A year on from being unearthed by Triple J and the release of their smashing debut, ‘Wisdom Teeth’, Brisbane punks WAAX are back on the attack with a new single and revamped vision for the band.
“The start of a band is always an uneasy process, especially for people who’ve never done it before and that was very much our situation,” explains drummer, Tom Bloomfield. “It’s our first band so we’re not seasoned veterans or anything … there have been some line-up changes and some difficulties here and there which I’ve been assured by other people is a very common thing,” he says with a laugh.
Having undergone a steep-learning curve in music business since being discovered, Tom says the obstacles they’ve collectively hurdled, such as changing their line-up and management, have positioned the band for greater, future success. “Static is a really good word because we’ve become comfortable finally and it’s always tough in the beginning because you don’t know exactly how things are going to unfold, and other people have things they want to do as well. So it’s a bit hard but everything’s really good now and we’re in a situation where we’re really comfortable pressing on.
“We’re really happy now, really solid and looking at it in a more serious aspect than when we originally started and really ready to give it a go.”
Angry, loud and unapologetic, ‘I For An Eye’ is the new single for WAAX; released in June, Tom and his bandmates have been blown away by the response and praise it has already received. “Honestly it’s been a lot better than we expected,” he says, “because we’ve been off the radar for a while, definitely as far as releases go.
“It’s been about a year since we released ‘Wisdom Teeth’, so we were not really sure what to anticipate, we got ready the best way we could and it’s been awesome … all kinds of people seem to be hitting it up, so we’re really excited about it.”
Described as ‘an anthemic call-to-arms for those perhaps with an inferiority complex among us’, ‘I For An Eye’ is the ideal prequel for WAAX’s forthcoming EP. The record is due out around the same time as Bigsound in September, with WAAX returning to where it all started for them. “We’ve got an EP coming out this year around the same time [as Bigsound] and this is the first real thing. Last year we won the competition, so it was more of a surprise and we had the song out but in my head we were more pushing the idea of ‘hey, we exist; you’ve probably never heard of us ever, but here we are hopefully you like this’.
“This year we have our feet on the ground a little better and we now have something to push really hard. So as opposed to introducing ourselves to the country and the industry, it’s more about showing off and showing what we can do and hopefully getting a response from that.”
WAAX are also playing at the first-ever Maroochy Music and Visual Arts Festival in August, and Tom says he and the band are excited to be rocking out alongside some of their favourite Australian artists and performers. “It’s the biggest line-up we’ve been on for sure by a massive amount. Some really cool artists there and it’s good to be on there with some really good Australian artists as well. We’re really big fans of lots of music and we all try to listen to as much as possible. It’s cool to be there with Hiatus Kaiyote, there’s some cool jazz influence there, and DZ Deathrays have been a favourite band of mine since I was in high school, so it’s really exciting.”
WAAX launch 'I For An Eye' on Saturday 1 August at Greaser (Bris) & perform at Maroochy Music & Visual Arts Festival, Saturday 22 August.
