Fresh from their first appearance in three years at The Melting Pot in SoHo, Noughts & Exes frontman Joshua Wong, is excitable when talking about the new 5-piece line-up and their genre-defying sound.

Practicing as a four-piece since mid-2009, the fifth and final band member -a cellist hailing from Australia- melts perfectly into the existing combination of keys, percussion and guitar, already complimented unexpectedly by a melodica and Glockenspiel.

Unusual line up? Sure is, however anxieties are quickly put to rest by Josh’s sturdy explanation for the curious ensemble. “We aren’t trying to sound overtly different, but the Hong Kong music scene is still in development, which is exciting because anything goes”. He goes on to describe their sound as ‘Quiet, stripped down folk with Indie roots’. A pleasant picture indeed, Noughts & Exes are unafraid to be intimate and are often at their most majestic during the softer, more hushed moments.

So where do they fit into Hong Kong’s music scene?

Chris B, the founder of The Underground is confident that every band can find a place here, explaining that “If the bands playing at our Underground nights are anything to go by, Hong Kong has an incredibly diverse sound.”

The Underground is a showcase for unsigned music in Hong Kong, uniting bands, venues and sponsors; their regular events can be found throughout the city. The recent Underground 83 at the Melting Pot saw Noughts and Exes playing alongside five other acts, each offering a very different sound and experience. Created in 2004, Chris mentions the death of live music venues in Hong Kong as a major factor in the birth of The Underground “I was in a band at the time and there weren’t any venues for us to play in; we didn’t want to change the music scene, just help to build it back up”.

A true labour of love, Underground’s success can be attributed to Chris’s passion. As a musician struggling to find opportunities to play she connects with each of the bands that pass through Underground’s annals, understanding their perspective in a way that only a fellow musician could.

Of course, the venues play a tremendous part in this process, something Natalie Belbin understands entirely. An avid fan of live music she sources and promotes gigs for BOX Thai on Arbuthnot Road. An unlikely combination, their musical ethos is refreshing, particularly for a restaurant. “We want to offer our guests more than just great food, live music can turn a great meal into an unforgettable experience’.

Sourcing the right music for the night isn’t easy and although Natalie’s efforts have recently focused on Jazz music she’s keen to stretch BOX Thai’s range and introduce an eclectic roster of dinner performers. Her own tastes fall more in line with those of Chris B and Joshua Wong, but in a city where diversity seems to be the keynote, that surely isn’t a bad thing.

SoHo or rather Hong Kong’s unsigned music scene is in great need of proactive individuals like these, each lending their own vision to the mix and doing what they can to ensure that live entertainment in within the city stays fresh and accurately reflects the cosompolitan nature of Hong Kong. Thats pretty rock'n'roll in this writer's opinion.