Australian power trio Wolfmother are calling it quits after only one album. In an odd announcement, the band confirmed that keyboardist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett have left the band, leaving Andrew Stockdale as the ostensible winner of the "which one's Pink" who-gets-the-name ordeal. The band's last performance was a headlining slot this past Sunday at Australia's Splendour In The Grass.

From all appearances, Ross and Heskett may work on material together and Stockdale will look to restock Wolfmother with new musicians and record a new album. Citing irreconcilable difference, the band stated on their site that they "just could not find a harmonious way to work together and that has lead to the decisions announced today."

Let's cut to chase and start clamoring for the reunion now.

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Wolfmother may sound like a bit of a throw back to rock's glory days, but don't try to put a that label on the Australian power trio. In an interview that appears in the May issue of Guitar World, they reject the specific label of "retro-style heavy rock."

"I just call it rock and roll, and rock and roll is part of our culture in Western civilization?we don't have anything else," guitarist Andrew Stockdale tells Guitar World. "It's not like we're Greeks and we play the pan flute and dance around in [expletive] leotards and do a do-se-do. This is Western civilization: we go to rock shows, we get drunk, we go to mosh pits, we try and get laid, we take drugs...or at least some people do."

Wolfmother also recorded their self-titled album at the Sound City studios in LA where Nirvana recorded Nevermind. The band found some inspiration from Cobain and crew. Stockdale says: "...[Nevermind] knocked Michael Jackson from the No. 1 spot! If that doesn't inspire bands to kick ass, then nothing will."

Labels: Wolfmother

Labels: Wolfmother

By: David Schultz



Success has come quickly for the Australian hard rock trio Wolfmother, perhaps too quickly. The delightfully retro band came to New York City this weekend as part of their highly anticipated American tour, playing a coveted Saturday night slot at Webster Hall. Performing an entire headlining show in less time than most bands take for their first set, the trio ripped through practically every track from their self-titled debut album. In the absence of cover songs or a deeper back catalog, Wolfmother only played for eighty minutes, turning the crowd loose just after 10:00. Given the woefully abysmal bar service at Webster Hall, Wolfmother finished their show before people could get their second beer of the evening.

What Wolfmother lacked in quantity, they made up for with quality. Owning an unparalleled white-boy afro, lead singer and guitarist Andrew Stockdale has the stage presence of a veteran rocker, needing only a vocal twitch, head fake or shoulder shimmy to provoke a reaction. Given to stereotypical hard rock posturing, Stockdale showed he has studied his forebears well, playing his guitar in a vertical position, hunching down low to strum inches off the ground and pouncing often onto the drum riser to incite the cheers of the crowd.

The rhythm section of bassist/keyboardist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett provided the night's most pleasant surprise. While Stockdale's vocals and guitar propel the band's funkier offerings like "Dimension" and "Love Train" as well as The White Stripes sounding "Apple Tree," Ross and Heskett anchor the more musically lush songs like "Where Eagles Have Been" and "White Unicorn." Ross' keyboard playing deviates from the norm. Throwing his bass behind his back, Ross stands at the keys popping one end in the air, playing at an angle. Alternately, he roughly moves the durable keys around the stage to suit his whims. Seeing Wolfmother live gives you a much stronger sense of Ross and Heskett's contributions. Stockdale's unique appearance attracts a lot of attention but Ross and Heskett are in no form or fashion his supporting performers and the two carry significant portions of the show deriving incredible power from just a bass and drums.

Wolfmother saved their prog-rock best for the close of the show. Prior to launching into "Mind's Eye," Stockdale told the audience they wouldn't tease them and taking delight in his not-so-subtle metaphor claimed they would give them a happy ending. After a brief respite, the Sydney natives returned for yet another seventies era progressive feast, "Colossal," before finishing the evening with a foot-stomping rendition of "Joker And The Thief."

Wolfmother's immediate success may have unleashed them on the world before they have the breadth of material to satisfyingly fill a headlining role. Their Webster Hall show, especially given the early start time, seemed more like a top-notch opening slot as opposed to a feature act. With time though, new material will come and Wolfmother should evolve into the latter-day emissaries of the seventies arena rockers that have clearly influenced the band.

Labels: Wolfmother

By: David Schultz

After a memorable stint with The Yardbirds, Jimmy Page formed a new version of the group in order to play a harder-edged, electrified form of the blues. The band Page formed to accomplish this goal failed miserably in bringing that vision to life. However, in veering from their original mission, Led Zeppelin became a cornerstone in the temple of rock and roll, creating a bluesy-psychedelic hybrid that ultimately begat heavy metal and inspired numerous others to follow in their footsteps.

In their hometown of Sydney, Australia, Wolfmother grew up worshipping at this altar and on their self-titled debut album, they show that they have taken their devotion quite seriously. With pseudo-hippie lyrics drenched with medieval imagery, guitarist and lead singer Andrew Stockdale, bassist and keyboard player Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett, have created a monument to Seventies era rock that sizzles in its deliciously retro juices.

Even before their self-titled Wolfmother's release, an insane amount of buzz surrounded the trio, including a selection as one of Rolling Stone's Bands To Watch. With their highly anticipated debut, which incorporates ¾ of their earlier EP Dimension, Wolfmother's acclaim has not lessened. The album contains a multitude of groovy guitar riffs that echo the mighty Seventies, blues soaked, monster guitar style. All that seems to be missing is a hirsute hippie projecting gelatin globules on the band with an overhead projector or a video making excessive use of extreme close-ups to make the picture complete.

The Australian power trio's debut contains enough clichéd images and trappings that you will wonder if the band has sat through one too many showings of The Song Remains The Same. In a voice that derives from the Robert Plant/Ozzy Osbourne school of rock, Stockdale sings about colossal landscapes, paper temples in the desert, rainbows tinted with gold, unicorns, finding the mind's eye and telling you everything he knows about being free. While Wolfmother made sure to include the fantasy imagery inherent in any song entitled "White Unicorn," they omitted their Tolkienesque-titled "Tales From The Forest Of Gnomes" from the U.S. edition of the album. Musically, they insert a flute solo into "Witchcraft" and Doors-worthy chimes haunt the background of "White Unicorn." The clichés that imbue Wolfmother do nothing to lessen its visceral impact as this Aussie trio brings some of the freshest sounding "classic" rock anyone has delivered in years.

Not everything about Wolfmother is swords and sorcerers. The already ubiquitous "Love Train," containing wonderful "Moby Dick" style interplay between Ross and Heskett, grooves with a swagger worthy of the day-glo silhouette treatment Apple has given it in its latest iPOD ad. They also deliver another nifty bit of cock-rock with "Woman." Wolfmother's love of Seventies era power rock overlaps with Jack White's fascination with the same period and "Colossal" aims for the same type of lofty, bombastic heights reached by some of The White Stripes heavier "Ball And Biscuit" style material. Stockdale's high-pitched scream comes closest to White's unique vocal style on "Apple Tree" and with Heskett ratcheting back on his drumming, the track could easily be mistaken for a White Stripes tune.

Wolfmother borrows from the past in the same proportion and with the same success as Lenny Kravitz. However, not all of Wolfmother's derivations remain interpretive. In singing of the "purple haze in the sky," it's impossible not to reflect upon the same colored fog that once afflicted Jimi Hendrix' brain. Similarly, when Stockdale wants to tell the story about "The Joker And The Thief," it feels as if we've met these two fellows before in a different song.

Wolfmother succeeds in putting the power back into the "power trio." In handling both keyboard and bass duties, Chris Ross manages to economically embody both Keith Emerson and Greg Lake. Inserting organ fills with the proficiency of Rick Wakeman, Ross gives a rich, epochal, if not regal, scope to songs like "Mind's Eye," turning Wolfmother's sound into a prog-rock feast. When combined with Stockdale's Zeppelin inspired vocals and guitar and Heskett's wild drumming, a brilliant bluesy, psychedelic orgy results.

Wolfmother's mix of progressive rock and early-era heavy metal rock will resonate strongly amongst those with classic rock/hard rock leanings. Hair metal bands and industrial acts that have traveled this path before have met with mixed results. Some have found enduring success, while others have become sheepishly enjoyed guilty pleasures. In creating a wonderfully explosive mélange of retro-rock, Wolfmother seems headed to the former category rather than the disappointing latter. With Wolfmother, the Australian trio has set the baseline by which all their future endeavors will be measured. Regardless of whether they exceed the high bar they've set or remain content to regenerate a proven formula, they seem ready to rock arenas for quite some time.

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