There are only a handful of venues here in Los Angeles that are as iconic and as historic as The Shrine. Opening in 1926 it has seen its fair share of legendary artists. Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, The Grateful Dead, and almost every other generational musician. Playing there is an achievement all in its own, but to sell it out is another thing entirely. Wax Motif did just that. Selling out an iconic venue in a country half way across the world from his own. Wax and his team turned the Shrine into Chinatown for the night. Transporting the crowd to a place of mystery and excitement. With supporting acts Ayybo and Deeper Purpose the crowd filled out early and was thumbing before Wax even went on. With an amazing line-up and production that transported you from here to there attendees were in for one hell of a night.
House of Wax did not disappoint.
Lasers. Music. Lights. Visuals. Trasnporting Chinatown to the Shrine couldn’t have been an easy task. From rice-paper lamps hanging from the ceiling, to the classic Chinese arches the ambience could not have been better. Wax’s team spent no expense to make sure it was one for the books. Each visual from the massive screen kaleidoscoping behind Wax to the lanterns floating in the fog above added another sense to the music. You forget where you are. The only thing you can see is the lights in the fog guiding you through. Sight and sound. Bodies moving. Bodies raging. One hell of a night.
Wax Motif’s tracks are the perfect marriage of infectious bass-lines, mind-bending drops, and catchy hooks that’ll have you mesmerized all over the dance floor. The beats are so infectious you can’t help but move, whether you’re a dance floor gremlin or someone with two left feet his music is a party. He takes the best elements of house music, bass, RnB and mixes a sprinkle of pure magic into a cocktail that’s impossible to resist. Wax’s genius lies in his ability to balance the nostalgic charm of classic house music with the cutting-edge sounds of the future. It’s as if he’s taken the best elements from the different eras of music and tailor-made them for the next generation of groove-seeking maniacs. We got a chance to catch up with Wax before his show to find out where he’s been and where he’s going.
So, tour looks absolutely mental. Thank you. What are some of the top three, four spots that you gotta go back to? Venues, cities?
Oh man. There’s probably more than three, but I will say probably, can I put Texas in one category? Dallas and Houston. Dallas is amazing. I feel like the South is just getting so much better for house music. New York, obviously. And I don’t know, I should just say a random city, but I just want to say LA.
So, tour essentials. What’s a must for Wax Motif?
All right. I’m pretty good at this. So right now, I have to take, well, I mean gym clothes, so I have shoes and stuff. Weirdly enough, well actually not weirdly enough, like AirPods and like an Apple Watch. Also, let me see, wet wipes. Wet wipes, damn, so that’s, I think that’s maybe a good answer. You need wet wipes because sometimes you can’t have a shower. Lately I’ve been taking Crocs.
So being halfway around the world, right? That’s fucking pretty insane. Breaking out and starting a music career is also fucking insane. It’s totally in the opposite of what parents might think is possible. What’s like a crazy come -up story that you remember that sticks in your mind?
I’ve had a few, but I’d say probably one of the earliest ones was in Australia I got booked to open for Craze and Z-trip. I don’t know if you know who those guys are. They’re really well-known turntable-less. Grandmaster Flash. Grandmaster Flash shit very technically. So when I got booked to open for them that’s kind of a first room. Yeah, I’m like yeah, I’m kind of decent. I mean that’s like the moment we’re all fucking striving for, its like a moment we’re like, the haters can fuck it.
So, you know music, you know is like an evolution right you take things from this place from rock from metal from different genres to kind of try to make your own sound, what’s your roots or initial music style you loved and what have your tried to bring into your own sound?
Well, definitely a lot of dance music. But rap and R&B. Rap and R&B, yeah. Outside of dance music, that’s probably the only other stuff I listen to. Well, I can’t betray house music.
What’s the next goalpost for you? Because I’m sure it was at first signing your first track to a label and then the goalpost moves to playing your first show, then moves to selling out The Shrine in L. A. What’s the goalpost now for you?
The goalpost for live shows is definitely to get to the next tier of venues, which we’re already looking at for next year, which is great. Obviously, I’d like to hit things like the Mirage and all. In terms of personal goals or music goals, I haven’t really had a whole lot of time to think about what I want to do next lately, which is after this tour, I plan to take a bit of time off and hit a personal reset and just make sure I’m going the direction I want to go. It’s just trying to work out what really is something I want to achieve and how realistic those goals are.
In a world full of musical superheroes, Wax Motif is the DJ you call when you need the ultimate party soundtrack. He plays all around the world so I am sure he will come to a city by you. Don’t miss him.
