Holy shit, a gig. Over the weekend Wax Chattels, Na Noise, Memory Foam and local photographer Cam Hay grouped up at Auckland’s Whammy Bar to document something that’ll seem like ancient history to the rest of the world: a rock show.
New Zealand’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been widely recognised amongst the world’s finest, and for their troubles, the land of the long white cloud has returned to some normalcy. Hence a show with all the good stuff: a mosh pit, crowds crammed around the amps, and a photographer there to snap it all up.
Right now, New Zealand is the envy of the live music world, with absolutely zero gig restrictions in place. Here’s what that looked like for Wax Chattels.
Wax Chattels play a fierce, dark, and precise brand of rock, a sensory overload nailed to staccatos and tight, beefy melodies. As it stands they’re preparing for the release of their second album Clot this September, hitting the world via esteemed New Zealand label Flying Nun with help from Captured Tracks. Right now the first single, No Ties, is out there for you to eat up.
And if you thought their recorded work hit hard, their live shows are another beast altogether. Drummer Tom Leggett regularly plays on broken, deformed, or stacked cymbals to lay on the noise, while bassist Amanda Cheng and Peter Ruddell on the keys interject. Spliced together they form a picture of a band completely in tune with one another, if a little discordant.
When they checked into Whammy Bar on Saturday night they played to a packed out crowd with Na Noise and Memory Foam on support. Photographer Cam Hay was there to capture the evening – check out the shots below and pre-order Clot here.
