A PUNK ROCK NIGHT IN BUSAN

A PUNK ROCK NIGHT IN BUSAN

I first heard about a Korean punk show happening in Busan a few weeks ago from a mutual friend named Mick. There were going to be several Korean punk bands there and Mick told me he was friends with a few of the Korean punkers in a couple of the bands.

Since that point I had been following up with Mick about the concert and eventually kind of invited myself along. We got a small crew together headed to Busan to go to the show. The crew included my next door neighbor Beka (Canadian), her friend Lauren (Canadian) and Mick (Wisconsin).

Left to Right: Lauren, Beka, Mick

We departed from the train station in Changwon and took the train into Busan.

Changwon train station (outside)

Changwon train station (inside)

Here comes the train

On the train to Busan

We ended up back on Haeundae beach for a little bit and hit up some familiar eats and drinks. Most notably: Quizno’s and an American owned (from San Diego) ex-pat beach bar called Sharky’s. At Sharky’s I enjoyed a finely-crafted, and Oregon produced, Rogue Brewery IPA (heaven). We hung out at Sharky’s and watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics from about the Bond sequence to the parade of nations. We stayed until Canada and then left for the punk show.

Haeundae Beach

Quizno's on Haeundae Beach

Haeundae Beach at Sunset

Sharky's

Rogue!!

We took a cab to the university area where the club was. This is a party section of town that is friendly to many foreigner amenities. I even saw a business selling shwarma. The mobile cocktail bar was my favorite. They essentially mix your cocktail in a large Carpri Sun-esque bag and give you a straw

Near the university - party town

I got a margarita

We got drinks outside of the convenience  store where we met with some of the punkers Mick knew. Of them, I met Mino. Mino’s English is decent and he has a great sense of humor. Mick told me a story about how it was like 3AM and they were all wasted and going to order food and he says to Mick, “What can we order to make you fat ass fatter?” They ordered fried chicken. Mino was in a band called Stoned. We also met up with Mu, a guitarist for the Korean Irish punk band Nachopupa (I can try to describe them, but if you’re curious just watch this)

Mu in white, Mino in red

We went into the venue. It was hot. It was sweaty. Drinks were cheap. There were 6 bands. I met some foreigners. Actually I met someone from Bellingham, WA who knew someone from my high school (small world). The first 2 bands were great- including Mu’s band Stoned. Nachopupa was raucous and awesome. There were some great punk covers throughout the night:  Stoned covered “Redemption Song” (excellent punk cover), another group covered Nirvana’s “Bleed” (they tore it up!) and Nachopupa did Flogging Molly’s “Drunken Lullabies.”

The club 

Openers

Openers

Stoned featuring Mino

Stoned- squaring off

Stoned

Nachopupa featuring Mu

Nachopupa! Korean Irish Punk

After the show we went out with all the bands as one large party to a restaurant for Korean BBQ, where we ate, chatted, drank and watched Olympics swimming on TV. We must have got to the restaurant and 2AM and left around 4:30. Side note: at the restaurant I just never stopped sweating due to the heat and the punk show. This was met with a mix of fascination and pity from the Koreans. A note about Koreans: they don’t sweat (much) at all.

Olympics and afterparty BBQ

Then Mick, Beka, Lauren and I split a cab (about $10-12 each) back to Changwon. We got into Changwon as the sun was coming up. Mick and I went up to O’Briens for a nightcap at about 5:30AM. I went to bed around 7AM.