Brisbane rock band WAAX are having their best year yet following the critical success of their latest EP, ‘Wild & Weak’, and a string of high-profile live performances over the coming months.
“It’s a wild ride,” guitarist Chris Antolak says. “We left 2016 fairly optimistic about our future and what’s in store and after releasing the EP [‘Wild & Weak’] it’s been absolutely unbelievable. The response has been amazing and the show offers we’ve been getting have been unreal.”
WAAX released their current EP in June and are now nearing the end of the touring cycle for the record, with just a few shows left on the schedule. However, audiences have ample opportunity to catch the firebrand quintet throughout the rest of the year, including Shakafest on the Gold Coast.
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“Shakafest is such a great festival to be offered and the line-up is stacked,” Chris says.
“We can’t believe we’re playing alongside such bands as Grinspoon and DZ Deathrays, so it’s been unreal. It’s a home town show for me. I was born in Brisbane, but for most of my adolescent life I grew up on the Gold Coast and I’m very familiar with it. I’m very much looking forward to it and, fun fact, Marie [DeVita, vocalist] is also from the Goldie as well. We both grew up there in our teen years.”
After Shakafest, WAAX jump on board the crazy train that is the upcoming Dune Rats tour that also features US band Wavves and surf dudes Hockey Dad. “That again is another stacked line-up,” Chris says.
“We caught wind of that tour and it was just too good to pass up on and all of us are just buzzing. Dune Rats alone is something to be buzzing about, but the fact you’ve got Wavves – an incredible band from The States – and Hockey Dad as well, I feel like it’s one of those tours that come around only once in a while that people need to get tickets to.”
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Is that everything? Wait, no. Did we mention WAAX will also be supporting Fall Out Boy when they return to Australia for a national tour early next year? Needless to say, the band is beyond rapt to have been chosen by Fall Out Boy for the support role.
“We’re absolutely stoked to be playing with Fall Out Boy and playing those shows,” Chris says. “For some of us, Fall Out Boy isn’t really a band we grew up listening to or anything like that, but you gotta pay respects to a band that’s been around that long and reached the heights they have and done the things they have.”
With ‘Wild & Weak’ wrapping up and a solid touring schedule seeing them through into next year, Chris says the next step for WAAX is releasing their debut album, which he says they’ve already begun working on. “An album is definitely in the works,” he says.
“We’ve started writing and in fact we’ve got one new song on the road currently, so you guys will be all over it when we come to play Shakafest. The album is definitely the next plan; we’re writing currently and we’re just in the early stages of getting the songs ready and starting to figure out who we look at for producing.”
WAAX play Shakafest 19 August. ‘Wild & Weak’ EP is out now.
Dune Rats, Wavves, WAAX & Hockey Dad Tour Dates
Wed 27 Sep - HQ Complex (Adelaide)Fri 29 Sep - The Forum (Melbourne)
Sun 1 Oct - The Big Top (Sydney)
Fri 6 Oct - The Tivoli (Brisbane)
Fall Out Boy 2018 Tour Dates
Wed 28 Feb - Riverstage (Brisbane)Fri 2 Mar - Qudos Bank Arena (Sydney)
Sat 3 Mar - Margaret Court Arena (Melbourne)
Mon 5 Mar - Red Hill Auditorium (Perth)
