Good evening everyone today on Tunes For Tuesday I’m featuring the lovely The Wax Birds who are a husband and wife duo originally from Yorkshire but now living in New Zealand. They consist of Jo (another Joanna!) on vocals and Pete on guitar. I discovered them through my good twitch friend Bring Me Rocks and they quickly became one of my favourite streams to hang out in. They have an amazing energy when performing and are so friendly and welcoming that it’s impossible not to get drawn in.
Jo & Pete were kind enough to answer some questions for me. So you can learn more about the Waxbirds and their music below
If you would like to follow The Wax Birds on Instagram or twitch you can do so by clicking on the links below.
How To Listen:
The Waxbirds have some truly beautiful originals that are sure to become favourites with music lovers. You can listen to their music on Spotify Nd YouTube. I have included the YouTube video for Just Different for you to enjoy below!
Interview:
Tell us a little about yourself?
Hello! We are Pete and Jo Green, AKA, “The Wax Birds”.We were both born and raised in Yorkshire in the UK but we’ve been living in New Zealand for the last 5 years.We have been married for 16 years….I think?! 😀
What first got you into music?
Pete’s dad first bought him a bass guitar when he was 13 so he could be part of the church band that his parents were pastors of. He then went onto Music Tech College and started playing and writing music for a couple of punk bands and later a rock band. Bass is his first love but he naturally went on to pick up drums and guitar too.Jo started singing at the age of 13 also and was quickly drafted into a church band as well. She went on to study ‘Popular Music” which deeped her love for all different genres of music and inspired her to write and sing in a heavy rock band.
Who inspired you to make music?
I guess we both inspire each other to write at the moment! It was always our intention to write music together.Artists who have inspired us to write recently are Foy Vance, Bahamas, Vintage Trouble, Brand New (a sentimental favorite band of ours), Matt Corby, a lot of old jazz/blues artists….the list is huge really!
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
This is a tough one! Because our influences are quite broad, it’s hard to pin down a genre. Some of our songs have a country twist, others, a folk or jazz element.
What is your creative process like?
Usually Pete will come up with a little guitar riff then I (Jo) will finish writing the melody and lyrics. Then we’ll come together and decide where we want the song to go musically.
Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Since joining the Twitch community, we’ve met so many awesome people that we’d love to collaborate with! Luna Kellar and Kalden Berg are at the top of the list. If we were dreaming, we’d LOVE to collaborate with The Bahamas. He writes such awesome songs and seems like an all round stellar man.
If you could go open a show for any artist who would it be?
Anyone who would have us. Ha! IDLES would be so fun to open for but I don’t think our music would be a good fit!
What is one message you would give to your fans?
Thank you so much for your support and kindness! We do not feel worthy 😀
What is the most useless talent you have?
Jo can dislocate her shoulder.
Do you sing in the shower? What songs?
Strangely enough no. With a house full of pets and two kids, shower time is for absolute peace and silence. We take all the peace we can get!
What would you be doing right now, if it wasn’t for your music career?
Back in the UK we owned a cafe/catering/delivery service. We’d most likely be doing something of the sort over here in NZ but we’re really trying to prioritize music at the moment.
Where have you performed? What are your favourite and least favourite venues? Do you have any upcoming shows?
We LOVE playing on the West Coast of NZ. The people over that side of the hill are so lovely, generous and welcoming. Our favorite venues are small cozy places. We’ve not been doing a whole lot of live gigs with the whole covid situation at the moment so Twitch is our home for the time being. We do have a few private parties coming up over Christmas which are always super fun. We were super excited to be booked to play at some festivals this coming Summer but they have been cancelled due to Covid.
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?
For us it’s been a bit of a live saver over the pandemic. We have found ourselves in a lovely online community. Like most things, there tends to be a downside to having everything so accessible all the time. There’s so much information bombarding everyone at once, it’s easy to get lost in the noise.The best bit is having people from all over the world, from completely different backgrounds, discovering our music and being brought together.We like to focus on the good.
What is your favourite song to perform?
Not sure about a particular song but we love playing all our 80’s classics, they’re a definite guilty pleasure. Of our own songs, Just Different is a favorite with the overlapping melody. We also have some new unreleased songs that we love playing/singing.
Which famous musicians do you admire?
Oooh Lots! One of our all time favorites is the legend Dr John. He was originally more of a guitarist but he had one of his fingers almost shot off during a fight at one of his shows so he decided to concentrate on piano instead.
He was such a cool man who wrote some awesome songs.
What is the most trouble you’ve ever gotten into?
We’ve not really gotten ourselves into too much trouble thank goodness. I’d say the most bizarre situation we’ve found ourselves in was back in the UK, we were in a small corner shop when a guy ran in after another lad waving a machete around. We all managed to walk out unharmed though.
What is the best advice you’ve been given?
Be yourself, because there’s no one else like you.
If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
There seems to be a whole lot of the same kind of thing on the radio these days, like every song has the same signature. I’d love to see a wider variety of music that made it to the top of the charts.
What’s next for you?
Over the next few months we will hopefully have some new single releases. We’ve been concentrating on creating new music and we’re super excited for everyone to hear!When the world opens back up we’d love to travel again and play some shows around the UK and Europe.
Playlists:
You can now listen to The Waxbirds and all previously featured artists on a special playlist I’ve created on Spotify.
Thanks for reading and happy listening!
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Nice song. Jo has a lovely voice.
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