Gallus Alice lets 'invasive Scottish words' loose in Seoul's punk scene

Gallus Alice performs at Skunk Itaewon, May 23. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

By Jon Dunbar

• Published Jul 8, 2025 2:40 AM KST

There is a new name circulating in Seoul's punk scene, based on an "invasive" idiom from Scotland: Gallus Alice is working to make their mark.

According to bassist/front man Pete Wilson, "gallus" is a Scottish word for being "ballsy, brash or brazen."

"Often, it’s given a wee bit of rhyming flash — 'Look at Gallus Alice over here!' — even having a second evolution to 'Gallus Alice fae the palace,'” he said. "I wanted to use a Scots dialect word as I don’t see a lot of Scottish culture in Korea. I like the idea of letting a few invasive Scottish words loose."

The Alice part led the band down another rabbit hole, literally, as they took inspiration from Alice in Wonderland — "another expat struggling to understand what was going on around her." They commissioned a rabbit logo from Phoebe Munday, a tattoo artist in the U.K.

Gallus Alice started off playing covers of punk, grunge and early 2000s alternative songs, having told Debaser Magazine that they like to pick the third- or fourth-most-recognizable song from a band, rather than its best-known — for instance, Nirvana's "Breed" rather than "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

"I like to think the songs we play sound like the juke box in a dingy dive bar," Wilson said. "You’ll hear some songs you’ll know if you were ever a weirdo at school."

Wilson also said he's started writing his own songs, inspired by the creativity of bands around him.

"There’s a lot of talented bands out there! There is far more appreciation of original material here, which is quite different to back home," he said.

"Writing lyrics is excruciating. I’m 38, I haven't been dumped in like 20 years — what do I have to write a song about? It's been a challenge but sometimes when you gaze into the navel, the navel gazes back and we’ve actually come up with a few songs. We are looking forward to sharing them at our future shows — exploring themes aging, balding expats can relate to."

You might be expecting Gallus Alice to sound different because of all the Scottishness. But their style is a lot more general, something compatible with various different types of songs.

"Go out to a live music bar in Scotland and you’ll hear all kinds of music," he said. "There is also a deep appreciation of Americana and blues. I grew up in the LimeWire days of the internet so I feel lucky to have the whole world of music at my fingertips — even if I did mostly download Bloodhound Gang."

His parents were bikers, so he grew up hearing AC/DC, Nazareth and Thin Lizzy. He got his first bass guitar at age 13 and started recording what he called "unlistenable covers of The Offspring and Green Day."

He entered a goth phase and started a band called Clockwork Space Pigeons, covering Bob Dylan songs in a heavy metal style. After moving to Glasgow, he watched "Walk the Line" (2005) and "wanted to be Johnny Cash," so he started playing at open mics. Working as a chef at the time, he ran an all-chefs acoustic night called "The Gastric Band." Later he joined Shaky and the Moneymakers, a veteran band of electric blues musicians, and got a real education in music.

"The lads in the band were all much older than me and had been playing in rockabilly, punk and country bands since the 80s," he said. "We would go out a few times a month to venues around Glasgow. We would travel outside the city to small rural towns, sometimes playing to a packed house, sometimes to bar staff and a pool table. It taught me a lot about how to speak to a crowd — no one ever owes you their attention. You have to earn it. You have to be the soundtrack to their night."

In 2018, he and his wife visited Korea, staying in Myeong-dong and doing "all the typical touristy things."

"We were blown away by what seemed to us like an amazing quality of life here," Wilson said. "We loved the well-maintained public spaces, the feeling of safety, the friendliness of the people. It was one of the most relaxing vacations we ever had. It seems ironic now we live here — these benefits are all true but now we have insight into just how hard everyone works — the stress and iced coffee that all that weekend tranquility is built on."

Eventually they moved here, arriving in March 2020 "when the pandemic was nothing but a tickle in the world’s throat." They lived out in the countryside teaching English for that first year.

"We had to walk through a field of cabbages to our school every morning," Wilson said. "I found the move to teaching used a lot of my existing skills — managing a room full of chefs and a room of children is not so different — lots of big emotions. Teaching, when done right, is a wonderfully creative and engaging job and I feel very lucky to get to do it."

After moving to Seoul, he placed an ad on the "Musicians in Seoul" Facebook group, where he met Ernest, who would play guitar for Gallus Alice, and Joe, a drummer.

Next, he found an Instagram page for a new venue called "Shithole Pub." That turned out not to be a thing, but the page's operator, a young British guy named Bovver, helped Gallus Alice get started with Skunk Sindang and Skunk Itaewon, both run by Won Jong-hee of the punk band Rux. "Jong-hee has been amazingly supportive of us and we are dedicated to filling his bar with as many boozers as we can round up," Wilson said.

He built up a following by "minesweeping" local bars like Phillies and Shenanigans, and "forcing people to follow us."

"I hope that we provide the kind of 'going to see a band' experience that's less about the tortured musician and more conducive to a good night out," he said. "Our fans already have a reputation for putting way more money in the bar’s till than other bands."

He also adds one other unique touch, creating small, hand-drawn zines that he hands out to people in the crowd at his shows. One zine is a single A4 sheet that's folded into eighths and densely covered with writing and illustrations on both sides. The first issue had a crossword, a maze, horoscopes, coloring and short rants.

"The zine was something I just started," Pete said. "I don’t have any background in graphic design but I like to give things a go. I get obsessive over new projects and loved tinkering with it. We will continue to give them out; the activities included should keep any bored punters occupied. Complete the crossword and I’ll buy you a shot. Later issues will include liner notes and artwork for our original songs."

Gallus Alice will perform at Beatles Live Pub in Itaewon on July 12.

Visit @gallusaliceband on Instagram for more information.