HOTWAX ANNOUNCE DEBUT ALBUM HOT SHOCK AND SHARE NEW SINGLE “SHE’S GOT A PROBLEM”
ALBUM OUT MARCH 7 ON MARATHON ARTISTS
Today, the UK’s most hotly-tipped independent band HotWax – Tallulah Sim-Savage, Lola Sam, and Alfie Sayers – announce details of their debut album, Hot Shock, out March 7 via Marathon Artists. The news is accompanied by the album’s lead single and album opener, “She’s Got A Problem” – a motoring barrage of grunge rock that has become a mainstay of the band’s live set over a packed summer of touring and festivals. Sim-Savage says, “Lola sent me a verse and a chorus she’d put together in Logic, I listened to it whilst on the cliffs on Hastings seafront, I remember it feeling really exciting and I couldn’t wait to write the words. The lyrics are about being infatuated with someone and wanting to feel exactly how they feel, when really everyone has their own struggles that hang in a cloud over them whenever they are. I love how this song is pretty driving the whole way through and doesn’t have much contrast dynamically.”
HotWax has played over 150 blistering live shows in the past 18 months alone, including packed headline shows in both New York City and Los Angeles, a North American tour supporting Royal Blood, and showcases during SXSW 2023. Across the pond they have appeared at Reading and Leeds Festival, Mad Cool, All Points East, Download, as well as support tours with rank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Deap Vally, and more. This Fall will see them perform a string of shows supporting The Libertines and Warmduscher on various dates. They have also announced a March 2025 run of in-store shows in the U.K. to celebrate the Hot Shock release. See all live dates below.
Hailing from Hastings, UK, the trio’s debut album follows the release of two critically acclaimed 2023 EPs that launched their touring to ever bigger stages. It’s the band’s incredible stagecraft and seemingly limitless energy that caught the attention of producer Catherine Marks (Boygenius, Wolf Alice) at Third Man Records’ Blue Basement last summer; “It was the sweatiest gig we have ever done – it was really, really packed,” explains singer Tallulah Sim-Savage “Afterwards, Catherine came up to us and said, ‘Oh my god, I need to record your album with you. I want it to sound like the energy in this room. It needs to feel like a party.’”
The band went on to build an all-female team to record Hot Shock, with Marks co-producing alongside Steph Marziano (Picture Parlour, Cassandra Jenkins), bringing a crowd of the band’s friends into London’s legendary RAK Studios to record a live runthrough of the new record – perfectly capturing the distinct, dizzying energy of a HotWax gig. While touring the U.S., the band also recorded with drummer Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint) at her studio in Joshua Tree.
The result is an album made to be played to a crowd, loud and with abandon. But there’s also a beating pulse of vulnerability underscoring Hot Shock, written throughout the whirlwind of life on the road. “Touring and constantly living in the moment can be chaotic. But there’s also a feeling of knowing that the more life experience we gain, the more fearless we become,” explains bassist Lola Sam.
Although Hot Shock may traverse the unsettling terrain that comes with entering young adulthood, there’s also a sense of playful abandon that is never far behind. Childhood friends Sim-Savage and Sam have been writing together since they were 12, before the latter met drummer Alfie Sayers at music college five years later.
Tallulah, Lola, and Alfie are ripping up the template and ripping up stages across the UK. Having only recently left school, their rarified live energy and sound has already won the support of Beck, Karen O, Courtney Love, Nova Twins, Wolf Alice, Elton John, Zane Lowe, and more. Despite having been launched onto festival mainstages while still in their teens, HotWax are here for the long ride and show no signs of slowing down. In fact, Hot Shock is only the beginning.
Tour Dates
HOTWAX LIVE DATES
Oct 27 – The Grove, Newcastle – Exit Festival
Oct 29 – Phoenix, Exeter *
Oct 30 – Cheese & Grain, Frome *
Oct 31 – Roundhouse, London +
Nov 01 – Junction 1, Cambridge *
Nov 02 – Pioneer Club, St Albans *
Nov 03 – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham *
Nov 05 – O2 Academy, Oxford *
Nov 06 – Project House, Leeds *
Nov 07 – Ritz, Manchester *
Nov 08 – Albert Hall, Manchester +
Nov 09 – Mutations Fest, Brighton
Nov 10 – Patti Pavilion, Swansea *
Nov 23 – The Paper Factory, Edinburgh – Hidden Door Festival
Nov 29 – Troxy, London *
May 31 – Temple Newsam Park, Leeds – Kaiser Chiefs All Dayer
**Notes Warmduscher Support
+Notes Libertines Support
UK INSTORE TOUR
Mar 5 – Music’s Not Dead, De La Warr Pavilion
Mar 7 – Resident Brighton
Mar 8 – Rough Trade Nottingham (Midday)
Mar 8 – Rough Trade Liverpool (Evening)
Mar 9 – Rough Trade Bristol
Mar 10 – Vinyl Whistle Leeds
Mar 11 – Rough Trade East
Mar 12 – Vinilo Southampton
Mar 13 – Truck Oxford
Artist Links
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