This Friday, Wax Witches kicks off his first show back in Australia with a full band behind him for the first time. It’s been a little while since Alex Wall has been on tour out this way and following the success of his latest record Memory Painting (Wax Witches’ third), it’s going to be a good’n. Ahead of the tour, Alex tells us what it’s been like to prepare for this tour, the influence living in New York has had on his writing and more.
How important has it been for you living in New York these last few years, creatively?
The influence of New York on my creativity has been massive. Being in a new place with new surroundings always helps me get out of a rut and inspired to do new things. The city is full of some weirdos, some really awesome people and some really terrible people. That really influenced me. I was around some really important artists and bands that made me push myself further, with trying sounds and moving away from what I’ve always done.
The city suits some types of music better than others, and I wanted to make music that sounded like NYC to me. Loud and dark like the subway, but sometimes upbeat and peaceful like the parks and summer. I was also around some bad scenes, a lot of people around me were doing heroin. Being around that unfortunately gave me new characters and themes for songs that I never had explored.
What has been like to record out there, did you bring anyone else at all into the process?
My recording process and writing process has always been pretty much the same no matter where I am. Just me in a room doing it all myself. I tried recording with some friends but It doesn’t really work well with me. I like working on one part over and over till I get it how I like it. And I don’t like having someone looking over me waiting for me to be done so they can do their part.
For this album I was renting my friend’s house in Williamsburg, he plays in a band called Beverly, who are rad. There was a home studio set up in the house. So I looked after his cat and recorded an album for a month.
You’ve got a full band out with you for this tour – it’s going to be great to see how this new music is realised in this live (and now, further fleshed out) capacity. How has it felt to prepare these gigs?
It feels so awesome having a full band. I’ve always wanted a band, but never have been in one place long enough to keep one going. But the guys I’m playing with now are so cool and fun to play with, and the songs are sounding really huge to me. I’m excited for people to hear us.
What are you looking forward to about coming home with this album?
Mainly, I’m looking forward to playing new songs and for people to hear them with a full band. I haven’t played in Brisbane and Melbourne in years, so I’m excited about that too.
Memory Painting is your third album – how would you describe your writing as having developed from your debut to now?
Yeah it’s changed heaps, at the start it was a lot of Bleeding Knees Club ideas that were maybe too weird or not right for that band. This album, I wanted to go far away from that and try something completely different. I don’t know if my existing fans are into it because it’s different, but its way more fun for me to not be so repetitive.
Is there a particular track/s on the album that still stands out for you as a highlight?
I really like “Morning Flowers“. I don’t remember recording it at all. I have no idea where or when I wrote it. But I know it was recorded when I first moved to New York. I like the vibe of it and it’s really fun live. I’m guessing it’s a lot happier than the rest of the album, because it was summer then as winter, hit the songs got sadder and darker.
https://soundcloud.com/burgerrecords/wax-witches-morning-flowers
I heard some great things off the back of your tour with Drenge in the US – how has being on the road with artists like these guys informed your perception of how you’d ideally like your live shows to progress and develop?
Yeah that was a funny tour, I had no idea who they were, and we toured the whole of the USA via Greyhound bus. It was pretty cool. They ended up being the best guys. We toured with a lot of really really good bands over in the states. The quality of some of the bands’ live shows over there is insane and it can only make you want to be better.
What’s coming up for you once this short Australian visit is wrapped up?
I’m going to stay in Sydney for a while and work on some new music. And probably get some sort of normal routine back in my life, I hope.
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Catch Wax Witches in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane!
July 8th | Chippendale Hotel, SYDNEY
July 15th | Bistrotheque, BRISBANE
July 16th | Yah Yah’s, MELBOURNE
Header image: Benjamin Butcher for Topman.
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