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If you lean into the '90s era of grunge distortion, tension, and brilliantly pithy reflection, then HotWax out of the UK is your new favorite musical trio. Ripping up and breaking it down over the past few years we’ve fallen hard for their sound, and hot off the release of their new single, "Phone Machine," we reached out to the band to learn more. 

Ones To Watch: Who is HotWax?  

HotWax: HotWax is Tallulah, Lola, and Alfie, a three-piece based on mine and Lola's musical brain. We’ve been writing music together for five years now with the name HotWax coming to us in 2019. Alfie later joined in 2021 and our final form has been secured.

What is “Phone Machine” all about? 

"Phone Machine" is written about a friend who has followed in their family's footsteps, who aren't good role models, and fallen into a strange place. It’s a friend you will always be there for, even when they have no one, or no one to call, no phone machine. It's meant to sound almost robotic, like an answer phone, the third verse with the repeating guitar hook, almost the sound of dialing a number.

How would you describe your influences, especially sonically?  

We all separately have quite different music tastes, I think that creates our style sonically. Vocally, I am inspired by artists like Karen O, PJ Harvey, and Lindsey Troy. We take inspiration from grunge music, it's the one genre we all really bond over and the genre we first heard that fully inspired us.

Any collaborations or features on the track? Who produced the song? 

"Phone Machine" was produced by Ben Beetham from the band Kid Kapichi, mixed by legend Alan Moulder, mastered by Dick Beetham, who happens to be Ben's dad and also a renowned masterer, and recorded at Savage Sound in St Leonards On Sea.

We loved the simple, personable video as well. Who concepted the music video?

I concepted the video, we wanted it minimal and washed out white matching with the lyrics 'Bride’ and ‘Cream.’ We wanted the video to look intimate in a way that it’s a bit janky like how the song sounds. For our last EP, I also created a video for the middle single, its something we are really interested in and it’s nice to create more art for your art.

How has your sound evolved at all since “Stay Cool?”

We were 15 when we wrote "Stay Cool." It was around lockdown, and me and Lola would just play together. Lola on drums and me singing and playing guitar. It was really fun and we were just messing around as we had all the time in the world. As not much was going on, we would make up stories to write about or at least really exaggerate our lives lyrically. We ended up writing a couple of silly songs, one being "Stay Cool." I think our sound has mainly evolved naturally and with experience. We now add intricacies and think about the keys and notes we are playing more. But we still have a lot to learn and are definitely still hanging onto the naivety, as I think it creates something special and not too overthought when it comes to songwriting.

Besides this excellent single, what else should we be on the lookout for?

A NEW EP! Out on October 18 with physical copies available. And we are coming to America with Royal Blood to play the West Coast. Also playing our own shows in LA at Zebulon and New York at Mercury Lounge.

 Who and or what’s inspiring you right now outside of music? 

The change of season is always inspiring, I hate the shift into autumn and winter. It gives me a strong feeling of dread and deep nostalgia but it inspires me to write. We went to our first fashion show recently, Vin + Omi, which really inspired us too, the materials they used all being natural and sustainable which is something we are conscious about.

Food group best suited to enjoying your work?

Spicy RED food!

Who are your Ones To Watch? 

Congratulations from Brighton who have just done some shows with Demob Happy another one of our favorite bands. We are also super excited about Soft Play and their comeback.