The first time I saw Hot Wax was at All Points East in 2023, I was 17 and they were opening the second stage. I immediately fell in love with them, and thought they were the coolest band I’d ever seen.
Since then, I’ve seen them support bands like Deap Valley and The Libertines, so when they announced their first headline tour I knew I had to go.
I got to the Gorilla right as doors opened, however hadn’t realised there was an hour before the support act would be on, so the venue was pretty empty. This meant I was able to get both a drink (pink hooch!) and a spot right at the front, and by the time the first band stepped on stage, the venue was already packed.
Support act, Jeanie and the White Boys are a riot. Fronted by Jeanie Crystal, the rock and roll group are one of the most interesting bands I’ve ever seen. With a rockabilly, cramps-esque riffs, biting lyrics and songs about, in Jeanie’s words, “violence, revenge and bitterness.” Their sound is really brilliant, a mixture of pure punk energy and blues rock and roll. One thing for certain is that Jeanie Crystal is a star, wild in the same vein as Poly Styrene and Viv Albertine.
From the second Hot Wax walk onstage and play the opening riff to ‘Hard Goodbye’, they have the audience captivated. As a band, they’re so incredibly cool, in both how they look and sound. The Hastings based rock trio are Tallulah Sim-Savage on lead vocals and guitar, Lola Sam on bass and Alfie Sayers on drums. They have a really insane energy live which feeds into the audience, and just a few songs into their set the first of many mosh pits are forming behind me.
The set was mainly songs from their 2025 debut album Hot Shock, such as ‘Strange to Be Here’. Hot Wax’s sound is just as cool as their aesthetics, really beautiful grunge with moments of psychedelia, crunchy basslines and distorted guitars.
Tallulah is such a brilliant frontwoman, her stage presence is unmatched by any other contemporaries, just so effortlessly chic in a way which reminds me of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O. Lola is probably the coolest bassist since Kim Gordon, she jumps around the stage and has bright orange hair and is wearing a t-shirt from the very fab Japanese brand Hysteric Glamour. Hot Wax are one of those bands that you wish you could be part of, because they are that cool. They play a few new songs, such as their latest single ‘Tell Me Everything’s Alright’ as well as older songs, including ‘Drop’ from their 2023 Invite Me Kindly EP, which is pure punk inspired rock and the beautiful ‘A Thousand Times’ which reminds me of Wolf Alice, pure grunge infused indie pop.
They close the set with ‘Chip My Teeth’ but soon come back for a 3-song encore, which is utterly amazing. Starting with an acoustic song ‘Pharmacy’, Hot Shock’s closing track. Then ‘One More Reason’, at the end of which Tallulah jumps into the crowd to join everyone jumping around.
The final song of the night is ‘Rip It Out’, the first Hot Wax song I ever heard. The bassline in that song is so powerful, and the quiet/loud/quiet dynamics of the verses and choruses bring the night to a close in such an incredibly fun fashion.
Hot Wax are such a unique and vibrant band. One of the coolest new bands around, I’m definitely looking forward to see what they do next.
