Customer Reviews

13 Unlucky Numbers

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I first bought this album after seeing the video for California on MTV. Remember when MTV showed videos... and they weren't hip hop videos? Anyhow, at first listen, I hated it. I liked 2 songs and promptly set it aside. From time to time, I'd throw California on a mix tape, but that was about it. Then one day, I was going thru my cd collection and noticed that the case was empty, which made me want to listen to it real bad. Luckily, I found it for $0.49 in a used bin at FYE. Talk about a kick ass deal for 1 song. So, I brought it home and listened to California. I loved it like I always did. Then I tried out the rest of the album again. And it rocks. It reminds me of Weezer and some Pixies and a little bit of Dinosaur Jr. Basically, it's noisy punk rock. It definitely takes more than one listen to appreciate it, but it's worth the extra time.

This is truly an excellent album. It defines a fusion of punk & rock ideals during the early 90's.

While the band is no longer together (though there are rumors of a reunion tour), Soda, the guitar player, has formed a new band called "Soda and his Million Piece Band." Loomis, the drummer from Wax, is back behind the set for Soda's new band.

The band has a new album that will hopefully be on Amazon soon. More information can be found if you do a Google search for "sodaband."

Enjoy!!!

Wax, and it's final domestic release, 13 Unlucky Numbers made a greater impression on American youth culture during the Summer of 1995 -- mainly through a Nike commercial featuring Andre Aggasi and Pete Sampras playing an impromptu game of street tennis in the middle of a New York City traffic jam, set to the tune of "Who is Next" and MTV's relentless sampling of the intro to "California" for transition segments between the 'Beach House' and video play (back when MTV still showed the occasional video). Wax is no longer listed by Interscope and the UBL has little information, so presumably, the band no longer exists.

Although extremely short -- the album clocks in at just 24 minutes and there are only 10 actual tracks (the last three are blank, which never bodes well) -- Wax's brand of Surf Punk is exceptionally catchy, with generous use of solid guitar hooks and a limited, though promising variety of song styles. The lyrics are more angry than the wit and humor you would expect from Green Day or Blink-182, both of which exhibited early musical styles similar to Wax, and they definitely lack the carefully constructed lryical genius of a band like Weezer, to which they offer no comparison.

Overall, though, the album is enjoyable and worth picking up...

now this is the second and final installment of wax. i believe the turmoil between the band and the label and themselves solidifies the title "13 unlucky numbers". But even with all of the stuff going on around them and between them they were still able to produce a great cd. The opening track "who is next" is a fanastic track that played in commercials and all over MTV for a good 6 months. the other single to venture off this album is "cali" which was helped by the ultra cool video with the guy running on fire ( this was played on beavis and butthead numerous times for obvious reasons). The band does try to shed their pop-surf-southern cali-punk genre and broke out acoustic guitars on some of the latter tracks. Dont be turned off by this cuz they are actually some of the better tracks they have ever done. IF only the mass population would have picked though their respective cd shops long enough to get to the "W" section maybe the band would have been a greater sucess. if u are new to this band then i recommend starting out with "what can we do" then try this out. highlights:
who is next, cali, settle down, knot, jiffy boy

...Hey, remember that video on mtv, with that guy running on fire, for at least 2 minutes? it was directed bu spike jonze, and it was called "california". and it was by... WAX! a great punk band who sound like rancid meets weezer. even though the cd doesn't even clock in at 1/2 an hour, it still rocks! if you have some extra cash, pick it up. you won't be disappointed!