On a winter’s night in 2021, Hong Kong band Bad Math opened to a full house wearing face masks and burdened by unspoken trauma.
It was almost two years into the pandemic. Social distancing measures had been eased to allow gigs, but an Omicron outbreak was looming. The show, called “Unnatural remedies & other forms of cures,” spoke to a time when the city needed catharsis following months of isolation and suppression.
“The feeling that there is no way out is reminiscent of our songs,” guitarist To Fok said, “so [our music] was a natural fit with the show.” On that night, Bad Math shared the stage with David Boring and An Id Signal, both more established on the local indie scene, and each band explored the show’s theme with their distinct musical styles.
Bad Math was formed in 2018 and the band’s music is a blend of metaphorical lyrics – centred around hopelessness and a sense of being trapped – and a dancey, upbeat rhythm that exudes nonchalance. “As if the heaviness has turned into a sense of disappointment… and it’s okay, you can carry on,” drummer Dean Li said.
But that winter gig in 2021 was also a farewell show for the original lineup. Frontwoman Yuki Chan announced on stage she would be pursuing a master’s degree overseas; the audience shouted best wishes for her.
Much like the city itself, Bad Math has gone through a phase of “suspension” and is trying to move on. Now, after an almost two-year hiatus, the band is busy rehearsing with a new lineup for Clockenflap – the city’s biggest music festival – which returns to Central Harbourfront from December 1 to 3 after an off-schedule post-Covid comeback in March.
This time, the band will be joined by singer-songwriter Billie Ho – also known as Gwenji – on lead vocals.
“It’s a valuable opportunity [to be invited by Clockenflap],” To said. “With the new line-up, we think it’s time to put out something new for everyone.”
Speaking to HKFP in Cantonese in their rehearsal space inside a large industrial building in San Po Kong – where local indie bands have gravitated due to the relatively affordable rent and tolerance for noise – three of the band’s members – To, Dean, and fellow guitarist Michael Chan – discussed the band’s past, their relationship with the city, and what playing for Bad Math means to them.
‘Incorrect’
“Some people confuse us with ‘math rock,’ but we are not,” To said as his fellow bandmates stressed the “bad” of their band name, laughing.
Unlike math rock, which is characterised by irregular beats and an odd rhythmic feel, Bad Math’s approach to music is simpler. They want to offset different elements of their instruments just a little, to piece together something not entirely “correct” in the musical sense.
“When we are writing songs, we often think if things are correctly aligned,” To said, referring to the tempo and the arrangement of instruments. “We thought… things should not always be correct, that’d be boring… so we began looking for something that was incorrect.”
“We have two guitars, a bass, a drum, a synth, and a vocal. We could, at different spots, move something ahead, something behind, and something in between,” To added.
Before Bad Math began making music together, To Fok, Dean, Yuki, and synth player To Lee were university buddies back in 2011. It was not until the guitarist To purchased his black Fender Jazzmaster in late 2017 that the group started making demos.
In Bad Math’s creative routine, guitarist To would throw out the backbone for a song as other members layered their own instruments on top. The lyrics were mostly written by To and Yuki, separately.
Bassist Hin Leung joined when the band began recording their first EP Mad Bath, released in October 2019. They followed that with full-length 2021 album Missing Narrative. But despite having several original songs in their arsenal, Bad Math had yet to play a live show.
“It was actually pretty odd for a band. Normally, a band may have played many gigs before releasing an album, but we have a different order,” To said.
In the second half of 2019, Hong Kong was embroiled in city-wide pro-democracy protests and unrest, sparked by a controversial proposed amendment to the city’s extradition arrangements.
Then, in 2020, the protests subsided as the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, putting a halt to virtually any social gatherings. That summer, Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law. Over the months that followed, numerous pro-democracy leaders and activists were detained, left the city or stepped away from politics, and Hong Kong’s once robust civil society crumbled. While authorities say the legislation has restored stability and peace to the city, it has been criticised by trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
By the time Bad Math could finally perform live in 2021, they were playing to an audience traumatised by recent events. While the band welcomed guitarist Michael to the line-up that year, members were also aware of Yuki’s plan to study abroad.
“We had the mentality back then that every show could be our last,” To said.
Neon City
On the band’s 2021 album Missing Narrative, one track was named Neon City.
The neon city, our home, what a pity. It descends into darkness, devoid of hope, who is guilty.
Bad math ‘Neon City’
The lyrics, written by Yuki, speak of losing hope in a home town, where people’s steps are watched and “newcome strangers” raise a gun.
Missing Narrative‘s album cover showed a wrinkled leaflet of a missing person. Explaining his idea, graphic designer Sunny Yuen told HKFP that the band wanted to convey a sense of loss in the city.
“We felt that common sense was lost, as was our voice and the power to narrate to an authority,” he said. “We could not even define ourselves.”
To, who wrote the lyrics for another three tracks on the album, did not specify any events that inspired him. Instead, he said the guiding thought was to “capture the emotions in the moment.”
“It’s like when you have watched some news, or seen something happen, and you have written something to seize those feelings.”
He said that while the broader environment had inevitably influenced his lyrics, he still liked to write on a more personal level, touching on private feelings. In this regard, he and Yuki were alike.
Moving around metal blocks, there’s nowhere you belong. Climbing up the walls, what else you can recall.
BAD Math ‘Wall’
“Like the track Wall, it’s straightforward – you can’t climb over the wall, and you feel a sense of being oppressed,” he said. “But the wall could mean different things, it could be someone’s mental blocks, or the difficulties in someone’s upbringing.”
The song Farewell, the only Cantonese track in the album, shares a similar sense of intimacy beneath symbols of departure.
“I was imagining myself as someone who has to leave without saying goodbye.”
For Michael, the grim undertones of Bad Math’s lyricism were why he was drawn to the music in the first place. But that was not the only appeal.
“I was attracted to their message, and the use of beautiful metaphors,” he said. “I could sense their pessimism, but they were also a band of action… It was a fucking losing battle, but then they pressed on [in making music.]”
Michael said Bad Math’s lyrics were “really grim,” but the music was “straightforward” and “not too cringe.”
Breathe in and out, gasping for air / it’s fate, perhaps, to scour uncharted lands / raincoat in black, casts your silhouette
Bad MAth ‘Farewell’
“Like how I feel about Farewell, it is a very chill song, almost a bossa nova song, but its story is sad,” he said, humming the melody. “There’s always an uneasy tension in Bad Math’s songs, but they are comforting to listen to.”
Drummer Dean, who is also the band’s sound mixer, said Bad Math had deliberately distanced the sound of their songs from the emotions evoked by the lyrics.
“We don’t want to be too obvious, that when a song is conveying sadness, then if we make sad music, that’s too aligned,” the drummer said. Instead, the music bolsters the lyrics with a weightlessness.
“The heaviness has turned into a sense of disappointment,” he said. “I think that’s the outcome.”
Dean added that the outcome was not predetermined, however, as band members did not have a clear vision before composing their own instrumental arrangements.
“We are simply following our instincts, what we feel is best for the song. Most of what I just said were my observations after our songs were made.”
Good time
After the 2021 winter gig, Bad Math pressed pause after Yuki left to study. Members were uncertain about the future, with their former vocalist’s return hanging in the air. But at the beginning of this year, with singer-songwriter Gwenji joining the line-up, Bad Math thought maybe the band could try to carry on.
The changes to the band’s line-up could be felt in the music, Dean said. “We sound a little brighter, a little sharper now. Some songs are less hopeless.”
It was the result of a different energy brought by the new vocalist, he said. But it could also be the members’ growth that was shaping their sounds.
“The original members are already in their 30s,” To said, pointing to himself and Dean.
“I have been thinking about the absurdity of our time,” he said. “[The city] has always been suppressed, but I don’t want to follow our old path in song writing. I want to come up with something different, in both our music and our message.”
The band has been working on a new song, To said, in which people are threatened by an unknown knifeman. “Someone is wielding a knife at us, but the identity of the attacker is not clear.”
When Bad Math takes to the Orbit stage at 12.45 pm next Saturday, the band will perform new songs live for the first time.
They have also begun working on the third album, but it was too early to talk about a release date, To said.
“We are not thinking too far ahead,” the guitarist said. “I just treasure every time we play together, every time we record. It’s already been a blessing to be able to make our third album.”
“I used to think that I had to achieve something whenever I went on stage,” Dean added.
“But now I am like, it doesn’t matter. As long as we are having a good time, we are enjoying the stage, it’ll be a good show.”
Additional reporting: James Lee.
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