Fangirling and Free Beers For Chino Wearers: WAAX interview with Sweetie & Al
October 19th 2016
Liliana Occhiuto
- :: WAAX_Interview_ArvosSweetieandAl_23.09.16
- :: WAAX - This Everything (Live on Arvos 23.09.16)
WAAX might be the friendliest punk band out.
Maz and Chris from WAAX came into the studio to share a stripped-down rendition of their latest single ‘This Everything’. This track is a tough one to strip back, but WAAX handled it spectacularly.
While they were here, the band had a chat with Sweetie and Al on Arvos. They covered everything from teaching new punks about dress codes to fangirling over great new acts, as well as their DIY-style lyric video for ‘This Everything’ – which sees the band stamp out the words to the song. The reason?
“There’s no romance in .doc,” says Chris.
“I was using stamps in my collage work and I used it on the cover of the single,” says Maz. “So we were like, ‘let’s just stamp a bunch of things and use that for the lyric video’!”
Apparently, the process of creating a new stamp for each line of the song wasn’t anywhere as painstaking or time-consuming as you might think – the band became stamp-fiends.
“We did it in like a day,” says Maz. “It came together pretty quickly… We had two stamps going at the same time.”
WAAX’s enthusiasm spreads beyond stamping – they bring a refreshing sense of camaraderie to the live music scene.
“Melbourne was great, we played on a little festival showed at the John Curtain hotel,” says Maz. “There was Neighbourhood Youth from Melbourne, they’re really cool. They blew us away, we weren’t expecting such an incredible band – they were exceptional,” adds Chris. “I walked straight up to the guys after their set and was like, ‘You guys were the best, you guys are amazing, I don’t know what we’re gonna do!’”
And the Brisbane-based band is keen to throw off the other pretensions of the punk scene. When they played their hometown, they received an email from a young, fashion-conscious fan.
“He was like, ‘this is my second time out, can I wear jeans? Because if I wear chinos [and] they’re not punk enough, what would happen?'” Maz said.
WAAX wanted to make sure he’d fit in, so after chatting with the venue owners, anyone wearing chinos to the gig received a free beer.
“Within a phone call it was all set up,” says Chris.
As for the immediate future, WAXX promise a new EP is on the way – and an onslaught of tour dates, too. Listen to the interview and performance in the recordings above.