Noughts and Exes
Folk-pop six-piece Noughts and Exes burst onto the indie scene in 2010 with their second album, “The Start of Us.” They are Joshua Wong, Alix Farquhar, two Winnie Laus (known as “Bago” and “Wizza”), Gideon So and Alex Bedwell (L-R). They’re about to release their new album, funded with a Kickstarter campaign—the first Hong Kong band to do so. Farquhar, So and Bedwell talk to Kelly Cheuk Ying Ho about beginnings, new tunes—and groupies.
HK Magazine: How did you guys start?
Gideon So: Josh and I had previously played together in an older version of the band. In 2009, we got back together to play some songs again, and it quickly grew from there. Alex joined very shortly after that, initially to settle a dispute over time signatures that Josh and I had. Over the course of the next two years, we met everyone else.
HK: What’s it like, making music together?
Alex Bedwell: It’s fun to watch them jam when we write a song, trying to find a melody. The lyrics are just made up on the spot. Our songs usually start with gibberish lyrics, or a word or sentence repeated over and over again. Then Josh goes away and actually writes proper lyrics.
HK: How would you describe your music?
AB: “The Start of Us” started out as Josh intentionally wanted to write folk music that could be played with an acoustic guitar and some keyboards. It quickly grew beyond that point. Now, we don’t really have an intention. We sit down together, we do music, we write, and whatever comes out is what we end up with.
HK: Six people in a band is a lot. How do you overcome creative differences?
GS: Well, the last track in our album was a source of contention. There was one jam that started that track, and some of us instantly loved it because it was so different from anything we’ve ever done. Others absolutely hated it. We struggled with it for a while, but in the end we reached a consensus. What happens is that if someone in the band doesn’t like something, we don’t put it out there.
HK: What was your worst gig ever?
AB: We’ve played shows where there’s hardly anyone there. You have to pay your dues as a musician. No matter the quality of your music, sometimes you end up playing to five or 10 people, and at the end only two people end up clapping—which isn’t very encouraging.
HK: Do you have any groupies?
AB: We’re blessed with people who help us with our album launch and help sell our merchandise during the shows…
GS: I wouldn’t call them groupies, though. They might stop helping us.
Alix Farquhar: But they’re definitely really strong supporters. On this album, we had loads of people who supported us—for free, basically. We did a flash mob at Times Square with about 50 musicians, and they all gave their time to rehearse our song.