So, How is that Band at the Glitterbox?

It takes a team to be successful. Wax On, a multi-genre project out of Lowell, Massachusetts, embraces this ideology in full-force. Although the band began as Dany Cady’s (Vocals/Guitar) “ska brainchild from high school,” it soon began to blend influences and styles as Nick Capezzuto (Bass), Mike Colucci (Drums), and Luke Pelletier (Vocals/Guitar) joined the team. When Wax on “picked up Jordan Collard (Trumpet), [their] most recent member, while getting [their] bearings and establishing [themselves] among Rhode Island music groups in college,” the group appeared to be complete to outsiders but Wax On says that they would “be very lame without [their] art team, with Anna Stevens directing concept art and Wiley Bumtail behind the camera.”

Over the past two years, Wax On has pushed themselves to “grow as entrepreneurs, musicians, and friends,” and have played with bands like Ripe and A Great Big Pile of Leaves as a result. In April 2018, the band released a full-length album, and was then selected as The Deli New England’s Artist of the Month in November 2018. More recently, Wax On finished their first tour down the east coast from Richmond, Virginia to Lowell, Massachusetts. On August 24th, 2019, the band released a new single, “Congratulations! (So How is that Band at the Glitterbox?),” which stands as their latest release as more music is in the works.

Some of the most unique parts of the music industry are the novelty elements of music production and distribution, which are one of the band’s favorite parts of the process. The title of Wax On’s latest release “is a combination of what [they] were told upon leaving a super costly social institution versus what [they] felt like,” expressed in an acronym that is ready to be deciphered by curious fans. While the track itself is “mostly about feeling angry and lost as a millennial,” Wax On thinks it’s most important for listeners to determine the narrative. They hope that fans will find the humor in the track besides just focusing on the song’s elements of critique alone. “Lyrics are the most intimate communication between a songwriter and an audience because they marry the worlds of art and language, so it’s super important to us that we’re understood, y’know?”

The bouncy, dynamic guitar introduction to the single is accompanied by energetic percussion, which brings us into the vocals with a drum roll. The delivery of the lyrics is one of the most unique elements of the track, with a certain lilt to the vocals that gives the song as a whole a sarcastic, playful feel that matches the lyrics’ sardonic nature: “And he owes you a congratulations / Now that you made it to twenty-one / Twenty-one, twenty-one / In the spring, did the thing / Where a diploma tells the world that you’re smart / All the things you’ll do.” Although the tone of the vocals and the shallow-read of the lyrics themselves paint a caricature of growing up, their message shines through that leaving school and figuring out what to do with your life are far harder tasks than they seem.

The instrumentals of “Congratulations! (So How is that Band at the Glitterbox?)” are just as impressive as the depth to its lyrics. The perfect complement to the aggressive, driving nature to the track, each instrument has its part in creating different moods and aesthetics throughout the song’s 2:30 running time. Even during the quiet sections, trickles of instrumentals flow through, proving that Wax On is one of those bands that just knows how to balance their music.

Not only is “Congratulations! (So How is that Band at the Glitterbox?)” a fun track, but it is one whose message needs to be spread so students and graduates know they aren’t alone in their struggles with growing up.