Beach punk festival takes over Muui Island

The Beijing-based power-pop band The Sino Hearts will come to Korea for IT'S A FEST! this weekend. / Courtesy of The Sino Hearts

By Jon Dunbar

Korea's punk scene is uprooting itself from various cities across the peninsula, and heading to Hanagae Beach on Muui Island, for the first-ever IT'S A FEST! (IAF!), a free two-day music festival for June 15 and 16.

The festival is the latest imaginative project by World Domination, Inc. (WDI), a punk label run by Jeff and Trash Moses, who celebrated 10 years this year as a married couple and bandmates in their punk band …Whatever That Means.

"Trash and I have been talking about doing something like this for years," Jeff Moses told The Korea Times. "Every time we traveled somewhere new in Korea, we'd ask each other, would this be a good spot? Could we do a big outdoor show here? But there was always a problem. Trash and I actually got engaged at Hanagae Beach, so we thought it might work out there."

They returned during last year's Chuseok long weekend to scout it out, and found it even better than they remembered. It had beach bungalows, pensions and campsites, as well as public washrooms, showers, and a few restaurants and cafes.

"But what surprised us most was that they had a stage right on the beach," Moses said.

Another big surprise, they found a new bridge was being constructed, offering a road connection to the mainland, and it was set to open shortly before they wanted to have the festival. They advise people to take public transportation to the island from Incheon International Airport, rather than driving all the way, to reduce traffic.

Moses said the local beach officials have been more helpful than he could have imagined.

"When we were heading out there for our first meeting to pitch the idea, we thought we were going to really have to sweet talk them to convince them to work with us, but they loved it from the start," he said. "They've been so supportive and are always ready to help us when we come to them with a new idea. We couldn't have asked for better partners."

From there, the scope of the festival grew quickly. They launched a crowdfunding campaign on Tumblbug early this year looking to raise 6 million won, and ended up with 7.85 million won.

"We are so thankful for everyone's support. It made it much easier to organize this whole thing. The backup plan was taking out a pension loan to fund it all, so I'm happy it didn't come down to that," Moses said.

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Soon they had 18 bands agreeing to play the two-day beach festival.

"Bands were so supportive of what we were trying to do and excited about Korea having its own big outdoor punk rock festival, so they jumped right in with us," Moses said. "That's really been the best part of this whole thing: seeing everyone come together to work together to make a big new event."

Punk band ...Whatever That Means performs on Feb. 23 at its 10-year anniversary show. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Coming from overseas is Singaporean skatepunk band Iman's League, which has already toured Korea many times and released a six-song album on WDI.

Also flying in are power-pop band The Sino Hearts from China and pop-punk band Half-Asleep from Malaysia.

"I've never been to South Korea before so this is a great chance to get along with new friends and discovering new cool places," said Zhong, lead singer of The Sino Hearts.

"Personally my grandparents fought during the Korean War in the 1950s and can't believe after half a century their grandson plays with punk bands all over the world and eventually also made it to South Korea with music."

The remaining 15 bands are all based in Korea, representing Seoul, Busan, Daegu and Daejeon. This includes psychedelic band Galaxy Express, Daegu skatepunk band Drinking Boys and Girls Choir and reggae band Shin HanTae & Reggae Soul. Local expat-Korean punk band Gumiho will also be making its second-last appearance at the festival before guitarist Steve moves away.

During the festival, there will be activities including body painting, live painting, live screen printing, and games such as kendama provided by Cheonan's Look Beyond Skate and Music. The beach also has its own attractions, such as a 400-meter zipline and rock climbing cliffs, as well as nearby hiking trails for anyone who needs a break from the music.

"That was part of the reason we chose Hanagae for IAF!" Moses said. "We wanted it to be more than just people standing around staring at a stage. There's just so much to do. Oh, and it's a beach. So there's that."

IAF! is backed by a handful of small business sponsors, including Thunderhorse Studios which is providing equipment and sound engineering and KramerLee which is supplying a "truckload" of beer.

"Our original plan was to just book a cool outdoor show somewhere and call it Not A Fest," Moses explained, "but once we confirmed things at Hanagae Beach and realized it was going to be two days with almost 20 bands, camping, and all that, we decided that name wouldn't work because our show had accidentally become a festival. So we decided to call it IT'S A FEST! and write it in all caps with an explanation point to show how surprised and excited we were."

A pre-party concert is scheduled for Friday night at Club FF, with Korean punk legends Crying Nut performing along with The Sino Hearts and Iman's League, as well as four others.