Oi! Fest brings together Korean, Japanese punk scenes

Kim Ji-ha, frontman of Pokemanchi, performs at Seoul's Club Victim, Jan. 13. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

After over 11 years, the Korea-Japan Oi! Festival returns. This time it brings together six Japanese bands and six Korean bands for one big show at western Seoul's Club Freebird Reboot.

"Oi!" may sound like the Korean word for cucumber, but in this context, it comes from a working-class greeting originating from Britain. It became associated with punk music in the late 1970s and became the name of a punk subgenre often associated with skinheads.

"In the past, it originated from workers wearing boots, shaved heads, carrying tools and greeting their colleagues with 'Oi!' at work sites. It became an important cultural aspect of punk," said Park Byung-sun, guitarist of Korean bands Pogo Attack and Spiky Brats and one of the main organizers of the festival.

The participating bands play a number of styles of music, including oi!, streetpunk, pogo punk, reggae and ska.

Japanese ska band Rollings performs at Club Spot during the Korea-Japan Oi!-Punk Festival, Jan. 26, 2011. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

"Fundamentally, I believe all the music played on this day is for the working class," said Kim Ji-ha, the fork-tongued lead singer of Pokemanchi, a relatively new band playing this festival. "For those who want to relax and take it easy while listening to slower music, there's reggae. For those who want to joyfully dance to a bouncing beat, there's ska. For those who want to sing along together and blow away their fatigue and weariness, there's oi! And for those who want to forget today by running and jumping recklessly, there's pogo. And of course, friends and alcohol are naturally part of all of this."

Pogo Attack performs at Roller's Bar in northeastern Seoul, Feb. 25, 2023. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

While Japan's punk scene has an uncountable number of bands of all genres, Korea has had a handful of outstanding oi! bands over the decades. At its height in the 2000s, there were up to about two dozen skinheads in the scene, but that number has since dwindled off. Although many who have called themselves skinheads in the past are still involved in the music scene, most would agree that there is only one left now.

Ji-ha laments that he is the last of the Korean skinheads. "I find myself shaving my head alone," he said. "While the lead singer of boss reggae band The Reseters, who once led the skinhead bands Oi! Resolute and The Brigade, has resumed shaving his head, he no longer claims. We still need more skinheads among us."

Kim Jang-hyup, frontman of the boss reggae band the Reseters, performs at Club Victim, Dec. 30, 2023. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Raise a Flag performs at the first Korea-Japan Oi! Festival in Seoul's Skunk Hell, June 26, 2004. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Ji-ha started calling himself a skinhead at age 20. At first, he was cautious due to rumors about skinheads being far-right racial supremacists, but then he learned about other kinds of skinheads, such as Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) and Red and Anarchist Skinheads and felt more like the subculture suited him.

"When I say I'm a skinhead, the first question I get is, 'Are you racist?' (no)," he said. "There are even people who ask, 'Is it possible for an Asian to be a skinhead?' (yes)."

As a younger member of the scene, in his early 30s, Ji-ha says this will be his first official Oi! Fest. He considers it an honor to play it with his band, formed less than a year ago. "Performing alongside Raise a Flag, a band I've listened to since childhood, makes me question if I'm even worthy of being part of such a show," he said. "It still doesn't feel real."

Raise a Flag is coming back this year, almost 20 years after its first visit for the first Korea-Japan Oi! Festival held in Korea way back in June 2004. Also on the 2004 lineup were Korean street punk band Rux and pogo punk band Spiky Brats, who are both playing once again, albeit both with radically different lineups. Byung-sun had been a member of Spiky Brats at the time, and is still part of it after it reformed last year with a new singer. This time, he's taken the reins of the festival.

"Since the first Korea-Japan Oi! Festival in '04, we've established a relationship with our Japanese punk and skinhead friends, making communication easy due to the trust between us," Byung-sun said.

Park Byung-sun, upper left, performs with Korean pogo punk band Spiky Brats at the first Korea-Japan Oi! Festival in Seoul's Skunk Hell, June 26, 2004. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

"I think it's natural for the relationship between the punk scenes of Korea and Japan to be better than the overall relationship between the two countries," said Ji-ha. "Korea and Japan are different countries with complex histories, but we are not merely Koreans and Japanese — we are the punk scenes in Korea and Japan. In a sense, we are punk compatriots. While the proximity of our countries may be a source of conflict between nations, it's a favorable condition for punk friends to interact more easily."

"Personally, there's much to learn from Japan, and since our cultures are similar, there's good rapport even beyond the punk scene," Byung-sun said. He quickly added, "National and political matters shouldn't sour Korea-Japan relations."

Byung-sun uniquely has played previous Oi! Fests as a member not only of a Korean band, but also a Japanese band, as he joined the Japanese band 00 Squad while living in Japan. He even played with 00 Squad in Seoul for the 2013 Korea-Japan Punk Festival.

Japanese band 00 Squad performs at Prism Live Hall during the Korea-Japan Punk Festival, Nov. 16, 2013. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

The festival had been held eight times almost every year, sometimes hosted in Korea and sometimes in Japan. In the early 2010s, the festival was revived under the new management of Ryu Jin-suk, and the name switched to Korea-Japan Punk Festival. Ryu, frontman of the ska-punk band Skasucks and owner of punk venue Club SHARP, later founded the New Generation of Ska festival, which was held yearly in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

"I consider (New Generation of Ska Festivals) as successors to the Korea-Japan Oi! Festival," Ji-ha said. "Even if it is not held under the name of the Korea-Japan Oi! Festival, its spirit carries on."

Japanese punk band Erections perform during the Korea-Japan Punk Festival in Seoul, Nov. 16, 2013. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

This year, the revived Korea-Japan Oi! Festival brings back four Japanese bands that have played previous fests — the oi! band Raise a Flag, ska band Rollings, street spiky punk band Erections and street punk band Disclapties — plus two that haven't participated before — Shudo & Rudies and Cooking Casper.

The Korean side will field Oi! Fest veterans Rux, Spiky Brats and Busan band Stoned, as well as Pogo Attack, Pokemanchi and the Reseters.

Follow @pogo_attack on Instagram for more information.