Photo Credit: Chiara Gambuto
We caught up with Tallulah Sim-Savage (vocals/guitar), Lola Sam (bass) and Alfie Sayer (drums) of HotWax before their headline gig at Glasgow’s Stereo, to chat about their new music and what lies ahead for the band in 2024.
Firstly, tell us a bit more about yourself and your band.
Tallulah: We have been HotWax since 2019 and we started doing gigs in Hastings, maybe one in Brighton. Then it was Covid, which really didn’t affect us too much as we were just starting off. Since 2023 we started playing more gigs and it was our biggest year so far.
Can you remember the first time you realised you wanted to make music?
Alfie: Making music has always been something that I have wanted to do as far back as I remember. We went to music college in Brighton.
Lola: I started playing when I was at primary school and have been into music since then.
Who and what are the bands main influences?
T: We are influenced by the music of PJ Harvey, Hole, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and loads of others.
What do you aim to achieve as a band?
L: As long as we make music they we are happy.
T: We just want to continue what we are doing. We don’t have jobs and still live at home with our parents, so that has allowed us to fully concentrate on playing music.
Last year HotWax released two EPs. Is there any more new music coming in 2024?
T: We are currently writing an album. Hoping for a release date this year or in 2025, all dependent on how quick we write the album of course!
For those who are yet to see you live, what can they expect from a HotWax show?
T: Some new songs and we just want to see the fans excited during our shows. We really like playing in Glasgow, there is always a good energy up here for the shows.
L: When we toured with Frank Carter recently we really enjoyed playing in Barrowlands for the first time. It was a great experience, it was my favourite gig of the tour as well.
A: The Barrowlands is an amazing building, very striking.
The band played at SXSW in the USA recently, how was that experience and did the fans enjoy your set?
T: Yeah we played over there last year and really enjoyed the experience, we also toured with Royal Blood in the USA.
What festival are you looking forward to most this year? You have been signed up for quite a few including Download.
T: We are looking forward to the End Of The Road festival which we also played last year.
L: We have so many festivals to play this year, they will all be great to play.
Has it been a good experience signing for Marathon Artists, are they helping you to develop musically?
T: It’s given us the ability to just concentrate on the music side of things and leave everything else to the record company, so a win win situation.
What’s next for HotWax after the tour?
T: We are going on tour in Europe with Deap Vally, a band we really like so looking forward to that. Other than that we have a busy year with writing the album and all the festivals.
Interview by: Alan Brown
