Catch The Young is a five-piece alternative pop rock boy band under Evermore Entertainment that made its official debut in the Korean music scene on November 1 with the mini-album ‘Catch The Young : Fragments of Youth,’ comprising members Sani (bassist, sub-vocalist), Kihoon (guitarist), Namhyun (main vocalist), Junyong (keyboardist, vocalist), and Jungmo (drummer).

Through their music, the members aim to capture and express the essence of youth, celebrating the highs and lows of it in hopes of building a connection with the listeners. “We want people who listen to our music to rethink their youth,” said the band.

‘Catch The Young : Fragments of Youth’ features an array of songs, spanning from energetic rock songs to heartwarming ballads, where, notably, the members participated in penning and composing the tracks “My Own Way,” the title song “YOUTH!!!,” “Talking To Myself,” “First Crush,” “If You Love Me,” “The Way To You,” and “Cactus Boy.”

To celebrate their debut, Catch The Young took the time to chat with allkpop about their first album, the inspiration behind the tracks, their reflections on youth, and more. Continue reading to learn more about the quintet!

Catch The Young' shout-out to allkpop:

allkpop: Your group sings most about the moments of youth, I believe that's why your group name is "Catch The Young," but is there any more meaning behind or significance to your band's name? 

Kihoon: What we want people to think about when they hear our band’s name, “Catch The Young,” is, honestly, that we are a global band. However, our goal and what we want is to express the moments of youth in our songs, which is why our name is called “Catch The Young.” Also, we want people who listen to our music to rethink their youth and feel the energy we put into the songs. 

allkpop: Since we're talking about youth, I wanted to know what life lessons you were able to retain and apply up to this point that you learned from your youth.

Jungmo: The idea is that we’re still learning. But the lessons that we have learned so far is to not give up, just go for it, and challenge ourselves to take on the challenge. Since we are just young, we still have a lot of things to experience — things that we will find daunting or scary as well as things that can give us a new, fresh perspective or experience. We are trying to apply that kind of mindset in our lives. We use those learnings as our strengths to progress in our lives. I believe that this is what courage is all about.

Kihoon: One of the life lessons I’ve learned from my youth is to not avoid trials and obstacles but to face those challenges. I hope that Catch The Young will keep on having that kind of mindset and spirit as we move forward.

allkpop: How did you find the recording process of the tracks and instruments?

Sani: One of the best things about our company is that we have our own studio, so we can use it to record whenever we want to. Even when we’re working on a demo, we can keep on recording until we’re fully satisfied. We can record from midnight until morning, or the whole day, and I really like that.

Kihoon: If we’re talking about the instruments…for instance, the guitars, there are different types of guitars as well as amplifiers. When we were recording, we got to try on those to see what would fit and work best for the sounds. For me, to be able to do that was a good thing.

allkpop: "My Own Way" is about the moment of growth by overcoming fear of the vague future. Are you afraid of the vague and unknown future? Do you tend to focus more on the here and now or do you tend to think more about what will happen in the future? Which type of person are you?

Sani: I believe we often look and think about our future more. I can’t deny that we don’t have certain fears regarding what will happen in the future, but what we do is that we try to accept that as a challenge. We go for it. And I believe that that kind of mindset shows that we are progressing and growing. I think that’s the reason why we have “My Own Way” as the first song in the album.

allkpop: The title track "YOUTH!!!" is about overcoming the pain of youth with positive energy. What are some of the biggest regrets you have from your youth? 

Sani: It already has become our motto to focus more on the present and future. We can’t say that we don't have any regrets. Even if you go back in time and do something about it, you will still have certain regrets in life. I think the best thing about our attitude is that we accept the past for what it is and we try to focus more on the present and look into the brighter future.

Kihoon: I believe that since we have regrets in the past, that makes the present even more valuable and better.

allkpop: The tracks talk about mostly youth, love, pain, relationships, etc, and since all the members participated in writing the lyrics of all of them, could you tell us what your inspiration is? 

Sani: All these inspirations when it comes to writing come from my personal experiences. If not, then the experiences of those who are around me. And if not from that, it comes from the things I can easily imagine. These inspirations come from something either near or personal to us. Also, I feel like when you write a song, the first part would be, of course, your inspiration. Then the musical technique comes after, which helps us create the music. My specific inspiration behind this album came from a love song. It's about a fan admiring an artist they like, a sentiment I can personally relate to. I was thinking about the artists I like when I was writing.

allkpop: When was the moment you started writing and creating songs? 

Kihoon: We’ve been playing instruments, so the moment we gained certain knowledge and learned about the techniques in creating music, that was when we started working on writing songs. It was during our late teens when we started to create music properly. 

allkpop: Was there any pressure or were you satisfied with the results given that this is your debut album and you're now putting self-written and self-composed songs out there for people to listen to?  

Kihoon: I also think that there’s a lot of pressure to put out our music to the public. We believe we have our own expressions and ideas that we want to convey to the world as musicians. Also, we want to know what kind of music will best fit the listeners and how they will react and interpret our songs, so we can make better songs that people can love. We’re satisfied [with the album], but we will eventually see how the public will react to it. And with the feedback we will be receiving, we will be able to use and incorporate them into our future music.

allkpop: Have you ever thought of wanting to become an idol instead, or is debuting in a band your first choice?

Junyong: For the other members, they really wanted to be in a band from the very start. But in my case, I actually went to an idol training program before. I even learned how to dance. So, I was thinking about being an idol or being a band member. But I knew that I wanted to pursue the latter path, and that’s why I left the idol training program and joined Catch The Young.

allkpop: Aside from the instruments you already know, are there any more that each of you would like to play or master?

Kihoon: Since I play guitar, I feel like I want to try playing drums because they're different. I would like to not only be able to play the drums but to master it. Though it’s very hard to master because you don’t use musical pitches since it’s a percussion instrument, I think it would be the perfect accompaniment for bass guitar.

allkpop: Some members were introduced in 2021 and some were just introduced in 2023. What were your first impressions of each other?

Namhyun: Back in 2021, it was only me along with Kihoon and Sani. Sani was talking very comfortably to me and he gave off a very artistic vibe. As for Kihoon, I thought that he was stoic when we first met, but he turned out to be a fun person. The members gave off refreshing vibes.

Junyong: I was the last member to join Catch The Young. Before I joined, I already knew about them and they were already holding concerts as a four-member band. When I first saw them perform, I thought, “Can I also do this?” When I finally met them, it was like meeting celebrities. Although I was the last member to join and the youngest, they wholeheartedly accepted me and talked to me not only about music but also about life. Joining Catch The Young was a cool experience.

allkpop: What is one song that you've been listening to these days?

Kihoon: Santana’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

Namhyun: Quasimodo’s “Broken Valentine”

Junyong: Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire”

Sani: Taeko Oonuki’s “Tokai”

Jungmo: Kenshi Yonezu’s “Lemon”

allkpop: To wrap up this interview, please leave any final messages to allkpop readers and your fans!

Kihoon: Thank you for taking the time to interview us. We really appreciate it. I hope people can check out the genre we created, Youth Pop Rock, and get energy from it. We try to convey and embed youthfulness into our music, so we hope people can feel that within our music. We’re looking forward to people’s support!

Socials:

Twitter: catch_theyoung
Instagram: catch_theyoung
Facebook: Catch The Young
YouTube: Catch The Young
SoundCloud: catchtheyoung
TikTok: @catch_theyoung