Wax Mannequin was born in the smoke and industry of Hamilton; a damaged, underdog town; a perfect breeding ground for strange, variant things. Incorporating folk, scrappy prog-metal and a tireless creative ethic, Wax infused his local influences with road-broken experience to forge something unsettlingly new. Solo (accompanied by heavy devices and an angry, nylon-string guitar) or band-backed (with Mark Raymond on bass and Aidan Campbell on percussion), Wax Mannequin has toured incessantly within Canada over the past six years, with more recent forays into Europe and Australia. Wax Mannequin now finds himself a forerunner in a strange new movement: roaming recluses and attention-seekers -- solo-performers, equipped with laptops, damaged instruments and decaying minivans, making new sounds, informed by hard travel and rough living. Wax's thought-provoking live performances and acclaimed recordings have garnered the fervent support of the creative underclass in his home country as well as a burgeoning international reputation. After a comparitively sedentary half-year year of close-to-home travel, teaching grade two students and recording with Andy Magoffin, a wiser, drunker Wax Mannequin emerges. He readies himself again for the glories and pitfalls of the trans-Canada, and the trans-atlantic. Wax's impending release 'Saxon' (summer 2009) will mark a gritty return to the psych-folk roots of this rambling iconoclast.
“By training his inner animal enough to let it run free with his muse, Wax Mannequin has given birth to a brilliant bestial gem of audio mythology.” -Exclaim! (Toronto/Canada))| Review of Orchard and Ire | August 2007
"Part wandering minstrel, part rock animal, Wax Mannequin combines a fine sense of prog-rock parody with intense sincerity and lyrical smarts. He will indoctrinate you with chilling harmonies, absurd lyrics and the almighty power of the guitar." - dB Magazine (Australia) | September 2004
"I could start off with a catch-all like 'shockingly good songwriter' or 'eclectic artist,' and while that would partly describe Hamilton's Wax Mannequin, it would do the man a great disservice to leave it at that." -Now Magazine (Toronto)| Disc of the Week | JUNE 28 - JULY 4 2007 | VOL. 26 NO. 43 |
Wax Mannequin has been here for something like one hundred centuries, but right now, Wax Mannequin is the only knife-face. He is the fighter. He is roses out of his skin that bleed him as he pulls. But most important, he is music of the biggest fight style. It’s where you punch and slice your own dying stuff into fresh, ripe meats for selling and sharing. It’s where you give everything you had for an instant in his arms. Because he can seriously change the way you feel inside.
Do you know the painting that you see on some greeting cards where all of the animals are sitting together, stoic and proud in the forest, and there in the background, rising in the sky, it's the earth? You have to ask “why aren't the animals trying to fight and eat each other? They are fucking enemies!” and “why is the earth rising into the sky? If the earth is in the sky, then where the fuck are we?” That shit is Wax Mannequin. Kind of lame... but so important and gripping.
Wax Mannequin is on his fourth record. The first two were quiet bedroom recordings featuring eerie computer melodies and other noises. With his third -- the Price -- Wax brought powerful rock abilities into the studio. It's a record of supreme catchiness and ridiculous aggression. It is performed with great focus and sincerity. The songs sound like jokes at first, but they are serious. It's kind of an extreme form of joke that pushes through funny and becomes serious all over again -- but serious in a loud, dizzy, pukey way. The dizziness and sincerity communicate the complexities of being a human in interesting times -- the insecurity, the doubt, the triumph and the wisdom gained through experience.
Wax Mannequin's fourth disc -- Orchard & Ire -- is being released now on Infinite Heat. This record does many of the same things as The Price, but this time, as you listen, the music places the white hot sun in your spine. Heavy, dramatic, melody-driven songs like 'Everything Proper' and 'Animals Jump' counter pose surreally subdued tunes like 'Almost Everyone' and 'Animals Come Home'. Lyrical themes interweave: the absurd becomes profound and the funny becomes sad as the careful listener is drawn deeper into the ridiculous yet strangely logical mythology that Wax has been weaving since he began.
He has been touring back and forth in Canada for the past five years. He also brought his shit to Australia. In the beginning he played his classical guitar and gave people cards where they collected points and "super powers" for coming to his shows. But, disturbed by the cultish success of his "system", Wax stripped down the shenanigans, and upped the supreme power by adding heavy machines and an angry electric guitar. Now the roses come out of his skin when he gets excited. They are a problem, and he throws them at the audience, but it hurts and they keep coming back.
If you can deal with that, Wax Mannequin will change your life. If not, you get to eat a blade.
Wax Man's video for Message from the Queen:
Video for The Price (featured repeatedly on Much Music's 'The Wedge'!):
A crazy video for The Weather that a neat guy made:
Ah, you're also playing at the famous Jam-Inn :-) with Mark Lotterman! A good combination. Any chance you're coming to Utrecht? Well Tiel is also doable by train I guess.
I'm happy to announce that my new album "Songs From The Films Of David Lynch" is out now.
"Truly unsettling and perplexingly brilliant... testament to both the quality of Lynch’s soundtracks and Truax’s talents" - The Skinny
"Truax is paying homage to a kindred spirit with this album. It's the best kind of tribute – affectionate and respectful, but with its own quirks and imaginative leaps and its own distinct identity." -The Scotsman
I am really glad that we are space friends now. Orchard and Ire was in the CD-changer rotation in my pickup truck for many months after I bought a copy from you in Sackville last summer. Even better than The Price, in many ways. See you at Sappy Fest 2009!
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