Punk festival finally returns to Incheon's Hanagae Beach

Hanagae Beach is the site of IT'S A FEST!, a three-day punk rock festival happening this weekend. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

By Jon Dunbar

After four long years, the punk music festival IT'S A FEST! (IAF) is finally returning to Hanagae Beach on Incheon's Muui Island, not far off from Incheon International Airport.

"After the success of the first IAF in 2019, I never would have guessed that we'd have to wait four years to do it again," Jeff Moses, co-organizer of the festival and lead singer of punk band …Whatever That Means, told The Korea Times.

A follow-up festival planned for 2020 was canceled, and for 2021 plans were made again, but not announced, in the hope that the pandemic would ease. Since then, Moses and his wife Trash, the two main figures behind local punk label World Domination, Inc., have been biding their time.

"Finally!" Moses said. "The festival will have the same vibe as last time: a fun-filled weekend with lots of great punk, ska, hardcore and other 'punk-adjacent' bands. We're planning to have some of Korea's best-known acts playing next to some of the scene's newcomers and will be bringing in a few bands from overseas again too."

Trash and Jeff Moses, organizers of IT'S A FEST!, address the crowd at the previous festival at Incheon's Hanagae Beach, June 16, 2019. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

This year's event brings together 19 bands for the three-day festival from June 16 to 18. The biggest name is sure to be the legendary Korean punk band Crying Nut, but the lineup also includes the return of the "Kraken roll" one-man band Octopoulpe, plus Japanese skatepunk band Green Eyed Monster and Malaysian emo-punk band Social Circuit.

"We're also happy to have Hongdae OGs Crying Nut join the lineup this year. They are such an important part of the history of Korean punk, so having them was a big priority," Moses said. "We're also super stoked about Octopoulpe playing. We love JP. He's the most talented guy I've ever met, and the timing worked out just right for him to stop at IAF during his Asia tour this year."

Many of the participating Korean bands play pop-punk and ska-punk, but also on the bill is the reggae band Shin Hantae & Reggae Soul, plus three hardcore bands ― End These Days, Chain Reaction and Polluter, as well as the screamy garage-grunge-punk band Beacon.

"We just decided to play it safe year one and ease the locals into what IAF was always designed to be: a festival showcasing our favorite punk, ska and hardcore bands," Moses said. "(The 2019 edition) was the first event of its kind at Hanagae, and no matter how many times we warned them that it was going to be very loud, we really didn't know if they understood how loud it was going to be. So we made the decision that year one was all about testing overall volume at the beach. To play it safe, we made sure that all the bands were very melodic and more easily accessible for any non-festival people who happened to be at the beach that weekend. After a few initial complaints during Saturday sound checks, everything ended up being okay. Hanagae was really happy with how the weekend went and immediately started asking about the next IAF. Now that we know they are fine with the volume of the festival, we are able to book a wider range of bands from the scene."

Moses also highlighted the Acoustic Night event, featuring five solo and duo acts, kicking off the festival on Friday night. This marks a bit of a course correction from the first one four years ago.

"In 2019, we had a kickoff party at Club FF in Hongdae on Friday night. It was a great time, but that led to a lot of people being super hungover on Saturday and getting to IAF! really late ― or not at all," Moses recalled. "This year, we decided to do something a little different and start the festival in a more low-key way right at the beach. It'll be a fun way to get the weekend going before the main festival starts on Saturday. It also means people can sleep in a bit Saturday and wake up right at the festival."

Jeff Moses of the punk band ...Whatever That Means performs at the first IT'S A FEST! at Incheon's Hanagae Beach, June 16, 2019. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Another major course correction this time will be inviting more food and drink vendors to the beach. "A couple hundred people who came to the festival filled out a survey we had for them, and asking for more food and alcohol options was the number one request," Moses said. "Hanagae has a bunch of good restaurants and a convenience store with plenty of drinks, but it's all Korean food and Korean beers and soju. Since 2019 was such a success, and because we and Hanagae management want to see the festival grow, this year they gave us a little more freedom in the food and beverage area."

Last time, beer sponsor KraemerLee Brewery was only able to serve drinks to festival staff, but they'll be back this year to sell their German-style craft beers to everyone. They'll also be grilling hamburgers this time as well. Also, Big Shot Imports will sell bag cocktails on the beach.

"Of course, we still encourage people to support the local restaurants throughout the weekend," Moses said. "IAF couldn't happen without them. But we're happy to be able to offer some other options as well."

An elderly local joins the mosh pit during a set by Half-Asleep from Malaysia, at IT'S A FEST! at Incheon's Hanagae Beach, June 16, 2019. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

The event is entirely free to attend. Although the organizers have been hoping for support from the local government, IAF is an entirely DIY-organized event, relying on the local scene and personal connections. In order to raise funds to operate the festival, the organizers have been selling beach bungalow reservations and merchandise.

"The fact that IAF is funded by the people who come to the festival and love this music is pretty cool. Everything is done in a very DIY way. But that definitely can add a lot of stress to the whole process as well," Moses said. "We called in every favor we could to make IAF 2019 happen, and so many people in the scene worked with us. It was truly a group effort to make a big DIY festival. And then Trash said something that summed it all up. 'DIY doesn't mean doing it by yourself. DIY means doing it together.' We had talked about putting on a festival like this for years, and to finally see it come to life was such a high. And to be able to do that together, as a married couple, there's something really special about that."

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