Jon Dunbar is a copy editor at The Korea Times, as well as editor of the Foreign Community page and curator of the Korea Times Archive. If you have suggestions for possible articles, or wish to contribute articles yourself, contact jdunbar@koreatimes.co.kr.
Underground music scene goes 'Behind the Tongue'
Members of Puberty Wounds / Courtesy of Puberty Wounds
By Jon Dunbar
By Jon Dunbar
While the trilateral alliance is in tatters, underground bands from Korea, Japan and the U.S. continue to show they are not beholden to geopolitics. Over the next two weeks, local scenesters Dae-min and Haru are promoting five concerts all in Seoul, featuring a total of five Japanese acts and one from America. Their genres range from standard punk to some pretty mind-bending noise music.
“Our concept is um...just we want to show Korean people about nice bands from other countries, that's all,” Haru told The Korea Times.
Their “Behind the Tongue” concert series, named after the song “Behind this Tongue” by U.S. powerviolence band Infest, has already had three editions, with the fourth happening this weekend and the fifth just one week after.
“
” presents the Japanese bands Resist with My Arms and
, both from Sapporo.
Also joining the bill is U.S. band
from Columbus, Ohio, currently on tour through Southeast Asia.
The Saturday show at
in Mangwon-dong, western Seoul, also features local bands including Gumiho, hardcore band Find the Spot, sludge metal band
and black metal band
.
On Sunday they'll be at
in southwestern Seoul, where they'll be joined by hardcore band
, fastcore band Korose, punk band
and old school hardcore band
, originally founded in 2000 in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province.
One week later from Sept. 27 to 29, “
” switches the focus to “death techno” with shows Friday through Sunday. A compilation album brought by the Japanese bands will be available for free while supplies last, at least as the Korean promoters understand it.
This event features four acts from Japan: DeeVooZ-X and SachiBaSiRas both from Kochi, Diamonds from Osaka and OSSU! Ora KAZUTO from Okayama. Joining them at all four dates will be Yang Pong Pang, the bassist of Korean punk band Green Flame Boys, among countless other projects. For this act, he sings over the top of aggressive electronic music.
The Friday show is at Studio Orange with opener
, a “one-man DIY cyber noisegrind band based on Japanese anime.” At Saturday they appear at GBN with
,
and Korose. And on Saturday they're back at Studio Orange with an undisclosed special guest.
The promoters have no worries about bringing Japanese musicians here amid the current climate, in which Korean consumers are organizing boycotts of products from and travel to Japan. Probably a safe bet, as countless Japanese bands have already toured here since the trade conflict began in early July, and Zandari Festa is set to feature a record number of Japanese bands here the last week of September.
“I think none of us care about nationality,” Haru said regarding the matter. “We are just together as punk and hardcore.”