Interview Big Special and HotWax: The DIY Now + Next Tour Preview

Hello everyone! Where are you both calling in from right now?
Lola Sam, HotWax: We’re on tour at the moment with Frank Carter. We’re in a Travelodge in Stoke.
Tallulah Sim-Savage, HotWax: There’s literally nothing here apart from a Subway.
Joe Hicklin, Big Special: I’m just sat on my own at home; we’ve been finishing up the album and sending everything off.

Let’s cast our minds back to the beginning - can you both remember your first gig as your current band?
Joe: I was mad nervous for the first few months of playing shows. I kept wishing I’d break an ankle or something during the day so I wouldn’t have to do it. When I first started performing spoken word stuff, I would absolutely dread it; it was like walking down the green mile. Over time, I’ve really fallen in love with performing, but any time there’s a little break of more than a couple of weeks I get scared I’m gonna have forgotten how to do it. Do you feel like that.
Tallulah: 100%. Me and Lola laugh about this quite a lot, but pretty much every night we have the same dream where we’re playing a gig and either we have an instrument we’ve never played before, or all the songs are covers, or we just can’t do it. It’s a horrible dream that I have every night so I know how you feel!
Joe: I used to have a dream where I’d just slowly lie down on the stage and then I couldn’t get up.
Lola: Our first gig with Alfie [Sayers, drummer] was in 2021 but HotWax has been a thing since 2019. That gig with the three of us was just when gigs had started to not be seated, and it was a big venue for us.
Tallulah: It was really scary because it was one of the biggest gigs we’d done but it was fun. We sounded really different then; we found a video on our phone the other day and it’s all wah pedals just like ‘WAHWAHWAH!’

Are there people that either of you take inspiration from as performers when you’re on stage?
Tallulah: Definitely when we were growing up. I remember on my birthday we saw Starcrawler and Arrow the frontwoman was just like, WOW. On stage, you can just be yourself but there’s another part of you that comes out where you can do whatever you want and you get this weird confidence that you don’t really have.
Lola: The amount of gigs we’ve done now, the confidence has grown. We still get nervous but we’re used to it now. Even a year ago, if you watched us, we’d have been very shy.
Tallulah: But also, if I’m on a stage without Lola and Alfie, that’s terrifying. When we were on tour with Royal Blood, I had to play a song with them every night on guitar and I would be SO scared. Absolutely terrified. So it’s having those people you’ve always been on stage with there with you that gives you that confidence.
Joe: I defo agree with that. I see it as a chance to act in a way that you can’t act in public otherwise you’ll get arrested. It’s a chance to go a bit fucking mad; if you get over the line of the nerves, you might as well go full whack.

Have there been any rock’n’roll injuries along the way?
Tallulah: I always have injuries but they’re not even from being on stage. I’m just a very clumsy person. There are lots of broken toes and cuts…

Is there any established tour bus etiquette in the HotWax and Big Special buses?
Tallulah: Alfie wishes!
Lola: Me and Tallulah aren’t allowed in the front, we have to sit in the back. We spill everything.
Tallulah: We’re gross. I feel bad… We’re just a bit slobbish…
Lola: We don’t EAT slobbish, we just drop things and chat shit. We travel in a van and all the rows in the back have all the luggage on it, and then we’ll find a pot of hummus that’s been there all tour.
Joe: Our van is just us fighting for the window seat so we can have a ciggy. Lots of sandwiches, lots of meal deals. We try to rotate albums so everyone gets a go. We’ve been listening to a lot of the post-trad Irish stuff coming out like Lankum and Lisa O’Neill.
Lola: We’ll listen to bands on the line-ups that we’re playing, so we know what they’re like.

Are there any go-to pre-gig songs that you hype yourself by listening to?
Lola: We keep forgetting our speakers…
Tallulah: Every time, we forget. I hate it when it’s silent in the dressing room, it’s so annoying. You’re about to go on stage and it’s just… the sound of someone eating a crisp. Every gig we do we say, we really need to make the vibe a lot better in this dressing room, and then every time it doesn’t happen. Do you have a song?
Joe: We’re not that prepared either. Especially if you’ve got the nerves too - I wish I could just sit in a cupboard until the gig happens. After the gig I’m happy and I can chill out.

Do either of you have any hot tips for the cities the other one is playing?
Alfie: Big Special are playing Green Door Store in Brighton where I’m from; that venue’s like home. There’s loads of pubs and venues nearby, and the Lanes are just down the road.
Joe: If I remember right, there’s a pizza vending machine by the station? That feels like the next stage of civilisation. Have you tried it?
Tallulah: I’ve had it probably three times. I had it for breakfast once.

And can we expect this tour to be a party tour?
Tallulah: It’s always a two hour drive back to the Travelodge so you can’t, but we’ll have a van party.
Joe: We end up going back and Cal [Moloney, drums] will make us a ginger tea and then go to bed.
Tallulah: Me and Lola will share a Pot Noodle with a teaspoon.

Rock’n’roll clearly isn’t dead, eh guys. See you on the tour!

As you’ve probably gathered by now, Big Special and HotWax will hit the road next month for five shows each, alongside Grandmas House and Aziya respectively. What’s more, they’ll be joined by a different buzzy local support at each gig. We’ll see you down the front.

Big Special and Grandmas House
APRIL 2024
03 Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach (w/ Slate)
04 Oxford, Bullingdon (w/ The Pill)
05 Sheffield, Yellow Arch Studio (w/ Really Good Time)
06 Brighton, Green Door Store (w/ Saloon Dion)
07 Southampton, Joiners (w/ Alien Chicks)

HotWax and Aziya
APRIL 2024
09 Birkenhead, Future Yard (w/ Trout)
10 Manchester, Deaf Institute (w/ Duvet)
11 Glasgow, Stereo (w/ Brenda)
12 Newcastle, Cluny (w/ Cat Ryan)
13 Leeds, Wardrobe (w/ Nxdia)

Tickets are on sale now via myticket.co.uk here.

Tags: BIG SPECIAL, HotWax, From The Magazine, Features, Interviews