Dragon Pony Opens Up About Member's Departure: "We Had to Stick Together" [Interview②]

"Of course, it wasn't easy for us either," said An Tae Gyu of Dragon Pony. "But what worried us most was our fans."

Dragon Pony is making its first comeback as a trio. The band debuted in 2024 with four members, but bassist Pyun Sung Hyun left in August this year, leaving An, Kwon Se Hyuk and Ko Gang Hun as a three-member act.

The members sat down for an interview at the KPOPIT office in Seoul's Jung District on Nov. 3 ahead of the release of their new single, "Calling back," on Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. KST.

"I think our fans must have been really worried about us," An said. "We decided to focus on what we could do, work even harder and show them a better side of ourselves. We talked a lot among ourselves. It gave us a chance to regroup."

As they prepared the new single, the three members began by setting a fix schedule to work together.

"For about a month, we worked from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.," Ko said. "If we needed more time, we kept going. Then we'd come back at 1 the next day. We worked really hard. I thought this was a time when we needed to stick together even more."

The members also took time to learn more about each other's musical preferences.

"We set aside a day to talk about the music each of us liked and get a better understanding of our individual tastes," Ko said.

Kwon explained that bringing their different musical styles together was an important part of the process.

"Since we all write songs, we need to bring our individual styles together to find Dragon Pony's musical identity," he said. "We already knew what kind of music each of us liked and what songs we wanted to make, but we clarified those things this time. We tried to bring out each member's strengths as we worked."

The band also maintained its practice of crediting songs under the name "Dragon Pony" rather than listing individual members. Although the lineup change could have prompted a different approach, the members decided to keep their crediting practice.

"We never made a firm agreement that we'd always use the band's name in the credits," Kwon said. "But we release music under one name, Dragon Pony. We feel we're telling our stories as Dragon Pony, not as individual members, so we've kept the credits under the band name. We felt the same way about this album."

As they begin a new chapter as a trio, the members said good chemistry and mutual respect are important to keeping a band together.

"I think the members need good chemistry to make good music," Ko said. "The chemistry between us also plays a big part in how much we enjoy playing together."

An also emphasized the importance of respect.

"Whether we're working through different opinions or dealing with other situations, I think things would be difficult without respect between the members," he said. "It's important to acknowledge and respect one another."

The band has yet to decide whether it will remain a trio or recruit another member.

"Nothing specific has been decided," the members said.

Dragon Pony will release its new single, "Calling back," on Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. KST. The release contains two tracks: the title song of the same name and "Back when we were young."

The band will also hold solo concerts on Dec. 5 and 6 at Blue Square Woori WON Banking Hall in Seoul's Hannam-dong.