INTERVIEW W/ HotWax: "You sacrifice so much because you love this thing!"

Fierce Punk Rock trio HotWax took to Liverpool's Rough Trade to celerate the launch of their new album 'Hot Shock'. Friend of the band Mary Wilson caught up with them backstage on our behalf to talk about touring, their new record and their impression of Liverpool...

"I first met Lola, the bassist of Hotwax, in year two. From messing about together in our primary school playground to watching the old formation of the band in long-gone venues, such as On the Rocks and wow, things have definitely changed! On the 8 March, I found myself interviewing the band backstage before their headline gig at Liverpool’s Rough Trade on the fourth day of their UK tour to promote the release of their debut album.

Tour life can be brutal, but Lola reassured me that it’s still really fun, even despite the fact they haven’t toured in so long. Brutally, the band had to wake up at 6 am on the day of the interview, after a late night in Brighton. Before they got to Liverpool Hotwax performed at Nottingham and apologised for how frazzled they were. Lola shamelessly confessed that the makeup she wore today was from before their gig last night. The tour began near their hometown of Hastings, at the Delaware Pavillion in Bexhill. That gig went down a treat, as the crowd was full of friends, family and their OG supporters.

As for the crowds at their other gigs, the band is known to have a massive older fan base, largely consisting of dads with good music taste. They love that they can connect with an older audience, and younger ones too, as they were recently given Taylor-Swift-Esque bracelets from a young supporter.

I continued to catch up with the bad before launching into the more formal interview questions.

Mary: Do you have a favourite song from the new album?

Lola: Yes, wait, do we? There’s a song called Chip My Teeth for You, which is one of our favourites. I don’t know – we really liked it, and everyone else was a bit unsure at first, but now it’s a favourite.

Tallulah: It’s Jude’s favourite (the band’s photographer). I really like the lyrics

Mary: Aw that’s really cute. I like the title itself and the way it rolls off the tongue.

Tullulah: Yeah. I would be run over and chip all our teeth for you. Or not even just you.

Mary: It could be anyone.

Tallulah: It could be for someone or for a thing. I feel like it goes for the band. You sacrifice so much and feel like shit and do so much stuff because you love this thing.

Mary: I mean you guys have been doing this for a long time now. I remember seeing you as the Kiffs at On the Rocks ages and ages ago

Lola: Yeah, it was like seven years ago

Mary: Okay so Chip My Teeth for You is your favourite on the album, does that differ from your favourite song to perform live?

Lola: Um yeah. I really enjoy playing She’s Got a Problem because it’s just quick and starts the set

Tallulah: Yeah, and I like doing the acoustic ones as well.

Mary: I guess that’s a bit of a switch-up for you

Tallulah: Yeah, although it’s really weird when I see pictures of videos of me, and I’m standing there with an acoustic guitar. I look really weird.

Mary: Does it feel a lot more vulnerable?

Tallulah: Uh yeah – I thought I’d be quite nervous, but it’s actually good because I can actually hear myself.

Mary: Wow, yeah that’s a good point. I guess you have a wall of sound behind you usually.

Mary: I mean obviously you guys are doing so well at the moment and congratulations on that. If everything went to plan, where would you see yourselves in the next year or a couple of years?

Lola: Just growing our fanbase

Tallulah: yeah, and being able to still tour

Lola: It’s so hard to be able to tour

Tallulah: In the future, and we have talked about this, but we’d really really like to produce and record and record ourselves.

Mary: That’s really cool. Would you want to profile other artists with that as well or is that more just your own production?

Lola: I think just to have more control over our music. I mean I’d love to do some work for other artists.

Mary: Do you have any dream festivals that you’d want to play at?

Lola: I’d really love to play some festivals in America.

Mary: Oh yeah, you did your American tour over there, didn’t you?

Lola: Yeah, we love it there. And we really want to go to Japan as well.

Mary: That’s my dream travel destination. Would you ever want to collaborate with other artists?

Tallulah: Yeah, for sure. I’d love to.

Mary: Is there a dream one in mind or just generally?

Lola: Um well we have a list, but I can’t remember who’s on it. But it would be really cool to do that and have someone on a song.

Mary: Who are your biggest inspirations?

Lola: We all definitely have different inspirations.

Tallulah: I’d say my biggest inspirations are Karen O and PJ Harvey. I’ve also listened to Tess Parks for most acoustics and Radiohead

Mary: I feel like you can definitely hear those influences in your music.

Mary: Do you have a favourite memory of the band so far?

Tallulah: Well going to America was insane. I think that’s like the most crazy mind-expanding thing I’ve ever done. Just because everything was so big it made me realise how small our little world is, and life is. I feel like being from a small town and also from the UK, it just expanded my mind to like fucking hell the world is so big and there’s so much you can do and see. It sounds obvious, but it was just like there’s nothing like this here.

Lola: And we haven’t really been anywhere.

Mary: I went to America, so I think I can relate. My dad and I did a road trip, so the same thing kind of being on the road. Obviously, I wasn’t playing as well. I think that would’ve been really intense. So where your favourite places in America that you played?

Tallulah: I really don’t know I can’t remember

Lola: I liked playing in Austen. That was really fun.

Tallulah: Austen was amazing, and it’s really really cool there.

Alfie: I liked Vancouver. We played there on my 21st birthday.

Tallulah: I really liked, even though it’s really fucked there and you know a lot of the political shit is crazy. But I really did love, I know you just said Austen, but the whole of Texas was so interesting.

Alfie: And so big. It’s mental.

Tallulah: And being in Albuquerque because it’s where they filmed Breaking Bad.

Mary: I went to Albuquerque and even though I didn’t actually go into Texas, I went to Dallas airport and was shocked by how many people there were walking around with cowboy hats on.

Lola: No there are actual cowboys there it’s insane.

Mary: They’re real!

Tallulah: Cowboys with guns and they’re like “I’m gonna go back home and have some brisket”. And they were really saying that.

Mary:

And to move it back to what we know. Is there a dream venue in the UK that you’d like to play at?

Lola: I’d love to play at the Royal Albert Hall.

Alfie: I want to play Brighton Dome.

Lola: I also want to play at Barrowland again.

Alfie: It’s fucking banging

Tallulah: Yeah, Barrowland is my favourite. It’s in Glasgow, and I love it there. And there’s a really crazy market all beneath it. I really want to buy something from there, but they’re so Scottish that I can’t understand them.

Alfie: They talk really fast up there too.

Mary: Isn’t it meant to be the hardest accent to understand in the UK?

Mary: Do you have any random little hacks for surviving tour life? Or just essentials that you can’t live without.

Tallulah: A hair dryer.

Lola: As long as you have your comforts, like nice face wash. Showering every day. I mean some people really feel it, like misery and you know sleeping you’re not sleeping in the best bed. that’s when you really feel it

Tallulah: Yeah, I always bring my favourite snack for proper comfort.

Mary: What’s the snack?

Tallulah: Um, seaweed

Mary: Fair enough – I can get behind that and it’s healthy as well!

Lola: Trying to stay healthy is so hard! I used to always bring vitamins, but then I forgot. Toothbrush charger!

Mary: Is there anything specific you like about performing in Liverpool?

Lola: We play in Liverpool quite a lot. We had a lot of fun going out.

Mary: Are there any particular places you like to go? Where can the fans find you?

Lola: We went to this pub that was like a tavern that’s massive.

Mary: St Peter’s Tavern! It’s insane.

Lola: Yes, that’s the one. And we played pool somewhere at a pool place. We tried to get into Heebie Jeebies, but the queue was too big.

Jude: I love Heebie Jeebies!

Well, now you know where to find the band when they’re next up for their next show!

It was amazing to catch up with the band and even better to see them perform after all these years. The gig was brilliant, and I was really captivated by the response from their older audience. One woman, who stood in the middle of the crowd, remained, for a large majority of the gig, with her eyes shut. You could tell how much the music was connecting with her, and it was beautiful to observe. Mussled against the 6 Music dads were students, younger teenagers and millennials. It must be very validating for the band to have such a varied audience and to know that their sound resonates with almost everyone. It’s been great to watch the band progress. During the gig, Tallulah shared ‘It’s crazy being the headliner because usually we’re the support which is great because you don’t have to set up your own stuff. I can’t stop smiling thank you!’"