VI Interview: Wolfmother

Wolfmother was three sold-out shows into their first US tour when I spoke with vocalist-guitarist Andrew Stockdale.  Calling from his hotel room in L.A., Andrew’s voice betrayed a bit of the dazed awe he clearly feels in response to his band’s enormous success this past year in his native Australia. 

Ending 2005 with a record 6 songs in Triple J Radio’s Top 100 and playing a critically hailed set for 55,000 at the Big Day Out, the band’s introduction to America has been orchestrated for maximum momentum retention: sold out shows in Cali, the Midwest and then New York, to be followed by a SXSW showcase and a coveted slot on the stellar Coachella bill.  Add to all of this a delicious MSTRKRFT remix of stand out track “Woman,” and it’s clear that this year may be Wolfmother’s best yet.

MP3 Masala: "Dimension"-Wolfmother
MP3 Masala: "Woman (MSTRKRFT Remix)"-Wolfmother
MP3 Masala: "Mind's Eye"-Wolfmother

Wolfmother's sound is markedly different than what is being pumped out of, and into, NYC and London.  Forged in the same fiery cauldrons as rock pioneers Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, the group looked beyond its contemporaries in developing its sonic identity.  I inquired after the birth of the Wolfmother sound, and the extent to which those legendary bands influenced their stylistic development.

“Through the 90’s we were surrounded by indie rock, with its sliding open chords and discordant scales,” Andrew responded, “and finally having the idea of doing a riff was actually discovering a very simple rock and roll concept.  I didn’t think about any specific reference points with bands, we just said, ‘Let’s do a riff and try and do it good,’ and the rest just followed from there."

"Rage Against The Machine also explored lots of Hendrix style riffage and grooves, and even The White Stripes,” he continued.  "There are always going to be bands that are looking toward riffs and grooves, and we were just exploring that territory.  As a consequence we have discovered our own sound, created more songs and have ultimately created a world for Wolfmother.”

Take the jump for more of my conversation with Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale.

[pic via Boudist]  Though Andrew had been playing music through childhood in Melbourne, it wasn’t until he shifted to Sydney after college that he found an environment conducive to his brand of showmanship.  “In Melbourne, it can be nerve wracking to get a band going and to play in front of people, because there is this legacy of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Beast of Bourbon, King Salmon and the Surrealists-this legacy of darker, emotive, vengeful intensity.  It’s like you have to be drinking red wine your whole life and have this existence, be this brooding, hard life intellectual.  And when you’re 18 you’re like, ‘Man, I’m just a fucking kid!  I play soccer and hang out with my parents!’  I was a nerd!”  His melodic exclamations had me in fits, sounding like an Australian Paul McCartney.  “And to get up on stage,” he continued, “and convince people that I’m this person of interest- there’s no chance!”

We regained composure, and Andrew went on.  “But then when I went to Sydney, everything changed in a period of 5 years.  I went and saw bands like Rocket Science, and it just seemed like people were having more fun.  You know what I mean?  Bands just rocking out and knocking things over.  It was kind of half humorous, half rock and roll-and no one cared about like ‘Oh I’m a brooding intellectual and you should respect my dark mysteriousness.’  It was just sort of fun.  There was this whole line of bands just having fun with rock and roll and just trying to experiment…and you know, you’re going, ‘Fuck, maybe we don’t know everything about rock and roll-but we can just really do whatever we want with it, can’t we?”

As Wolfmother formed and began taking its cues from the irreverent vibe of Sydney’s rock scene, American bands that reflected this raw theatricality began to gain critical mass.  Said Andrew: “When the Yeah Yeah Yeahs came out, that was kind of refreshing.  They were fresh and were strutting around, as were the White Stripes, and Peaches.  There was this injection of eccentricity and vibrancy, and other bands in Sydney, we were all saying, ‘We can just have fun with it.  We don’t have to be artistically revered by novelists and in dungeons in Berlin.  There’s nothing wrong with going out and having a drink and seeing some rock, you know?  I think that was the transition of going from Melbourne to Sydney: it just kind of gave us that freedom.”

Hearing the dramatic impact that changing environments has had on Andrew, I began speaking about the band’s latest swim through unchartered waters, as it sits three shows into its first tour of America.  “Well, we’ve been here for about a week, and we played shows in Seattle, San Francisco and LA was last night.  They have been going good, yeah!  The reaction has been fantastic…sell out shows at all these cities we’ve never been to, it’s a bit surreal.  It’s great that it's catching on over here as well, it shows that there isn’t as much of a cultural difference or something.”

As we wrapped up our conversation, I had to ask Andrew about the origin of the infectious remix of “Woman,” put together by MSTRKRFT (who is better known as Jesse Keeler of Death From Above 1979).  “We did our second show of all time with Death From Above, for like six people, and they really liked 'Woman.'  I think they just hooked it up and now it’s on the remix.  It’s great they did it-it sounds very cool!”

Circle back for a VI Review of Wolfmother’s sold out show at Mercury Lounge this Monday (2/20).  They play Northsix the night before (click here for tickets).  Hear more at their Myspace page…and be sure to listen to that MSTRKRFT remix.

Comments

[blue99]

holy cow. i just broke out in a raging rock n roll euphoric ritual when i listened to Woman on their myspace for the first time. wow...wow. good eye VI

[jonboy]

that remix is the mad notes kid

[middlefinger]

wow, the guy's an aussie.....but he sounds like Ozzie. this band's got legs.

great one-on-one, man.

[supergurg]

Wolfmother are awesome :) good to see you featuring Aussie bands

cheers,
supergurg

P.S. it was 6 songs in the Triple J top 100, not 10 :P

[Amrit]

Fixed, supergurg. Thanks!

I'm beyond excited for their show at Mercury Lounge. If you have more Aussie bands worth a listen, by all means-send them over.

Cheers,
Amrit

[Dan]

Ha! I was at that Wolfmother/Death from Above gig.

http://www.boudist.com/archive/2004/05/11/death_from_above_wolfmother.php

Cool to hear him mention it.

Good interview too - a refreshing angle. Far too many articles i read about them harp on about the Sabbath/Zeppelin influence.

[Amrit]

Cheers Dan! Thanks for the pic. I found Andrew to be incredibly personable, and seeing Wolfmother at Mercury Lounge definitely convinced me.

PS--for incredible concert photography and the skinny on the Sydney scene, head over to Dan's site, boudist.com. I do -- on the regular.