Celebrity Travel: Go Away With James Lee
Not long after James Lee celebrated his 27th birthday, the Royal Pirates bassist was involved in a freak accident in Seoul that nearly severed his hand and left it permanently damaged. No longer able to feel the strings of his bass, he quit his band and returned home to California, where he was born and raised. Lee, 30, is celebrating his burgeoning solo career, which includes performances at KCON LA, a premiere party for his EP "The Light" and an acoustic duet of "Let's Get Away" with his good friend Sooyoung (of Girls' Generation). Though based out of Los Angeles, Lee is on the road as much as he's at home and phoned from Hong Kong for this interview. For more information about Lee's work, check out his website (http://jamesleeofficial.com). He also stays in touch with fans on Twitter (https://twitter.com/jamesjoohyunlee), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/jamesjhl/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jamesjhl/).
Q. Where did you shoot the video for "Let's Get Away"?
A. Los Angeles. Sooyoung helped me out as a favor and to support me. She is seriously an angel. She knows my entire story and was one of the people who visited me often when I was in the hospital. She has truly been a blessing in my life.
Q. What was it like growing up in Hacienda Heights?
A. I grew up in a poor apartment complex where everything was falling apart and you could smell a dead body. It really smelled horrible. But it was what I knew at the time. I had my friends, who were all Mexican, and I really wanted to be Mexican, too. (Laughs) I was the nerdy guy with pants pulled up to the belly, but I was good at sports, so I had street cred. No one had a real football, so we played with a water bottle. My parents worked really hard. We went to Las Vegas as a family and stayed at Circus Circus. It was awful. (Laughs) I played junior peewee football and the finals were in Laughlin (Nevada). That was a road trip we took by the Colorado River, which was a lot of fun.
Q. Are you good with foreign languages?
A. No. I still don't really know a lot of Korean. And the only Spanish I knew was the bad words my friends taught me.
Q. You relocated to Korea for a few years with Royal Pirates. What did you learn from that experience?
A. I got a first-hand look at what it's like for people who don't speak the native language and how isolated you can feel. That gave me so much empathy for immigrants. And it gave me such respect for my parents, who left everything they knew behind to move to the U.S. It's rough when you can't communicate. In Korea, I had a lot of friends, but nothing beats hugging mom. I'm so glad to be back home. I'm kind of a momma's boy. (Laughs)
Q. What's the most important thing you've learned from your travels?
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