Sometimes the easiest way to get an interview with a band you’re a fan of is to message them on Instagram and tell their management team that you’re a freelance journalist because in the words of Mr Mathers: “I am whatever I say I am”. I was outside The Deaf Institute changing into my sheep’s clothing and I felt a pounding. An intense realisation came over me that I was not only meeting a band that I admire but also asking them questions about rock in the modern age. “They’re expecting intelligent conversation. What if it’s awkward? What if I freeze? What if I offend them with my pestering questions?”
The Deaf Institute is a beautiful venue. Gothic, its walls seeping with history. As I’m let into the 19th century building I am trusted to wait while The Rills, a fabulously tight indie rock unit do their soundcheck. I wait awkwardly in this building that was once a sanctuary for the deaf and dumb. Feeling like the latter I am silent, resigned to the status of the folded chair next to me. Being nervous to interview a band which is younger than you is an embarrassing feeling, but I think it speaks volumes to the impression their music has had on me.
I am walked to the green room where they reside. The third interview of the day. Who are these unknown competitors? The band (Tallulah Sim-Savage, Lola Sam and Alfia Sayers) are quiet, pleasant, warm, kind-eyed and interested. Everything their music is not.
I have an idea of a rock resurgence, or renaissance if you will, that is simmering in the world of music today and HotWax, being a new generation punk band which have found themselves emerging at the turn of the decade, have a unique perspective. I ask:
What genre would you classify yourselves as?
[Tallulah] “Punk, psych-y, grungy, poppy…”
The list goes on and it leads me to question the importance of genre at all.
In an age where we have strayed so far from definitive boxes and labels, is it necessary to classify ourselves at all?
[Lola] “I don’t know, we are a live band.”
That’s all that matters to them. Later when asked what they would want their roles to be in this fantasy renaissance, Alfie (drummer) answered in support of Lola’s (bassist) statement:
“A band surviving playing live music.”
HotWax’s live performances are something to behold. The energy and their connection as a trio is what I imagine the moment just before the big bang to be like; a collision of filthy riffs, a stinking, pounding bassline backed by a neatly controlled rage of metal and skin.
I would describe their aesthetic as ‘The Breakfast Club rejects’ and I dig it. They fit into the retro wave of fashion that has thrived in the last decade.
Why do you think our generation is so interested by retro fashion?
[Tallulah] “I don’t know because it’s not like it’s ever happened before.”
[Alfie] “I think it’s to do with phones. Everyone seems to glorify the fact that phones and social media didn’t exist, but it’s ok I think.”
Phones and social media has given us the access to a wealth of art and information. In many ways it can be a direct window into the past so why wouldn’t we pick up on the cool bits that might have gotten lost and bring them back. Maybe the same is happening with rock.
In this age which is so effected by the previous trends, fads and phases of its predecessors how does “Britain’s next great guitar band” as quoted by NME strive for originality?
[Alfie] “Just be yourself.”
Is there any original thought do you think?
[Talullah] “I don’t know it really confuses me.”
Do you think about it a lot?
[Tallulah] “Yeah!”
[Alfie] “I think it’s come about more recently because of AI.”
[Lola] “I always hope that we don’t sound exactly like anything else.”
How do you feel about being compared to bands of a previous generation?
[Talullah] “That’s nice. Unless it’s a band I hate.”
I see you get compared to a lot of punk and post-punk bands like Nirvana, do you identify with that?
[Lola] “Punk has changed its meaning.”
[Alfie] “We’re punk in music but not in attitude.”
So, are you guys politically minded?
[Alfie] “I think about it a lot but being the drummer it’s hard to express that in the music but it’s something I talk a lot about to people at gigs.”
[Lola] “I don’t really want it to be in our music when it’s an escape you know, because they’re [politicians] all bad and they all don’t care about you.”
[Tallulah] “My brain thinks more about global warming.”
[Lola] “Maybe the most punk thing you can do is not be political.”
A lot of modern punk bands like IDLES and Fontaines DC have been criticised for using working class images or voices to sell their brand when they come from middle-class backgrounds. Is there space for middle-class voices in punk? Can the franchised feel disenfranchised? And can the franchised speak out for the disenfranchised? Or maybe class, politics and social issues need not exist entirely within the world of punk anymore.
Perhaps all it needs to be is an escape to a chamber with walls made of distorted power chords, a floor carpeted with a heavy bassline and a dinner table stacked with the tastiest drumbeats where all are welcome to their fill. A chamber away from the confusing expectations and demands of an AI crazed, judgemental world where having two women at the forefront of your band must be a statement.
Do you ever feel a weight of representation being a female fronted band and what has that been like?
[Tallulah] “People would call us Little Mix.”
Admittedly, I found this a little bit funny.
[Lola] “I can’t imagine what it would be like to be us twenty years ago.”
[Tallulah] “People got really annoyed when we unintentionally wrote a feminist anthem.”
[Lola] “We just wrote it about not wanting to go to a party.”
HotWax’s self-professed feminist anthem, Barbie (Not yours) while unintentionally on theme for 2023 was also unintentionally feminist. Songs can mean everything, or they can mean nothing, some of the best songs of all time like Supersonic by Oasis come out of meth-addled minds and say very little but sound incredible. Barbie is powerful and heavy with a brutal chorus that makes you feel like you’re being backed into a corner and screamed at and it’s amazing and that’s all that matters.
After a while of talking about rock music I decided to ask an ever important question on my theory of a rock renaissance occurring today in the twenties.
Does any of this matter?
[Tallulah] “I think it matters. Every moment is a moment in history and heavy music is my biggest passion.”
[Lola] “I like to think that at the end of the world when the world is burning, and everyone is dying that there’s a band doing a big dramatic rock gig, and everyone will be like ‘oh the world is ending but at least we’ve got this cool concert’.”
[Alfie] “That is going to happen.”
So maybe rock music is the be all and end all.
And with that I bid farewell to a lovely band and await their performance. And what a performance it was. A surprisingly small crowd which allowed the music to fill in the gaps. HotWax have such a big sound and weave through each other so well that you can’t help but marvel at their powerhousery. They are static and at the same time so moveable, the opportunity for a good headbang is always available. The gothic setting was perfect for the intensity of Rip It Out and would’ve been a nicely spooky setting for a rendition of Pat the Killer Cat which I never received but I guess that’s just another reason to keep going to their gigs. After an incredibly electric, rocking, sweat-inducing performance of my personal favourite in their discography, Treasure, an applause and whooping cheers from the Manchester crowd is awarded to the band along with perhaps the biggest compliment you can receive from a man in the crowd who you could tell had a pie and chips for tea:
“Not bad for a southerner!”
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