Hedgehog

Hedgehog are here to showcase their spiky, noise pop to the masses.  As the trio gears up for their first shows in Hong Kong, we met up with BoX, Z.O. and Atom to discuss teen spirit and not-so-cuddly mammals.

Hey there Hedgehog! Please introduce yourselves and tell us who plays what?
Guitar/Vocal:Z.O.
Bass:BoX
Drum/Vocal:Atom

How did you guys get together?
Z.O. and the ex-bassist Loko met Xia Wu (He’s now the drummer of another Beijing band called “Queen Sea Big Shark”) in Sept 2005.  We were playing Punk music at the time and were planning on making something new. But after playing with Xia Wu a few times, he recommended us another drummer (Atom) due to his time-clash with the band.  Atom had never played in a Punk Rock band before but after the first collaboration, we were very certain that she was the one we wanted and she had the right sound as well.  She has solid basic drumming skills together with an innocent face and thoughts.  That’s what our band wanted.  We wrote many weird songs after Atom joined the band for 2 months.  (They’re actually not “weird”, just very different from the Punk stuff we used to make).  Loko found it hard to adjust to the change of our sound and decided to leave the band.  Z.O. found BoX, his classmate in high school, to fill the bassist.  BoX was very interested in Z.O.’s ideas and BoX’s charming face was also a bonus to the band.  That’s how Hedgehog formed.

So many changes in the process....Where does your name come from?
In China, people think that a hedgehog is a lovely animal.  We think hedgehogs have its own personality – they will be happy when they meet someone they like.  For those they don’t like, they will just become a ball with spiny hairs and you can’t get close to them.  Their cool personality matches our music.

What type of music do you play?
NoisePoP with Boys&Girls vocals.  The music style is not very important.  We just want to show our teen spirit.

Who are your influences?
At the beginning, our influences came from Nirvana, The Cure and New Order.  When we were making the forth album “Noise Hit World”, bands like The Raveonettes, Sparklehorse and New Order were major influences to us.  We’re also into Gang of Four and Metallica.  At the moment, we listen to a lot of Shanghai retro music and 70-80s HK/Taiwan pop songs.

What’s the best and worst thing about being in Hedgehog?
The best thing was when we got signed to Modern Sky Records.  We think that they’re the trendiest record label in China. The bands we like (eg New Pants and Queen Sea Big Shark) are also under this label.

We can’t recall the worst thing about being in the band.  We have been very positive and tend to forget all the unhappiness quickly.

“Noise hit world”, what sort of a message are you trying to deliver to your audience?
This song has lots of meanings.  Intuitively, it means hitting or shocking the World.  It can also be a song talking about noise pollution.  We always want to attract audiences who never listen to Rock music and change their opinions of traditional Chinese Rock music.

Do you guys get recognised a lot? And if so, what is the most drastic thing a fan has ever done for you?
Lots of foreigners in China like us as well as University students.  We always imagine that we have many hot & sexy girl fans.  It was a joke apparently but we do have a middle aged woman fan who was crazy about our bassist.

Tell us about Beijing Explosion – what does the event mean to you?
Performing in HK is an amazing thing for us.  We were brought up by HK films eg Bruce Lee, Jacky Chan and Stephen Chow.  But we don’t know much about the HK indie or rock music scene.  We are very proud to play in HK and this is the first time we have played in Southern cities.

If you were to compare your music to another group, who would it be and why?
Metalica !! Because the music they play is so classic.

What is your favourite song in your album?
《Toy&61Festival》. All the happiness and sadness throughout the process of growing up has been incorporated into this one song.
 
Apart from music, what else do you guys like to do during your free time?
Play with our mates.
 
If you could share the stage with any band in the world – who would it be and why?
Nirvana, Cure, Blur, and New order.  We dream about playing with them all the time.
 
What’s coming up next for you guys (after Beijing Explosion.)  Tell us your plans:
We are preparing the songs for the next album.  We expect the next album to sound more catchy and charismatic.

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Listen to the spiky noise pop of Hedgehog.

Responses[1]

Posted by AMP Ed on July 24, 2007 10:38:33 AM HKT #

Kien Lim   ( 4 months ago ) # Hello Hedgehog, you guys ROCK! Best wishes, Kien