Formal Sppeedwear

Building on the off-kilter foundations of their self-titled EP, the Stoke-on-Trent trio package their idiosyncrasies in the form of urgent new wave stomper ‘Wait (Hatchet Gets a New Hide)’. Written almost to completion on a Tascam 488 cassette recorder, “Wait (Hatchet Gets a New Hide) is a collage of ideas and melodies harking back to the early days of Sppeedwear. A live staple of their packed out performances across the UK and Europe in 2024, the track serves as an erratic subversion of the band’s disco inclinations; a track moulded into dance floor tyranny amidst the shuffling feet and excited hum of those able to say ‘I was there first’. Forgoing their usual time signature changes and heavily treated palette, Sppeedwear weave between first wave funk-punk guitar lines, city pop flourishes and an unrelenting array of found-sound percussion parts. Bolstered by commanding vocals and an immovable rhythm section, ‘Wait’ charges towards listeners as an arrangement of powder-keg intensity. They will no doubt have us on our feet and trees shaking in time to their grooves!