Punk ROK

I really love live music, and back home there’s a pretty good number of bands I try to see every time they come through town. Ever since I was 14 and started getting into “punk” music, going to “shows” has been a rather big part of my life, providing a sort of cathartic release with all the dancing, jumping around and singing along. While I may have outgrown some of the music, my concert-going days are far from over. Being on the other side of the world from all my old standbys can be a bit tough at times, and I’ve felt compelled to seek out some stand-ins. Because sometimes I’ve just gotta dance, and the K-pop/techno/top 40 music at the clubs doesn’t completely do it for me. Luckily when the need strikes, there’s a big enough scene here to keep me satisfied.

This list may best be summarized as “five bands for the slightly homesick American expat in Korea”:

Nachopupa

Nachopupa is an incredibly stupid band name as far as I’m concerned (unless it means something in Korean that I’m unable to translate with my phone dictionary, which is entirely possible) but they play some good Irish punk – complete with accordion and tin whistle. They seem to do mostly upbeat covers of traditional Irish songs, similar to Flogging Molly, and they do a mean cover of “Drunken Lullabies” too (check out the video). They’re based out of Busan, so I’ve been able to catch them a few times and they’re always good for lots of jumping and sing-a-longs.

The Southbay

I saw The Southbay at Busan’s Battle of the Bands back in November, where they played a bunch of covers from Rancid’s …And Out Come the Wolves that had me bouncing off the walls reliving my sophomore year of high school. Most of their music sounds like it could be Rancid, if Tim Armstrong was singing in Korean. But regardless of whether they’re the most original band or not, I think their music and style are super fun. This video shows just how much they rock:

SKASUCKS

Nothing’s brought back high school memories as strongly as this band’s familiar blend of ska/punk. When I saw them in Busan, they even did a cover of Operation Ivy, which unfortunately I seemed to be the only one really excited about. They had lots of skank-able songs, and even encouraged “skanking” at one point – a culture-transcending dance move that’s just as popular with the kids over here as it is at a Bosstone’s show back in the US. It’s nice to know this music’s made it all around the world.

RUX

This is some of my favorite music from the past 8 months. Online I’ve seen them described as “street punk”, a genre I’m not very fond of as it’s usually associated with annoying teenage boys with ridiculously high mohawks and spike-covered leather jackets. But to me, their music is just super energetic and fun. I hope I’ll get to see them play some time so I can dance around.

Suck Stuff

These guys win for worst band name and lamest “tough-guy” picture, but I can’t help but enjoy the music. It’s also a bit reminiscent of Rancid, who seem to be pretty popular over here. I have yet to see them live, as they too seem to play exclusively in Seoul, but based on this amazing music video I can only imagine it would be tons of fun. I also can’t help but snicker at the accent on the one singer in this song.

Come quick! People in funny hats!

After work last Tuesday, I got word that people in costumes were dancing around my neighborhood, Byeongyeong. There usually isn’t a lot happening around here, other than lots of drinking and raw-fish-eating and the occasional drunken fight, so it seemed worth a look. As I came down the hill from my apartment, I was greeted by rhythmic drumming and some kind of singing (or maybe more like chanting) being blasted over the PA. A crowd had already gathered, blocking off most of the street. On the small stage, many people in white outfits and funny hats were dancing around and beating on some traditional Korean drums. In the middle was a wizard, which was obvious because of his long white beard and light blue robe.

What was all the fuss about? Some holiday celebrating a ‘campaign’ against Japan was how my co-teacher explained it – something to do with independence, but not independence day. According to wikipedia, there are several Japan-related holidays.

After a little more drumming, all of the colorful floofy-hatted performers departed, only to be replaced by some all-pink floofy-hatted drummers. They were joined by three traditional Korean masks, and what seemed to be a big alter. Luckily, the wizard remained. There was plenty of more drumming and chanting and dancing, this time in a circle around the alter.

(I tried out my camera’s video for the first time to try to capture some of the music, because I thought it was kind of cool. This is a bit long and unedited. My two favorite dancers were the wizard and the incredibly happy drumming man, who didn’t stop smiling for the hour that I saw him. You can see them towards the end.)

Everyone bowing to the alter. It had some fake pears (I think they were pears?) at the base.

His hat is part of the traditional Korean hanbok. But the robe and beard seem all wizard to me.

I would like to acquire one of these hats.

Please take a moment to note that the crowd consists almost entirely of older women, all with the exact same short curly-poofy haircut. This is the ajumma.

At one point, a ‘well’ was wheeled out and all the masks and the wizard-man drank from it.

Then they made a ‘fire’, which was rather unfortunately just a smoke bomb under some dried brances.

The festival kind of reminded me of the kukeri festival they do in Bulgaria, for the end of winter. The fire, dancing and drumming in a circle, and funny costumes were all rather similar.

(from the Kukeri festival in Shiroka Laka, Bulgaria)

They went on singing and dancing for another 15 minutes or so, and some guy started giving out apples to many people in the crowd. We were just about to leave when I ran into some of my students. At first I didn’t recognize them…

…as they were wearing this make-up that looked like a mash-up between CATS and Avatar.

I find the way it distorts their noses and eyes a bit disturbing, but it made me want to stick around and see what kind of dance warranted such make-up.

As we waited, we watched three couples of older women dance to dated-sounding disco music. This was followed by a group of slightly younger women in mermaid-ish belly dancing outfits dancing to Shakira.

My students unfortunately were not doing a CATS or Avatar-inspired dance, just some KPop. But it was cool to see them perform, and they were awesome, and I think one of my sixth grade boys has a future as a back-up dancer. The kids dancing after them were wearing flannel shirts tied around their waists, which startled me almost as much as the cat-makeup. ’90s grungy flannel and KPop just don’t seem to go together.

The sign hung up behind the stage translated to ‘citizen bragging songs’. Whatever that means. The dancing went on for another four hours at least, so I guess they had a lot to brag about…