Last Saturday I finally made it out to another gig. I have not been in a very long time. It was the last event at one of the punk venue staples in Seoul - Club Spot. I've been there a couple of time before so I really wanted to go to this last show before they closed the doors for good.
The event was 'Still Alive VI: The Death of Club Spot' and was a Halloween inspired show. They had a huge line up starting from 6pm. I got there a bit late about 8.45pm I think so I missed the first few. I arrived about halfway through Burning Hepburn's set. They weren't bad, very peppy sounding. Whatever That Means... were pretty good. There were a lot of bands on, some of them I was not sure who they were. The last two were the best of course, they are the headliners - Rux who I have seen before. They have a great sound. The last band was Crying Nut. They are one of the oldest and most successful alternative bands in the Korean music scene.
I had a really great time, everyone is very friendly at these events. I didn't know that many people but ended up meeting lots. Sad that a venue that has supported the underground punk scene for many years has to close but nothing is forever and it had a good run.
I just read an interesting article in Groove Korea Magazine about the Punk scene in Korea.
I thought I would share the link with you here.
The article is called Korean Punk Struggles Forward and is written by Dave Hazzan.
Happy Reading!
Also it mentions this in the article so I thought I would reiterate here. The last show at the punk venue Club Spot will be on this Saturday 25th October. The club is closing down so if you have never been to a show in Korea this would be one to come to. Don't miss out.
Some of you might be interested in the upcoming Rock Festival in Goyang City - Ilsan. This will run over three days starting on Friday 30th August and going through to Sunday 1st of September. You can purchase tickets for all or various days and it will be showcasing a lot of Korean talent. The line up includes bands such as Kingston Rudicska, SpeakOut, AXIZ, Gate Flowers and Crying Nut.
You can find more information for line up, venue etc. here.
This week's Music Monday is a Korean Ska band called Copy Machine. They are the other band that I did not get to see the other night at the gig I went to. I did stay for one of their songs and it sounded pretty good so I would have liked to have seen their whole set. Unfortunately I had to get a bus home so was unable to stay any longer.
They have a great lively ska sound and judging from the one song that I did see I think they would be a pretty entertaining show.
Copy Machine - Okie Dokie
This week I thought that I would introduce some New Zealand Punk, I've talked about a few New Zealand bands but not really the punk scene.
Punk was and still is pretty popular in New Zealand, there have been many bands over the years mostly on the underground scene but a few have been a bit more widely received. It's pretty hard to make it mainstream at the best of times and if you add to that a very small country with a limited fan base and you can see the obstacles that face many alternative bands from New Zealand.
One band that did pretty well is Kitsch - (note there are a few bands in the world with this name), they are a Punk band from New Zealand and have been around for over fifteen years - on and off. They play the more melodic punk and have released a couple of albums over the years, they have also supported many international bands like NOFX and Bad Religion to name just a few.
Kitsch - Stay Right Here
Last week I totally forgot about Music Monday, I remembered on Wednesday so by then it was a bit late and I decided to just skip it for that week. We are back this week however with some more Korean music. I just did a post about a gig that I went to in Seoul on the weekend and unfortunately I had to leave early so I did not get to see 'The Rock Tigers'.
This week I thought I would introduce them for Music Monday instead, I still still hope to be able to check them out live sometime. The Rock Tigers (더 락타이거즈) are a rock and roll band with an old school Rockabilly sound, the band includes a double bass which adds to that swinging kind of rhythm. They have had a few line up changes over the years but the lead singer has stayed the same. They have released some albums and EP's and have garnered a considerable following although they are still far from what we would consider mainstream. They regularly play live shows in Seoul so if you are living in or around Seoul keep an eye out and you might get to see them.
The Rock Tigers - Cry Baby
You can also check out an interview with the band and find out more information over at The Silk Road.tv. They have a great video all about the band in their 'Koreans in the Spotlight' series so be sure to check it out.
On Saturday this weekend I went to my first gig in Korea, it was at Club FF in Hongdae and there were five bands for 15,000 won.
Unfortunately I live in Suwon which is a couple of hours travel from Hongdae in Seoul, I had to use public transport to get back and there are limitations on the services which run that late at night. I found out that there is the 3007 red bus that leaves from Gangnam at about 1am and that seemed to be the last one. The other option is to stay until morning when the services start up again but I didn't really want to do that. In order to get over to Gangnam from Hongdae I had to leave the club about 12am - this meant that I missed the last two acts. I got a taxi from Hongdae to Gangnam, this is much more expensive at night as they charge a 10% surcharge so I think it ended up costing about 16,000 won.
So I ended up seeing 'The Lads', 'Bye Bye Badman', '18Gram' and 'Magna Fall', I did get to see one song from 'Copy Machine' before I had to leave but I missed the rest of their set and that of the 'Rock Tigers'. It was just starting to get good too, so was a bit of a drag but I will know for next time and maybe arrange to stay the night in Seoul to make it a easier.
All in all it was a good night, I'm glad I finally made it to a show, hopefully it will be the first of many. The bands I saw were pretty good, mainly with rock type sounds. 'Copy Machine' is more Ska so I was looking forward to seeing them, they had a really good energy from the little bit that I saw. I think my favourite was '18Gram' which played some good sounding rock music, they had a really cool, lively sound. 'Bye Bye Badman' and 'The Lads' were OK but I thought that for the former the music was a bit loud over the vocals, they are a big band with five members so it's a big sound. The one I liked least was the only English band and that was 'Magna Fall', they are Irish and American, I think, although they did have a Korean friend playing with them as an extra guitar, not sure if that's a permanent change to the line up or not. They were not bad or anything, I just thought they were an average pub type rock band.
I would have liked to see the 'Rock Tigers', it was the one that I missed entirely, they play a rockabilly type music and I have heard that their live shows are really good. While it's not my usual kind of music I have seen a few of their videos on YouTube and thought they had a good sound and looked like a fun group. I hope I can see them in the future sometime.
