Interview with Edmund from Hexes & Ohs

N : Are you guys big Tic Tac To players?
E : (laughs) I guess so but it never really lasts more than 40 seconds.
N : So it's not the reason for the name?
E : No, it comes from… well, there’s many things with X and O. It could be like hugs and kisses you know… but it comes from a song by a band called On!Air!Library! that’s called Ex’s and Oh’s so it kinda seems to suggest that it’s about relationship, like ex-girlfriend, ex-boyfriend, so I found that a clever play on word. But then we wanted to make it a little bit different, so we made it Hexes.
N: Hexes ans Ohs is not your first band with your girlfriend Heidi. You were in a band called Jolly Bean before and then Vertical Mosaic. It took you quite a long time for you to get started. Do you think things will get easier now?
E: Yeah, I mean Jolly Bean was 4 people and Vertical Mosaic were 3 people and it seems to get easier when there’s less people (laughs). You know Heidi and I are a couple. We live together and do a lot of things together. It just seems a lot more natural…
N: But do you think more people attend your shows and buy your records?
E: Because of it…
N: I don’t know, maybe you evolved in the songwriting.
E: Yeah I think we’re just a much better band. It’s different so it’s hard to compare it. A large part of it is that we’re more clear on what we wanted to do. We became better at it. We understand how to market ourselves a bit more. Lots of things like that. And with the experience from playing shows, we’re just better live than we used to be. It’s the overall experience. But I think we’re just more tuned in into what works for us.
N: And did you expect all these good responses?
E: When we did the first album in 2005, we really didn’t expect anything. We were just making something that we liked. A label wanted to put it out so we were just like ‘Ok let’s try it out and see’. The responses were lot better than we expected. So yeah, we’re kicking a lot more seriously than we would have assumed 3-4 years ago. The responses are better than expected for sure.
N: When we listen to your music, we feel a kind of teenager nostalgia. Given the fact that you’re 29 and that you’re not using msn, you’re definitely not teenagers anymore. Do you think music a way for you to get back to that period of your life?
E: Maybe a little bit, because definitely, when we play music and we kinda jam and rock out and stuff, it definitely feels like it cause that we’ve been doing it for so long. You know it brings us back to playing in my parent’s basement and just playing music for fun and not really having any goals. In a way, that comes across still in the music. I think the other things is just we have young-sounding voices so no matter what we do, even if the song itself is very serious, it kinda comes across that way. Cause we did a cover of a Tears for Fears song and the song itself is very serious, but we just sang it and it became really kinda young and fun (laughs).
N: Will you try to make more serious music in the future or you still like that kind of light music?
E: I think it’s nice to try different things. For a long time, we made really sad music. With our last band Vertical Mosaic, it was very slow, post-rock, we tried really hard to sound sad and dark. With this band, we really wanted to do something different. But now that we’ve done it, we’re definitely open to do things that are a little bit darker. We’re always open to do different things.
N: This band is so electro-pop that I was a bit surprised when I heared your other project You and Me, that’s more like traditional acoustic music. So, what’s your true musical identity?
E: I think I did a lot of different things growing up. Like I played a lot of different types of music. I think the main things that connect everything that I’m interested in is melody and pop basically. Cause You and Me is very pop. They’re folk but they’re still pop. I could easily take one of those songs and make it a Hexes and Oh song changing the presentation. I don’t really feel limited by style. Style is just style. It’s the songwriting that really counts for me. So I’m into good songwriting.
N: You guys always you fresh stuff happening like I see. After the release of your second album Bedroom Madness in September, you did a clip for H-H-Highschool, you toured Canada for two-weeks, you recorded a Tears For Fears cover, you did a clip for clip for Wildlife and obviously you played a couple of shows here and there. What is happening for you guys in the next few months?
E: We’re working on some remixes. Sloan and us are trading a remix. (laughs) That‘s gonna be interesting cause I don’t think Sloan’s ever had a remix done before. I’m doing one for them and Patrick from Sloan is doing one for us. He has a side project in electronic music. That’s gonna be interesting. Then we’re having a remix done by Montag. So far, that’s all we’re doing. We’re gonna get more remixes done and probably put out like a free download EP maybe. That’s what’s working on.
N: Alright, thanks a lot.