BLITZERS, a 7-member rookie group from WUZO Entertainment, has embarked on their U.S. tour with Los Angeles as their first stop. For this interview, the ambitious boy group sat down with allkpop to share their thoughts on coming to America for the first time, on how they de-stress, and about their first impressions of one another.

(The transcription of this interview has omitted honorifics [i.e., hyung, sunbaenim] for brevity.)

AKP: How does it feel to hold your first in-person concert in front of an international audience?

Chris: It feels really great! This is the first time being in LA with all the members. We were quite nervous at first, but after arriving here, we were so excited. We can’t wait to meet our fans.

Sya: It hasn’t even been one year since our debut, so we are really glad to be performing in front of our fans here in the U.S.

AKP: What was your first impression of LA, and what are you most looking forward to as you explore different cities?

Jinhwa: Well, the first thing we did upon arriving here was eating seolleongtang (traditional ox bone soup) in Koreatown. So, we thought we were still in Korea! But after having an IN-N-OUT burger, we soon realized that we were really in America.

Chris: There are so many U.S. cities we haven’t visited yet. For instance, we would like to see the Statue of Liberty in New York and visit the Coca-Cola factory in Atlanta.

Wooju: We also went to Santa Monica, Hollywood, and the Griffith Observatory in LA.

AKP: What’s particularly memorable about many of your title songs is the fusion of rock and hip-hop sounds. It seems that, even as a dance performance group, you distinguish yourselves a lot purely through music. What else do you think makes BLITZERS stand out in the K-Pop world?

Chris: We have a strong rock sound in our music, so I could say that that’s the BLITZERS kind of music. The strong rock sound and the performance we have are unique, so we can add onto that as BLITZERS.

Juhan: We are going to try a lot of different genres, so there are more sides to us that we haven’t revealed yet. We hope you look forward to that as well.

AKP: While “Breathe Again,” “Will Make a Mistake,” and “BOBBIN” are extremely dark and powerful, a song like “Hop-In” brings out more of your playful and charming sides. Is there another concept or a musical genre you would like to try in the future?

Sya: I personally love hip-hop.

Jinhwa: Hip-hop for me as well. But, personally, I’ve always loved listening to country music while living on Jeju Island and enjoying the scenery. When Lil Nax X mixed country with hip-hop, I realized that I wanted to try mixing both genres.

Go_U: Our music generally has a fast tempo, so I would like to slow down a little bit, just enough to dance to it.

AKP: How does each member let go of stress while promoting?

Wooju: Whenever I de-stress, I watch Netflix or illustrate sketches of buildings with an ink pen while watching tutorial videos.

Lutan: For me, it’s always food. After a dance lesson or a schedule, I would stop by the convenience store before coming back to the dorm for a night snack.

Jinhwa: I don’t do anything. It’s difficult to go out these days, so whenever I try to think of ways to de-stress, there are too many limitations that come to mind. That produces even more stress, so I just don’t do anything.

Go_U: I just play games and sleep.

Juhan: I like listening to music and going to museums. Whenever I look at art, all my thoughts disappear, and my heart calms down.

Sya: It used to be food for me as well, but lately, just like Jinhwa, I have resorted to doing nothing. Or, I would play a game called ‘Let’s make Wooju laugh’!

Chris: Most of the time, I listen to music.

AKP: What are some fun things you do in practice rooms or in waiting rooms? Any funny episodes during “BOBBIN” promotions?

Lutan: These days, we’ve been into playing darts in the practice room! Some of our members even have their own personalized darts. But they have never tried using them yet!

Wooju: I think we bought ones that cost about 100,000 Won (~83 USD), but we’ve never even used them...Someone at our salon told us about it, and I was coerced into it...I’m very impressionable (laughs).

Juhan: On Christmas Day, we all decorated our practice room and used a beam projector to watch a movie and eat lots of food.

Wooju: The thing about us is that whenever we have free time, the members have a gag contest. Each room comes up with something funny, and we all watch each other while sitting on the living room sofa. Then, we rate each other! We choose the least funny group and make them to do the dishes or clean up after eating. Once, we held the contest for about 2 hours and a half...

Jinhwa: In the waiting rooms (for music programs), we get ready for our stage. The choreographies for our titles songs from the first and second mini albums were extremely difficult. They demand a lot more physical energy than they seem. So, after having about two dry rehearsals, the members all become so exhausted, and we recharge while gulping down our energy drinks.

AKP: What song are you listening to the most these days?

Chris: I listen to BLITZERS’s “BOBBIN”!

Sya: I’ve been listening to our concert set list a lot, including “Dream Pilot.”

Juhan: To be completely honest, I’ve also been listening to BLITZERS a lot (all members laugh). Especially the song “Simon Says.”

Go_U: We can’t lie! (Laughs) In order to be honest, we have to say that we’ve been listening to our own songs the most. Recently, the song I’ve been listening to was “Will Make a Mistake.” Another song that I like is Ne-Yo’s “Together.”

Jinhwa: For me...it’s BLITZERS’s “Blitz.” I also wrote the lyrics for that song, so it’s good for me the more I listen to it (laughs).

Lutan: The song that I’ve been listening to and dancing along is “Hop-In.” It revives the delightfully nervous feeling that I had when I first heard the song.

Wooju: Honestly, we get directions from the studio on how to record each song, but there was one song that didn’t require any direction for me. The opening line from the B-side track “Forever in My Heart” from our latest album ‘BOBBIN’ is something that I’ve poured all my heart and soul into. Even as I listened to it afterwards, I thought that I had done well, so I kept listening to it on the bus and analyzed it. I told the studio recording director in advance that I was really confident about how to carry out the verse, so he told me to do it on my own. And, the result was easily approved.

AKP: Which group do you each admire and respect in K-Pop?

Chris: For me, it’s BTS. They were the reason why I started dreaming of this job.

Sya: For me, it’s iKON. I cultivated my dreams while watching them.

Juhan: I started out by listening to BEAST, and then I watched BTS, which helped my dreams grow.

Go_U: Ever since I was in elementary school, a lot of my female classmates played MVs by INFINITE and EXO, so I was exposed to them quite a lot. I started getting interested in them myself and came this far. Now, if I were to choose a personal role model, it’s MONSTA X’s Shownu. He’s really cool. He seems really fun and charismatic.

Jinhwa: I like g.o.d. I like them, because whenever I listen to their songs, I become sad. I can empathize really well. It feels as though the group itself is a song. I would like to become a group like that, so I’ve been listening to them a lot. There are many songs that I like, but the song that’s moved me the most recently is “Sky Blue Promise,” a track that was released years after their original hit, “Sky Blue Balloon.”

Lutan: I started dreaming about this world after watching BTS’s “MIC Drop.” They are my role models as a group.

Wooju: Luckily, we got to perform at an end-of-year award show, where we watched Stray Kids perform in front of us for the first time. We’ve only seen them through the media, and even though they were always cool, seeing them on the big (LED) screens during the live performances made me realize how amazing they were.

Jinhwa: Also, the group that we watch the most these days is ATEEZ. We respect them so much, and they have the biggest influence on us.

Chris: Yes! I wanted to mention ATEEZ from the outset, but they had not debuted when I first dreamt of this job. These days, it’s definitely ATEEZ for us.

AKP: You will be celebrating your 1st debut anniversary this year in May. What would you like to do with your fans or with the members?

Sya: So far, we haven’t been able to hold very many in-person events in Korea. So, after wrapping up this tour, I would like for us to hold a fan meeting or a small concert in Korea.

Lutan: Just like what Sya said, I would like for us to hold a gathering with our fans, but if we can’t carry that out due to COVID-19, then I hope the members can at least hold a little party and eat lots of good food to celebrate together.

AKP: Do you all remember when you first met each other? What were your first impressions?

Chris: For me, the person that left the strongest impression on me was Jinhwa. Back then, Jinhwa used to work out a lot, and the first person that I met at the company was Jinhwa. When I found out that he was born in 2002, I was shocked because I thought he would be much older than me. His muscles were also really huge. These days, his muscles have gotten smaller from all the dancing.

Lutan: Jinhwa used to major in P.E. (Physical Education)!

Jinhwa: Yes...I auditioned [in K-Pop] because [P.E.] was too hard...

Juhan: For me, it’s Wooju. I met him inside our dorm at first, and he was like a little puppy. He had so many questions (laughs).

Sya: Wooju, for me as well. Right now, he’s become a lot more mature, but back then he looked like a young country boy!

Jinhwa: For me, it’s Chris. When I first heard that someone from America was coming, I thought that his mentality would be super casual and free. But, when I first met him, he was playfully telling all the dongsaengs that he was the hyung (laughs). He was also really strict about good manners. So, that was really refreshing for me.

Chris: At home, I am the youngest [out of two], so I wanted to become a hyung for once (all members laugh).

Go_U: For me, it’s also Chris. Jinhwa and I went to the same school, but back then, I was in a different company. But, I think Chris had seen me once before. So, after I auditioned and entered this company, Chris came up to me enthusiastically and said, “Oh, hyung! I saw you before, hyung!” I think he really wanted to appeal to me by saying that he had seen me before. I was rather bewildered (laughs).

Stay tuned for Part 2 of BLITZERS's interview!