Family bands have always had their moments in the spotlight throughout music regardless of genre. A duo that is hot on fans radar is The Grapes. The brothers Kiwon and Minhyeok are incredibly hands-on and to sum their current status as: self-written, self-produced, and home-recorded.

Last week (16th October) saw them release “Wanted Me Too", and as with most songs, developed from something out of nothing. You get the impression that together they are artists who go with the flow and put little pressure on their art. Perhaps how we should all work. Their debut mini-album, trivial, released in April, showcases their versatility with tracks like “Flying Jacket", an upbeat coming-of-age film, to grandiose slower moments with “Doesn't Feel the Same”. A group I think are ones to watch, and if the music doesn't hook you in or their playfulness, then perhaps their tagline: “Your girlfriends' favourite fruit". Just might. 

16th October saw the release of “Wanted Me Too", which sounds like an unrequited love song. Firstly, where did you get inspiration for the song? And was it something personal to you or just a well-crafted fictional tale?

The Grapes: Every one of our songs starts with our own experience. Sure, we might give them a little twist, but they all start from something within us.

Your debut mini album, trivial, was released in April. Those five tracks serve as a great introduction into how versatile your music is. What was the creative process like for the album? 

The Grapes: It took us a long time to finish all 5 songs. We had lots of demos. But we weren’t sure what direction our first EP should take. “Flying Jacket” was the last song we wrote for the album, and once we finished it, we immediately knew what we wanted our first EP to sound like.

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The title itself is quite a loose term, it can mean small things. Do you see the title as a reflection of the album as your own personal thoughts, almost like a journal? As it has some torn love songs and yet upbeat songs, almost like there’s a song for any mood in the day.

The Grapes: 'trivial' can mean small things or personal things, just like the question suggests. We never wanted to define it as only one thing. I think we chose to name it ‘trivial’ because at the time we were writing songs for the album, we were focusing on those kinds of things.

Our songs usually start from our own feelings and experiences, and sometimes even from things we had written in our diary. There were also other songs we wrote during that period that didn’t make it onto the album, and we’d love to share some of them with you someday.

“Flying Jacket” starts the album, and from the start it is such an upbeat track it could easily be the opening slot in a film. Do you find inspiration from older films or any specific pop culture?

The Grapes: It’s really hard to point to one specific source of inspiration. We’ve always liked a lot of different things, so we guess pieces of all of them have influenced us in some way.

Thinking about it, we often get drawn either to very specific, little details or objects or, on the complete opposite, to something much bigger. Like the overall mood or the atmosphere of a film or a certain culture.

Midway through the album it packs such a punch with "Doesn't Feel the Same"; together the lyrics, vocals, and musicality are fantastic. On a track like this, how do you know where to place them so you know it will land well?

The Grapes: It’s hard to get to the fundamental reason why something works or doesn’t. And it can take forever. So we usually go by feel. When it feels right, we know it’s right. Maybe that’s just our laziness, but it’s worked well so far.

You’ve mentioned that you guys are self-written, self-produced, and home-recorded. Do you find that being independent actually has more of a positive impact, allowing you to be in complete control with your artistic vision?

The Grapes: I’m not sure about the positive impact, but we definitely enjoy it. Writing songs, singing, recording, making music videos that fit the songs, choosing what to wear, creating artwork, and putting together the tracklist. If we could keep doing these works for the rest of our lifetimes, we’d be really happy. At least that’s how we feel right now (laughs).

Photo Credit: 김홍균

Of course, because we literally have to do everything ourselves, there’s a lot of work. We get confused, forget things, and not everything runs perfectly. But that’s who we are at that moment, and we think there’s something really enjoyable about leaving a record of ourselves as we were then.

As brothers, do you find it easier working together on tracks, and how does the home-recorded process go? Do you write separately before bringing together your ideas?

The Grapes: Up until now, I (Minhyeok) have written all the songs and then played them for Kiwon. So working together hasn’t been too difficult. On the next albums, Kiwon might take part in the songwriting process more than he does now.

MinHyeok, your voice has real maturity to it. When did you first begin to sing and when did you realise how unique your voice was? 

MinHyeok: I’d never really thought about it that way. Actually, I feel like my voice is still a little immature, but I guess everyone hears things differently. Or maybe I’m just good at putting on a voice (laughs).

2006, when BIGBANG came out, that was really the beginning of my life with music. And to be honest, I don’t think my voice is unique, so...

Kiwon, you’ve shared bass tutorials over on your YouTube channel. Do you enjoy the feeling of teaching, and where did you learn to play the bass yourself? Had you always been drawn to playing bass, or had you played other instruments previously?

Kiwon: If there’s one thing I’ve realised about myself, it’s that whenever I get really into something, I just love talking about it with people. I actually learnt bass on my own through YouTube, so I started making my own tutorials, hoping to pass a bit of that help along to others. Music is a huge part of my life, and playing in bands naturally got me curious about the guitar—and these days, I’m even trying my hand at the piano!

Following that, your YouTube shorts show many moments of the recording process, including voice memos from the featured tracks. Have you found the home recording process long-winded, or is it strangely easier, as it's in your hands?

The Grapes: We’ve never really experienced other recording sessions in a professional studio, so we’re not sure whether home recording is actually more long-winded or not. But one huge advantage is that we can record things over and over again until we get exactly what we want. It’s kind of the same story as everything else we do ourselves. We can control everything and don’t have to worry about what anyone else thinks. But at the same time, it can make us get exhausted sometimes.

Your sound is a little bit of every indie influence, with hints of British bands like The 1975. Had you grown up listening to a certain type of music that grabbed your attention when you were young? Or is it your taste in older years that you gravitate towards now?

The Grapes: Actually, K-pop was probably something we both had in common growing up. When it comes to band music, we each started playing in school bands in college. So I’d say our interest in British bands, including bands like The 1975, came later as we got older.

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Growing up, had you both enjoyed the same music and been becoming musicians, something that was a shared ambition?

The Grapes: As we mentioned in the previous question, we both grew up listening to K-pop groups like BIGBANG or BTS, so yes, we enjoyed similar music. As for becoming musicians, it wasn’t really something we talked about or shared as a dream when we were younger. We think we both had it somewhere inside us, and now we’ve ended up doing it together.

Have you found that now K-pop is globally recognised that global audiences are now finding out all the great bands in the indie and rock fields from Korea?

The Grapes: K-pop definitely deserves a lot of the credit. We haven’t fully felt it in person yet, since most of our interaction has been through online comments rather than face-to-face. But it does feel like K-music is getting more attention these days, and that people are starting to discover more K-indie and rock music too. It also makes us feel like we should make the most of this moment and ride that wave while it’s happening.

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