Wax Idols is the brainchild of Heather Fedewa, a.k.a. Heather Fortune, inhabitant of the lively garage, post-punk scene percolating in the nooks and crevices of San Francisco. Previous/current credits include Hunx & His Punx, Bare Wires, Blasted Canyons: these influences, and more, have been rolled over into the rollicking full length LP No Future. Connoisseurs will pick up hints of ‘60s girl groups, Sleater Kinney, and the Bangles in the 30+ minute romp that intersperses harder-edged post-punk ditties with softer-edged proto-punk stylings, playing in and around the listener’s genre expectations to mostly good effect.
"Dilno" and "Sand In My Joints" fire out of the barrel like high-speed pop-punk should. Wax Idols has a gift for mixing up the tempos on the album to keep the ear fresh. When the tempo slows to a quiet crawl – as it does at various moments in "Nothing At All" – a handy refrain picks up the slack, pulling the listener back in. The real comfort zone of the band appears to be the mid tempo proto-punk burner. One red hot lick, a chugging chord progression, Joan Jett (QRO photos) vocals layered atop old school backup chorus, plus some sweet percussion: that’s the recipe for Wax Idols at their best.
Extra credit goes to Heather Fortune for not just milking the punk persona onstage, but also interweaving the warts-and-all brooding into the fabric of the album. The track "Uneasy", with its call to the listener to "stay away," is reminiscent of Kathleen Hanna’s plaints in Bikini Kill’s "Capri Pants". "If you see me / If you see me / Just go away / Just go away / If I run / If I run / Don’t follow me / Just go away." There’s an intriguing and undeniable contradiction to a public performer that tries, consciously or not, to push away its fans as quickly as they accumulate. Strange stuff, strange brew, which won’t be solved anytime soon. The songs on No Future cash in on the intrigue and the humanness of the ‘all too human’ fix, and Heather Fortune has got some real star power insofar as she can hold that line between attraction and repulsion.
Points off for some uneven production overall, as on the song "Grey Area", which sounds like a great demo, but needs a little more time in the oven. There are enough killer tracks though, like "Gold Sneakers" and "Human Condition", to lift No Future and Wax Idols into select territory. The chops are there, the song writing is there, the star power is there, the band is there. If a follow-up album hits it out of the park, plenty of Johnny-come-latelys will testify to the ‘unmistakable’ signs of greatness in No Future. But until then Wax Idols will have to deal with 7.9s from the likes of QRO Magazine.
MP3 Stream: "Gold Sneakers"
