Wax Fang
Wax Fang began as one man's basement vision of how rock 'n' roll might sound if it simultaneously existed in the past and future, stopping in the present just long enough to stupefy listeners.
In creating the core of Wax Fang's catalog, Scott Carney dedicated months to overdubbing intricate layers of music for what initially was a solo project in every sense. The resulting album, BLACK & ENDLESS NIGHT, is the sound of a record collection imploding, combining glam-rock, pop, and surf riffs with the dreamy ambience of vintage Brian Eno and David Bowie.
Carney then decided to do a little exploding. He found a fierce band in drummer Kevin Ratterman and bassist Jacob Heustis, who took the album's warm precision and blew it apart in all the right ways. With those two providing a deep, resourceful bottom end, Carney was free to indulge in his distinctive, aggressive guitar playing.
Following their first US tour in August of 2006, Wax Fang embarked on a more grandiose journey, supporting fellow Louisvillians, My Morning Jacket, on their Fall Tour. Upon their return, they eagerly headed to the famed Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN to begin recording their forthcoming album, LA LA LAND, with engineer Doug Easley.
After spending New Year’s Eve ’07 in style, opening for MMJ at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, Wax Fang entered Ratterman's enchanting studio, The Funeral Home (housed on the 2nd floor of the family owned and operated funeral home located in a 150 year old building in West Louisville), for their second round of recording.
The self-produced LA LA LAND was then mixed with renowned indie producer, Mark Nevers, in Nashville, TN, shortly after being hand picked by Spoon to open for them in the Music City. Spending so much time in Nashville during an age of a struggling music industry provoked the unsigned Wax Fang to preserve their DIY aesthetic by creating their own label, Don't Panic! Records, for the release of their new album.
LA LA LAND expands the dense, spacey layers echoed on BLACK & ENDLESS NIGHT into a whole new psychedelic universe. Opening track 'Majestic' finds the band channeling their inner Pink Floyd through delicate sound collages and soaring guitar riffs, held together with the mortar of the Ratterman/ Heustis rhythm section and christened with Carney's vivid lyrics and uncanny form of delivery. The air swells like a swarm of ten thousand bees on 'At Sea.' The thunderous pop of 'The Doctor Will See You Now' unites the noble families of Led Zeppelin and Brain Eno through an unadulterated marriage of sound. The instrumental fury of 'Avant Guardian Angel Dust' bends your mind into an aural oblivion while the warm, acoustic tingle of 'Oh, Recklessness' recalls your coming-of-age.
With LA LA LAND, Wax Fang have created music that's instantly familiar and yet vaguely other-worldly — it exists just slightly left of reality, where bar clocks are always 15 minutes slow and the bourbon is endless. It's a world you want to visit. Just don't count on leaving.
