As they open the curtains with a purposefully vacant guitar riff, then steadily build up drums, vocals, rhythmic new patterns and a saxophone scream, Duck Wax’s ‘Haircuts’ is a testament to their individuality. Crafting a funk-fuelled chanting atmosphere, the band bring a unique charm to their performance, diving between vocal lines and excitable instrumentation. The constant up-and-down flow of the energy charges up the listener, seemingly directly infusing their own unstoppable energy through the frequency. As a sax solo takes hold, the bass and drums push out further, leading audiences to a final climax that explodes into an infectious indie anthem.
Photo by Álex Amorós
Diving into the track, the band add, ”We set a target of writing a song that treads the balance of punk and funk, the two genres that we draw a lot of inspiration from at separate points. Our guitarist, Hector, had the song formatted and structured before he brought it to the rest of us, with all the lyrics too. When playing it together, he was very firm on stopping anyone from trying to play any fills or flourishes as we tried to work out our parts. His aim from this was to get everyone to really feel the rhythm of this song, and then work backwards from there. It was a new approach to writing that we hadn't tried before, and it all really paid off. We were then able to find the spaces/gaps for fills a lot easier, and keep the drive of the song going.
The song was recorded in our homemade studio in Scotland, the 3rd year we have gone up there to record. Each time we go up to Scotland there is a strong conscious effort to build from the techniques we did the time before and make sure we improve each time. This time round we stepped away from our "everyone in the room" live-style recording, which we had done before, and recorded each instrument in stages. This gave us a lot more clarity in the takes, giving us a much better sound. It took a lot more time than our previous techniques, but the production sound we got from it massively outweighed all of our previous releases.”
Pitching themselves as ‘undefinable’, Duck Wax is comprised of twin brothers and close friends, the five-piece featuring two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and a sax player, with three members sharing lead vocal duties. After a makeshift studio was created in a Scotland family home, the musicians came together to create a genre-bending sound that has electrified sold-out shows across London at venues like The Windmill, MOTH CLUB, and Jaguar Shoes Collectives. More recently, their most ambitious gig to date was at Hackney’s Oslo, celebrating the release of the previous single ‘Blue Tiles, White Tiles’. With an endlessly fun rock-funk fusion and a soft edge, Duck Wax are a must see.
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