A quality line-up of young guitar bands at the Face Bar, courtesy of Heavy Pop, as The Havocks and The Pill join in the fun.

Hotwax are widely hailed as one of the best young bands in the U.K. right now. Despite a great live reputation and a critically acclaimed new album the 300-capacity venue isn’t sold out ahead of the day. This should be chock full of teens and university aged students but instead the average audience age is at least ten years older than it should be. Is rock music really this dead? Are kids today really this broke? Important questions for another day.

The Havocks

So fresh a band I can only find their Instagram and one poor quality video on YouTube, not a sausage on any streaming platforms. Despite the lack of information they are a really lively four-piece band and contribute to tonight’s girl power vibes with three of the four members being female. They mix high quality material of their own with fun covers of ‘Heard it Through The Grapevine’ and ‘Loveshack’. The lead singer is confident and a presence on stage. There is a mix of writhing around, energetic leaping and decent crowd connection.

The Pill

There is more of a social media and streaming footprint for ‘The Pill.’ This is a confident performance, full of humour, from the Isle of Wight trio – despite this being their first proper national tour. I am not sure I have ever seen a band enjoying themselves more on stage. There is a constant stream of giggling and smiles. The sense of fun leaks into the crowd banter. Lottie says, “Did anyone used to play Club Penguin?” One guy goes enthusiastically nuts down the front. “Well, this isn’t about that. This is about being a massive twat online.” The guy shouts up, “I can do that too.”

They are only a few days into the tour and already there are some big injuries from being over-enthusiastic. Lily says, “I have a massive bruise on my arse. I keep falling over these shoes, I think they are too pointy.”

“Fashion  before function,” is the rapid retort from Lottie.

They have a good mix of rock sound and fun in their lyrics. Most recent release ‘Problem’ is catchy, ‘Money Mullet’ is like a slightly more tuneful version of the ‘Lambrini Girls.’ Somehow, they are opening for Green Day in Luxembourg on the 30th June, this does suggest how quickly they might start to rise through the ranks.

This is a really entertaining set and they already have a real presence. I am certain we will be seeing and hearing a lot more of The Pill over the next few years.

HotWax

Whilst they feel like a very recent phenomenon the roots of this band were, like many of the other ‘rapid successes’ out there, planted a long time ago. Tallulah Sim-Savage, vocalist and guitarist, and Lola Sam, bassist, met at secondary school in Hastings back in 2017 and have been playing together for nearly 8 years now.

Tonight’s gig doesn’t have the greatest of starts, Tallulah is struggling slightly with a sore-throat and the sound of her microphone is not as crisp as it ought to be. It does mean that whilst the instruments are on point the vocals are not as good as you would have hoped. Their enthusiasm rides it out and stops things from tipping over.

They blast off with the first four tracks of debut album Hot Shock in order. Singles ‘She’s Got A Problem’ and ‘Wanna Be A Doll’ appearing here along with the grungier ‘Strange To Be Here’ and ‘Dress Our Love.’ We then jump back in time for the heavier riffing of ‘Treasure.’

There is a coiled intensity to it all. Lola constantly prowls the stage, switching between her microphone for backing vocals and coming right forwards to the front. On several occasions I nearly get a bass guitar in the face.

Tallulah switches her electric guitar for an acoustic one to perform the slightly quieter combo of ‘Pharmacy’ and ‘Lights On.’

The back end of the show features several of my top HotWax tracks. ‘Hard Goodbye’ has become my favourite non-single track from Hot Shock and the penultimate track is the outstanding ‘One More Reason.’ A few more tracks of the same calibre of ‘One More Reason’ will quickly see them progressing to the next level. The only real surprise is that ‘Drop’ does not feature and does not seem to have featured this tour.

As an hour of music this performance flies past, full of energy and enjoyment. All three know how to work their instruments and collectively they have an ear for a groove. They just need a few more strong hooks and lyrics to match that consistently excellent backing rhythm. One feels that unless the world really is an unjust place we will not be seeing HotWax around Reading in a venue this small again. You get a real sense of them as a supportive unit, all looking out for each other and enjoying the journey they are on. Long may it continue.