The Beat December 2002

Review and photos by Robnick Bosdie

We were strung out on shitty Korean pop music assaulting us through the cracks of subway cars and department store speakers. Our musical souls were starving for true Rock ‘n Roll; the type that saved (or wrecked) the lives of people like Chuck Berry, Lou Reed, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Thunders and everybody else who channeled the electric spirit through their hands. So we shut Beat HQ down early, hopped the subway to Seomyeon, and entered the 6.25 Club to catch “For the Punx”, a meaty offering of homegrown sonic hit squads.

RUX opened with the fire. The bassist and lead singer were old school liberty spike punks (the term “liberty spikes” refers to the Statue of Liberty hair style); absolutely tight and on time with anthem after fuck you anthem. Short, fast, and furious, with echoes of the Clash and a twinge of Black Flag‘s heavy attitude.

The dancing was reserved, but some of the louts in the front did some moshing during RUX, when the lead singer came onto the floor and challenged the audience members to charge him, absorbing the hits from their shoulders, elbows and heads like some maniac horn-haired toreador

Next was 99Anger with a tight three-piece approach that was much more late 80‘s and early 90‘s post-punk, not unlike Nirvana at their gruff melodic best. But ultimately they had a fresh sound that didn‘t feel like a mere re-enactment of some North American band. They played fast and loud and the drummer‘s spit-laced backing vocals added another dimension to their rumbling sound.

Next came Busan‘s new darlings, Ghetto Bombs, who comfortably bridged the late 70‘s through the early 90‘s, their musical power flowing from the barrel of KISS‘s “Love Gun” on a trajectory approaching the Sublime. Opening with an Operation Ivy song, they played an original set laden with the simple savvy that is good rock and roll. Though they claim to adore Motley Crue and KISS, their songs again conjured up the working-class guitar muscle of the Clash as well as more modern volume junkies like Rancid. A touch of ska and changes of pace added to the brew.

In their drive to flout conventions, many punk bands often take the ethic a bit too far and neglect certain basics, such as the ability to actually play (and tune) their guitars. One very cool thing about Ghetto Bombs is that they can actually play the hell out of their instruments. What‘s even cooler is that they often choose not to, but are sure enough of themselves to bang the same three or four chords and squeeze them for every drop of juice. Their songs are smart and tuneful and are all get up and go, though we‘ll see how well they carry over onto vinyl when they cut their first record this March (Ssamzie label). And if the record don‘t cut it, you can still see them monthly at 6.25, on the stage, which is where their songs are and will continue to be most at home.

Burning Hapbun (Hepburn, perhaps?) was, not the headliner (nobody was), but the finisher. They came up and immediately busted a guitar string, which made us wonder how this hadn‘t happened earlier. The singer entertained the patient crowd with his goofy posturing. He mused on the Punk rallying cry: “Oi,” he said, adding, “Oi Oi! There‘s nothing else to say.” The interesting addition of a Roland keyboard and a mouth harp gave some of the songs a Bizarro honky-tonk circus feel, but the foundation once more was the one-four-five power chord assault. Tried, true, and with feeling and attitude to spare.

Just when you thought new Korean music was condemned to mind-numbing 4/4 dance beats and shrill girly vocals, bands like the four that played “For the Punx” emerge and blow everybody‘s expectations to smithereens. Just when you thought that DJ‘s with their elite boutique records and expensive turntables were the new gods, some good, old-fashioned, hardworking Punk rockers crawl out of the woodwork like radioactive cockroach survivalists and set everything right. Punk‘eu jukji aneunda!