Welcome Back GALAXY EXPRESS!

Great catching up with you guys again! So your new album is a self-titled album, were there any special inspirations for it?

Jong-hyun: We wanted to take our time with making the new album.??For 2010?s ?Wild Days,? we told everyone that we were going to write, record, and release the album all within 30 days.??And while getting all of that done in the span of one month definitely resulted in some wild days for us, there were lots of things we couldn?t do on the album because of the tight time constraints.

We started writing songs for our new album in April, right after we got home from our 2012 USA tour.??We began recording the album in August and finished it at the end of October.??It was great to be able to work at our own pace and to have the time to try some new things.

What can fans expect in this new album?

Ju-hyun: I think this album has more of a straight-forward rock ?n? roll feel to it.??The songs on the new album are simpler than our past efforts, but they are more energetic too.??We listened to a lot of classic rock and punk stuff from the ?70s and lots of old Korean psychedelic music as well when we were making this album.

Jong-hyun: The new album sounds a lot more polished than our other discs.??We decided early on that we wanted this album to be a much higher quality and more professional sounding recording than we?ve previously done.

In what ways would you all say Galaxy Express has grown since your last album and tour?

Jong-hyun: We?re still the same goofy guys that like to be way too loud and do as many wild and silly things as we can.??We?ve got a bit more experience and knowledge now, and I think that?s making us hungrier to do more things.??We want to play more shows, we want to experiment more with our music, and we want to keep improving as musicians and a band.

Horongbul

This is your third time in the U.S., Welcome back! I know it can be hard for Korean bands to perform in America. What advice would you give to a band wanting to tour the States?

Hee-kwon: Be prepared!??It costs a lot of money to tour internationally, so make sure you give yourselves enough time to save up the cash for the trip.??Try to do as much press and promotion as you can before the tour starts too.??This is a mistake some Korean indie bands make.??They spend lots of time planning to go overseas for some concerts, and pay a large amount of money to do so, but then they do very little promotion for their gigs.

Ju-hyun:??And while the business and promotion stuff is important, make sure you have fun too!??We?ve had a blast on our past two American tours and have had so many great experiences.??We?re hopeful other acts can have the same positive experiences too.

Now that you?re used to performing here, what would you say is the biggest difference between U.S. and Korean shows?

Jong-hyun: The drives!??Korea is small.??If you drive for six hours you?ll be on the other side of the country.??But the U.S. is much bigger.??You can drive for a dozen hours and still be in Texas!??In the U.S., bands have to supply their own amps and drums too.??But in Korea, all the live music venues have amps and drums available for acts to use, so there is a lot less stuff to carry around on tour.??Aside from that there aren?t many differences.??Americans and Koreans are both very passionate audiences at gigs.??They cheer, dance, and enjoy music.

Anything special you want to say to fans before the tour starts?

Jong-hyun: Thank you for reading about Galaxy Express!??We?re really grateful for the support and attention we have received from music fans all over the world.??We hope we can see some of you at our upcoming American gigs.??This tour will be our biggest tour to date, and we?re really excited about it.??We can?t wait to tear things up on stages across the U.S and to meet lots and lots of great people in all the places we visit.

—