London based Alt rock band Wax on Water have released their new single – a unique take on the QOTSA track “Mexicola”. The song is crafted by singer Maya Damaris to be a kind of ‘response’ to the protagonist in the original Josh Homme penned track: https://orcd.co/n7qrn4b
A synth-heavy reworking, that makes fantastic use of Maya’s skills as a vocalist, Mexicola sees Wax On Water adhere to the view that a good cover should remain faithful to the spirit of the original, while placing a unique spin on the music. While guitar rock purists may look askance at the significant changes the band have made, it’s amazing how well this very different approach works, while Maya captures the Homme croon almost perfectly. Check it out in the video below.
Wax on Water are an alternative rock band based in fronted by singer, songwriter and producer Maya Damaris joined in 2019 by a new musical partner in crime, virtuoso rock guitarist Steven Blessing. Over the past year, this inventive and musically eclectic duo have been catching the ears of many music industry insiders both in the UK and the USA with their adventurous fusion of grunge, electronica, strings, keyboards and intense guitars. Always experimenting, reworking and reimagining songs that inspire their own musical oeuvre, the band now release a surprise single for their fans, a song NOT present on their sophomore album “The Drip”: a unique reworking of Queens of The Stone Age single “Mexicola”,out 19th August 2022
This has been a hugely ambitious twelve months for the band, releasing not one but two EPs in a conceptual series: “The Drip – Part 1” and “The Drip – Part 2”, as well as a bold full- length sixteen track album, ‘The Drip’ to wide critical acclaim. “The Drip” album is a fearless volume of work consisting of sixteen expertly crafted songs that creatively builds upon the raw visceral electro grunge rock of the band’s 2018 debut album “Procession” and takes it to a whole new creative level. The songs are bold and eclectic both musically and lyrically, with subjects ranging from love, loyalty, loss, self-esteem and depression, to what constitutes a ‘higher love’, observations on control freaks as well as (another) bold reimagining of a classic track: O’Jays track “For the Love of Money”.
“Mexicola” is a cover of a Queens Of The Stone age track off their very first album, written and produced by frontman Josh Homme. In typical Wax on Water style, the song is completely reimagined and reworked in a totally new way. Here the gutsy guitar stylings of Blessing completely take a back seat as the track is performed and produced solely by Damaris who also changes the lyrics up so the song is like a reply to Josh Homme’s along with cleverly added lyrics. When asked why she chose to cover this particular song she answers,
“I produced this interpolation of “Mexicola” during one of the UK lockdown periods. With nowhere open and not being allowed to see anyone – including our guitarist, Steve. I used to drive just to get out of the house and that first QOTSA album was the soundtrack to those escapes. I always loved that album – Josh’s songwriting is very unique – and I got to thinking how it would be kinda cool to do a different take on “Mexicola” – for it to be like a response to the protagonist in Josh Homme’s song. I changed up some of the lyrics to suit the character in my version of the track and then production wise, I took it to an electro-goth place by layering up synth and drum machine and adding lots of strings to give it a twisted dark drama.’
Damaris had mixed the track with Mike Post from Moosecat studios in LA, over an ISDN line – which had a 5 second delay. She says: “I don’t recommend transatlantic mixing for that reason! The evening that we were mixing it was 6th Jan 2021 – which I’ll always remember as I had the TV on in the background and watched the US Capitol riots unfolding. The whole thing was a surreal experience.’
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