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3 Japanese punk bands ready to play Seoul
Japanese punk band The Disaster Points performs in Osaka, March 22, 2025. Courtesy of The Disaster Points
By Jon Dunbar
Japan has one of the oldest punk scenes in the world, dating back to the 1970s — certainly one of the first outside of the West, and probably the first in Asia. The Japanese punk scene has many close ties with neighboring Korea’s own scene, which is much smaller and about 20 years younger, having started in the early 1990s.
“Since Japan is the closest country to us and the cultures are similar, we’ve been performing with Japanese bands quite often for a long time,” said Park Byung-sun, guitarist of the Korean band Pogo Attack.
Park said he and his friends in the Korean scene have been collaborating with punk bands in Japan every year going back to about 2003. Now in his 40s, he mentioned that he lived in Tokyo for two years before turning 30, during which time he played in the Japanese band 00 Squad.
This month, Korea is seeing an unusually high number of Japanese bands visiting, with three acts coming here for two separate tours over the next couple weeks.
Yasumasa Okise remembers his first visit to Korea, during the 1988 Summer Olympics.
“I was still a boy, but I remember the city being full of new buildings and energy,” he recalled.
He first learned about the Korean punk scene in the mid-2000s through the bands Rux and Ghetto Bombs.
“I realized that there were great bands in Korea, and since then I’ve had a strong interest in the scene,” he said. “I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to experience it firsthand this time.”
A few years later, Okise formed his own band, The Disaster Points, in Osaka in 2007.
“When we formed the band, I had caused many violent incidents in my local scene and was disliked and referred to as a 'disaster.' I chose the band name in a self-deprecating sense,” he explained. “I can’t undo the mistakes of my youth, but now I hope to enrich people’s daily lives through our music.”
This weekend, The Disaster Points are finally coming to Korea to play two shows.
“Punk is a wonderful form of music that connects individuals to one another through music and lifestyle, rather than dividing people by country,” Okise said. “Those values are something we share.”
For this tour, he said his band was invited by Yoon Ki-sun, head of the Korean label Victim Records.
Japanese punk band The Disaster Points / Courtesy of The Disaster Points
The Disaster Points will be coming here with Shudo & Rudies, a punk band based in Japan’s southern island of Kyushu.
“I first learned about Shudo in connection with this Korean tour,” Okise said. “There are many bands in Japan, and many of them are excellent. I’m happy that we can perform together in Korea. I’m confident this tour will be a good one.”
Japanese punk band Shudo & Rudies / Courtesy of Shudo & Rudies
Shudo Yasuyuki, frontman of Shudo & Rudies, may have arrived on the peninsula later than Okise, but over the past 10 years he's participated in a significant amount of cultural exchange with Korea.
“For about 10 years, we have held many Korea-Japan exchange shows together with Club Realize in Busan and the Fukuoka live house public space Yojigen, so we performed frequently in Busan,” Yasuyuki said. “From then until travel was restricted due to COVID, we held about 6 to 12 exchange events every year. Through that, we became close with Korean bands. I began going to Seoul to watch shows as well, made friends there, and from 2024 we started performing in Seoul too.”
He has since performed in Seoul four times, one of which was a solo acoustic show.
After his two shows with The Disaster Points, Yasuyuki will be sticking around after the rest of his band returns to Japan for one more solo performance.
“If my schedule is open, I never refuse a solo offer, no matter the place or the country,” he said. “Honestly, until recently I didn’t know what other bands would be performing.”
Shudo Yasuyuki of Shudo & Rudies / Courtesy of Shudo & Rudies
For this last show, Yasuyuki will be joined by another visiting Japanese punk band, The Dick Spikie, formed in 1994 in Otsu, Shiga prefecture.
“For me, the band name means 'remaining in a state of excitement,' but it seems it can also mean something like 'unpleasant guys,'” explained the band’s lead singer, Tetsutaro. “In the end, it was really just about how it sounded. I spelled it 'Spikie' simply because I wanted it to feel unique. Sorry that it’s not a very interesting answer.”
This will be The Dick Spikie’s first live performance of the year and its first in Korea in over two decades. Tetsutaro, the only remaining original member, recalls the previous Korea tour in the early 2000s.
“Twenty-three years ago, I stayed in Korea for a week and played three or four shows. Everyone was very friendly and kind to us. I still remember that time very clearly,” he said. “When we visited before, the punk scenes in both Korea and Japan were still very lively.”
The Dick Spikie / Courtesy of The Dick Spikie
The Dick Spikie broke up in 2006 before re-forming in 2009 for three more years until 2012. Tetsutaro got the band back together in 2023, and reached out to his old friends in the Korean scene soon after.
“I had long wanted to perform in Korea again, so I contacted Byung-sun from Pogo Attack and Jong-hee from Rux, and they organized it for us.”
Keeping the exchanges going, Pogo Attack will be visiting Tokyo alongside the Korean band Punk on Fire for a three-day tour in May.
When asked about the similarities between the Korean and Japanese punk scenes, Park said, “The similarity is that neither side really has young punks. It’s always a party of middle-aged men and women. Since Japan started earlier than Korea, it’s not unusual to see grandpas and grandmas at shows. I guess we’ll become like that too.”
The Disaster Points and Shudo & Rudies will play at Club Victim on Saturday, joined by Punk on Fire, Dirty Rockhon, TA-Copy, Eastpaw, Cotton Stick and A Lone Wolf Elegy Club. Doors open at 5 p.m. Their Sunday show is at Club SHARP in Mangwon-dong, where they’ll be joined by Pogo Attack, Pokemanchi and Daddy O Radio. Visit @victimrecords on Instagram for more information.
On March 28, The Dick Spikie and Yasuyuki will play one show at Club Victim, joined by Pogo Attack, Rux, 4Bottles, Punk on Fire, Killerty, Eastpaw and Cockrasher. Visit @pogo_attack on Instagram for more information.