Wax (rock band)

Wax was a San Jose, California punkrock band, consisting of Joe Sib (vocals), Tom "Soda" Gardocki (guitar), Dave Georgeff (bass), and Loomis Fall (drums). The band was best known for the MTV "buzz clip" song and video "California," directed by Spike Jonze. The video depicted a man on fire calmly running in slow motion, and was quickly banned from daytime airplay on MTV.

The band released their first album, "What Else Can We Do?", on Caroline Records in 1992. Their surf-inflected punk rock was compared to The Ramones and Pixies, and in 1995 the band issued its major-label debut, "Thirteen Unlucky Numbers", on Interscope Records. Wax licensed the song "Who's Next" to Nike for a commercial which featured Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. The band failed to gain either critical or commercial success, and soon faded from view. Singer Joe Sib later joined the band 22 Jacks, which also featured punk mainstay Steve Soto of the Adolescents and Agent Orange. Guitarist Soda once fronted Soda & His Million Piece Band, an L.A.-based Pogues-esque rock band who specialized in punk-inflected Americana and blues, and later the LA-based Americana Rock group Rose's Pawn Shop. Loomis Fall went on to appear on "Jackass" and in "" and "Jackass Number Two".

Their song "Mallrats" is featured on the soundtrack of the 1995 Kevin Smith film of the same name; in the film itself, it is the last tune to be heard over the end credits. Also in 1995, the band contributed a cover version of "Happy Happy, Joy Joy" to the tribute album "Saturday Morning".

The video for "California" caused it to be their most notable song, and after being banned from daytime airplay on MTV [ [http://www.christianlind.com/amusicvideoaday/censored.html] ] , was called "infamous" by "NME" [ [http://www.nme.com/video/id/dPT7q825gwI/search/wax NME] ] and has been included on Artforum's website. [ [http://artforum.com/video/mode=large&id=20296] ] It was also included in a retrospective DVD of Jonze's work [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386124/ IMDB] ] , with a still from the video gracing the cover of the DVD.

The band was in the 1996 movie "Bio-Dome", starring Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin. They perform the songs "Do You Wanna Dance?", and "Your Intelligence".

Discography

*"What Else Can We Do?" (1993)
*"13 Unlucky Numbers" (1995)

References