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.
Skate punk band Urethane prepares to boardslide across Korea for 4 shows
The four members of Urethane / Courtesy of Frasca Photography
By Jon Dunbar
The San Diego pop punk band Urethane is touring Korea's music venues and one skate park this week. This is the first stop on a Korea-Japan-Hawaii tour for the band. For at least Korea and Japan, Urethane will be joined by Canadian punk band We Outspoken and Stone Leek from Japan.
Urethane catches a lot of attention for its guitarist, skateboarding legend Steve Caballero (Cab). Cab was a member of the Bones Brigade skateboarding team, and set records for highest air achieved on a halfpipe and longest boardslide on a 44-step handrail. He has won numerous championships, appeared in five video games of his Brigade teammate Tony Hawk and was named "Skater of the Century" in 1999 by Thrasher Magazine.
Now might be a good time to remind readers that Urethane's first Korea show will be in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, this Thursday at Cheonho-ji Skate Park.
Cab is retired from competitive skateboarding, but that doesn't mean he's quit cold turkey.
"I think fans will be pleasantly surprised at the skate park show," Tim Fennelly, vocalist/guitarist of Urethane, hinted in an interview with The Korea Times. "We all kick around on skateboards though but none of us are even close to the level of Cab. I used to skate a lot as a young person but I tend to surf more nowadays — water doesn’t hurt as much as concrete."
The members of Urethane pose in a skate park. Courtesy of Chandler Kim
Steve Caballero / Courtesy of Frasca Photography
Headlines often describe the band as "Steve Caballero's Urethane," and while it's cool that a band with one of the greatest skateboarders in history is going to be in Korea, they still have four shows to play here.
Urethane is a relatively new band, having formed only in 2021, although all members were established in previous bands earlier.
Cab was in the Faction, a hardcore band and pioneering skate punk band, as well as the later skate punk band Odd Man Out. Bassist Chad Ruiz is the frontman of Skipjack and drummer Dylan Wade was in the Bombpops. But Fennelly, who previously played in hardcore-skate-pop punk band War Fever, cautions against labeling them as a supergroup.
"Yeah, that’s kinda funny how that came to be. I think we were just trying to tell people in our bios that we had previous projects, not that we were an all-star team or something," he said.
Tim Fennelly / Courtesy of Frasca Photography
"Cab is obviously a recognized and respected skateboarding legend as well as being a founding member of the Faction, so I think the biggest expectation was that we were going to have more of an '80s hardcore sound. Urethane really has a different sound than any of our previous individual bands so hopefully, anyone that liked our old bands will come along for the ride."
Urethane's music emphasizes catchy choruses and melodic hooks that range from mid-tempo anthemic ballads to aggressively fast. They cite No Use for a Name, Bad Religion and NOFX as bands with similar styles.
"Music styles, like any art form, phase in and out of popularity over time and it’s interesting to see old styles become new again," Fennelly said. "Punk rock is no different and it speaks to some and not others. It will always be around in some form."
Having members spanning all these decades means Urethane attracts fans of various ages.
"I would say our audiences have ranged from very young to middle age," Fennelly said. "There’s definitely a core audience of 40-somethings who connect a little more with our '90s skate punk sound and who are big fans of Cab. In Europe I’d say the audiences are a little younger; I think punk rock is more popular and accessible there which allows for good turnouts. Summer festivals in Europe are absolutely bananas."
This will be the first time in Korea for all members, and Cab is the only one who has been to Japan already.
"We’re very excited to have this experience as a band," Fennelly said. "This will be our first time in Korea as well and we’re very excited. We don’t know very much about the scene other than what our friends bands have told us and what we’ve seen on social media. It looks vibrant and amazing — we look forward to this upcoming tour! We can’t wait to hopefully make new fans and friends in Japan as well as Korea."
After the first show in Cheonan, they'll head to Boojik in Gwangju on Friday, then Rolling Hall in Seoul on Saturday and Club Victim also in Seoul on Sunday.
Visit urethanemusic.com for more information.