Wolfmother
In the space of 18 months Wolfmother went from a Grammy win and multi-platinum sales to losing two-thirds of the line up and questions about whether they even still existed. However, the way Andrew Stockdale sees it, what doesn't kill you only makes you rock harder.
By Andrew P Street
Given that it's been a pretty frustrating year or
so, it must feel like things are finally coming good with the new album, the
tours, the AC/DC support slot...
Oh yeah. We feel like we've got some momentum and we
feel like we're moving along and we're just doing whatever we can, rather than
sitting back and watching everything fall apart. 'Cos that's what the last
year was. It's just a relief to be playing music and touring and having a
record and moving on and, I guess, that's what it was all about in the first
place.
It must have been very difficult for you
personally, having founded the band. Was there ever any moment where you just
thought ‘fuck this, I'm going to knock it on the head?'
Yeah, yeah. It was difficult when we didn't know what
was going happen. Being in limbo was tough, but I think that can happen in any
situation, in any job, with people not gelling and where the team isn't really
right. You have a period where you have faith in it and you want it to work,
and then you get to a point where it's like maybe this isn't going to work, and that's tough. But you need to accept change. You want
something to work, but if it doesn't work you have to accept it and move on.
You know what I mean?
Well, they always say that a band is like a
marriage. It's a weirdly intense emotional connection.
[emphatically] Yeah!
There's a lot of trust, you know? You're all doing something together so you've
got to trust that you're all going to be able to be a band and go on tour and
do artwork and do band photos and organise to understand each other and
continue on, and that's difficult. People might like us. They might like that
song, or three songs, or that film clip, but there are so many decisions when
you're in a band. It's challenging to make sure that everyone is happy with
where it's all going.
It must be pretty daunting for the new guys, coming
into such a well-known band. That would have to be a big ask for people.
I think it takes a certain personality to join the band.
You kind of need to have a bit of, either naïvety, or confidence, 'cos
there's so many elements to it. I was saying to the guys, you're learning the
old record, but you're also making a new record.
You're replacing someone, but you're also defining yourself. It is a massive challenge, I think, to the guys who've joined the band, and we've got to have a
bit of determination just to charge through it.
I hope you brought them biscuits when they were
recording.
Well, of course!
Biscuits make all the difference. You've got to
keep your blood sugar levels up.
I'm glad you're thinking of the sugar levels in the
new men. That's very thoughtful.
You're welcome. Speaking of the new guys, you've got Aiden [Nemeth] on board
now, so there's two guitarists in the line up for the first time. Has that
changed things, in terms of the way you play live, not having to handle all of
the axe work yourself?
On the first record I did a bit of multi-tracking on the
guitar and live those things weren't ever played. I just kind of played the
rhythm [guitar] and the bass filled in when I did the solo. So now it's nice to
have all those different parts on the first record and second record [when
playing live]. I think it just brings a bit of colour and dynamic to the live
sound.
Have there been times when you've been playing the
older material and thought, "Yeah, that's how it's meant to sound"?
Actually, yeah. When we first did ‘Vagabond' and the
second guitar riff kicked in on the second verse. It was really good to have
that layer complementing the song. And in ‘Joker and the Thief' there's this
weird sort of vibrato thing that twangs, and now live we have that as well.
There are things which I hadn't told Aiden to do, but he's listened to the
record and picked up on it and it kind of surprises me when I hear it.
It's those biscuits, see? It makes all the
difference.
You've got to have those biscuits. You're going to
want those biscuits.
That's the best comment on rock and roll: you're
gonna want the biscuits, man.
Exactly.
You seem like a bit of any outlier on Modular,
given the more electronic Cut Copy/Presets/Ladyhawke side of things. Do you feel
any kinship with your label mates? I mean, are there secret Modular parties
where everyone gets to hang out and eat the aforementioned biscuits?
Well, at the start we used to do tours where we
supported Cut Copy and we used to have Midnight Juggernauts supporting us, or
have the Presets supporting us at Manly Fishos, and all these sorts of things.
But then when things get bigger the press sort of interprets who is new and who
is old, but really we are all playing together at the same time. I just went to
Tame Impala's gig in Brisbane, actually.
I had this mental image of you on some throne being
fanned by members of Van She or something, dressed in loincloths.
That may well happen behind closed doors.
And just finally, is there any trepidation about
the AC/DC tour?
Trepidation? We're very excited! We just did the
Killers in the United States. Some of those shows were amazing, but others... You
start off playing to 10 people and you end up playing to 20,000 and you'd have
girls wearing Killers T-shirts with fingers in their ears. That's the
challenge. I think doing AC/DC, they're a rock band and we can go all out and
play all our rock'n'roll songs, and I think the fans would probably appreciate
it. I hope so, anyway.
Cosmic Egg is out now through Modular/Universal
You've read what we think. Now tell us what you think.