Wax Chattels
8th June 2018
Whammy! Bar, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review & Photography by Sarah Kidd.
New Zealand’s Wax Chattels are one of those exceptional bands; a group of musicians that you never tire of witnessing in the live form. Performing their final show last night of their debut album release tour and it was plain to see that what was the underground secret of just how good these guys are is well and truly out – a sold out sign on the door greeting those last minute punters before turning them away, their disappointment palpable.
Wax Chattels are an Auckland three piece and yet they feel so much bigger. Yes, yes they sound bigger too; this is a fact that doesn’t even need to be quantified.
But Wax Chattels feel bigger.
Their stage presence is all encompassing; from the piercing moments of disquiet to the cacophony of instruments, thoughts and intemperate lyrics that fulminate against the very walls that attempt to contain them.
Wax Chattels feel bigger.
Slightly off-kilter notes echo across the room as vocalist and organist Peter Ruddell straightens to his full height, his svelte physical being encased in black, eyes fixed on an unknown point in the crowd, lips parted ready to utter the first line. Many in the audience are still chattering, having not heard those first musical utterings, not realizing that the three piece had quietly slipped onto the stage. Suddenly, as Ruddell began to vocally push forward, Amanda Cheng on bass and Tom Leggett on drums lending their sonic weight to the opening track of ‘Concrete’ all eyes turned towards the stage, conversations abruptly dropped.
“Stay disappointed, stay around. Stay disappointed, I’ll watch you go down”
In many ways there is no light in these songs, no lifeboat on which to cling. Yet interestingly they are delivered by three people who are intellectual, talented and decidedly humble. Meeting while all attending jazz school at Auckland University, Wax Chattels communicates in a language that is quite simply their own. They offer it forth on broken plates, chipped glasses and bent cutlery but with no menu. You are invited to taste, indeed you are welcomed to the dining table; but only you can define the ingredients that make up each course. From the musings of ‘Gillian’ enveloped in satin and coveted by those from afar to the track entitled ‘Shrinkage’ that stalks across the stage to sneer in your face pointing out its own failings without an ounce of fear, there is much to sample from.
Behind the epitome of a minimalist kit – one symbol cracked and split embracing another beneath it – Leggett disgorges his very innards as he expends every last ounce of energy he has, his drumsticks ligneous hummingbirds in perpetual flight. To his left Amanda Cheng on bass and vocals leans against the centre stage beam, her long jet black hair cascading in soft waves about her bare shoulders in complete juxtaposition to her eyes that communicate the words to ‘Career’ so succinctly. Regardless of whether this is your first experience of seeing Wax Chattels or your tenth, each and every performance provides something new, like forgotten pathways uncovered by winter storms.
While some punters flail their arms, their bodies winding around the very notes themselves, others remain still, their mood pensive as they each deconstruct the plate before them. There is little banter and infinitesimal stage effects; simple lighting is infused with wafts of stage smoke which makes Cheng break out in a grin; Ruddell at one point pausing to smile as he thanks everyone who is present, amazed it would seem at the turnout. Finishing on ‘In My Mouth’ a track that has already sown the roots of infamous longevity and the three piece dressed in black slide back off the stage as quietly as they arrived; the audience left vibrating in the wake of their performance.
Returning a few moments later, Ruddell points out all the people they forgot to thank before introducing a track that is a “new guy”. It’s pulsating and loud, running in circles around the stage it ends the evening perfectly thanks to its sheer rawness.
Wax Chattels are so much bigger.
Were you there at Whammy! Bar for this brilliant post-punk gig? Or have you seen Wax Chattels perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Concrete
- Stay Disappointed
- Gillian
- Shrinkage
- Career
- NRG
- IT
- In My Mouth
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