Seoul punk band celebrates 15th anniversary
It’s been over 15 years since Trash and Jeff Moses got married, and started the melodic punk band that would become known as …Whatever That Means (WTM). It’s also been 10 years since they released their second full-length album, “Sixty-Eight, Twenty-Two,” and it’s been five years since they founded IT’S A FEST! (IAF), a music festival at Incheon’s Hanagae Beach.
They’re busy celebrating all these feats together, having just announced the lineup for IAF 2024, and preparing for an anniversary show this weekend with Japanese band The Dahlia.
“I can’t believe how much time has passed,” Jeff told The Korea Times. “Just being in a band for 15 years, there are so many memories.”
Originally started by Jeff with some friends visiting temporarily for the wedding, Trash soon joined her husband later playing bass. Then in 2014 they added Bialy on guitar for a oneweek tour to Malaysia and Singapore.
“That was supposed to be it, but we were very fortunate that he chose to stay on after that. So the three of us have been through a lot together,” Jeff said. “I think WTM has famously gone through a lot of members over the years, but we’ve been blessed to have a solid core of members for the last 10 years.”
The position behind the drums has always been more of a revolving door for them, but they’re hoping that will change with Hwangyong, who joined the band a little over a year ago.
For the show this Saturday, Jeff said they’ll play their longest set ever, going for more than an hour and playing 20 songs. He said they will play the entirety of the “Sixty-Eight, Twenty-Two” album, “plus a few really really old school songs we haven’t played since our 10th anniversary show.”
WTM will be joined this Saturday by the longlived Korean streetpunk band Rux and hardcore band Geeks, as well as Long Time No Shit and Busan punk band Stoned.
As well, The Dahlia will be flying in from Japan for this show.
“They’re a great punk rock band with so much energy. They’ve got a killer frontwoman and put on a really fun show,” Jeff said. “They’re also way younger than us. These days, there’s a really limited amount of new, young punk rock bands here in Korea, so it’s good to see that there is still a new younger generation of punk bands coming up.”
Jeff and Trash are working hard to hold the third edition of the festival, which will last for three days from June 14 to 16.
“The format is exactly the same as last year. We’ll be doing an acoustic night on the beach Friday night as a sort of soft opening. That was a new addition last year, but everyone had a great time, so we decided to stick with it. The main fest will be Saturday and Sunday. KraemerLee will be back slinging beers, and we’re hoping to have a couple food trucks come to the festival this year to help offer fest-goers some more variety throughout the weekend,” Jeff said.
This year’s IAF has three overseas bands, plus 15 local acts playing various styles of punk, hardcore, reggae and ska. The three visiting bands are familiar faces in the Korean scene — Malaysian skate punk band Iman’s League who will be making their seventh visit to Korea, and Japanese bands the Skippers and Tortionals.
The headlining acts are local, though. The Geeks will play last on Saturday night. “The Geeks have been the kings of Korean hardcore for more than two decades now, and I can’t wait to see them under the lights on the beach Saturday night,” Jeff said. “Although, I am a little worried about all the people who tend to wear sandals to the festival — please, bring a pair of close-toed shoes for when the Geeks play!”
And ska-punk band No.1 Korean will close the festival on Sunday, a role that was played last year by Crying Nut.
The lineup is rounded out with End These Days, Monkey Gang War, TwoFive, Pogo Attack, the Reseters, Beacon, Long Time No Shit, Sweet Gasoline, Idiots and Tom Tom Tom.
“All the main planning is set. The bands are booked. The merch is designed. The store is open for reservations. There are still a lot of little details to figure out. We’re putting together the volunteer staff and prepping for actually managing the festival throughout the weekend. Right now, the biggest thing is just waiting for people to make bungalow reservations and order festival merch so that we can actually afford to pay for this thing.”
He explained that the festival raises funds for IAF through bungalow rentals and merch.
“We don’t have any government or corporate backers, so 100 percent of the money comes from selling pension and bungalow rental packages and festival merch packages,” he said. “Trash and I cover whatever leftover costs there are out of our own personal finances. We’re happy to do it because we love running IAF!, but we hope to find some financial sponsors for the future that will make it much easier to cover the budget, bring over a bigger headliner, and just grow the festival in general.”
Visit wdikorea.com/itsafest for more information.