“…between all the shouting, soaring guitars, and drum smashing, there’s no way that your body won’t feel recharged”
Highsnobiety
“The instrumental prowess is just absolutely insane…”
Stereogum
Drinking Boys and Girls Choir (DBGC) is a three-piece punk band from Daegu, South Korea. Formed in 2013 when two drummers MJ and Meena shared a rehearsal space and decided to form a band, Meena switched to Bass and guitarist Bondu (who had just finished his military service) answered their ad. They bonded over a shared love of drinking, skating and punk. Inspired by Daegu’s 90s-00s hardcore punk/indie-rock scene before it moved to Seoul, a topic band are very passionate about, vowing not to move to the capital, preferring to nurture a sustainable local scene. In 2017, MJ suffered a serious motorbike accident, so the band took a hiatus while awaiting her recovery. When she was fit again, they DIY produced their 18 track debut album “Keep Drinking” released on Damnably/Electric Muse in 2019, followed by show stealing appearances at SXSW, TGE, LSC, Pentaport, Busan International Rock Festival, Zandari & MU:CON and also toured the UK tour supporting label mates Otoboke Beaver & Say Sue Me. Bondu retired from the band following their UK tour and Myorori stepped in on guitar duties.
“If 2018 was the year K-pop finally breached the gates of the U.S. mainstream, the South Korean power trio Drinking Boys and Girls Choir are helping light a similar fire for K-punk this year.”
MTV
“WOW! that was good, right?!”
Iggy Pop, BBC 6Music
In February 2020 the band toured Europe with Otoboke Beaver just ahead of the pandemic closing down the world. So they wrote and recorded a new album and participated in several online editions of festivals. Myorori decided to leave the band after the album’s recording due to other career commitments. Junghoon Han is their new member on guitar.
The bands sophomore album “Marriage License” was released in May 2021 picking up favourable press in Spin, Paste, MTV, Bandcamp and radio from KEXP and Stromo’s show on CBC in Canada. Pallo once again provided the bands artwork and videos and created unique ‘canvas’ animations viewable on Spotify.
Megan, the bands fourth guitarist and first female guitarist, joined in 2023. The Scottish member turned out to be a perfect fit. In 2023, the band had tracks featured in Fortnite and on an Expedia advert. They joined label mate Otoboke Beaver’s sold-out UK/Ireland shows and a six week sold-out 29 show 2024 North American tour which included a live KEXP studio in Seattle, after having previously recorded a KEXP at home session for the station in 2021. They also released new single
“History” and have just finished recording their third album for release later in the year.
“This Daegu, South Korea trio’s second album is a potent blend of punk, power-pop and other styles, combining crunchy guitars, energetic rhythms and buoyant melodies with often politically minded lyrics critiquing patriarchy and supporting the LGBTQ+ community.”
Don Yates, KEXP
“…In their balance of frustration and hope, melody and energy, DBAGC have struck on a fine formula in Marriage License. You feel that this is just as cathartic an exercise for them as it is for any listener. It’s the sound of a band maturing while still retaining the sense of fun and insouciance that made them stand out in the first place.”
Beats Per Minute
“Daegu, South Korea rockers Drinking Boys and Girls Choir caught our attention with a standout virtual SXSW 2021 set that we called “a blast of mosh-inspiring, yet melodic K-punk from minute one.” Written and recorded in lockdown, their self-produced second album, the follow-up to 2019’s Keep Drinking, is their most urgent music yet, with the trio injecting a new level of political consciousness into their ultra-nimble skate-punk sound. MJ, Meena and Myorori reckon with gender politics, internet age exploitation and collisions of the two, like the heinous Nth Room case, imbuing their breathless thrash and glue-trap hooks with a righteous fury. Drinking Boys and Girls Choir may sound sweet, but they won’t hesitate to call it out as the world around them sours.”
Scott Russell, PASTE
“A massive step up for a band who could’ve easily coasted forever making thrashy skate punk about the joys getting drunk, Drinking Boys and Girls Choir’s Marriage License packs big ideas and even bigger hooks into just under twenty-five breathless minutes. The political is personal for the Daegu, South Korea band, who barrel through songs taking on every shade of societal oppression in true punk style, their hardcore frenzy offering catharsis for both themselves and the listener….”
Mariana Timony Bandcamp Daily (The Best Albums of Summer 2021)
“… It’s early to call it, but this may very well be an album of the year contender.”
Maria Cristina Sherman (on Marriage License) SPIN
As the Korea opened up from the pandemic shutdown, DBGC worked on establishing a better gig circuit in Korea with DIY tours in Seoul, Busan and Daegu via a network of likeminded bands. They played M for Montreal, SXSWonline, Focus Wales online showcase festivals. DBGC also were part of a compilation album calling out misogyny in the Korean indie scene called “We, Do It Together“.
“As queer Afghans feared for their lives under the Taliban, a reminder came from South Korea that homophobia isn’t limited to the developing world. On their new album, skate punks Drinking Boys And Girls Choir hit out at the prejudice that keeps gay couples from marrying in the rich south-east Asian nation. The band say the album is about widespread sex crimes against women and “what a harsh society it is for women and queers, in their representation by the system of marriage, and for others who have diverged from ‘normality’. It should be something that anyone can do easily, but it is still difficult for some people to talk directly and indirectly about being discriminated against. We are angry and anxious about the world that does not change easily, but we believe that it can definitely be a good world and we want and sing brightly to live together with hope.””
Mat Ward Green Left (10 brilliant new albums to unfuck the world)
“…when the pandemic took them away, DBGC instead suped up their studio sound on new album Marriage License, an exhilarating and elevated pop-punk masterstroke that’s not afraid to get chunky. Standout “There Is No Spring” is melodious as an April breeze, arch and playful, and the exact amount of frenetic needed to sustain the energy and the accompanying freedom. “
Patrick Hosken, MTV