As Wolfmother continue work on their next album and prepare for this weekend's Mojo Burning festival in Brisbane, founding frontman Andrew Stockdale reflects on the band's illustrious career so far.
One thing that stands out to him in particular is the authenticity of their success, beginning with their 2004 EP in a time before the abyss of cyberspace and reality-singing shows had fully engulfed the music scene.“I think there's a continuous battle in the music industry of people who say that it's all business and that the business is more important than the music,” Andrew says.
“I'm grateful that I experienced a natural, organic success. Before we had a manager, before we had a film clip, before we had airplay that EP sold something like 20,000 copies in a month: no Facebook, no MySpace, no YouTube, no strategy or tactic.
“So when I look back to that, it can happen, real traction. Fifteen years later after doing MTV and Grammys and commercial airplay, and I've seen this whole game, it's good to know that we did come from the grassroots; we didn't win 'The Voice',” he laughs.
In 2005, Wolfmother released their debut full-length, self-titled album, which launched them into the upper echelons of Australian rock music with tracks such as 'Joker & The Thief', 'White Unicorn' and 'Woman' becoming radio and live-show favourites.
"I think music and art is the last frontier of truth,” Andrew states.
“'Joker & The Thief' was like the sixth, seventh or eighth – I can't remember – single off that first record, but no one picked it.
"Our American record label were taking people into studios asking surveys about which song they thought was the best and no one picked 'Joker', but I noticed it was going off at the gigs so I suggested it as the single and it's become one of our most identifiable songs.
“So it just goes to show we're in an industry where no one knows what's going to happen; you can be on a wage, you can be a journalist, you can be an A&R guy, president of a record label, a musician or a roadie but anything can happen at any given point and the opposite is true of everything. That's what keeps it exciting I think.”
Andrew is currently working on the next Wolfmother album, wading through ideas he has collected over the past year.
After 2016's 'Victorious' album, Andrew says for this record he's trying to get more of his own personality and creative sensibility back into the music. “In some ways I'm moving towards bands like T. Rex and lots of '60s and '70s English bands; I'm moving towards that kind of production and that way of singing,” he says.
“Just a bit more like a humorous element, because I did like on the first record that it was sincere but also there was an otherworldly, kind of abstract, sometimes comical energy coming through.”
From galloping, fuzz-laden riffs to wailing guitar solos and Andrew's trademark howl, Wolfmother's music is nothing if not instantly recognisable. “The guitar tone, the vocal, the songwriting style – it's all become an identifiable sound,” Andrew says.
“So I'm not straying too far off the path and there's a lot of room to explore within the Wolfmother dynamic. You just keep moving the bits of a Rubik's Cube; it's the same cube but you move it and different patterns appear.”
