'Sons of the resistance': 4 punk bands from Gwangju speak up

The Gwangju punk band Monkey Pee Quartet performs at Club Boozik in Gwangju, Feb. 11, 2023. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

None of them were around when it happened, but Gwangju's punk bands still feel the spirit of the 1980 Democratic Uprising and how it affected the country in fundamental ways.

"Gwangju is definitely a city where the spirit of resistance is still alive," Yang Gun-yang, guitarist and vocalist of Gwangju skate punk band Monkey Pee Quartet, told The Korea Times. "We are the sons of the resistance."

Although Yang wasn't born until after the May 18 uprising, he has since lived through two presidential impeachments. The band's 2017 song "My Old Virgin Sister" was released in the wake of the impeachment of Park Geun-hye.

Yang said the song was written about the ex-president, but he began working on the song in 2013, early in her term.

"'My Old Virgin Sister' was created in 2013 and completed in 2017," he said. "I couldn't finish the lyrics because of the further incidents that kept happening while I was making it. Whenever I tried completing the lyrics, there'd be a new development in president-related news (Sewol sinking, influence peddling impeachment)."

BettyAss plays at Club Victim in Seoul, Nov. 23, 2024. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Origins of Gwangju punk

Punk music traces its roots back to the mid-1970s, and by 1979 when Chun Doo-hwan took power in a violent coup d'etat, its rebellious sound had spread to many parts of the world, including East Asia. But it didn't reach Korea until after democratization, about two decades later.

By 2002, Gwangju had at least two active punk bands, according to Ji Hong-bum, also known as Bum, the guitarist of skate punk band BettyAss. "As far as I know, we are the second," he said. "There was another punk band before us called Nakzzang."

He characterized his pride in his home city as "complicated."

"As a local, I am proud of Gwangju's historic democratic uprising, but I also feel a sense of fatigue with the political culture here," he said. "Behind the pride in the history of Gwangju’s democratic movement, there is a regional political culture where competition has faded, and where the propaganda and hegemony of a few civic groups are politically embraced, often overshadowing the silent majority who quietly live their lives. It’s tiring to deal with the region’s politics and media at times."

BettyAss celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2012 with the release of the song "10years Fucked up, But 10years More." Their music contains many local references, including the 2013 album "Mudeung Mountain Bomber," named after a nickname for Sun Dong-yeol, a legendary player of the local baseball team Haitai Tigers (now KIA Tigers).

Their 2016 EP "Local Pride" is a concept album intended to express the events of the May 18 uprising.

"As a local band, we wanted to reflect on the emotions and sentiments that our community experiences," Bum said. "The intro represents the resolve before the battle, the two main songs symbolize the battle itself and the outro conveys the emptiness and bitterness after the fight."

But working on the album exhausted the members, partly because the recording was done all the way up in Seoul, ironically enough. After completing the album, they went on a hiatus that only ended in 2023.

Dream vs obligation

In their absence, it fell to the remaining few bands to pick up the slack. One of these was Match Point, which went on break even more quickly when three of the five band members went into the military at the same time in November 2013.

Mandatory military service has historically been a major barrier for many Korean musicians, but the band's lead vocalist and guitarist Kwon Sun-je expressed a nuanced understanding with the difficult circumstances.

TwoFive performs at The Studio HBC in Seoul, Aug. 3, 2024. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

"Before saying that the military cannot coexist with punk spirit, it is important to understand that the reason for the existence of the military is war," he said. "However, before discussing war and punk spirit, I believe that war cannot coexist with anything. War is a cruel act of killing and being killed among innocent people because of fights of the adults. The Korean Peninsula needs peaceful reunification, and the mandatory military service system must be abolished. We hope that no more people will die for no reason in wars. We oppose war."

He said that during their military service, they continued performing music in various forms, by participating in military bands, church choirs and music clubs in their respective units.

In September 2015, after their approximately two years of mandatory service were complete, Kwon returned to civilian life — but the other two members decided to stay in the military as career soldiers.

“The reason they made that decision is because it was difficult to have a stable life solely from the income generated by their band activities," he said. "They gave up their dream and chose a financially stable life.”

Reuniting with his two remaining bandmates, they rebranded as TwoFive, acknowledging the two ex-members.

“The combination of the numbers two and five represents the memory of when we initially formed as a five-piece band, even though two members have since departed,” Kwon said.

Music for the people

The realities of life are also baked into the music of Dirty Rockhon, a Gwangju band that describes its sound as "seomin" punk. "Seomin" translates roughly to commoner, presenting a distinctly Korean take on the working class, and the band's name comes from the phrase, “happy souls even in a dirty world.”

"The lyrics of our songs express emotions we can feel in everyday life, such as misery, self-reflection and self-discipline — without sugarcoating or avoiding them," Yang Hong-joon, Dirty Rockhon's front man, said. "I just want our songs to be heard by people who are struggling with life and find pleasure like me."

Dirty Rockhon performs at Club Boozik in Gwangju, Feb. 11, 2023. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Underappreciated

Despite everything these four bands do for their local community, their musical accomplishments remain critically underappreciated.

"It seems that our music has little impact on Gwangju," Yang said. "I would like to tell the citizens of Gwangju about the diversity of culture — that is, musical diversity — but it is not easy in Gwangju."

Yet despite the lack of popularity, Gwangju's punk bands keep going.

"Gwangju is a small city. There aren't many bands either. But I think that the percentage of bands in Gwangju playing punk is higher than bands playing other genres," Yang of Monkey Pee Quartet said. "It's hard, but the scene is still moving."

"The Gwangju scene has always been in a state where there’s not much left to get worse," Bum added. "Honestly, we don’t expect much more from it — we just keep doing our thing as we always have. We’re simply grateful to the club owners who keep things running, the bands who keep going despite the tough circumstances and the audience members who come out to support the shows."

"Whether active or inactive, we always communicate and support each other and live on. The value of 'punk' as an existence remains unchanged, even if friends we used to work with are no longer there," Kwon said. "If you're into punk, we are always ready to be friends. We are not scary and vicious thugs. We are colleagues who became friends because we love punk."