BACKSTORY: Despite being younger than Fever to Tell and Sea Change, British rockers Tallulah Sim-Savage, Lola Sam, and Alfie Sayers have already earned the praise of Karen O and Beck
FROM: Hastings, UK, though officially forming in Brighton
YOU MIGHT KNOW THEM FROM: Their much-hyped debut EP A Thousand Times, which has already taken on cult status among fans of alt-rock
NOW: With the band’s sophomore EP Invite me, kindly unleashed upon the world, HotWax is gearing up for a string of US tour dates alongside Royal Blood
Recognition from your heroes is the kind of milestone that usually comes later in a career, but HotWax won co-signs from theirs without so much as releasing an album. That speaks to the trio’s ability to draw from grunge, punk, and ’00s alt-rock in a way that feels new and very much their own. With buzz on their side, Tallulah, Lola, and Alfie would be forgiven for playing it safe on Invite me, kindly, their newly released sophomore EP. Instead, they recalibrate their sound and go harder than before.
“We didn’t overthink the first EP,” Tallulah says of their impressive debut project, A Thousand Times. “But on these songs we really went into more detail.” For example, HotWax tinkered with their bass-led sound. “We tried to even it out a bit and add more lead guitar parts,” she says. The aim, according to Lola, was simply to pare the production back: “This EP is a lot more raw—super dry, no reverb—than the last one.”
“We don’t want to be known as a ‘girl band.’ We just want to be a band and have people respect us for our musicianship.” — Lola Sam
The subject matter has also shifted. Understandably, given their ages (Tallulah and Lola are just 19, while Alfie is 20), the bulk of their songs have centered on coming of age: friendships, fights, hormones, and heightened emotions. Those themes are still present, but the dawn of adulthood now looms large. And with that, a series of crushing revelations. “Now that we’re growing up, I’m just realizing that everything’s kind of dumb and more complicated,” Tallulah laughs.
That’s reflected on songs like “Phone Machine” and “High Tea,” which are essentially about untangling uncomfortable feelings. The former conveys the pervasive sense of confusion that accompanies young adulthood via its frantic DIY production. “I was just messing around with amp settings in Logic and we came up with the riff,” Lola says. “It sounded a bit like a phone machine.” The latter, on the other hand, covers darker territory. “It’s about the two people you love the most arguing and not really getting along,” Tallulah says of “High Tea.” “Sometimes you just have to spit out the doubt that it causes you.”
Having evolved their artistry, HotWax looked to veteran mixer Alan Moulder (Foo Fighters, Wet Leg, Arctic Monkeys) to add the finishing touches and he jumped aboard. “We’re very specific,” Lola says. “We sent him loads of notes and he managed to nail it.” Working with Moulder was a dream for other reasons. “He’s mixed some of our favorite albums like [Yeah Yeah Yeahs’] Fever to Tell and worked with so many crazy artists,” Lola continues. “We couldn’t believe that he actually liked our music and wanted to work with us.” It shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise, however, given the trio’s habit of winning over rock icons: Karen O and Courtney Love showed early support, as did Beck after the band posted covers of “Loser” and “Devil’s Haircut.”
“We didn’t overthink the first EP. But on these songs we really went into more detail.” — Tallulah Sim-Savage
While success seems to have come fast, Tallulah and Lola have been rocking out since they were 12. “We were put together by our music teacher in school,” Tallulah remembers. They felt an instant creative connection and decided to pursue their rock dreams together. “We just loved playing together,” she continues. “I definitely felt like I’d found the right person.”
The friends then departed for music college in Brighton where they met Alfie. For his part, joining the band was a slightly terrifying no-brainer. “They really stood out amongst the bands playing in Brighton,” he says. “I was quite nervous about joining them. My first gig with them was at the White Rock—a big venue in Hastings. I turned up and the girls were like, ‘We don’t normally do gigs like this.’”
As the group now prepares to play even bigger rooms on an upcoming jaunt across North America (they’ll open for Royal Blood on the West Coast leg of their North American tour, in addition to performing a pair of headlining dates in New York and Los Angeles), HotWax realize they’re part of the new generation of female-led rock bands shaking up the genre. “It’s so nice,” Tallulah says. “We’re on bills and we bump into so many girls in bands.”
While there’s still an imbalance, progress has been made. “If we do a gig where it’s all men, I actually notice it,” Lola says. “It feels like people treat you as a musician [nowadays], not like a female musician.” After all, leaving their mark on rock—on their own terms—has always been the goal. “That’s a massive thing for us, we don’t want to be known as a ‘girl band,’” Lola says. “We just want to be a band and have people respect us for our musicianship.” FL
