Artist Management | 12.08.2022

WAAX RELEASES NEW ALBUM AT LEAST I’M FREE + NEW SINGLE AND VIDEO NO DOZ

Image Credit: Finnian Mullen

“You would be hard-pressed to find a live act in Australia right now that’s more feverish than WAAX.”
– PILERATS

“WAAX have redefined what it means to be punk in the 21st century.”
– THE MUSIC

“We already know WAAX can rock, but the Brisbane shredders are heading in exciting directions for their second album.”
– TRIPLE J

Today, WAAX releases their highly anticipated second studio album At Least I’m Freevia Dew Process. Awash in samples and programmed beats as well as gargantuan riffs and, of course, frontwoman Maz DeVita’s spine-tingling howl, At Least I’m Free telegraphs the band’s ambition to step beyond ‘Australian rock’ and into a weirder, wilder landscape.   Following the release, the Meanjin based four-piece will perform a 22-date national album tour this October to December.

At Least I’m Free is paired with the genre-bending and standout new single No Doz, which was co-written with US rock superstar K.Flay, and captures the key-experimentation behind the record. “No Doz is about control. More specifically it’s about losing it. In the video I have no control in the shopping trolley. I am at the mercy of the band who is pushing me around. The video reflects the newer, fresher vibe that we were going for when writing No Doz. It’s filled with energy, reckless abandon and bursts of colour,” says DeVita.

WAAX will also make a record store appearance this afternoon at Sonic Sherpa in Brisbane, with an acoustic performance and signing copies of their new album At Least I’m Free. See below for full details.

You might consider At Least I’m Free as something like a second debut album for WAAX — a creative and emotional rebirth that’s resulted in some of the band’s finest, punchiest songs ever. The eleven track collection sees them teaming up with the production team behind their debut breakout album Big Grief – Bernard Fanning (Powderfinger) and Grammy Award-Winner Nick DiDia (Rage Against The Machine), as well a co-write with Linda Perry on Dangerous.

At Least I’m Free contains some of WAAX’s most vibrant, emotionally nuanced songs to date — scream-your-heart-out punk tracks that, nonetheless, are generous and empathic in a way that’s reflective of DeVita’s emotional state while she was writing the album. “I feel like with our last record, it was all ‘Fuck you’,” she says. The breakup that inspired this album, on the other hand, was due to faults on both sides — perfect fodder for some of DeVita’s most subtle, emotive songs to date. “I don’t want to hate people — I feel like as I’m getting older, I just don’t have the time to hold on to grudges.”

You can hear that kindness seeping through on songs like Read Receipts and Man Like Me, the latter song’s chorus of “I hope you learn to love yourself/I hope you find peace” providing one of the album’s most striking moments. And you can hear it, too, on the galvanizing Most Hated Girl, on which DeVita counters the outlandish self-laceration she would dole out as a 16-year-old while acknowledging the ways the system fails young women. Best of all is Same Bitch, a song that finds DeVita embracing the glorious messiness of her own personality, and was partially inspired by the unapologetic chaos of the stars of The Real Housewives of Melbourne: “Darling, you know me, I’m still that same bitch!”

WAAX has been to hell and back and, now, they’re charging forward — with clear eyes, a fighting spirit, and, most of all, the freedom they’ve always craved.

WAAX RECORD STORE SIGNING + ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE

Friday 12 August @ 4:30pm | Sonic Sherpa
Location: 12/360 Logan Rd, Stones Corner QLD

AT LEAST I’M FREE TOUR DATES
Presented by triple j, Unified Music Group & Select Music
Tickets are on sale now HERE
Special guests to be announced

Thursday 6 October – Kambri, Canberra ACT
Friday 7 October – Metro Theatre, Sydney NSW
Saturday 8 October – Unibar, Wollongong NSW
Thursday 13 October – Pub Rock Diner, Devonport TAS
Friday 14 October – Royal Oak, Launceston TAS
Saturday 15 October – Altar, Hobart, TAS
Thursday 20 October – The Northern, Byron Bay NSW
Friday 21 October – Hoey Moey, Coffs Harbour NSW
Saturday 22 October – Burleigh Bazaar, Gold Coast QLD
Friday 4 November – The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 5 November – Eleven, Sunshine Coast QLD
Thursday 10 November – Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide SA
Friday 11 November – Freo Social, Fremantle WA
Saturday 12 November – Prince Of Wales, Bunbury WA
Friday 18 November – The Cambridge, Newcastle NSW
Saturday 19 November – Sunken Monkey, Erina NSW
Friday 25 November – Seabreeze Hotel, Mackay QLD
Saturday 26 November – The Warehouse, Townsville QLD
Sunday 27 November – Edgehill Tavern, Cairns QLD
Thursday 1 December – Volta – Ballarat VIC
Friday 2 December – 170 Russell, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 3 December – Torquay Hotel, Torquay VIC

DOWNLOAD ARTWORK

WAAX
AT LEAST I’M FREE – OUT NOW

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