NO VENUES, NO MUSIC: HOTWAX ON FEMALE COLLABORATION AND KEEPING GRASSROOTS ALIVE
INTERVIEW | HOTWAX by Isobel O’Mahony
HotWax: the explosive punk rock band that you’ve been waiting for to get you through the winter gig drought. Childhood friends Tallulah Sim-Savage (vocals and guitar) and Lola Sam (bass) started creating music together in 2017. Whilst the group has seen weathers of change, now joined by Alfie Sayers on the drums, their collaboration has always been the foundation of something great.
Their debut album Hot Shock hit the shelves last year and after a string of intimate release shows, and spots at major festivals like Latitude and Victorious, HotWax are set to embark on a major 22 date headline tour. Despite opening spots for big players like Royal Blood, this tour is a big moment that’s been a long time coming. I caught up with Tallulah and Lola to talk through the record’s critically acclaimed success, and the tribulations of the upcoming tour.
“It was really crazy” they admit, “just because the feeling of that was so different to being a support band. I really love being a support band, obviously, and we’ve been really lucky with our supports and all the people who have taken us on tour.
“But the feeling of doing that in-store tour and the festivals this year, on stage it was a special heartwarming feeling. I guess the album gave us a bit more exposure and more people knew about us and knew the songs.
“I think the lead up to releasing an album is so stressful, especially at the moment when the music industry is just so swamped with new music all the time. It’s kind of hard to keep your head above the water, so we were quite stressed around it. When it came out it did really feel like a good release.”
Hot Shock is the epitome of the group’s sound, developed over time to a now explosive, unapologetic craft. The record’s vulnerable lyricism is brought to life by heavy guitar, crashing drums and layered vocals that cut to the bone. It’s music that’s made for the live stage, which in the now six year wake of the pandemic, is something that crowds still crave.
“I mean, it’s so weird that, isn’t it? Quite soon when everyone sort of came back from lockdown and everything, me and Lola were at a Kid Kapachi gig because they’re from Hastings and we grew up going to see them quite a lot. I just remember it wasn’t social distancing and we were all at the front of the crowd and everyone was kind of going to mosh but was like ‘should we be doing this’, their hands over their mouth. It was like the weirdest thing. You forget how crazy it was, but it made people more hungry for live gigs and sweaty rooms and punk gigs again.
“With the sound of the album, it was really a mix of we love playing live and we really want our first record to be primarily just us three in a room, how we started. It was kind of inspired by some debut records like Fever to Tell by Yeah Yeah Yeahs – something that just feels really awesome. We’ve been touring basically non-stop for two years and it kind of felt it was right to embody that, embody a HotWax gig.”
“Hot Shock is all about really just living in the moment and friendship, love, intense emotions. Those are the feelings you get at a gig, or the feelings I want people to feel at our gigs. Just to feel emotional in a nice coming together way and do whatever they want.”
The process of the record was a real coming together of sorts, an unintentional all female production. Started in LA’s infamous Joshua Tree, alongside renowned producers Stella Mowgaza (War Paint), Steph Marziano and Catherine Marks, Hot Shock was pure magic brought together in only ten days.
“We were just honoured to be working with such incredible producers, they’ve worked on stuff that we really love, and it just felt like there were no egos involved. It was all about just getting the best sound for these songs. It definitely wasn’t intentional but it’s super cool that it worked out that way, it was just getting the best people for the job and they ended up being female and it was a really special feeling.
“The way we treated the songs was so emotional as well. Thinking about the sounds and pedals or whatever it was like okay ‘how can we just get into the emotion of the song’ and no producer we’ve ever worked with has ever worked in that.
“There were so many times we sat in the studio control room and I’d just look around and the energy in the room was so great. I just felt so proud to be a woman working with these incredible women.”
This energy is bound to continue on tour, with HotWax joined by some of their own favourite artists, bands Slag, and Jeanie and The White Boys: “It’s like my dream to have support bands. And women! Unintentional, just good bands, great women.”
“I mean Slag, I remember seeing their first gig and I went up to Amelie, the singer, afterwards and I had to take a selfie with her. I was really drunk and it’s really embarrassing but honestly her stage presence just always makes me cry. The way she’s singing so effortlessly and beautifully and playing the intricate parts. The songs have so much emotion and I think she’s so incredible.
“Jeanie, we were watching her at the Divine in London like six months ago or something. Her rawness and energy is just insane, so we’ve got some competition. I’m excited to have them.”
Aside from the excitement of these talented guests, the tour is in support of the Music Venue Trust, with a pound from each ticket going to the trust’s important work for grassroots venues.
“We started playing venues around Hastings when just starting out at 13. If it wasn’t for them no one would have heard of us, we wouldn’t have got the confidence we have. It’s just so important.
“If there’s no grassroots venues, there’s no bands. Unless you’re a big band playing big proper academies or even arenas, where are you going to see music anymore? It’s just going to die out. It’s so important to keep music live.
“As young artists, it’s really one of the only places you can find yourself and find your confidence, find your friends, your community. And then for people who just are massive music lovers, and so many peoples jobs that work in these venues, it’s just really taking away a right of music and culture. It’s all just going to go.
“If this was happening in any other kind of industry, there’d be uproars. No one can afford to do anything but no one blinks an eye.
“We’ve had to have some tough conversations about this tour, but we’re making it work. It’s just ridiculous that you have to even look at it and be like, oh, well, it’s exposure and it’s growing our fan base’, but no one’s making any money.
“People are only really doing it now it feels like because they absolutely have such a passion for playing live and they’d be really depressed if they weren’t on tour. It’s really sad and I hope something changes soon, but I guess that’s why we just need to keep talking about it.”
The Hot Shock tour, over 14s only (sorry to the pre-teen moshers), starts in Portsmouth on the 28th January and with the band playing their longest sets ever, and funds supports the MVT, it’s not one to miss. Tickets are available now.
