2024 was a year dedicated to getting their name out into the world, having released debut EPs’ Invite Me, Kindly’ and ‘A Thousand Times’ in 2023. A year that started on a come down from a US tour with Royal Blood, the band then went on to tour with US power-rockers Deap Vally and post-punk prodigies Warmduscher across Europe and the UK, not to mention festivals all over the shop. That year out of the release cycle, though, naturally built pressure around the band, with everyone asking the same question: when’s that album coming, then?

She continues: “There was quite a long period of time where we didn’t release any music, which was probably a mistake. There’s a pressure to keep pumping stuff out because the world’s attention span is so short, and people move onto new stuff so quick, but we were just saying yes to everything.”

It’s important to remember just how young HotWax are, although you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the maturity of their performance on this new album, learning when to pare back the noisiest noise-rock to focus on melody and tenderness. Nonetheless, the story of their band so far is really one of growth, both personal and musical.

Crazy, frantic, chaotic, whatever you want to call it, it finds its way onto ‘Hot Shock’ in some form or another. From the minute opening track, ‘She’s Got A Problem’ blasts into existence, it’s clear that this is an album that’s not about to pump the brakes before ‘Wanna Be A Doll’ embodies the bouncing, brawling live show that the band have perfected over the last few years.

Without their live show, where the trio truly spark into their effervescent best, this album may not have come to fruition, as it was during a small, sweaty gig in London that their co-producer introduced herself.

A producer who already has boygenius, Foals and Wolf Alice on her impressive portfolio asking to work with the band was a pretty clear sign that they were on the right track. Determined to bring in the frenetic, fiery feeling of their live show into their recorded work, Catherine and the band set about adding new techniques to the studio, expanding the reach of the HotWax sound.

After some initial trepidation about writing an album, trying to think of ideas and keep it cohesive, it was Catherine’s magic touch that reassured the band that they were on the path to something very special indeed.

Tallulah confirms, “The first song we recorded was ‘Chip My Tooth For You’. When I heard that back, with the distorted vocals and guitar tones, it was the first time I heard a song and loved how every aspect sounded.”

Partly inspired by the lack of time the band had to record the album, partly inspired by the immediate feeling of the live show that they tried to infuse into their work, they felt like London was the only place that they could record… for the most part.

Spoiler alert: there’s an acoustic song on this record! Spoiler alert #2: It’s called ‘Pharmacy’, and it’s at the end of the album. Spoiler alert #3: It might not be the last acoustic moment we hear from HotWax…

Although a Neil Young tribute album might be next on the agenda, for now, the band are as heavily inspired by huge rock bands as ever before, adding depth and resilience to ‘Hot Shock’ that grounds what could otherwise be an uncontrollable spiral of screamed out lyrics and hardcore-adjacent drumming.

Tallulah continues, “Yeah, we were listening more to 90s bands; it was a lot of PJ Harvey and Sonic Youth. Lyrically, I was inspired by Cat Power, which I think really comes through in the slower songs.”

It’s this thick, grimy, grungy sound that gives the album that extra dimension, swirling through the atmospheric shoegaze-adjacent ‘Strange To Be Here’ before smashing back into toxic love song ‘Dress Our Love’. All of this throwback rock, along with their “in the moment” songwriting, resulted in an album that was rooted in the exact mindset the band found themselves in at the start of 2024.

That doesn't mean that HotWax can't step back and appreciate what they've done or where they are, though. Looking back over their career so far, it only seems to dawn on Tallulah in the moment that they've actually got an album coming out. "It feels like a big accomplishment to have got it done a year that was so full of touring. God, yeah, it's really scary. Like, it's good scary, but it's still scary."

It's this fear that keeps the blood pumping through every inch of 'Hot Shock' and of the band more widely and explains why excitement around them remains at a fever pitch. "I just wanna keep going," Lola states. "Just wanna keep doing what we're doing because I think we're doing pretty well. Hopefully, the second album's even better."

No matter what comes next, HotWax will continue to thrive in the make-or-break moments that have brought them their debut album, and there's certain to be plenty more of those to come. ■