Wax on Water's Maya Fire
Wax on Water are a new band from Camden, London, who have just unleashed their raw, industrial sound with An Army, the first single from forthcoming debut album Procession. We talk to Maya Fire, the band’s creator, lead singer and songwriter about the album, her thoughts on the industry and what we can expect in the future.
-Why did you decide to start the band and how was it formed?
It started with me writing and producing in my bedroom. I’d always been involved in music and I knew that I wanted to write my own album, I just needed to find the sound that I had in my head.
My influences were grunge music as well as electronica and industrial, so I wanted to fuse those and it took me a while to get that right. But once that came together it was a case of going out and finding bands to play with.
The band’s gone to a different level now and we’re about to start playing gigs; probably end of April, early May.
-Was it a difficult process setting up? You seemed to have created most if not all of the album entirely on your own...
Well, I had always worked in music companies and record companies and so I had a really good ground in terms of understanding the business and understanding how difficult it really is. The key thing with this is I’m self-sufficient in terms of I can produce and write myself so that wasn’t an issue, having that altogether in my house.
But you know the business issues that face any young artist now is not having the support and development funds that are put into the big popular RnB acts.
So this has really been about getting a record together that I’m really proud of, that I’m excited about, and getting out and seeing fans and actually doing live tours. That’s the most crucial aspect to the band now.
-You set up your own record label for the release – Howling Tempest Records. Is this something you want to expand or would you jump ship to a big label?
No, I feel that having Tempest is an entity in itself. We would look at distribution deals for other territories if that was going to help but what I would really like is to keep it as a proper independent spirit label and, in time, to sign and develop other artists as well.
I feel that my role is not just as a musician but in expanding the rock platform. There’s a lot of negativity in the press at the moment that rock music is on the decline and there’s just not the media platform for rock.
I think we have to kind of pull together rock fans and really create music that is good then push it out there and support it though supporting live bands, etcetera.
-How difficult was it to set up?
Because I had a background working in record companies – I worked in loads of major record companies – I kind of knew how to do that.
It’s actually not as difficult as you would imagine. And again, in time, I really would like to put up information on the site for other bands and other people looking to set up their own independent label.
-What artists do you draw influence from?
Well I make no bones about the fact that I’m a massive Trent Reznor fan. Trent and Nine Inch Nails have a sound I love, based on the industrial vibe. But also as a songwriter I really think Trent is really brave and really honest. I always strive to write my songs from a place of honesty.
So it’s probably some industrial and also the grunge movement; everybody from Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains... they just shake my world completely. The heaviness but also brilliant lyrics with that, that’s something that I really strive to.
-What do you think of the state of the music industry right now?
I think it is really in the lowest it’s ever been.
The internet is the most amazing place... We have my facebook page and it’s a real chance to talk to real fans and actually have banter and interaction; they make me laugh and it’s a really nice conversation and I think that’s the most important area for the future of the music industry.
The major labels haven’t really grasped that. They all say “Oh yeah we need internet campaigns,” but do they really understand how to push that?
All the big campaigns that come through have been for people like Arctic Monkeys or Enter Shikari; they’ve been bands that have understood that medium and really made it work for them.
So we are in a bad place but we have to push forward, using the internet and using the other things available like live tours, etcetera.
-Is success important to you, or do you care about your voice and message?
I think that success... For me, successful would be getting up on stage, playing to people who I can connect with. The primary reason for me starting to do this is so I can connect with myself and understand myself and if people are getting into that you have something that really means something and that’s all I’ve ever really wanted.
I’m not motivated by money, I’m motivated by wanting to create something that’s artistically something that I’m proud of and, like I say, if I can connect to other people then that would be amazing.
-What’s the reaction to An Army been like, and what can expect from the new album?
It’s actually been fantastic. People have given us fantastic reviews. We’ve been likened to Trent Reznor and Portishead; artists that I really, really rate and so it’s been really positive and exciting.
The album coming has got even bigger tracks than An Army in terms of sound. It’s got a lot of variation on it but it’s really the story of myself pushing through a really difficult time in my life and confronting a lot of things that I found very difficult to deal with.
The album sound itself is it’s quite a big sounding. It’s got a lot of drama in it; I like big strings and I like production that’s multi-layered. So it has a kind of industrial vibe but I think it’s also got, hopefully, a fresh take on that as well.
-You worked with Richie Burridge and Phil Tidy on the video for An Army, which is very dark and intense. What was it like making the music video?
It is dark and intense, it’s a dark and intense track and the story behind it was that the song was about being a fractured person trying to reconcile parts of yourself.
I went into that video saying to Phil and Richie we want something that pulls that together, but at the same time I can deliver quite an intense performance and I think that they did a brilliant job with that.
They did multi-layers and put this whole world around me but at the same time I could really concentrate on my performance and that was the most important thing to me. It was just very, very exciting and it totally turned out how I wanted it to so I’m happy with it.
-Is there anything else you want to add about the album?
There are a lot of surprises up my sleeve with it and people should come and hang out at the facebook. We’re updating regularly. This is not something that we just got to promote for a single and disappear. Me, I’m a real person, and the band’s going to be announced next week. I want to start a community and I want people to be part of that. This is about creating community, that’s the bottom line.
-If it all goes well, where do you hope to be in five years time?
Well certainly touring would form a major part of that. I’m already starting to. I’m just coming to the end of writing this first album but I’ve already got ideas and plans for album two so probably in five years it would be recording more music.
Writing continuously – I love writing, and I’d like to do a world tour. That is something that’s a big dream of mine – to actually go on tour around the world and play for audiences everywhere.
That would be probably the biggest thing.
Wax on Water’s debut single ‘An Army’ is released on 28th March 2011 through Howling Tempest Record. Procession is released later this year. Go to facebook.com/waxonwater for more information.
Michael Moran
Wax on Water are a new band from Camden, London, who have just unleashed their raw, industrial sound with An Army, the first single from forthcoming debut album Procession. We talk to Maya Fire, the band’s creator, lead singer and songwriter about the album, her thoughts on the industry and what we can expect in the future.
-Why did you decide to start the band and how was it formed?
It started with me writing and producing in my bedroom. I’d always been involved in music and I knew that I wanted to write my own album, I just needed to find the sound that I had in my head.
My influences were grunge music as well as electronica and industrial, so I wanted to fuse those and it took me a while to get that right. But once that came together it was a case of going out and finding bands to play with.
The band’s gone to a different level now and we’re about to start playing gigs; probably end of April, early May.
-Was it a difficult process setting up? You seemed to have created most if not all of the album entirely on your own...
Well, I had always worked in music companies and record companies and so I had a really good ground in terms of understanding the business and understanding how difficult it really is. The key thing with this is I’m self-sufficient in terms of I can produce and write myself so that wasn’t an issue, having that altogether in my house.
But you know the business issues that face any young artist now is not having the support and development funds that are put into the big popular RnB acts.
So this has really been about getting a record together that I’m really proud of, that I’m excited about, and getting out and seeing fans and actually doing live tours. That’s the most crucial aspect to the band now.
-You set up your own record label for the release – Howling Tempest Records. Is this something you want to expand or would you jump ship to a big label?
No, I feel that having Tempest is an entity in itself. We would look at distribution deals for other territories if that was going to help but what I would really like is to keep it as a proper independent spirit label and, in time, to sign and develop other artists as well.
I feel that my role is not just as a musician but in expanding the rock platform. There’s a lot of negativity in the press at the moment that rock music is on the decline and there’s just not the media platform for rock.
I think we have to kind of pull together rock fans and really create music that is good then push it out there and support it though supporting live bands, etcetera.
-How difficult was it to set up?
Because I had a background working in record companies – I worked in loads of major record companies – I kind of knew how to do that.
It’s actually not as difficult as you would imagine. And again, in time, I really would like to put up information on the site for other bands and other people looking to set up their own independent label.
-What artists do you draw influence from?
Well I make no bones about the fact that I’m a massive Trent Reznor fan. Trent and Nine Inch Nails have a sound I love, based on the industrial vibe. But also as a songwriter I really think Trent is really brave and really honest. I always strive to write my songs from a place of honesty.
So it’s probably some industrial and also the grunge movement; everybody from Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains... they just shake my world completely. The heaviness but also brilliant lyrics with that, that’s something that I really strive to.
-What do you think of the state of the music industry right now?
I think it is really in the lowest it’s ever been.
The internet is the most amazing place... We have my facebook page and it’s a real chance to talk to real fans and actually have banter and interaction; they make me laugh and it’s a really nice conversation and I think that’s the most important area for the future of the music industry.
The major labels haven’t really grasped that. They all say “Oh yeah we need internet campaigns,” but do they really understand how to push that?
All the big campaigns that come through have been for people like Arctic Monkeys or Enter Shikari; they’ve been bands that have understood that medium and really made it work for them.
So we are in a bad place but we have to push forward, using the internet and using the other things available like live tours, etcetera.
-Is success important to you, or do you care about your voice and message?