Biography
Wax Idols, the restless and cathartic endeavor led by singer and songwriter Hether Fortune, has tackled the darker aspects of mortality and sexuality through innovative approaches across each of its releases. The project first nodded toward these themes via the snotty punk-pop of No Future in 2011, then faced them squarely on the ferocious post-punk effort Discipline + Desire in 2013, which drew from Fortune’s experiences working as a dominatrix, and finally accepted them within the darkly anthemic American Tragic in 2015. By the arrival of Happy Ending in 2018, Fortune’s music conveyed such clear growth and acceptance that the project’s subsequent hiatus several months later felt less abrupt.
Fortune started composing poems at age nine and aspired to become a producer, attending a music-focused summer camp and pursuing music-production studies in college until her scholarship ended. During an internship at a Chicago record label in her late teens, she began writing and performing songs of her own. Upon returning to the Bay Area, she performed with groups such as Hunx & His Punx, Bare Wires, and Blasted Canyons. In 2009 she launched Wax Idols and shared the track “All Too Human” online that same year. Created largely by Fortune alone or with assistance from friends, the project blended punk with gothic undertones. Late in 2010 the self-titled debut EP surfaced on Psychic Snerts, and a year afterward HoZac Records released the band’s garagey debut album No Future.
By the time Discipline + Desire appeared in 2013 with its markedly darker, post-punk orientation, Wax Idols had become a complete band that included guitarist/vocalist Jen Mundy, bassist Amy Rosenoff, and drummer Keven Tecon. After touring with White Lung for part of 2014, the group—now comprising Fortune and drummer Rachel Travers—worked with producer Monte Vallier on American Tragic, an anthemic and cathartic collection shaped by Fortune’s divorce. The album reached listeners in October 2015 via Collect Records. When it emerged that one of the label’s principal backers was disgraced former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, Collect folded. Label founder and Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly restored the rights to American Tragic to Fortune, who reissued it on her own Etruscan Gold imprint in 2017.
After a period in Los Angeles, Fortune came back to Oakland and began preparing Wax Idols’ fourth album. Alongside the remaining members—Travers, bassist/vocalist Marisa Prietto, and multi-instrumentalist Peter Lightning—she crafted songs that juxtaposed optimistic melodies with politically charged dread. Produced by Vallier, Fortune, and Lightning, Happy Ending in 2018 centered on the notion of a woman’s consciousness persisting after death. Once touring concluded, Wax Idols entered hiatus that August.
Fortune started composing poems at age nine and aspired to become a producer, attending a music-focused summer camp and pursuing music-production studies in college until her scholarship ended. During an internship at a Chicago record label in her late teens, she began writing and performing songs of her own. Upon returning to the Bay Area, she performed with groups such as Hunx & His Punx, Bare Wires, and Blasted Canyons. In 2009 she launched Wax Idols and shared the track “All Too Human” online that same year. Created largely by Fortune alone or with assistance from friends, the project blended punk with gothic undertones. Late in 2010 the self-titled debut EP surfaced on Psychic Snerts, and a year afterward HoZac Records released the band’s garagey debut album No Future.
By the time Discipline + Desire appeared in 2013 with its markedly darker, post-punk orientation, Wax Idols had become a complete band that included guitarist/vocalist Jen Mundy, bassist Amy Rosenoff, and drummer Keven Tecon. After touring with White Lung for part of 2014, the group—now comprising Fortune and drummer Rachel Travers—worked with producer Monte Vallier on American Tragic, an anthemic and cathartic collection shaped by Fortune’s divorce. The album reached listeners in October 2015 via Collect Records. When it emerged that one of the label’s principal backers was disgraced former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, Collect folded. Label founder and Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly restored the rights to American Tragic to Fortune, who reissued it on her own Etruscan Gold imprint in 2017.
After a period in Los Angeles, Fortune came back to Oakland and began preparing Wax Idols’ fourth album. Alongside the remaining members—Travers, bassist/vocalist Marisa Prietto, and multi-instrumentalist Peter Lightning—she crafted songs that juxtaposed optimistic melodies with politically charged dread. Produced by Vallier, Fortune, and Lightning, Happy Ending in 2018 centered on the notion of a woman’s consciousness persisting after death. Once touring concluded, Wax Idols entered hiatus that August.
Albums
Singles
