Interview with WAAX.
Interviewed by: Laury Verdoux
Finn Mullen and Isabella Rae-Argo
How would you introduce WAAX to someone who’s never heard of you?
“Hi, we’re WAAX from Meanjin. We write emotional guitar music spiked with drama and vulnerability. Park up”
You’ve just released your new album At Least I’m Free. Can each of you tell us which song is your favorite and why?
My favourite song off the album is the opening track, Mermaid Beach. I love all the different moods the song shows. It sets the tone for the whole record and lets you know what the record has got in store for you.
Marie, what’s your writing process like? Do you usually write the lyrics first and then work on the melody with the rest of the band or is it the other way around?
Sometimes lines will just come to me and I’ll pop them in my notes for a rainy day or I’ll get super attached to a line and feel really compelled to turn it into a song. I usually write with James, who plays guitar in the band or I jump in a room and co-write with other people or I just try and figure it out on my own, it depends. I may come with an idea, or I am in a certain mood, and I sit across from someone with a guitar and play. Sometimes the song just forms naturally with chords, melody and lyrics. Sometimes we may only come away with one part. I don’t like to force a song into existence so if its not feeling right we just pack up shop and try again another day.
We saw your drawing interview with Pilerats (http://pilerats.com/music/bands/we-interviewed-waaxs-marie-devita-and-she-answered-with-rad-drawings/) and loved it! Marie, have you ever thought about drawing artwork for the band?
I have done this many times - I did the artwork for the cover of At Least I’m Free! I took a photo of my banged up knees after an e-scooter accident and I did all the typography. I am a graphic designer by trade so lucky for the band we get a lot of free artwork courtesy of yours truly.
5 - What was your most memorable gig? (Both as an attendee and performer)
Bruce Springsteen in Sydney, 2013. He had Tom Morello as the guitarist for the E Street Band and they did a cover of the Ghost of Tom Joad.
The most memorable WAAX gig would have to be the Splendour in the Grass show in 2018 where we brought out our band-dad, Bernard Fanning of legendary Aussie rock band Powderfinger… Also when we played with Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth 2015… OH and when we went on tour with Fall Out Boy. There’s been lots of epic gigs.
What are 3 songs you cannot stop playing on repeat?
50 Cent - In Da Club
Fontaines D.C - I Love You
ROSALÌA (and the Weeknd) - LA FAMA
Any dream collaboration? (Who knows, they might hear you ;))
Jimmy Barnes (of Cold Chisel)! I have been manifesting it for years, and I’ll keep on manifesting it until it finally happens. Jimmy - if you see this, please reach out.
What can we expect from WAAX for the rest of 2022?
From writing to release, At Least I’m Free took three years. We’re so excited to finally be able to play them live! We’re stepping up the live show for the album tour at the end of 2022. We’re pouring all the energy we have left into making it as HUGE as possible.