Letter From The Editor

To go to a show featuring The Bougies is like taking a walk through the band’s history — at least in terms of the people who turn up to see them. When I went to their show last weekend at Downbeat, I met a man who has been following the band from its earliest days and recorded a few tracks for them, and a girl who says she’s their biggest fan and spent most of their set dancing in the front.

The band certainly has a following — a fact that no one seems to be more surprised about than the band members themselves.

A four-piece indie pop band comprised of brother and sister Jordan and Kelly Bongolan, Joy Furushima and Josh Gonzalez, three of them (with the exception of Gonzalez) didn’t know how to play their instruments when they started.

“(We) started from the lowest expectations — we had no expectations,” Kelly says.

They attribute their success to luck, and often joke that they’re still faking it. But I think it’s pretty brave. In just a few years’ time, they’ve gone from not knowing how to play their instruments to polished musicians with a lot of accomplishments as a band.

They recently returned from a West Coast tour, and I got the chance to chat with them about their work and what comes next. You’re going to be hearing more from this band in the coming months, I’d bet. Learn more about them here.