Ska in Seoul

Returning to the punk scene after a dinner of fast food burgers, an old-time rock'n roll kind of riff caught my ear. It was just a couple notes before the lyrics kicked in and I immediately began singing along. “Sound system gonna bring me back up, one thing that I can depend on.” I knew those lyrics like I was just singing them yesterday, but it must have been at least seven or eight years since I last heard it, maybe more. Thinking back through all of the punk and ska music I used to listen to, I couldn't put my name on the artist. It certainly wasn't one of the bands that I listened to a lot, just one of the songs I frequently listened to. Fifty percent sure it was Goldfinger, I later looked it up and I was mistaken. Operation Ivy, that one disk that I would pop into my walkman only now and then.

Mihai looked on. Her expression at the scene, just hours before, was one of disgust. I couldn't blame her. I showed up and recognized all of it. The small stage, the scratchy speakers, tattoos from head to toe, eccentric hair styles, black, leather, chains... Though I was familiar with the styles, it seems that ska has gotten a bit more black over the past decade. Regardless, I was excited for the music, and when it started, the expression on Mihai's face started to change. Before long she was loving it like I was.

The venue was at the end of Sincheon Culture Street. Though I knew where Sincheon was, I had never been there, and I found no information online about a “culture street”. After looking at a map of the area I made a good guess: the long street that connects the subway stop to the university. From the subway stop we couldn't see the stage at the end of the street, but the pedestrian boulevard riddled with vendors and street performers tipped us off. The nice and innocently dressed college aged crowd of couples shuffled from vendor to vendor, street performer to street performer, clothing store to clothing store. That image, so typical of my experiences in Korea thus far, abruptly changed as we passed a barricade and a street signifying the concert venue. Suddenly, the scene turned to black t-shirts, leather jackets, neck tattoos, chains on pants, and hardware in faces.

Music started at 3 pm but it must have been after 5 when we finally showed up at the stage. We were there for enough time to catch two Japanese bands, two Korean bands, and a couple songs from the final, aged American group. Our favorite was the first Japanese band, a band from Tokyo by the name of “The Autocratics.” The way the front man held his guitar made me think of Tim Armstrong of Rancid, probably my favorite punk group. They featured a high energy saxophone player. I prefer a trombone or a trumpet section but Mihai's favorite is the sax. Lazybone, a very energetic and large Korean band followed. Their energy and style reminded me of some of the Catch 22 songs I used to listen to. Maybe this was because I didn't understand anything that they were saying.

What was it that we enjoyed so much about the show? For me, I'd like to say it was the memories that resurfaced. My tastes in music have changed, evolved incredibly over the past 10 years. Back in those ska days, I used to ridicule the classic rock, and DMB kind of music of my older brother in revenge for his constant mocking of my tastes in music. Eventually, I came to love that music as well. Watching those ska bands on Saturday made me think of all of those good times that I used to have, going to cheep shows, moving with the compacted crowd in the front, plying for a position closer to the rail. Then again, maybe it was more than just the memories. Let's face it, ska music is fun. For Mihai, it couldn't have been the memories. This was her first experience with ska, or punk for that matter. Discussing the show over dinner she admitted, “How can I not like it? I look around and everybody is having such a good time.” Simple and true. Ska is a good time.