Vancouver punk quartet WAIT//LESS are hitting the mats hard to help promote their forthcoming full-length debut, IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE LISTEN TO WAIT//LESS. Ahead of the album’s official release later this month, the Jack White-endorsed act have teamed up with Revolver and extreme wrestler Tara Zep to premiere their bold and bloody “crawl” music video.
“crawl” is WAIT//LESS’ first new track of 2025, yet follows 2024 singles “Hot Girl” and “Another Year”. Infused with forehead-blading riffage, ominously shimmering guitar ambiance and cymbal-shattering beats, the cut could piledrive its way onto a grimy hardcore-and-punk playlist alongside the likes of Pissed Jeans, Die Spitz and more. Lyrically, vocalist Rebecca White notes her snarling lyrics reflect imbalanced personal dynamics, and are likewise “about getting the bare minimum [in a relationship] and being expected to abide [and] be thankful”
“People — men — think they deserve access to you no matter what their behavior has been: ‘You made me do it, it’s your fault.’ The concept [of “crawl”] is just trying to break away from letting people who don’t deserve you have access to your being.”
As for the video, helmed by photographer/director Megan Magdalena and shot by cinematographer Lula-Belle Jedynak, it finds White undertaking a hell of a match with Vancouver-based grappler Tara Zep, a.k.a. the Vile Villain.
The corpse-painted hardcore wrestler puts White to work, with the pair flexing leg locks, chair shots, chokeholds and nip-twists on each other. Looking to add a little color to the deathmatch, Zep breaks out the barbwire and starts scraping into White’s dome.
“Tara is incredible, and I think there’s something about wrestling that’s just so entertaining and fun and intense,” White noted, adding that her band recently performed live intros for wrestlers at a recent WrestleCore event in Vancouver. She added of getting wrecked in the “crawl” video: “The song is intense — ripping, bloody madness is a perfect visual, no?”
“We had a blast,” Zep added in a statement. “Rebecca picked up the moves impressively fast and we were go-go-go from morning to late night. A high energy, hella creative group of artists who left me very sore the next day!”
WAIT//LESS’ independently-released IMPROVE YOUR IMAGE LISTEN TO WAIT//LESS hits streamers August 23rd, and the foursome celebrate it with a record release show that same day at Vancouver venue Leo’s .
The outfit, who were handpicked by Jack White to open his Vancouver show in May, also have a few more Western Canadian dates on the books, including a pair of shows with Pissed Jeans.
WAIT//LESS tour dates 2025:
8/23 Vancouver, BC – Leo’s (record release party)
9/5 Edmonton, AB – Freemason’s Hall (Purple City festival)
9/13 Vernon, BC – Creekside Conference Center (Anarchy in the O.K.)
10/24 Victoria, BC – Upstairs Cabaret ^
10/25 Vancouver, BC – The Pearl ^
^ with Pissed Jeans