Artist: Waxchild
Single: Paid
Release Date: 31st October 2016
The young alternative rock band Waxchild released their debut single on 31st October. The quartet met up at a music college in London and formed a band in 2015. After performing a fair amount of shows at well known London venues in the short time since forming, they are now ready to share their music with a wider audience.
“Paid” demonstrates the core elements of Waxchild’s music, which are a guitar-filled sound, slick drums and catchy vocal melodies. Even though the lyrics were written from their experiences of not being paid, they are delivered with a sense of humour. Their debut single is an indication of their ability to write and perform with their own unique sound. As I want to hear more of them, it’s fortunate that they are currently working on their debut EP. I’m excited to discover what they can bring next with their new material. I am sure they will be making even more waves on the live scene in the near future.
Recently, even with very short notice, the band kindly took some time out of their busy schedule to be interviewed by me. Here it is;
Hello, Waxchild! First of all, could you introduce yourselves?
Blake: I’m Blake and I sing and play guitar, Danny plays guitar, Jules plays bass and Lorenzo plays the drums. Danny and Jules sing a bit as well.
Thank you. How did you all meet up and become a band?
Blake: Well I moved into a flat with Danny a few years ago and we just started writing songs from hanging out for crazy lengths of time!
Danny: Yeah we ended up working at the same Bar as well, the Garage up in Highbury, so living and working together, we just wrote a load of songs!
Lorenzo: From my perspective, Danny walked into my practice and asked me to come and play, as a drummer didn’t show up, Jules was there that day trying out for the band, so us 4 played and from then on we were practicing every week!
Great! How did you decide on Waxchild as your band name?
Blake: Coming up with a name was the hardest part! we had a gig coming up and still didn’t have a name, we liked the name ‘Wax’ but there were quite a few other bands with that name then someone came up with Waxchild, we used it for that gig and it stuck.
Jules: I like how quickly the name was chosen and approved. It might not mean anything, but it’s short and catchy.
You are not wrong! Well, who are your influences? Does everyone listen to similar music?
Blake: Yeah to a certain extent, me and Danny like a lot of the same bands, at the moment we’ve been listening to a lot of Fidlar, Demob Happy, bands like that, but at the same time Lorenzo is a jazz drummer!
Lorenzo: I actually listen to a lot of styles of music. Now I’m really into groove-based bands such as Vulfpeck.
Jules: I listen to lot of 90s and today’s alternative and punk-rock music basically. It’s easy for me to agree musically with the other guys because we have similar tastes.
Okay. My next question is what I’m interested most! How do you go about writing your songs?
Danny: Usually it’s just me or Blake will have a riff or a melody or something, then we just sit and play around the idea then take it to practice to finish with the band, it tends to be just jamming ideas until the song is finished.
Blake: Yeah, lyrics generally are written after we’ve finished the song, it’s a lot about how it sounds rather than the meaning!
Cool. You have just released the single “Paid”. How would you describe this song?
Blake: Well we got home from work at 4 in the morning and started having a jam, about half way through I realised I hadn’t been paid! And that is how the idea was born. The song is kind of about being in a band and being skint all the time!
Danny: Yeah we got home late and when Blake found out he hadn’t been paid we sang the chorus, it’s still exactly the same chorus now!
Great job you kept that chorus! I always sing along haha. I believe “Paid” was released digitally. Where can we find the song?
Jules: It is now pretty much everywhere. iTunes and Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon. We also have a BandCamp page if you wish to support the band by offering more than the asking price for the song.
You must be very excited!
Lorenzo: Yeah we are, it’s our first single and we really appreciate the support from everyone who’s heard the song.
Have you had a special show for the release?
Blake: Yeah we played Cargo in Shoreditch to celebrate the release. It was a great show in a cool venue!
Oh we’ve missed it! What is coming from Waxchild next?
Danny: We’re playing the Spice of Life in Cambridge Circus on 24th November, and we’ve been in the studio quite a bit so, just plenty of gigs and more releases to come after Christmas!
Awesome! Is there anything else you would like to say?
Jules: Although we released this really pop song, our repertoire is fairly varied in the alternative genre. We want to make people dance, sing along to the lyrics, or melt their faces with our distorted and fuzzy riffs, why not.
Thank you! Good luck!
To find out more about Waxchild, visit their sites using the links below;
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/waxchild
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Waxchild
BandCamp: https://waxchild.bandcamp.com/releases
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/paid-single/id1170216367
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/63aXOEvozb5TcMxKEgNga4
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