Two Korean punk bands touring the U.S. this summer have greater plans for world domination. They're planning to give out free compilation albums introducing the local scene to U.S. punks they meet on tour.
Today, punk band Full Garage leaves for a two-week tour of the U.S. titled "Tumbleweed Tour 2016," they have 12 shows booked in California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada between July 7 and 22.
Next, fellow Seoul punk band …Whatever That Means (WTM) will arrive for a nine-show tour of many of the same venues, "The Blowing Minds and Melting Faces Tour" July 23 to Aug. 1.
At their shows, both bands will be handing out copies of the freshly released 22-track compilation "Them and Us 2: Korea's Punks at Thunderhorse Studios" ― free of charge.
Local punk label World Domination, Inc. (WDI) has printed 1,000 copies of the album introducing 10 Korean punk bands plus Singaporean skatepunk band Iman's League.
"The concept of the album is simple: each band plays two songs: one cover ― Them ― and one original ― Us," said Jeff Moses, frontman of WTM and cofounder of WDI.
"When we first talked about doing a compilation and giving it away abroad, I wasn't sure if people would actually sit down and listen to 10 or 11 Korean bands they'd never heard of. I thought they'd be much more likely to listen if these Korean bands were also playing covers of bands that people already knew and loved."
For example, the Veggers cover the Ramones, the Pegurians convert a Descendants song to skinhead reggae and Gwangju skatepunks BettyAss do Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode." Plus each band offers one of their originals.
People in Korea can buy a copy of "Them and Us 2" for 5,000 won from any of the participating bands. Visit facebook.com/wdikorea for more information about the tour or the recording.