Drinking Boys and Girls Choir get sober

Interview by Jamie Finn (@jamiefinn2209)
Illustration by Charity Lynn Cody (@_charitylynn_)

After bursting onto the scene in 2012, Daegu's Drinking Boys and Girls Choir quickly established themselves as a force for thrash pop punky fun. Their unignorable brand of melodic speed punk has seen the band gain international attention with tour dates abroad and a UK-based recording contract. Earlier this year, the band released their second full-length album, Marriage License. The album features more diverse sounds and lyrical themes than their music has ever had and symbolises that Drinking Boys and Girls Choir have grown up. Kind of.

"One of the main differences is how we think," says Meena when talking about the band's trajectory. "Our mindset was completely different for the second one." Meena is the bassist, main vocalist and one of two founding members of DBGC. "I didn't even know what feminism was when we made the first one. Now it's something that is central to what we do as a band. We want to use our music to make a difference and speak for about the things we believe in; equality for different genders, sexualities and races."

For today's interview, she is joined by drummer, vocalist and another founding member, MJ. "We became much more political while writing for the second album".

"You can hear the politics on songs like Odoby." adds guitarist Junghoon, who joined the band in early 2021. Odoby is a perfect example of the group's growth. Musically, it is an impossibly fun, riotous punk song clocking in at around one minute and a half. The lyrics, though, have more of a serious edge. "I drive a small scooter," says MJ, explaining the lyrics of Odoby, "and because I am quite small, it can be scary on the road. People will beep at you and shout at you. I am often the victim of aggression while I am out riding. In Odoby, we use my experience as a motorcyclist as a metaphor for what oppressed people sometimes feel. It's about my motorcycle accident, but it is also about life as a minority."

The accident that MJ is referring to happened in 2016. The drummer suffered a severe crash that forced her to have surgery. In many ways, this setback was a crucial turning point for the band and was the catalyst for them recording their first album, Keep Drinking. "Before the accident, we were too lazy to record," Meena jokes. "We were playing shows all the time. But when it came to recording, we were just lazy, busy, busy lazy, drinking, lazy, busy."

"Then I had my accident, and for six months, I had to lie down on my back, so I couldn't play any drums," adds MJ. "We had to stop playing shows for a while. This was when we recorded the first album. Actually, the drumming on the first album is all done with computers. I did it, but not with a drum kit but with a controller." "Surprise!" shouts Meena, seeing the shock this revelation has caused.

Odoby isn't the only example of DBGC's growing political concern. The track Hit the Corner is about the value of collective action in the face of seemingly impossible challenges. The song was written during the coverage of the infamous "Nth Room" case. This widespread criminal case involved the distribution of sexually explicit material featuring victims of rape, blackmail, exploitation, and trafficking. Many of the victims were minors. This case had a big impact on the band who were writing their second album at the time. "We were so angry when that all came out," says Meena. "I couldn't believe they were the same species as me. How can someone treat other humans like that? There were so many people who were listed as users. I even had a colleague on the list. He used spycams to record women in changing rooms and purchased videos of minors. He created hundreds of videos and downloaded thousands. He only got two years. This was a big part of our thinking when making the album. Especially the song Hit The Corner. That's about how, alone, we don't have much power, but together we can be very powerful."

As well as a shift in lyrical subject matter, Marriage License also has a change in musical direction. While there's still plenty of punk here, some of the songs on the album have a softer, indie style. "We never intended for the album to sound softer," MJ argues. "But on a couple of songs like Time and My Second Universe... they came out as ballads." Calling them "ballads" might be a bit of a stretch: the songs are still upbeat, fun and have that unmistakable DBGC aesthetic. "Well, ballads compared to our other music," Meena interjects. "Anything below 200bpm, for us that's a ballad."

Marriage License also has a different balance when it comes to the language of the lyrics, with most of the songs being sung in Korean. "There's no real thought going into deciding when we sing in English or Korean," explains MJ. "It's more just a natural part of what comes out. But these days, we would like to sing in Korean more."

DBGC argues that the pressure for bands to sing in English is decreasing. "Having English songs isn't even as helpful as it used to be," says Meena. "Korean things are quite popular, and the Korean language doesn't seem as mystical or something as it once did. I think international audiences want to hear songs in languages like Korean. It helps us get more overseas fans when we sing in Korean."

“We didn’t even know what feminism was when we made the first album. Now it is a central part of everything we do.”

One significant change for the band is the addition of guitarist Junghoon who joined DBGC in an appropriately inebriated fashion. "I was drunk one night, and it was late," he shares. "I saw that they had posted on Facebook looking for a new guitarist. I sent a really long message while I was still drunk, saying that I would be great for them." Meena adds, "It was a good message for us, and he sent us pictures of his gear and everything. But he was the only person who replied to our ad, so it was an easy decision in some ways."

"I was so happy to get to play with the band because, at the time, I was always in garage bands or electronic rock bands", continues Junghoon, "but I really wanted to make some punk music. I had heard of the band before, so I was thrilled to be able to play with them." It's been an interesting few months for the young guitarist, but he is excited for what the future of DBGC will bring. "It's really fun playing with them. I've played at SXSW, I've played in Hong Kong, I've played in Wales twice, I've played in Canada…. all online so far, but I am hoping to go there for real soon."

"Recruiting new members can be difficult for us," Meena says. "Living this far away from Seoul makes it difficult to find new band members sometimes. It's the one thing about living in Daegu that we don't really love." The band have stayed fiercely loyal to their hometown of Daegu through a combination of necessity and deep-seated love for the city. But does living outside of the capital city make things challenging for a rock band? DBGC don't think so. "Other than recruiting, it's not really difficult living outside of Seoul anymore. When we first started, some things, like getting gigs or press attention, were tough. Now we're kinda well-known on the indie scene, so we don't have the same issues."

Daegu has a surprisingly rich history when it comes to punk culture: "it was a bit before our time, but many of the people we work with tell us stories about the big punk scene here in Daegu," says Meena. "Back then, it was much more difficult to be a band and live outside of Seoul. It was pretty tempting for bands to move there, and that's kind of why the scene here died out. Now it's pretty convenient to travel around the country, so we want to stay here. Hopefully, we can start a new scene in Daegu".

"The bottom line is", adds MJ, "Daegu is our home. Why would we want to leave?"

Despite their love for their hometown, DBGC talk enthusiastically about international touring and consider it a big part of their identity. They have played shows in the USA, Canada, Indonesia, and many gigs in the UK. "When we went to Liverpool, we were shocked," Meena recalls. "We were on a huge tour of the country, and all the venues were big and well-arranged… Apart from Liverpool. We were playing Sound City Festival, which is famous worldwide. We were like, "wow, we are going to play Liverpool Sound City!" We were very excited. But all of Liverpool was pretty messy."

"Not in a bad way, though", add MJ. "Beer smell everywhere. Weed smell everywhere. We were amazed by the amount of young indie kids there were. The city felt really free. We loved it."

“I didn’t know you couldn’t shout ”fuck off” at the cops. so that’s what i did.”

The band argues there are a few key differences between audiences outside of Korea and those at home. "In the UK, the audiences there are much older, says Meena. "Older people don't really like rock or punk here in Korea, but it's much more popular with older people in different countries."

"We didn't really get punk music here until the 90s, so you won't see many older people going to shows here," adds MJ. "The older generations didn't get that influence when they were younger. It was the same in Indonesia as here; the punk rock scene is made up of teenagers or people in their early 20s."

DBGC's tour of Indonesia led to their first brush with the law. "The event promoter was a bit of a drinker, and someone gave him some bad weed or something, MJ tells us. "He smoked some weed and collapsed. Someone saw him and thought he'd died, so they called the police. The cops saw someone on drugs, so they locked us, the promoter and the whole audience in the venue." "Our friends organised a show for us after," adds Meena, "so it was ok, but it was a little scary."

While the band may not be to blame for their first encounter with the police, their second would be at least partially their fault. "After my accident, the first show was a festival in Busan," says MJ. "We got asked to headline, but we kind of messed up. We finished after curfew, and the police showed up. Meena started shouting "fuck off" and stuff at the cops."

"Yeah, I didn't know you couldn't shout that at the police", laughs Meena.

"Yeah, so she ran away," MJ continues, "and we were just begging and begging the cops not to take it further. After we managed to get rid of the cops, we went to find Meena, and she was hiding somewhere drinking."

One of the bands that have been a major influence on DBGC's new direction is Billy Carter. It's easy to see how the band's new social-political direction is similar to Billy Carter's. Both bands use their lyrics to challenge the accepted wisdom of traditional, patriarchal, heteronormative society. "I'm a big fan of Billy Carter," Meena informs us. "They're a huge influence on me."

This love of Billy Carter led to a mini-crisis of confidence for the band. "Before we made Marriage Licence," Meena tells us, "I listened to Billy Carter's second album Don't Push Us. When I heard it, I couldn't believe it. I thought, "how can they make something so good?" Part of me really wanted to run away from being in a band and making songs because that album was so good."

"I actually did run away for a few months," MJ interrupts.

"We told Mingyu (the owner of the band's Korean label, Electric Muse) that we don't think we should make music anymore," Meena continues. "He was very supportive, though and convinced us that we should continue."

Mingyu is another person who has had a positive effect on the band. "It has been helpful with lots of things. Especially paperwork. It definitely helped with the paperwork," laughs Meena.

"He is great with sound too," adds Junghoon. "He's a fantastic producer. He produced Marriage License and also engineers many of our gigs."

To his credit, their second album sounds really, really good. The slight changes in production style suits them, and they have managed to add slickness to their sound while retaining that Drinking Boys and Girls Choir raw energy.

It's another vital piece to what the band have become. With their progressive message, nuanced lyrics, very slightly mellower sound, neater production and even the occasional "ballad", Drinking Boys and Girls Choir are a band who are growing up. But only kind of.

For more information on Drinking Boys and Girls Choir, follow them here.