By Rich Hobson

Artwork for Gastwerk Saboteurs by Imperial WaxImperial Wax might be a new name on the scene, but its musicians most definitely aren’t. Messrs Keiron Melling, Dave Spurr and Pete Greenway will most instantly be recognised as the longest serving members of legendary post-punk outfit The Fall, as well as that band’s final line-up prior to the death of frontman Mark E Smith in 2018. Rather than squandering an 11-year fermentation process which had given the band a vital chemistry – and eschewing the modern tendency towards upholding a band-name long after its most notable musicians have left the planet – the musicians banded together with frontman Sam Curran to create something new and vital from the ashes of their previous band.

Right from the very off with ‘Gastwerk Saboteurs’ there is a prevailing sense of joyous freedom to the music; not having a legacy hanging around your neck like an albatross will do that. Unsurprisingly Imperial Wax have kept their boots firmly planted in punk, post-punk and garage rock territories for this debut, the record’s bombastic ‘The Art of Projection’ evoking the kind of frantic joyousness that The Buzzcocks could perfectly capture in their heyday. With this, the band kick things off with a bang, not so much letting the listener in gently as booting the doors in and demanding the party get going regardless of what has come before.

“What has come before” is a pretty good descriptor for much of what Imperial Wax do – this isn’t a band reinventing the wheel, nor offering anything particularly novel to the formula. What they do have though is a sense of heart and an unwavering ear for wicked tunes which carries them a very long way, taking The Ramones’ model of finding something that works and hitting the button repeatedly until the whole console falls apart. ‘Turncoat’ has the kind of groove and danceability that wouldn’t feel a million miles removed from the late 80s madchester scene – particularly Happy Mondays – but sits like the missing link between that scene and the punk provocateurs that inspired it in the first place.

In spite of the band’s transitional leanings – ping-ponging around subgenres like a hyperactive kid in a candy shop – the band create an unwavering foundation that they build the whole record on, each song coming with tonnes of heart and soul. This is how you’ll find yourself pogoing to the psychobilly stylings of ‘Plant The Seed’ only to come crashing down for the more introspective post-punk of ‘Barely Getting By’, the shift in gears not feeling so jarring as each song is tackled with equal vigour. The production of the record certainly doesn’t hurt things at all – Mat Arnold (The Fall, Peter Gabriel) giving a thick, fully-rounded sound to the record that marks it out from your usual rough-and-ready punk or garage offering.

That doesn’t mean ‘Gastwerk Saboteurs’ is polished though – far from it, this record has the kind of hardness that comes inherent to small clubs and indifferent audiences, the sweat positively dripping from every note. No, this is production more akin to the greats of rock ‘n’ roll – think the absolute clarity of a Hendrix Experience, losing none of the inherent ferocity whilst also making sure every single instrument rings clear and true. Perhaps simply through the associations with The Fall, but there is an inherent northern-ness to the sound of Imperial Wax which feels like it could only have been cultivated at the top-end of the M6. Think of the impending bar-brawl energy Arctic Monkeys cultivated on ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ or ‘From The Ritz To The Rubble’ and you’ll find a kindred sense of thinly veiled of sneering preparation, the idea of a band not looking for a fight but ready to end it if one should erupt.

Even the musical compositions of this album seem to hint towards that combat-readiness; you’ll hear Stooges like growls in the guitars of ‘Poison Ivy’, or drunken cacophonies at the end of a rope for instrumental ‘Wax Off’, both tracks held together by spit and grit. As with all the great brawlers, Imperial Wax don’t rely on fists and violence to communicate their point – there is a crooning swagger to ‘More Fool Me’ that would surely put a smile on the face of a Bon Scott or Phil Lynott type, the gentleness painting the band as rogueish scamps more than out-and-out bruisers.

‘Gastwerk Saboteurs’ is a record which neither reinvents the wheel, nor gets misty eyed about the good ol’ days of rock n roll. Instead it treads that most fabled ground in between; playing a recognisable, well known style from the heart whilst capturing the spirit of what came before it. Never dull for a moment and packed with some extremely promising songs from the off, this record presents a bright new future for its members, and a solid touchstone for where to go when revisiting the classics.

  • ‘Gastwerk Saboteurs’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.

Imperial Wax play the following dates this summer:

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