Waxed
The Continental Way
scum stats: who knows?
As high schoolers Waxed played the parking lot in front of Third Man on Record Store Day and just last year they impressed many opening for Jack White at the Pinnacle here in Nashville. And now…this full length delights purely.
Starting the album with a brilliantly contrasting, jazz-inflection that towers into power chord fist slamming...it's a nuance that indicates these dudes are wise, possibly even subversive with acoustic flourishes, downbeat subsonic bass reverence in line with "Lividity" informed beyond the wildest dreams of anyone twenty years older, unique and original impossible to be mistaken for anyone else…respectfully indebted to the three-tiered altar of Les Paul wielding iconoclasts….Zakk Wylde, Paul Stanley and Buzz Osbourne.
Here's a little story I like to tell about Davis, guitar player in Waxed
There was a private tour scheduled at Third Man a few months back, I didn't know much about the group, but they were dropping a pretty penny to get an exquisite behind-the-scenes look from yours truly. It was twenty or so folks, they were quite looking forward to the experience, and at the last minute...they decided they wanted to see a direct-to-acetate recording.
Now, when we do a direct-to-acetate recording for eventual vinyl release, those things can take a good six months of planning and coordinating to make happen. In this instance, I had a handful of weeks to pull it together. Out of sheer frustration, I message to the tour operator that the cost to add-in the recording process would be prohibitively expensive...I think I said it would be triple the cost they were already paying.
They responded "We have no problem paying, thanks for your accommodation."
Having to put their money where my mouth was, I hit up Davis. I apprised him of the situation and said "If I pay you handsomely, will you go onstage and just shred direct-to-acetate guitar solos for five minutes? Shirt optional."
I may be paraphrasing slightly, but I recall his response as "Fuck yeah, I'm gonna use that money to buy tickets to see ZZ Top in Vegas on Halloween."
So that's exactly what happened. (while he wore a shirt)
To win a copy of this…tell a story in the comments, preferably truthful, where you had to throw a crazy number (crazy idea?) out there and you were actually able to follow through on. Get it posted by midnight central time on Thursday April 9th to be considered. Rock on.
