DMTN

DMTN (abbreviation of Desire.Motivation.Timing.Now), previously known as Dalmatian (Korean: 달마시안), is a seven-member boyband based in South Korea, created and formerly managed by Monkey Funch Entertainment, which also manages MC Mong. The group consisted of Inati, Day Day, Donglim, Jeesu, Dari, and Daniel. Dalmatian released a 30-second music video teaser of their debut digital single, Round 1 on August 25, 2010. It was followed by the song and video's full release on September 1, 2010 and the group officially debuted on the following day on Mnet's music program M! Countdown.^[1] On May 7, 2012, Dalmatian announced that Day Day had dropped out of their group due to personal reasons, and member Simon (who had left the group before debut due to personal reasons) would rejoin the group. Member, Dari enlisted in the military immediately after promotion for “That Man Opposed" ended in 2011, which resulted in his hiatus from the group. This left Dalmatian's lineup to consist of Inati, Jeesu, Daniel, Donglim, and Simon.^[2] The group then changed its name to DMTN, following its move to a new label. Following member Daniel's drug controversy, the group has been put on hiatus, while the members pursue individuals activities.^[3]

History

2009: Pre-debut

Before debut, DMTN was a four-member group consisting of members Inati, Day Day, Dari, and Simon. In 2009, DMTN's pre-debut lineup was featured on a track on MC Mong's fifth album, Humanimal, on the track "Dalmatian Love". Member Simon was also featured on another track on Humanimal. Shortly after, Jeesu was added to the group, making DMTN a five-member group.

All seven of the DMTN members have been revealed to have previous experience with performing. The leader Inati was a model for big name brands and companies such as SK Sky, McDonald's, and LG070. Inati was also a member of People Crew with MC Mong. Members Dari, Simon, DayDay and Jeesu have all been featured in MC Mong albums and concerts. Dari was featured in MC Mong's fourth and fifth album, as well as his 2009 concert "Variety Mind" along with member Jeesu. Day Day has previous experience being a rap trainer for JYP Entertainment as well as other companies and celebrities such as Wonder Girls' Hye Rim, 2PM, miss A, Secret, SISTAR, Girls' Day, and BESTie. Day Day has also featured on tracks of many Korean pop legends such as Lee Hyo-ri, Wonder Girls, Son Dam-bi, Uhm Jung-hwa, Wheesung and Baek Ji-young.^[4] Daniel's UCC past revealed pre-debut videos he had made with B2ST's Yoseob called "How to Seduce Mr. Daniel."

2010: Round 1 debut and Daniel's duo

DMTN was introduced in late December 2009. However, nothing else was heard until the release of their first music video teaser on August 25, 2010, through Mnet and other online portal sites. A Monkey Funch representative stated, "The footprints left by the male in the teaser represent DMTN's footprints. It means that DMTN will enter the music world and leave their mark." The music video was directed by Joo Soo Hyun, who has worked with idol groups such as Girls' Generation, Shinee, and singer Seo In-Young. Kim Do Hoon and MC Mong composed the lyrics for "Round 1". DMTN released their digital single, "Round 1," on music portal sites on September 1, 2010. The following day, they made their official debut on Mnet's M! Countdown and performed their single. With the release of their debut single, DMTN also promoted their first variety show, MNet's Dalmatian's Manager Goes on Strike, in which the members enacted their own promotional tactics with the help of Duble Sidekick's Park Jang-geun.

On November 26, 2010, it was revealed that member Daniel would be collaborating with Beast's Yoseob for a single titled, 첫 눈 그리고 첫 키스 (First Snow, First Kiss).^[5] The two have been known to be friends since their trainee days due to their previous UCC video. The duo's single and music video for 첫 눈 그리고 첫 키스 (First Snow, First Kiss) was released on November 29, 2010.^[6] The two began promotions for the single on MBC's Show! Music Core on December 18, 2010.^[7]

2011-2012: Release of first mini album and State of Emergency comeback

Prior to their comeback, DMTN's company released a statement to their fanclub, Dalmates, that member Daniel would no longer be using his stage name, Drama, while clarifying the English translation of members name to Yeongwon and Jeesu for search purposes.^[8] On a radio program, f(x)'s Amber Liu was revealed to have given Daniel his stage name. She also revealed that Daniel switched his stage name to his birth name due to having his profile being hard to find on search engines.^[9]

On February 14, 2011, DMTN released their first mini-album, with two title tracks; Lover Cop and 그 남자는 반대 (That Man Opposed).^[10] Following the album release, the music videos for both tracks were released on February 15, 2011.^[11][12] Although they promoted both tracks as the title track, Lover Cop was only promoted once on broadcast for their comeback, while for regular promotions, they promoted 그 남자는 반대 (That Man Opposed). Midway through promotions, Dalmatian released a special remix of 그 남자는 반대 (That Man Opposed) and began promotions for the remix on April 4, 2011.^[13] Immediately after promotions ended, member Dari enlisted into the army on April 25, 2011.^[14] Following Dari's enlistment, DMTN continued promoting as a five-member group with the remaining members, Inati, Day Day, Donglim, Jeesu and Daniel.

It was announced that DMTN would release their mini album, "State of Emergency," on May 15, 2012. They would also be making their comeback after being on hiatus for 15 months. Following the news of their comeback, it was revealed that member Day Day had left the group due to personal reasons, and that member Simon would be rejoining the group after leaving the group in 2010 shortly before the group debuted. This resulted in DMTN's lineup to consist of Inati, Simon, Donglim, Jeesu and Daniel.^[2] They made their comeback stage on May 16, 2012 on SBS's Inkigayo, performing their single "ER."^[15] During the later half of 2012, member Simon filled in for solo performances with NS Yoon-G for "If You Love Me" (covering for Jay Park), and Eru for "I Hate You" (covering for B2ST's Junhyung).^[16][17]

During DMTN's hiatus, it was revealed that their contracts with IS Entermedia Group had expired and that they chose not to resign their contracts. Following the leave, the group signed with 2works Entertainment in November 2012. Following the announcement of their contracts, 2works Entertainment also announced that DMTN was preparing for a comeback with a mini-album set for early 2013.^[18]

2013: Name change, Safety Zone comeback, and Daniel's drug scandal

In 2013, DMTN changed their group name from Dalmatian to DMTN (Desire. Motivation. Timing. Now), also derived as an abbreviation for their previous group name, Dalmatian. Their agency explained the decision of name change, commenting, “It is unheard of for a group who is promoting to change their name. However, it was a decision that was made after much thought to give off a different and more mature image than the original Dalmatian.”^[19] Member Daniel is said to have come up with the words that DMTN stands for himself.^[20] Following the news of the group name change, member Donglim announced that he would no longer be using his stage name, Youngwon.^[21]

On January 21, 2013, DMTN released a teaser photo and video for their upcoming comeback.^[22] Following the release of multiple individual teasers, the group made their first comeback as DMTN with the release of their music video for the song "Safety Zone" on January 28, 2013.^[23] Following the release of the single, DMTN began regular promotions on MNet's M! Countdown on January 31, 2013.^[24] During promotions, DMTN launched their official website while also releasing more promotional photos for "Safety Zone".

On March 8, 2013, an arrest warrant was filed against member Daniel by the police. Daniel was under suspicion of selling and using marijuana. No marijuana was found in his body when the police ran tests. However, after further hair tests were conducted, he tested positive. On the same day, Daniel admitted to aiding in the distribution of marijuana; however he and his agency both confirmed that Daniel did not physically use or sell marijuana. However it has now been revealed that he "acted as the intermediary in the selling of marijuana 12 times and sold marijuana 4 times.^[25] and was sentenced to 1 year in jail and fined 7,160,000 KRW. Later on, Judge Kim Joo Hyun of the Seoul High Court changed Daniel’s one year jail sentence to three years probation. He said during the trial, “Because Daniel’s sister has promised to supervise the defendant and Daniel cooperated with the investigation, I have judged in his favor.” In addition to his probation, Daniel will have to do 120 hours of community service and 80 hours of substance abuse rehab. Daniel was charged with using, distributing, and selling marijuana, along with other celebrities, back in March 2013. He admitted to all charges and received a one-year jail sentence in October. He made an appeal and began his seven trial appeal in December. During his appeal, Daniel had asked for forgiveness saying that, “If you show me mercy, I will become a young man that is an asset to this country. Please forgive me.” His sister also promised to move to the United States to watch over him as he attends an American university. Daniel’s sister and his friends were present when they received the reduced sentencing, and celebrated with relieved tears. Following his marijuana scandal, Daniel has since stepped down from his MC position on Arirang TV's Pops in Seoul.^[26]

In light of Daniel's scandal and trial, 2Works Entertainment had decided to put the group on a hiatus since 2013. 2Works Entertainment has commented that "For the time being, it's hard to make any decisions until Daniel's trial is over. The members currently carrying out activities will continue with them."^[27] Furthermore, the company denied rumors of Daniel leaving the group, or the group continuing on without him by clarifying that "we have never thought about group activities without Danny."^[27]

In October 2013, during the groups hiatus, inactive member Dari and members Inati and Jeesu have released a track entitled, "좋아요" (I Like You), produced by Jeesu, which was posted on Dari and Jeesu's official Soundcloud. Shortly after the release, Dari and Jeesu followed up by releasing another track entitled, "힐링" (Healing), also produced by Jeesu.^[28][29]

2014-present: Hiatus, member solo activities and group status

In April 2014, Dari was discharged from the army quietly and resumed modeling and songwriting, as well as posting to his social networking accounts. Following his return, Dari released a digital single on October 6, 2014, entitled, 소나기 (Rain Shower), co-written by member Jeesu.^[30] Later that year, Dari followed up by releasing his second solo single, "빵터져" (Bbang!) on November 17, 2014.^[31]

On February 5, 2015, Soul Shop Entertainment announced that they will be launching solo promotions of Jeesu as a dance singer with the release of a teaser.^[32] On February 9, 2015, member Jeesu released his solo debut track and music video for "Beautiful," also known as "(비율 A+) Body A+." The music video for Beautiful featured KARA's Goo Hara and San E featured in the song. His current agency is now Soul Shop Entertainment, home of artists, Kim Tae-woo (who produced his single), g.o.d, and Megan Lee. Soul Shop Entertainment will be managing Jeesu's solo activities. Following the announcement of his solo activities, Jeesu announced that he will be promoting under the stage name KIXS (pronounced as Kiss).

During the hiatus, member Simon has decided to pursue songwriting and producing under the stage name, Jakops. During his solo work, he has created tracks for f(x)'s Amber's debut solo album,"Beautiful." Simon has also written and produced tracks for Ailee's album "Magazine" and Secret's Hyosung's album "Fantasia". During Day Day's leave from the group, he has been producing music with Duble Sidekick, as well as working on tracks for many idols such as Girls' Day and MBLAQ.^[33]

Although the group has been on hiatus, the six members of DMTN (excluding Daniel, who has been keeping out of the public eye), have been frequently spotted together since their hiatus fueling many rumors of a comeback as a six-member group without Daniel. Late in 2014, the group reunited (sans Daniel) at Jeesu's first solo fan sign meeting. In June 2015, the DMTN members posted a mysterious photo of a rope on their respective Instagram profiles, sparking rumors of a DMTN comeback. Following the teasers, it was revealed that member Dari would be releasing another solo single entitled, "끈" (Chord), featuring Sohyun, who also featured on DMTN's debut album and co-written by member Jeesu.^[34] Following rumors of a DMTN comeback in June 2015, Daniel left a comment on his Instagram updating fans on the status of the group, stating that "When Dari, Trap, Kixs, DayDay, Inati, Simon, or I put out a single or an EP its still considered a DMTN comeback. We will be collabing and coming together to put out an official comeback song but till then please continue to support each member individually!".^[35] His comments clarifies many rumors amongst the groups status and members, by confirming that the group is still together, and the return of members Day Day and Dari. Following the teasers, Dari released the single "끈" (Chord), featuring Sohyun on July 7, 2015.

Currently, all the members are pursuing individual activities and interest. Simon is producing under the name Jakops. Day Day is appearing on MNet's Show Me the Money 4 as a contestant under his birth name, David Kim. Donglim is currently pursuing an underground solo career under the name Trap, while Jeesu is also pursuing a solo dance career under the name KIXS. Dari has also been releasing independent solo material as well. Although Daniel has not released any solo material since his marijuana scandal, it has been known that he has been continuing to work on his music.^[36] While the other members pursue individual musical activities, leader Inati has pursued an acting career, while also opening his own pub. On August 18, 2015, members Simon and Day Day released a collaboration track with After School's Raina and former SPEED member Taewoon titled, 볼래 (All Day All Night) through Double Kick Entertainment, where members Simon and Day Day helped composed the track.^[37] On November 4, 2015, member Day Day featured on the track "Cha Cha Cypher" on Jay Park's Worldwide album, along with G2, Giriboy, Cypher, VASCO, & DJ Wegun.^[38]

Members

Current

Inati (이나티) Jang In-tae (장인태)

Day Day (데이 데이) David Kim (데이빗 김)

Dari (다리) Lee Da-ri (이다리)

Simon (사이먼) Simon Park (사이먼 박)

Donglim (동림) Lee Dong-lim (이동림)

Jeesu (지수) Park Jee-su (박지수)

Daniel (다니엘) Daniel Chae (다니엘 최)

Timeline

Discography

Mini albums

Singles

Television and film

Variety

• 2010: Mnet Dalmatian's Manager Goes On Strike
• 2012: 아이돌 TV (SonbadakTV): 달마시안 Idol TV Dalmatian
• 2012: Gurupop Show (All eps) (Daniel only)[MC]
• 2012–2013: Pops in Seoul (Daniel) [VJ]

Drama

• 2013: KBS2 Pure Love (Inati) [PE teacher]

References

External links

• Official website (in Korean)