Words and photos by Louise Phillips
HAWXX’s triumphant appearance on The Dogtooth Stage at The Download Festival last year created less a stir, more a tornado of excitement and got them the media attention that they so rightly deserve! The explosive four piece based in London but hailing from Greece, Wales, London and Italy are a band of four supremely talented musicians who demand attention! It’s no surprise that Anna and Hannah have both been hailed by Metal Hammer magazine as two of the thirteen metal guitarists that will change the world!
With support from fiery punk power house BEX, who showed that she had clearly earned her place on the bill tonight!! She was full of rage and put on an explosive performance, she is surely one to watch!
And as HAWXX took to the stage at The Grace in Islington on the last date of their tour on International Women’s Day no less, these fearless feminist trailblazers blew the stage to pieces as they launched into their first track, the raw and beautiful ‘Embrace the Ugly’ from their incredible 2023 album, ‘Earth, Split, Blood and Bones’. This magnificent track urged the audience to rise up and disobey the toxic culture of the beauty industry. With its driving guitars and thumping drum beat, it had the audience rocking out from the onset. Filling the venue with an explosive energy that didn’t ease up until the night was over!
HAWXX’s music less shouts and more roars, standing firm in the current political climate, unapologetic, raw, visceral and stunning. HAWXX are the trailblazers of their generation, walking where angels fear to tread with songs that talk about violence against women, trans rights and the oppression of society! The kind of band you want your teenagers to listen to! Not just the voice of queer people and the LGBTQIA+ community, but the voice of women everywhere!
Next up was, ‘Death of Silence’, a ferocious attack against the shame and silence of the ‘Me Too’ generation, a song that calls for solidarity and demands to be heard. It can hardly be a coincidence that HAWXX are playing the final date of their tour on International Women’s Day. But their set isn’t all about anger and a call to arms! It’s a celebration of what it is to be unique, to be yourself without fear of judgement and the need to conform. A HAWXX gig is a place where everyone is welcome, regardless of who they are, where they’ve come from, whatever their gender, sexuality or sexual orientation! If you’re in, you’re in! Welcome to the HAWXX family! But it’s more than that. There’s a beautiful chemistry within this band, they obviously love to play together and they just bounce off each other.
[Check out our interview with the band, courtesy again of Louise]
One of the most beautiful parts of the night was when they sang, ‘Death Makes Sisters of Us All’. All the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as the sound of the audience singing the lyrics back at the band was absolutely deafening and so touching! This is band who are utterly adored by their fans (affectionately known as Kettleheads), in fact when vocalist Anna got down into the audience, their reaction was one of utter elation! Something absolutely heart-warming!
Whilst their music is heavy, HAWXX are utterly unique, they are a bad-ass gang of fearless mavericks who less walk their own path, more blow it to pieces!! And this was never more evident than when they less played, more detonated their final track of the night, ‘Bite (Holiness in Fuck)’. With its driving guitars, Anna’s formidable vocals, perfected blended band harmonies and Jess’s relentless drum sound, it was pure mastery!!
Setlist:
Embrace The Ugly
Death of Silence
If Not Now, Then When?
Trust Your Rage
Reckless
Death Makes Sisters of Us All
Fathertongue
The Worst Thing
Soulbreaking Machines
Dogma
Bite (Holiness in Fuck)
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