The band Dragon Pony announced its official start with an album filled with their stories.
Dragon Pony held a showcase to commemorate the release of their second EP "Not Out" at the YES24 Wonder Hall in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 19th, where they talked about the new album.
Debuting with their first EP "POP UP" in September last year, Dragon Pony is a rookie band launched by Antenna, with all members possessing skills in songwriting, composing, and producing, thus being recognized for their outstanding musicality and stage manners.
After about 6 months, Dragon Pony announced their comeback, stating, "We have been waiting for today. We are happy and excited that our second EP can be unveiled to the world today," and added, "Time has passed since our debut activities, and we are here with our second EP. I still can’t believe it, but we will strive to show good performances."
The new album "Not Out" is a self-reflective narrative of Dragon Pony that captures the facets of an imperfect youth. With the team’s catchphrase of "the passionate music of imperfect boys," Dragon Pony aims to shine a light on the value of imperfection and convey the energy that shines within.
The members explained about the new album, saying, "We took the term from baseball. We want to tell ourselves and today’s youth, who may feel exhausted and frustrated, that it’s not over yet and this is just the beginning. We came up with it because we wanted to hear that too. We wanted to infuse deep emotions into this album."
The members all serve as main producers for this album. Dragon Pony directly handled the lyrics, composition, and arrangement for all songs, further enhancing their unique musical colors.
In response to a question about their working method, the members said, "In this album, we also took charge of the lyrics, composition, arrangement, and production for all tracks. When we work, one person creates a demo, and then we all contribute our opinions to develop it. Seong-hyeon is responsible for creative ideas, Kang-hoon takes charge of energetic and daring parts, Tae-kyu gathers diverse opinions as the leader, and Se-hyuk considers the overall message and tone of the lyrics."
The title track "Not Out" parallels the relentless challenges faced by youth with situations in a baseball game, conveying a message of hope and passion that if one does not give up until the end, they will ultimately achieve their dreams amidst failures and despair.
The members expressed about the title track, stating, "This is a message we want to convey to those, including ourselves, who are working hard but feel things aren’t going as planned. It carries a message to keep trying regardless of the outcome. It’s a song faithful to the basic elements of the band. While creating the track, we imagined scenes where we could all jump and play at festivals."
Lyrics that anyone in their youth can relate to blend with the fiery musical energy of the four members. The instruments placed at appropriate spots maximize emotional immersion, while Antenna's Yoo Hee-yeol contributed to the lyrics, enhancing the completeness of the work.
In response to a question about collaborating with Yoo Hee-yeol, An Tae-kyu mentioned, "The representative always gives many valuable pieces of advice when working, and the most impressive was about the direction of Dragon Pony. He advised that since we are a band, we must create our own worldview and conceptual identity. Based on that advice, this album contains much more of our autobiographical stories compared to the previous album. With the representative's counsel, we worked hard to better convey our honest stories."
Additionally, regarding the differences from the previous album, Dragon Pony mentioned, "We think our debut album ‘POP UP’ was like a pop-up store showcasing what kind of team Dragon Pony is. We are grateful that there was a lot of interest in the first album, so for this album, we made it with the resolution to be more confident and go a bit crazier. This album particularly contains many of our stories. We wanted to convey the message to people going through uncertain youth like us not to give up even if they fail and to move forward. We want to send encouragement to all youth."
Lastly, regarding Dragon Pony's unique strengths, they stated, "We thought about what our strengths might be, and when you listen to our music, I think you will feel a sense of classic hard rock. We grew up listening to that type of music and were heavily influenced by it. I think having a classic charm is one of our strengths."
Finally, Dragon Pony expressed their aspirations for the stage they want to stand on in the future, saying, "We dream of becoming the headliner at Glastonbury one day. That festival is a stage where many rock bands we respect have performed, so if we could stand on that stage, there would be no greater dream than that."
They added, "The phrases I wanted to hear since our previous activities were 'These kids perform so well, they're cool.' It seems like these are the kinds of words I want to hear through this album. In this activity, we plan to do special activities such as our first solo concert and musical broadcasts that we haven't shown before, and we will pour all our energy into delivering that."
[OSEN = reporter Ji Min-kyung]