Interview: BEX @ Misery Loves Company

Interview

9 Oct

At the recent Misery Loves Company Festival, we had the opportunity to chat to BEX - a bright young artist, with more than a dash of originality.

Getting her start on social media, sharing self-filmed bass covers of cherished riffs all while sporting her own handcrafted attire, BEX has since built a wide-reaching audience. With a new single released, plus EP and headline tour on the horizon, we wanted to find out more about her sound, her perspective and future plans.

With laughter as our prelude - pretending to be newscasters with our interview mics and likening our shared brightly coloured hair to a pack of M&Ms / Skittles / Starburst - join us as we delve into our candid conversation with BEX.

So we saw your set.

(BEX): Did you? I actually saw you in the set. Saw the hair, recognised the hair.

Ha! Awesome. It was great.

(BEX): Thank you. Because it was so early I did wonder if it would be good? Or is it going to be empty? I've never played that early before. I was still half asleep and we were going on stage.

I was drinking a coffee during the set. But you were energetic and the whole room was packed full, all bouncing along.

(BEX): I wanted to liven in them up! Here we go, it’s 2 o’clock!

For anyone who hasn't heard your music yet, how would you describe what you're doing, what you sound like and your vibe?

(BEX): I always get compared to Siouxsie and the Banshees, but we don't sound like Siouxsie and the Banshees. So I don't know where that comes from. You know, I take it. Maybe like….Destroy Boys, White Stripes. I don't know. There's so many things we get called.

What would you call it? How would you describe it?

(BEX): It’s just punk rock. Riot grrrl. It's just loud. And as bassy and it's rocky. And it's just everything you want in a song.

You said on stage about being feminist, and you've got some quite feminist messages. In one song, you were screaming “empathy” over and over again, which is maybe not the softest delivery of the word. I loved it.

(BEX): Yeah, it was very angry. Like juxtaposition?

Do you think that there's a lot of that kind of juxtaposition in the music?

(BEX): I think so. Sometimes the message is really strong, but it's performed really soft. I like to be contrasting. We have super heavy instrumentation and then I'm just lah-dee-dee humming along. Yeah, I just like that.

There were more than a few moments where you let out these like, soft girly giggles, a little haunting alongside the really heavy music.

(BEX): I think when you're in an argument, as soon as you shout you've lost the argument. So that's what I like to portray in my music - being the one that's just laid back and saying “yeah, this is happening.”

But then I'm gonna scream empathy at you.

(BEX): Yeah and then I’ve lost the argument. So scream. Surrender!

Your latest single, “Filfy” just recently came out. Can you tell us about that?

(BEX): “Filfy” is like a unity song. Everyone's coming together as one and fighting back. All the alt-kids come together, you know, places like this festival as well. We all sort of come together and fight back against societal norms. We don't look normal, but we're not supposed to look normal.

What is normal?

(BEX): Well exactly. And we’ve found our people here, in what people would call the dirt and the filth. But it’s not, this is where we belong. So it’s unity. It's coming together. It's like a big fight song; fight against society.

And you’ve got an EP next month, coming up 27 October. What can you tell us about it?

(BEX): The EP is…well it's not everything. It's just the start. I like to look at it as we're growing a tree and this is the roots. Because you can't say “this is me” in an EP. I'm 21. I don't know who ‘me’ is. I know who ‘me’ has been, and I can show you that. But I can't show you what I'll be like in a year's time. I kind of hate when bands say “this is us” because it's not you. You're going to change in a year, you're going to change in six months.

So this is just the start of me. This is just the roots of BEX. It touches on all the things that I'm passionate about, but it doesn't delve into them. Because we have so much time. This is just the start, there's so much time to delve into it. There's no point rushing it.

I love that. That is beautiful. You're right, this is where you are right now. Tomorrow it will be a bit different.

(BEX): Exactly. Every day I wake up and I think maybe I want to wear a skirt, maybe I want to wear a hoodie. You're a different person every day. So this EP is me up until now. This is the start of what it's going to be.

We saw on Instagram that you make a lot of handmade clothing, maybe sell it a bit to fans or elsewhere? It’s very cute, can you tell us about that?

(BEX): Thank you. I made this skirt at midnight last night. I felt like I had nothing to wear and needed to make a skirt. I have so many skirts, I didn't need to make a skirt. But I did. Tomorrow I'm doing the Satanic Flea Market. I made around 50 items and then have a little rail and a little mannequin. I feel like a proper shop.

I just like making clothes; for myself and for other people. And making them accessible in all sizes. They're all one of a kind so no one will ever be wearing the same thing. It’s all eco-friendly and ethical; I source everything from charity shops so I don’t get anything new, and then make it into something new. I really like fashion and it’s a fashion movement that I want to be part of.

My last two questions: if you could listen to any song again for the first time, what would that song be?

(BEX): “Light Me Up” by the Pretty Reckless. It's just my favourite song. It's just so good. Every time I listen to it, it feels like the first time I’ve listened to it. You know when you get little chills and it just all feels so good. It's such a good song.

I love when people talk about the chills and the tingling.

(BEX): You know, I've been getting it recently with Olivia Rodrigo. Someone I never thought I’d get it. And I've been like, ooh I like that! It can come from anywhere, you can't control it. Just happens.

And last, what have I not asked you that I should be asking you.

(BEX): When is my tour?

When is your tour?

(BEX): My tour is from November first until the fifth, in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, in a different order to that. And it's real spooky. It’s like a Halloween tour, but after Halloween because Halloween is just too short as it is. We have costumes, we’re dressing up the venues and making it like Fright Night.

That sounds so awesome. Love Halloween!

Thanks to BEX for taking time to chat with us. Save the date for the debut EP ‘SCUM’ coming 27 October via Scruff of the Neck.