Behind The Music Of Wax Heads

Gina here! I’m a composer who has been writing a bunch of tracks for Wax Heads, mostly for the cool bands in the Jukebox but also some background music tracks too. As I start to wrap up writing and enter Mixing Hell, I thought it’d be a good time to reflect on my experience of working on Wax Heads with the folks at Patattie Games. We'll be scattering a few of the tracks throughout this post for you to listen to!

It’s really hard to put into words just how much working on Wax Heads has meant to me, but I’m going to try! Before Wax Heads, I had found myself somewhat settled in the Orchestral Composer camp — I’d never played guitar, wrote lyrics or used my voice in my work besides some very low-mixed, reverb-drenched background ‘aahs’. So when Murray approached me asking if I’d be interested in writing a bunch of songs and lyrics for a whole heap of imaginary bands in the cozy-punk game Wax Heads, I was naturally very hesitant. Not because I didn’t want to do it; the game looked amazing already and Murray was full of this infectious enthusiasm that got me super excited about it, but it was so far out of my comfort zone that I very nearly said no…. but I’m so glad I didn’t and that Murray and Rothio took a chance on me.

So I won’t lie, it’s been super scary! Or at least it was at first. I started guitar lessons in January 2024, in preparation for starting up properly on Wax Heads later that year, and every time I sent a sketch over to Murray I wanted to crawl into my own skin because I could barely play these guitar parts and I hated my singing voice on these demos. And when I say I hated my voice, I really mean it! My closest friend is a musical director who directs a bunch of musicals every year and she exclusively listens to musicals. I, on the other hand, am not a fan of musicals (sorry), but I sent her one of my earlier demos because it ended up sounding weirdly like musical theatre, so clearly all those long car rides with her have rubbed off on me. All this to say, this was my best friend of 10 years’ reaction to that demo:

None of my friends had heard me sing because I just never ever did it. Murray was probably the first person other than my partner and my Mum to have heard me sing. So it’s now kind of crazy to think that my voice is scattered throughout this soundtrack! And I don’t hate it?!

Now a lil more on the writing 👀

Music has always been an important part of my life (duh), but I’ve honestly never been one of those composers who has felt like their music was full of raw emotion or tied closely with my identity. And I don’t think that’s necessarily a problem! It’s more that I’ve struggled to connect with instrumental music in the same way that I do with songs. But with Wax Heads I felt like I had this chance to tie some of my identity and values and beliefs and feelings into these tracks because I could work these things into the lyrics. Like with the Bad Toes’ track, where I could get all fired up about all the turbulence in the world right now(or what feels like forever) and bring it all together in a fuzzy garage rock track sung by an old friend. Or with Girl Junk’s track, channelling all my energy into making a sassy, powerful track about rejecting dumb misogynistic stereotypes and embracing girlpower, with a singer I have wanted to work with for forever. Or with Ego, Sunny Side Up, where I could talk about my crippling procrastination but frame it as something that wasn’t so debilitating, and have it sung by one of Murray’s close friends late one Monday night. That’s one of the things I’ve loved the most about working on this game — that I could be vulnerable and authentic in a way that felt safe, because it wasn’t really me projecting these things, it was whatever band I was writing for.

Now to dive just a little deeper and talk a bit about the most recent track I’m working on. It took a while for me to figure out what I should write about, because Murray had phrased the brief to be this whole philosophical thing about making the song be about why I do music…. and that had me spinning out all week and questioning all my life choices. Until he basically told me, in a really nice way, to stop overthinking it. And it kind of all just clicked? I am a chronic overthinker and my own worst critic, always have been but hopefully won’t always be. It’s something I’m working on, especially in my music. I had a very traditional route into music, where I studied an instrument from a young age and did graded exams from about 8yrs old until I was 18. And then I went to university to study music and be critiqued for another 4 years. I could rant all day about the issues with music education and the pressure it puts on young musicians, but I will condense it down to this: it SUCKS!!!! I hate that we get trained to think that music has to be perfect and you can’t hit a wrong note or be out of time or tune for a second, because anything less than perfect just simply will not do. I gave up performing because of music education, and yeah I guess it’s not all bad because I started composing, but imagine how powerful I could’ve been if I did both. I kid, but really it’s a shame! And it knocked my confidence a bunch! So this latest song is my most personal and vulnerable song, about how music is about so much more than playing what’s written. It’s about community and enjoyment and expression and I am trying my best to reframe the way that I write and play music to capture those things instead.

I think I’ve probably rambled on enough now? So I’m just going to end this post by saying that working on Wax Heads has been an incredible joy. I have loved every second and feel so lucky that I get to be a a part of this and collaborate with so many amazing singers and instrumentalists who have helped to bring this soundtrack to life in my teeny tiny room. I hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as I have enjoyed making it!!

Gina 🤘🎸✨