Hot Wax are one of those bands that have made a name for themselves before ever setting foot in a studio. Pairing an old-school punk and grunge aesthetic with a strong contemporary sensitivity and a true love of guitar music, the trio have been able to infuse their live performances with a truly electric energy; in turn, relatable and confrontational. First setting foot on stage at a very young age but already with a very clear idea of what their artistic voice was going to be like, they have only built up their confidence through the years, culminating in the release of their first long player, ‘Hot Shock’, coming out to acclaim from fans and critics in 2025. They now reminisce about the path that took them there, the way their music has evolved, and the many highlights of their touring experience.
“It was this exciting but daunting thing, doing our first album,” vocalist Tallulah Sim-Savage muses as she retraces the steps that took them there. “We really wanted to write it, but didn’t have much time to do it because for so many years we worked with very little time at home. We were in an emotional whirlwind of touring and being so busy that even when we were doing the album we were a bit manic, a bit all over the place. But I think that all adds to the sound; it has that hot shock feeling of chaos”.
The transition from playing live to the studio was of course a moment in which that raw energy could have been lost. Faced with the conundrum, the band found an interesting solution: “When we met Catherine Marks, who was a producer on the album, she saw us at a really small gig at the Blue Basement in London, and she loved the energy so much that she said she wanted to replicate that kind of scenario. So we did an experiment where we invited lots of friends and had a gig that we recorded. We didn’t use that audio because we got overexcited and played the songs really fast, but it was a way we had of capturing that feeling”.
Anyone who has ever attended a Hot Wax gig can attest to the intensity of the feeling in question. Even not knowing the band beforehand, it’s hard to not be immediately drawn in. “We’re known as quite the live band,” Sim-Savage agrees. “It’s a sound that can come across as quite vulnerable and raw”. It is as intense for the band as it is for the audience, bassist Lola Sam points out: “You’re doing your art and playing in front of people, and the adrenaline is there, and you’re getting goosebumps, the sound is going all through your body, and you can feel it there. It’s the best feeling”. Sim-Savage concurs: “We once did a gig in Le Havre in France; we came off stage and me and Lola were saying, this is better than any sex we had. Or maybe we’re just having bad sex,” she laughs.
Touring life comes with plenty of highlights and strange moments, even beyond the stage itself. “There was a show we did in Switzerland where we were up a mountain,” drummer Alfie Sayers recalls. “We had to get a gondola up there, and the dressing room was behind the stage next to a stream. I asked the artist liaison where the beers were, and she was like, oh, they’re in the stream, in the glacial runoff”. Even the hiccups add to the atmosphere, as Sim-Savage noted. “Once in the South of France, we were playing at a festival, and it was really hot, like 37 degrees, even though it was late at night, and Lola’s bass amp blew the power to the whole festival. All the lights turned on”. Other great moments came closer to home: “We did a show in Dalston where we set up a fashion runway,” Sam adds. “Everyone walked it with the clothes from our music video, and then got on stage with us in the end”.
It all started, of course, in Hastings, where Sim-Savage and Sam were first put together by a teacher to do a music competition. They then met Sayers in Brighton, and it all went from there. “The towns we grew up in are very musical,” Sayers says, thinking back on how they got drawn into it all. “We were able to go see lots of gigs, see lots of musical people”. Sim-Savage had much the same experience: “Growing up here and playing gigs here has been cool because you could do it very young, because there are a lot less rules”.
Even so, their eyes are firmly set on the future now. “We’re moving to London soon,” Sim-Savage says. “There’s always a risk that you’ll get stuck playing the same gigs in the same places, so we’re trying that for a while”. There is even more afoot, regardless of location: “We’ve been writing more music that’s been stepping back from that throwback sound, it’s a lot more intricate. We’ve been trying different ways of working on it, and we’re getting it all fleshed out. It feels a while since we released the album, so it’s time to move those new tracks into a live setting. Which is exciting”.
HotWax will be playing Plus Minus Equals: The Block Friday 11th September, supporting Mancunian indie pop group Pale Waves alongside Crawlers, Witch Fever and Nxdia.
For a band that feels so at home on the stage, the excitement is more than justified.
Chiara Strazzulla
Image: Courtesy of press