Scumraid is a bit of a special band for me. Not just because their name includes two terms, "scum" and "raid", that trigger my sensitive and trustworthy crust detector but because I actually put on a gig for them in Paris in 2016. At that time, Scumraid were touring Europe with Sweden's Sex Dwarf whose singer, Per, got in touch with me for a gig in the world-famous town of dog turds and love (often in that order as you are more likely to find shit on your shoes than love, let me tell you). The request was a little surprising as I had only put on the one gig at that point, namely Deathraid in late 2015, and that was only because the person who was originally supposed to do it threw the towel just two weeks before the show. Since I love Deathraid and tragically missed Consume on their 2004 tour, I though it was my duty as a loyal punk soldier always ready to die for the cause and the greater good - by which I mean putting the capital on the d-beat/crust/raw punk map - I heroically volunteered to take matters into my own hands. The gig actually went well, the turnout was great, the bands delivered, I did not lose any money and everyone went home happy. On the whole not a regrettable experience at all but not one I was particularly inclined to repeat as I easily get stressed out and tend to run around pointlessly like a headless chicken when under the pressure. Needless to say I would make a poor football coach.
The very little experience I had as a "promoter" (I bloody hate the word) made Per's offer rather unexpected and unanticipated, albeit flattering. Not to my credit, I was only vaguely familiar with Sex Dwarf and Scumraid (clueless would be closer to the truth). I must admit I was a little bored and overwhelmed with all the so-called noisepunk bands at that point and therefore pondered over the subject. Not that I wouldn't be in the audience if someone else did it, quite the contrary as I am one to support international bands and brag about it constantly, but I was not particularly enthused over the idea of going through the hassle of putting it on myself. But then, how often does one get the chance to organize a local gig for a Korean hardcore band? So I gave them a proper listen. And, of course, I was left gobsmacked and quickly agreed to make the gig happen.
As if having already two foreign bands on the bill was not ambitious enough, two Belgian bands - Suit Side vs Veda Plight and Werly, both from Liège - were added, not really on purpose but because they were friends, needed a gig on that very same day and I would have felt guilty not to help them out. The gig was on a Sunday night which is not a great day for punk gigs as everyone is usually too hungover to bother coming out of their lair. The turnout was alright as I remember it but, more importantly, Sex Dwarf and Scumraid absolutely killed it, were very friendly and I am very happy to have made the right choice. What a happy ending and an ode to the network of friends, right? After that I put on many more dates for many more punk bands and I get requests from all over the place asking me for a gig in Paris. That's the predictable catch when you start doing it: your contact gets instantly shared with pretty much every punk bands setting up their European tour and as a result you end up with messages from mediocre German metalcore bands that you have never heard of and wish you had not.
When you have four touring bands on a Sunday, you have to watch the time. If you are running late, it can be very awkward to ask a band that has been traveling all day to shorten their set. But on the other hand, if you start too early, the punters have not arrived yet or just hang around before the venue sharing stories about their weekend and how they made up with an absolute stranger at a dodgy bar the night before because they were just too pissed to know better. So you always have to ask the bands: "How long is your set exactly? We have to be done by 11pm, otherwise the landlord will get on stage and unplug your massive pedal board". The threat always works miracle. When I asked Scumraid, the singer replied that they were only playing for twelve minutes. I think I stared at him for a few seconds in disbelief. Obviously, you are not going to have an hour-long set when you play crasher noize hardcore crust but twelve minutes sound a little short when you have traveled 6000 miles. That's 500 miles for one minute played. The man mistook my surprise for disapproval and quickly added that they could only play a nine minute set if twelve was too long. It really cracks me up just thinking about it and it is, to this day, one of my favourite gig stories. I think they did an encore and ended up playing a lengthy set of sixteen minutes.
To be honest, Scumraid has to be one of the best bands I have put on. They absolutely crushed it live though it might have been a bit much for most of the audience on a Sunday night. At least it provided a good excuse for not hearing your bosses' voice on Monday morning. The deafening goods were delivered by this power trio efficiently and with apparent ease. I must admit I am not well versed in Korean punk music and the bands that spontaneously came to mind before bumping into Scumraid were ICBM (early 2010's great dark old-school crust), Dead Gakkahs (intense female-fronted fast angry hardcore) and The Couch (00's spiky pogopunk, please don't ask) which is not very much indeed. If you are interested in further exploring the Korean scene, 2016's Seoul Compilation Tape comes highly recommended. It showcases a lot of different hardcore punk styles and that's what I like and expect from local compilations. And it's oi-free, thank fuck for that.
This tape was released in 2016 but Scumraid already had two Ep's under the belt by then, 2014's Out of Order on D-Takt & Råpunk Records and 2015's Rip Up on Iron Lung Records, the former being a scorchingly magisterial lesson in crasher noize crust. I think the present tape was the only thing that the band had left when they reached Paris so that I promptly jumped on it to support the touring band (and annoy my insufferable neighbours with mean bursts of hardcore), in spite of the rather odd cover which displays the band on some Seoul roof (I presume) with the bass player pointing for some reason to the singer/guitar player's crotch with a stick to the drummer's amusement. Oh well. The sound on the tape is very raw and it feels like a demo recording compared to Out of Order, which it is. As a result it does not sound as relentlessly powerful but if you are more into the raw punk end of the crasher spectrum, you might prefer the furious primitiveness of the tape. Scumraid is a tight band and they unleash seventeen songs in seventeen minutes without ever letting the innocent listener rest. It can be a bit of an exhausting listen because it does sound like you are getting the bollocking of your life (not unlike the aftermath of you placing a stink bomb on your teacher's chair to impress your mates in 1992). As you have guessed by now, Scumraid play referential (punky smileys included) blownout crasher hardcore noize crust - insert additional cool term if needed - with harsh vocals, high intensity and insane tempo changes. 90's classics like Gloom and Collapsed Society are invited to the table, but the influences from the subsequent generations may be stronger, namely 00's crasher noize tornadoes Ferocious X, Contrast Attitude and Deceiving Society and of course, because it is probably the most relevant comparison, the mighty D-Clone.
The thing was recorded at Seoul's Mushroom Studio and if you are looking for a better, more potent production, the seventeen songs were remixed and mastered at LM Studio in Osaka by Ippei Suda - a genius in noizy hardcore who worked on materials from Framtid, Defector or Contrast Attitude, not exactly a newcomer - and were released as the ace Control Lp in 2018, a record that is still easy to get. The band has (mostly?) relocated to Tokyo and if you ever have the opportunity to witness the chaos, do yourself a favour: grab your crust pants and run.
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