooked and fueled the members excitement. By the end, of their set, fans and the band were craving and encore and made it happen with My Chemical Romance's 'Helena.' The work doesn't stop when they head home-- Rolling Quartz has just released a new single, 'Masquerade,'
KpopWise: What artist(s) got you all interested in rock music?
Iree: Bon Jovi and a Korean band called The Cross.
Youngeun: Bring Me The Horizon, Dreamcatcher, and One Ok Rock.
Jayoung: Same for me. I also like One Ok Rock and Bring Me The Horizon.
KpopWise: As you all work on composing and arranging your music, what do you find to be the most difficult part / the easiest part of the process?
Jayoung: I want to start off by saying, there is no easy part (the group laughs) to the song production process. But what I would consider to be one of the hardest things is trying to organize all of my ideas and really taking the time to think about all of the ideas that other people have for me after listening. And I think putting all of those together and making them make sense is one of the most difficult parts.
KpopWise: The transition between recording your songs versus performing them live must illicit different feelings. Do you have a mindset or even small self-ritual that helps prepare you in each situation?
Hyunjung: The strings/cords I use for my guitar, if they break during performance, there is nothing that can be done in that situation, so I make sure to get new ones the day before a performance. Whenever we are recording for songs, of course there is practice for those songs but when I practice for a live performance I continue to learn and grow with that song so when I reflect back on it it sometimes makes me think "Oh, I should have recorded it this way."
KpopWise: The last time our KpopWise team interviewed you was 2022, so since then have you all found any new anime or games that you are currently enjoying?
Arem: I am a big anime fan, and one that I am currently enjoying is "Sakamoto Days" and "The Apothecary Diaries."
Iree: I like games still but the list hasn't changed much!
Youngeun: Some of the works I've recently watched are "Chainsaw Man," "Attack on Titan," and "Oshi no Ko."
KpopWise: You've celebrated so much this year with DIADEMs- your recent release 'My Turn' reached 500K views in one month, Re.BOLD reached 1M in August, and September was your 5th birthday with your fans. Aside from numerical achievements, I know you all often talk about hoping your messages in your music are what reach your fans. This song 'My Turn' felt like a powerful "I can do this" message. Was that the intent? Are there other things you hope listeners will take from it?
Rolling Quartz: The messages we want to convey to our fans, a lot have already been spot-on and understood. We see our fans say that they get a lot of power and strength from listening to our songs, and that is exactly what we want to give them through our music: joy and happiness and energy.
