{"id":22111,"date":"2018-01-11T10:30:56","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T15:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/?p=22111"},"modified":"2018-08-09T17:04:54","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T21:04:54","slug":"interview-wax-idols-happy-ending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/interview-wax-idols-happy-ending\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW: Wax Idols Redefine Their Happy Ending With New LP"},"content":{"rendered":"

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all photos by Kristin Cofer<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

For Hether Fortune of Wax Idols, there\u2019s no such thing as a fairy tale ending. There\u2019s simply life \u2013 the bleakest aspects of which have often become fodder for her musical output \u2013 and death, the finality of which she\u2019s come to theorize may be the sweetest release. On Wax Idols\u2019 forthcoming record Happy Ending<\/em>, slated for release sometime this spring, Fortune spins another of her dark, personal narratives, with one major difference; she\u2019s learned to give up some of the control she had over her past work and let what was essentially a solo project evolve into something she\u2019s always dreamed it would become \u2013 a full band.<\/p>\n

Though Wax Idols has featured other musicians in the past \u2013 nearly a dozen over the years, by Fortune\u2019s estimate \u2013 it was always a vehicle for Fortune\u2019s songwriting, with a revolving door policy when it came to who played along. \u201cI\u2019ve tried to keep things very fluid and amicable and friendly,\u201d says Fortune when we speak over the phone. \u201c[\/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Other musicians] have been involved in varying degrees and it\u2019s always been chill. You contribute what you want, I\u2019ll credit you appropriately, and if you can\u2019t do it anymore it\u2019s okay.\u201d Her laissez-faire approach worked well enough over the course of three emotionally raw LPs: 2011 debut No Future<\/em> leaned heavily on the San Francisco garage punk scene from whence it came; 2013 saw a turn toward goth-tinged post-punk for Discipline + Desire<\/em>; by 2015, American Tragic<\/em> placed Wax Idols solidly in the moody dreampop sphere.<\/p>\n

That was when a permanent Wax Idols lineup began to congeal. Multi-instrumentalist Rachel Travers, who played drums on American Tragic<\/em>, became a core part of the band; Fortune\u2019s longtime friend Peter Lightning (of Some Ember) joined them, and \u201ceverything changed,\u201d according to Fortune. \u201cOnce we started playing music together, we realized that we could do this for real, like we could write together,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s something that I\u2019ve never really had. I\u2019ve never had a pure collaborative relationship with someone.\u201d Travers began writing guitar parts in addition to drumming duties. And although bassist Marisa Prietto would eventually opt not to join Wax Idols full time since she lives in Los Angeles, she ended up writing the chorus for \u201cDevour,\u201d which turned out to be one of Fortune\u2019s favorite songs on the LP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted this project to be a band – that\u2019s why I called it Wax Idols and not my name. I was always hoping that the right people would find the project and stick,\u201d says Fortune. The result of writing her first truly collaborative album, she says, wasn\u2019t a distillation of her sound, but cohesion. \u201cNow it\u2019s much more streamlined; it finally feels more like what Wax Idols music really sounds like,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s taken a lot of weight off of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the reason those first three records sound so disparate, she admits, is that she was \u201ctrying to cram too many ideas into one place with Wax Idols.\u201d Collaborating with a full band helped her focus and define the project, and while touring behind the reissue of American Tragic<\/em>, an idea for the next album began to take shape. \u201c[The title Happy Ending<\/em>] came to me when we were in the van on tour two summers ago,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThe initial concept was meant to be this sort of fictional narrative about somebody who has moved beyond the body, a kind of tongue-in-cheek happy ending, like: I\u2019m not stuck in this flesh carcass any more.\u201d Wax Idols released a single, \u201cEverybody Gets What They Want<\/a>,\u201d as an early teaser. But in the wake of a tragedy that hit too close to home, the band shelved their work in progress, eventually scrapping many of the songs and reworking others. Fortune was no longer interested in writing an esoteric concept album \u2013 because she had to rely on writing music to save herself.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve had severe depression for as long as I can remember, paired with crippling anxiety, which turned into a panic disorder over the years. In the last year or so, it got really dark, darker than it\u2019s been since I was a teenager,” Fortune says. “I have attempted suicide twice in my life. And I got pretty close at the beginning of last year to trying again. But I was able to pull myself back. Realizing how dark things were last year and seeing how it was affecting my loved ones, and my band and everything, I just was like, something has to change.\u201d Fortune went back to therapy. And she began writing noise-driven solo material<\/a> without any self-imposed boundaries, to move past feelings of self-loathing and self-doubt. \u201cI just did my best to quiet those voices, or even if I couldn\u2019t keep them quiet, I tried to give them an outlet in sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

She realizes now that at the beginning of her career, she\u2019d tried to project a hardened, give-no-fucks attitude, but that in the end, this wasn\u2019t an honest portrayal of the emotional devastation she felt inside. \u201cI think that was empowering to an extent,\u201d she says, \u201cbut a lot of it was really me trying to hide the fact that I was ill, and was really scared of dying. I think it does a disservice to myself, to fans, to peers, or whoever, to not tell the truth, which is that I have severe mental illness, and it\u2019s a struggle for me every day.\u201d In one of Wax Idols\u2019 most arresting new songs, \u201cCrashing,\u201d Fortune sings openly about suicidal ideation – not to glamorize it, but as a way to communicate what it\u2019s really like for those, like herself, that have been \u201cat the brink of death.\u201d Fortune hopes this radical honesty will help destigmatize mental illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrashing\u201d is one of a handful of songs<\/a> that survived the first iteration of Happy Ending<\/em>, along with \u201cToo Late,\u201d \u201cScream,\u201d and \u201cBelong.\u201d Wax Idols played them live for the better part of a year before taking them into the studio, which Fortune says made recording them \u201ca breeze;\u201d to complete the album, they put together \u201cimpeccable\u201d demos, then re-tracked them at Ruminator Audio<\/a>, where Fortune says she \u201cworked her ass off\u201d trying out new vocal techniques and experimenting with \u201cthe fun stuff \u2013 nuanced post production things, weird sounds and textures.\u201d Fortune says the content of Happy Ending<\/em> is some of the darkest she\u2019s put to tape \u2013 which is no small statement, given her back catalogue \u2013 but that hashing it out in the studio brought her some relief, even if the bulk of that came just from being able to complete the record.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was painful content-wise, but [making the record] felt exciting and we could tell we were pushing ourselves, and it was a great record to make. It was difficult but it felt really authentic, it felt right,\u201d she says. \u201c[This record] stayed with me for a year and half through all kinds of hell and turmoil and struggle with creating it, so I feel like I had to keep it intact. I\u2019m seeing it through \u2018til the end, seeing the idea through.\u201d That sentiment gives the record\u2019s title its true weight; making meaningful art out death, out of struggle, and out of our darkest moments is perhaps the happiest ending any of us can strive for.<\/p>\n

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Wax Idols plays our Audiofemme showcase<\/a> at Elsewhere, Zone One, on Friday, January 12 with Bootblacks and Desert Sharks. Check out Hether’s exclusive Audiofemme playlist below – we’ll see you at the show!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n