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.
UK punk legend prepares for 1st Korea tour
Duncan Reid, front row second from right, and the Big Heads pose with the audience at Namba Mele in Osaka during their Oct. 19 show. Courtesy of Sophie Powers
By Jon Dunbar
By Jon Dunbar
Punk certainly no longer seems the music of rebellious youth. The first generation of 1970s-era punks are pushing retirement age and the youth opt for well-manicured, obedient boy bands.
Duncan Reid, formerly known as Kid Reid, bassist and singer of 1976-formed punk band The Boys, has lived a lot and established quite a legacy. But he didn't let it go to his head, having parted ways with his band and going out on his own with his new band Duncan Reid and the Big Heads, “the world's best-looking heavy melody power-pop punk band.”
“I always used to be called Kid because I looked so young,” he told The Korea Times. “When I got older I was a bit uncomfortable with it as it felt silly at my age!”
Reid, now 61, got his start in the London scene surrounded by music greats such as Joe Strummer, Billy Idol and John Cale. Cale, whom Reid performed in support of on his first tour back in 1977 himself played at the DMZ Peace Train Music Festival in Korea earlier this year.
The Boys were cited as legendary New York punk band Ramones' favorite band, and Reid clearly returns the feelings.
Reid has been associated with power pop, a spinoff subgenre of pop rock typically associated with The Who. Power pop is characterized as more melodic and happier when compared to adjacent genres, and over the decades it picked up elements from other music trends, including new wave, punk and glam. What comes out is a sound more approachable than punk but still embedded firmly in the punk ethos.
With the Big Heads, Reid continues playing this style.
“We are like a cross between there's a lot of boys influence in there, a lot of Ramones, but at the same time influences go back to the sort of David Bowie glam rock era and then further back to the Beach Boys and the Beatles,” Reid said of the Big Heads.
Reid also says the Boys recorded one of the filthiest punk albums of the time together, “The Yobs' Christmas Album” released in 1979.
“Like a lot of things in the Boys, it came about after a session in a pub,” he recalled. “We decided that we would just go into a studio and Christmas was coming up and we would just make the most obscene Christmas recordings you've ever heard. Because the Christmas music you hear on the radio was so nice and twee and what have you.”
They recorded the whole thing in a one-day session, at The Who guitarist Pete Townshend's studio.
“I don't know if Pete Townshend knows he is responsible for one of the most obscene records in history,” Reid disclosed.
“We didn't want it to be a Boys record because it doesn't sound like a Boys record and it was seen as a bit of fun. We didn't want to be known as a novelty group. That Yobs album is really the first album, and I don't know whether I like this, that sounds like oi! music.”
The Boys faded away around 1981, and Reid joined the Hollywood Killers. “Here in Japan the DJs have been playing their record every night,” Reid said while on tour. “I didn't even know it was released there.”
The Boys reunited in 1999 for a chance to tour Japan, after the Japanese band Thee Michelle Gun Elephant revived interest in the band, covering a couple Boys songs which led to a hugely successful re-release of their albums there.
“Two of us who didn't want to get back together thought it would be nice to go to Japan, so we got back together and went to Japan and carried on,” Reid said.
He stuck it out another 12 years, touring the world with the Boys.
“Bands are strange things,” he said. “They are dysfunctional families. They are made up of people with big egos. A lot of bands have really really stupid fights and there's blame on all sides, so we got to a point where I had to leave.”
One of his last outings with the Boys was their 2011 South American tour, during which they became the first U.K. punk band to tour Uruguay.
Reid describes Uruguay's capital Montevideo as “a bit like Geneva in that when you walk around the town every day seems like a Sunday afternoon, apart from one club. I wrote a song about how they're always partying in Montevideo, and the government was so pleased with that song depicting them as drunken party revelers, they gave me the Visitante Illustre medal.”
When he returned to Uruguay with the Big Heads, he was invited to the country's parliament to receive the medal. The only other foreign musicians to receive that honor have been Elton John and Paul McCartney.
“I was sad to leave the Boys, but the Big Heads have been such a great experience to me it's one of the best things I ever did. What we find is that if people like the Boys then they'll love the Big Heads,” he said.
Rather than cashing in on past legacy, he's happy to move forward and keep creating music.
“There was a very famous DJ in the U.K. called John Peel. He was also known as a big Liverpool football fan. He used to say his interest in music was like his interest in football. He was quite interested in Liverpool games 40 years ago, but what really interested him was next Saturday's match,” he said.
“I'm very proud that I was in the Boys … But I'm more interested in the next album and the next gig.”
He's
on the tail end of a Japan tour. While putting it together with Russ Mainwaring, founder of the Bristol band Stingrays now residing in Japan, Mainwaring suggested they stop by Korea, because the country doesn't get as many touring acts as Japan does.
“It's gonna be really interesting because it's my first time in Korea, and the image we have in the U.K. is Korea is the land of K-pop,” he said. “It's gonna be interesting to see if there are people in Korea who are interested in guitar music.”
This Friday, the Big Heads and the Stingrays are playing
, along with hybrid punk band the Patients and psychedelic rockers Galaxy Express who will be playing an acoustic set. On Saturday they're
, where local bands Moon & Bouncers and Gureung Train will be playing.
“I'm looking forward to meeting the bands that we play with,” Reid said. “It's always fun to meet local bands and hopefully make a lot of friends, learn a lot more so we can come back.”
Visit
fb.com/duncanreidandthebigheads
or
for more information or
duncanreidandthebigheads.bandcamp.com
to hear the band's music.