The Kids Are All Right: Punk Day 2
By Adam Hogue
Punk rock is a very nostalgic thing for me. It was the first music I really claimed as my own. First Green Day, then Less Than Jake, then Epitaph Records, then Asian Man Records; one by one all these bands started to give definition to my music. It’s music of the people for the people; true and liberating.
This past weekend marked the passing of the second great Punk Day here in Gwangju. The venue switched up, this time a bit more north, in the Jeonnam University Back Gate. The venue was a small basement stage called 부드러운직선,” Bu-Jik” for short. It was a relatively easy place to find and a place that is definitely worth keeping an eye on. (I caught something about hip-hop from the MC at the conclusion of the show.)
The great thing about punk is that wherever you are, it feels good to see young people sticking it to The Man or singing about masturbating or girls or just plain stuff. Punk takes all of that in. It is especially refreshing to see the subculture come out for a small show like this in Korea. With so much emphasis on fashion and trends and popular culture, you miss seeing people not care so much about conformity. That’s what this show was all about.
There were four bands at Bu-Jik Saturday night: Lovemyself from Chung-ju, Monkey Pee Quartet and Bettyass from Gwangju, and 21SCOTT from Busan (featured photo). Each band gave a well-rounded punk experience that really played on my nostalgia of the punk music I loved in middle school and high school. I walked into the show during Monkey Pee Quartet’s set. They had a pop-punk sound that at times dabbled in Ska. The band had a great energy that really brought me right into the show. It was kind of like hearing Dookie for the first time all over again.
Bu-Jik is a great venue in its lack of space. The last Punk Day was at Club Nevermind, and while that is a really nice venue, its space makes it hard for bands to play to a smaller crowd. Bu-Jik is a really small space with a pretty low stage, so while the crowd was only around 40-50 people, it really felt full and everyone was right up on the stage.
Bettyass took the stage next. This was the second time I saw them (after the first Punk Day), and they are really coming along. What they lack in tight, cohesive songs, they more than make up for in stage presence, energy, and content. They are definitely the kind of skate-punk that threw me back to bands like Millencolin, NOFX and Guttermouth, without really sounding like them. Korean punk seems to take on its own life; they aren’t trying to be like other bands, they are using punk music to do and say something relevant.
The final band of the night was 21SCOTT from Busan. To my surprise, they sang almost exclusively in English, as well as their between-song banter. By the time they played, I was only one of three or four foreigners left in the venue. Bettyass introduced 21SCOTT as the Ataris of Korea, and I would back up that claim. 21SCOTT was a straight-up pop-punk trio, but they had a really full sound. They played through a full set of originals that ventured into more musically explorative places. Extended solo and instrumental breaks gave the band a more technical sound as well as a much tighter sound. They have been around Korea for some time. Their songs were catchy, and despite being only a three-piece, they really filled the space. Guitarist Kim Sung-hoon had a range of guitar textures and tones that worked well in the three-piece. Rather than the conventional clean, drive, more drive progression, Sung-hoon gave a variety to 21SCOTT’s songs.
This show was one of the best concerts I have been to in Gwangju, and hopefully they’ll put together more like it. Bu-Jik is a great venue, the bands were playing good stuff, and the crowd was full of good people. If there is one, check out Punk Show 3.