Byron Bay four piece Waxhead have just released their debut single Home and have begun touring Australia with an EP on the way. Tomatrax caught up with Mitch from the band to ask some questions.
How did the band form?
We’re just four mates from high school, we all grew up surfing together and eventually started having massive jam outs when i converted my bedroom into a jam space. There was never this idea that we were trying to get a band together we were just having fun. After about a year of jamming we realised that we had enough songs for a funny set and the next week our mate asked us if we could open for ‘Thee Oh Sees’ at our local watering hole ‘The Northern’.
Where did the name Waxhead come from?
We all grew up surfing together in Byron, Waxhead is just a funny term for someone who surfs. The name is really straightforward but we all thought it was funny
You’ve just released your debut single, what’s it like to have it out?
We’ve released the first single and title track off the EP, its a little taste of whats to come, a tease if you will. but I’m awfully excited about releasing the whole EP sometime in the next few months.
What made you pick Home as the title track?
‘Home’ Just seemed like a good middle ground, the EP has songs both heavier and softer and tunes that are more artsy and others more pop. ‘Home’ is a good medium of what were about, and we don’t have many riff based song. how fun’s riffing?
What was the inspiration behind the video clip for Home?
We’re just showing off the place where we grew up, we’ve never really featured our hometown in a clip and i guess it was always going to eventually happen, ‘Home’ seemed like the right song to milk it with. It’s a full on miss mash of a clip and we’re just kinda doing things we do everyday, went for a skate, went surfing, cut grass, had a jam, then juxtaposed all that lifestyle with some corporate business scene where were comparing credit cards
You’ve just begun touring in support of your EP, how has that been going?
Played our first show of the tour last Friday which was really fun, now were off to the big smoke that is Melbourne, can’t wait to get weird in the city
Your press release talks about how you were striving to make your recorded music capture the ferocity of sound of your live shows. Have you thought of releasing a live album?
It’s a really big goal in this band to record a live album one day, its something we think about every time we go to record, you’ve gotta be really, really tight as a band to pull that one off and come out of the studio with some gold. We’re jamming 5 days a week paying tighter than we’ve ever played so hopefully we’re ready for the live album by the time were ready to hit the studio again
You’ve toured Indonesia and Japan, what was it like to play in these countries?
We’ve had so many fun times with this band and Indonesia and Japan are pretty much the pinnacle. We went over for a holiday and decided we might as well chuck guitars in the surfboard bags and the next thing you know your being breast fead booze playing 5 times a week, can’t remember much of these tours it kind of all meshes together like some woozy dream
You’ve been described by a few critics as surf rockers, does the surf and the beach have an influence on your sound?
I kinda trip out on the term ‘surf rock’, the bands that come to my mind when i think that are Dick Dale and Link Wray. I love that music but I don’t think that accurately portrays our sound. However the surf and beach have without a doubt influenced our sound, if were not jamming were on the beach soaking up the tranquil Pacific Ocean
Do you ever listen to your own music?
I never really used to, the whole recording process can really kill a song for you sometimes. But our new EP ‘Home’ has been different for me, I’m actually genuinely proud of what we pieced together, it just sounds like four mates vibing out and there is a certain flow to the 5 songs, they compliment each other quite well.
What other music do you listen to?
We’ve been lovers of music long, long before we ever dreamed of making music together. to give you the short list; Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, BRMC, The Black Angles, Violent Soho, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, The Black Keys, Queens of the Stone Age, The Doors, Arctic Monkeys, Nirvana, Patti Smith, Nick Cave, Tame Impala. This list could go on for days.
What do you plan on doing after your tour?
We will take a little breather to write some new stuff but also pretty excited about releasing the EP in whole and touring that. There’s talk of heading back overseas which will be rad. Also getting back in the studio at some stage and of course plenty of time in the ocean.
Check out the band’s Facebook page to find out more!
