I try to keep things small on this site, and I have a couple of arbitrary and fungible guidelines for it: looking at an artist’s follower count, Spotify listeners, and coverage by other outlets when deciding whether to post about them. But inside my own filter bubble, sometimes it seems that a band is everywhere, and when I decide to go looking, I find they’re shockingly un-covered. HotWax is the latest version of that.
Many places that I find new music covered Hot Shock when it came out last month. As much as I had anticipated the record, I assumed the band had broken through. And while “Wanna Be A Doll” has been on repeat since I first heard it, I figured I’d be another voice lost in the crowd if I wrote about it. But! Good bands deserve more attention. And HotWax is good.
The band is made up of singer and guitarist Tallulah Sim-Savage, bassist Lola Sam and drummer Alfie Sayer – their sound fits into the 90s/00s revival that’s been going strong for a few of years now: part Hole, part Elastica, part Queens of the Stone Age, put through the same modern filter as the last Mysterines 1 record. It’s danceable, grungy, no frills rock and roll.
Hot Shock is the band’s debut record, though you’d be forgiven for thinking they’ve put out a couple already: the two EPs released in 2023 (Invite me, kindly, and A Thousand Times), and HotWax’s relentless touring created a ton of buzz prior to the record’s release. Like any good rock band, they’re great live first:
According to their Bandcamp page, Hot Shock was recorded live, rather than pieced together from multiple tracks. That comes through on the record: there’s an energy and self-assuredness to these songs that feels spontaneous, such as “Chip My Teeth for You”:
Hot Shock is the kind of debut that makes me wish I’d been able to see HotWax in their tiny-venue days. It’s got the raw, grungy spirit of ‘90s rock, but with a modern edge that feels alive in 2025. With festival season starting up, I’m sure they’ll be busier than ever, but here’s hoping they book a few shows on this side of the pond as well.
