Punk band Food for Worms to play farewell show

Food for Worms performs at GBN Live House in Mullae-dong in this Feb. 18 file photo. The band has one final show this weekend as singer Kyle Decker, center, is leaving the country.

By Jon Dunbar

The Daegu-based punk band Food for Worms (FFW) is having one last show, as lead singer Kyle Decker returns to the U.S.

“The mixed emotions I have about this is staggering,” Decker told The Korea Times. “As happy as I have been here, if I'm going to do more than I'm doing now, I have to pull the trigger.”

He’s entering a master’s degree program in special education at the University of Illinois in Chicago, with the ultimate goal of teaching high school students with high-incidence disabilities.

Since August 2013, Decker has been a mainstay of the Daegu punk scene, organizing punk shows and charity events for Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), as well as forming his band.

“It’s been a big part of my life in Korea and the reason I'm now friends with so many awesome people, but everything must end I guess,” said guitarist Michael Travers.

“It opened my life to punk and punk ways of thinking,” added drummer Paul Johnson. “I'll miss it a lot, but I tend not to view these sorts of changes in a negative way. I think more like, wow! That was awesome! I'm so glad I got to do that!"

FFW is already scattered across two cities, as Travers and Johnson have moved up to Seoul where they started the band Machines with Ali Safavi, a fellow Daegu transplant who also played in FFW.

“I don't think Machines will be filling the void as such,” Travers said. “We plan to continue playing music together, but as something new. I don't think it would feel right playing FFW songs without Kyle.”

“I feel both guilty and touched,” Decker said. “It's definitely one of the hardest parts about leaving Korea. But it's nice to feel irreplaceable.”

Decker also hopes to continue making music after the move. “The positive impact that fronting a punk band has had on my confidence and mental health is impossible for me to discount,” he said. “It's more than a hobby to me _ it's therapy.”

He also won’t rule out future reunion shows, either when he comes back to visit or moves here after finishing his master’s.

“If FFW are ever all together in one place again and everyone's into it, I'm definitely down,” he said.

FFW’s final show is at Club SHARP in Mangwon-dong, western Seoul, this Saturday. Other bands include the Kitsches, Green Flame Boys, Giant Bear, Talkbats, Smoking Goose and Non-Fiction Man. Visit

facebook.com/koreanpunkandhardcore

for more.