Captain Bootbois

Since they began, Captain Bootbois have been the quintessential Korean skinhead band, with one two-year break while singer Donghyun was drafted. They haven't always exactly been a skinhead band, and at no point has the band lineup been 100% skinhead. They have had a lot of talent go through the band though. One of the founding members, Joohyun, also founded and played bass for Rux, Ghetto Bombs, and most recently Galaxy Express.

While Donghyun was serving his country, the band replaced him and renamed themselves Blood Pledge. By the time he returned, Blood Pledge and Captain Bootbois were two separate entities with no shared musicians.

Today, Captain Bootbois is made up of:
-Donghyun on vocals, nicknamed "nongbu" or "farmer" for some reason


-Skele or Changwon on guitar. He was one of Korea's original skinheads, and a founding member of Samchung, but disappeared from the scene for a few years and ended up almost becoming a minister. He had a kid, shaved his head, and came back.


-JunKyu on bass. To combat stage fright, he always chews gum while he plays, and you can see him blowing bubbles on stage. Kind of an odd habit.


-Kirk, a Canadian metal drummer who most recently joined the band and pointed them much more into the metal camp.


Captain Bootbois have released one full-length a few years back and one rougher demo earlier. Recently they put out a hard-to-find split with fellow skinhead-turned-metal band Samchung. Unlike their previous songs, these ones are sung mostly in Korean, the only exception being "Fight For Your Right." The song "Belief Like Rock" is a poor translation of a phrase that makes more sense in Korean, basically about a belief that is as strong as rock. There's also one song where they collaborate with Samchung.

The four songs by them are available for download.

Rux

There probably wouldn't be much of a punk scene in Korea today if it weren't for Rux. They have been the center of Korean punk for around five years. The lead singer, Jonghee, also ran Skunk Label, Korea's main punk label, and he also owned Skunk Hell, the main punk club.


The band has changed members several times over the years, and members have joined many other bands. Sometimes they'll put on a big show where all the old members are invited back and they take turns doing guest spots.

Rux has been a very likeable streetpunk band from the beginning, and they have the right amount of singalong lyrics in most of their songs. Jonghee spent a few years of his youth in New York so he knows enough decent English to put together legible lyrics. Most of their songs mix English and Korean.



For a while, it looked like Rux would follow some of the more marketable Korean (pop-)punk bands into the spotlight. They were invited to a very prestigious spot on a live music TV show. Now, when I say live music, I mean they basically mime their instruments and sing along to a previously recorded track. But it is aired live on TV across the nation...with no sneeze button. Why is this relevant? Just watch, and make sure you stick around for the finale.



Immediately afterward, those two guys were arrested and served three months in jail. One of them was the guitarist of the Spiky Brats and the other was the lead singer of Couch. The Couch guy later told me prison was awesome, and the food was so great he actually put on weight. A lot of effort went into also convicting Jonghee, accusing him of putting them up to it and of running a sex club. Fortunately the public lost interest and we all moved on.

They've made several recordings over the years, but I've selected Another Conception from 2005, which has some of their better earlier stuff balanced with decent recording quality.

Download Rux - Another Conception

Fixing Shit

I'm going back to my first posts and replacing all the zshare links with new mediafire links. I've gotten to The End and Battle 98 now, but I'll start going through all of them this weekend, starting from the earliest posts. If you missed them the first time around, there is a reason I started my blog with those two bands. Also I would like to welcome my new compatriot RACETRAITOR, who is going to help me out with the site. If you would like to help out too or share anything, please email me. Cheers

Suck Stuff

In contrast to having the goofiest band name in Korea (their strongest competition is Cock Rasher), Suck Stuff is a surprisingly thoughtful punk band that took and mixed influences unheard of in other Korean bands.

They started in 2001 as a fairly typical streetpunk band singing about scene unity and mixing in very weak English skills. Over time as members changed (the singer Yu Chulhwan is the only original member left) their sound changed. They could be likened to the Korean version of the Clash--and not because they were a Clash ripoff band (that role is taken), but because their songwriting has a similar methodology.

In 2005, they were joined by Paul Brickey, a half-Korean half-American who'd grown up in the US military culture staying with his dad who was stationed in US bases in South Korea. Paul brought something new to the band--partly, English fluency, and also a range of new influences, most notably Social Distortion and Johnny Cash. That's Paul in the front with his lovable pitbull Sukie.



Paul became co-bandleader along with Chulhwan, sharing songwriting and vocal duties. This band configuration produced two albums, first City Rebels and then Rough Times Ahead, before getting signed to Dope Records, which is probably the best that any underground Korean band can hope for. Unfortunately Rough Times Ahead, despite having eleven tracks, was released as an independent EP rather than on Dope for some reason.



Paul gradually became frustrated with working in Korea. As a half-Korean, he automatically was judged by most of the ESL industry to "not look like he can speak English," despite it being the only language he knew. He drifted from job to job, and started to get bitter seeing less talented, less original pop-punk bands surpassing Suck Stuff in the underground music scene.

He shocked us all by announcing in fall 2007 he was joining the US army. He went to the recruiting station in Korea (which doesn't get that many recruits so they bent over backwards for him) and said he wanted to be an army medic, provided they don't station him in Korea. His final official show with Suck Stuff was November 11, 2007. He returned once in June 2008 for another reunion show and to marry his long-distance girlfriend Yumi.

In his absence, the band went on a religious kick for their next album New Classic.

Download Rough Times Ahead here.

Here's Paul as of fall 2008, in training in the US.

Under 18

Under 18 is a hardcore/oi band in the vein of Warzone and Agnostic Front. They started in Bandung in 1997 as a bunch of 15 and 16 year old kids.

http://www.myspace.com/under18bchc


Line Up
Tepeng - Vocals
Seeon - Vocals
B-Tai - Guitar
Budrex - Bass
Ievdskin - Guitar
Joko B.I.G - Drums

Discography
- OSHC..Till Die!! EP - 3 Song DIY Project 1999
- Indoground Compilation - In France 2001
- 4 Way Split Band Rockin' Riot Vol 2 - United Races Records 2003
- Loyalitas Full Album - Linoleum Records 2007
- Total Destroy Vol 1 - Chaotic Records 2007
- Riot Connection Records Compilation - In Germany 2008




Under 18
01 - Keep It's True
02 - Ingatkan Aku
03 - Bandung Brotherhood
04 - O.S.H.C. Till Die!!!
05 - Loyalitas
06 - Skinhead
07 - You Got
08 - Track 1
09 - Track 2

Download