This interview originally appeared on Handstamp
After a solid six-week run of consecutive posts, I’m certain that you noticed there was no Handstamp interview last Monday. Things were paused, as some temporary changes were made. In the absence of my usual collaborator Alice, this week’s illustration comes from the brilliant Geo Law.
Worry not, while not writing, I still had the chance to see multiple shows. One of those recent gigs was NoSo - the project of Korean-American musician Baek Hwong - in London. At the show, Baek expressed a sincere appreciation for UK audiences, who they feel have shown up consistently over the years. Well, NoSo showed up too, in a major way. The band showcased sharp musicality, broke hearts and had the Assembly Hall rocking.
A couple of weeks before NoSo hit Europe however, I had the chance to speak to them about their musical upbringing and formative live shows.
NoSo: "My mom and dad were both big music lovers. They never played music themselves, but always had a deep appreciation for it. So, they’d show me YouTube videos of Prince, Amy Winehouse and other legends, like every day. Then my mom worked at a music festival that was local to the town and because she worked there, we would go to watch classical music, as well as legends like B.B. King, Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt. That started when I was 8 and then all throughout my adolescence in Illinois, until we moved to LA."
Handstamp: "So, that festival was your first experience of live music?"
NoSo: "Yeah. I think my first official concert was an ABBA tribute band and it blew my mind."
Handstamp: "Was it the really successful Australian one, Bjorn Again?"
NoSo: "I don’t know, but they were amazing. I’d never heard their music before but it really moved me. I saw a Beatles tribute too and I loved it. But yeah, Bonnie Raitt at the festival was so great. I had always been obsessed with guitars, even before I started to learn, so I was really excited to see her perform."
Handstamp: "Beautiful. Have you been to see the hologram thing, ABBA Voyage?"
NoSo: "I haven’t. When I was really young, we did go to London and saw Mamma Mia though. But, no, I haven’t seen that show."
Handstamp: "I can’t recommend it enough on your next visit. Probably the happiest room I’ve ever been in. Initially you have a battle with your ability to suspend disbelief, but after about two classics, you’re all the way in."
NoSo: "Oh, wow. Ok, I need to make it happen then."
Handstamp: "Absolutely. So, beyond the Bonnie Raitt show, can you remember any other early moments that made you feel like you wanted to do this?"
NoSo: "In my town, there was a small shop called The Music Gallery, which had beautiful custom guitars in the window. Because I loved the way they looked, I begged my parents to let me learn the guitar. At the time, I was quitting every hobby I had, so they weren’t on board initially, but I was so adamant that they eventually realised I was being serious, then a few years later I got a guitar. So, it all started with me loving the way guitars looked, then when I’d see shows every day at the festival, I’d watch people playing to so many people and it would exhilarate me."
Handstamp: "Yeah, its really hard to get your head around the sheer spectacle when you first fall in love with going to live shows. Did you move to LA because you got into a music school?"
NoSo: "We moved because of my father’s job, in the middle of high school. It did line up though, because I’d started to take music more seriously at that point. I had submitted for a songwriting contest through Carnegie Hall and I was one of the winners, so we went to South Africa, performed in original bands and that was the first time I’d performed original music on stage. So, that fully threw me in. It was a huge crowd and I was young, so I was so scared, but it was a formative, pure experience."
“At the time, I was quitting every hobby I had, so they weren’t on board initially, but I was so adamant that they eventually realized I was being serious, then a few years later I got a guitar.”
Handstamp: "Then that led you to eventually studying music at college?"
NoSo: "Yeah, I went to USC and was in the music program there."
Handstamp: "How did it impact your creativity, studying alongside so many passionate musicians?"
NoSo: "It was interesting. I struggled to adjust in the first year. I felt lost and intimidated by everybody’s skill because I was self-taught. A lot of them were formally trained in every style, so I felt really behind. But then it reinvigorated me, because I just wanted to keep up with everybody and stop feeling inadequate. So, I think being around so many people who were so much more proficient made me practice and grow so much."
Handstamp: "While you were growing, would seeing a lot of live performance be part of that process?"
NoSo: "Yeah, that was also big for me. It was jarring and helpful to experience the reality of LA’s music scene, because I had such a lavish introduction to live shows by going to South Africa to play for a built-in audience of 1000 people, then when I first started out I saw so many of my amazing friends play to like two people. It was like boot camp for us. All of sudden we had to work hard to get people to come to our shows and that was a reality check, for sure."
Handstamp: "As somebody who has also played to two people before, I can attest to how harsh but character-building it can be."
NoSo: "It is. I remember being silent on the car ride home but I always thought, ‘I can’t let this crush me, I have to keep going.’"
Handstamp: "Absolutely. Even the Princes and Amy Winehouses of the world would have had to play to just the sound guy at some point."
NoSo: "Right. We all have those moments."
Handstamp: "Definitely. I remember my band booking two shows on consecutive nights, in the same city, in my early 20s. The first one was really well-attended, but we forgot to really even post about the second one, so we played the first song to literally just our girlfriends. Then the promotor went to the bar upstairs and just encouraged people to come in for free, which was actually way worse because there were so drunk and uninterested in our soft boy ambient rock. Do you have any stories from those days?"
NoSo: "Oh man. I played a sports bar in front of three people. I had to wait for hours before my time came and went on right at the end, when most people had gone. Still, the remaining people were so enthusiastic that I still saw it as a win, even though it was a little bit crushing. For most of my years in college, I was playing for two people who were my friends, a promoter or people eating in a restaurant."
“I remember being silent on the car ride home but I always thought, ‘I can’t let this crush me, I have to keep going.”
Handstamp: "Beyond the sports bar scene, what are some of the best places to see live music in LA?"
NoSo: "I love The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It’s the perfect size for me, as an audience member and an artist. It’s really beautiful. I love The Fonda Theatre also, that’s another perfect venue. Also, The Greek."
Handstamp: "I haven’t been, that’s right by Griffith Observatory, right?"
NoSo: "Yeah. It’s also in a residential area, so there’s a noise restriction and it doesn’t get too loud. It’s so beautiful and sounds great, kind of a dream venue."
Handstamp: "Now that you’re touring, do you still enjoy attending shows?"
NoSo: "I still love going to see shows. As I’ve gotten older, I really love a seated amphitheatre. My tolerance has changed as I’ve gotten older. When I was younger, I was going to festivals, sleeping in a hotel room with like 12 other people and thought it was fine. Now, my knees hurt, so I like sitting. My dream concert is Enya, even though she doesn’t perform, I want to see her in a seated amphitheatre."
Handstamp: "I’m with you. I used to go to Glastonbury every year and getting tickets just gets harder, but as I get that little bit older, my desperation to rough it lessens. I want to sit at shows and may not have 6 days of walking 35,000 steps in me anymore. I recently went to a seated show in a box at the Royal Albert Hall and thought ‘I could get used to this type of luxury’, but I’m not sure I can pull it off just yet."
NoSo: "[laughs] Right. Royal Albert Hall is absolutely a dream venue for me too. Every iconic concert I’ve seen there, on video, has made me see it as a bit of a career goal."
“I grew up in quite a repressed town, so I hadn’t ever seen anything like that. It made me feel like there was more out there, in a way. As somebody who has repressed some parts of me, it was really eye-opening.”
Handstamp: "Well, I strongly recommend it. Which gig has emotionally impacted you to the most?"
NoSo: "It’s honestly that ABBA tribute concert. The music was so jubilant and the men in the band were so comfortable expressing femininity. I grew up in quite a repressed town, so I hadn’t ever seen anything like that. It made me feel like there was more out there, in a way. As somebody who has repressed some parts of me, it was really eye-opening."
Handstamp: "Ok, so their expression of self was the biggest takeaway? Kind of remarkable, especially given that they were a tribute act, serving as a sort of vessel for ABBA’s art. That’s really beautiful. You’re also right about their songs, it IS really jubilant but what is also great is the melancholy that seems to always sit underneath."
NoSo: "Definitely. That’s what I love. It’s also just so timeless. We were dancing to ABBA in college, I’m still dancing to it now. The music they made is so complex but still easy on the ears, which is so hard to accomplish. I love them."
Handstamp: "I am always hit by the chord sequence in the chorus of ‘Dancing Queen’. It’s one of the all-time floor-fillers, but it’s so quietly heart-breaking."
NoSo: "It is! It’s so beautiful, but there’s so much going on, they’re all playing such different parts that are sort of combative against each other, but it’s still so listenable."
Handstamp: "The bass goes crazy. Well, on that European note, you recently came over for a tour. How did you feel about sharing the newest music with European audiences?"
NoSo: "Super excited. A lot of the places on the run, I had never been to. I’d never been to Glasgow, never been to Copenhagen. So, it was super exciting. I love touring Europe."
NoSo released their latest record When Are You Leaving? in October 2025 via Partisan Records.
Subscribe to Handstamp on Substack for future interviews, follow @itshandstamp on social media and just bloody listen to Chief Springs on your chosen platform, will you? This week’s illustrations by Geo Law.
