'Fro Those About To Rock: Wolfmother Interview

Rock and roll – the tight-trousered, mane-shaking variety at least – has weathered a multitude of reversals across the past decade. The music industry collapsed. Pop emerged as the dominant sonic art-form of the 21st century. The mainstreaming of cultural irony has created a generation with the capacity to enjoy loud, heavy guitars only if the riffage is framed by figurative quote marks. The best pleasures, it has been decreed, are guilty ones (exhibit A: the Gun N’ Roses reunion).

Still, the faithful shouldn’t despair completely. Certain things endure. This is made clear as you are ushered into the dressing room of Wolfmother frontman Andrew Stockdale. He is dressed unselfconsciously in the heavy rocker regulation outfit of skinny jeans, leather waistcoat and jangling man-jewellery. Most importantly, after 16 years in the business, he has retained that famous afro. Yes, friends, the quiff abides.
“People have been telling me rock music is dead for the past six or seven years,” says the 39-year old, who pulls up a stool having briefly vanished to locate a bottle of water (bless his heart, he brings one for Hot Press too). “I remember the manager of a really big folk-rock band telling me rock is over – it would be all electro from now on. Since then, I’ve heard that over and over.”
He doesn’t go along with the prognosis. Rock may not enjoy its previous prominence. But it will never die. Look at Wolfmother. A decade on from their seismic debut LP, the Stockdale-led trio remain as wildly beloved as ever. Even more so than before, judging by the reception they are accorded at a sold-out Olympia a few hours after our interview (for which Stockdale kindly furnishes Hot Press with an access all areas pass).
“I enjoy rock from the ‘60s, the ‘70s, the ‘80s, the ‘90s, the 2000s. There are still good bands even now. Remember the ‘80s – when all of that polished pop was about? There was still all of that amazing rock music. You had Guns N’ Roses and what have you. Then along came Nirvana, who knocked Michael Jackson off number one.”
He leans forward, warming to the topic.
“In the 2000s everyone was wondering how to top Nirvana. The answer was The White Stripes. Wolfmother got involved around then, along with Franz Ferdinand, The Hives, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and so forth. There are bands around now and people are asking, ‘Will anyone care in ten years time?’ Well, they were probably saying the same about us too.”
Wolfmother recently released their fifth long-player, Victorious. But the album has been overshadowed by the tenth anniversary of the Wolfmother LP, a huge hit that breached the American and UK top 30 and went five-times platinum in Stockdale’s native Australia (where it came out in 2005). Stockdale’s label honoured the event with a luxury reissue. The singer appears unmoved by the hoopla. He’d rather keep moving than glancing backwards.
“It was awful,” he says of the flurry of commemorations. “I’ve always said everyone should continuously push forward. You look at Neil Young – he’s 70 and he’s still talking about the next tour, the next album. That’s a healthy attitude to have.
“I never really stopped to think about our first record. I certainly never felt I was getting old. Then someone said, ‘Oh 10 years have passed, you should acknowledge it.’ Is that healthy? I wonder. A little bit of reflection maybe doesn’t do much harm. You can’t stay there too long. It isn’t good for you.”
Wolfmother began in Sydney in 2000. Stockdale was at the time working as a photographer and initially the group was an extracurricular lark, a means of channelling his passion for Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and fellow New South Wales headbangers AC/DC. But their popularity quickly outran these modest ambitions. Signed to local hipster label Modular Recordings, Wolfmother became an overnight buzz band in Australia and were snapped up by Universal Music and sent to Los Angeles to make their first record.
Several line-up changes followed. Today, Stockdale is the sole original member. Creatively he IS Wolfmother. He writes the songs and, on stage, commands 90 per cent of the attention (his afro soaking up the remaining 10 per cent).
“What I’ve learned from my years in music is that you’ve got to put the time in and be hands-on. I don’t work as spontaneously as I used to. On the first record, when the bass player was doing his stuff, I’d leave him to it. I’d do a demo and the band would flesh it out and it might have changed from what you had intended. I have come to appreciate that you have to be there the entire time, even if it means sitting on a couch in the studio listening to someone play drums.”
The danger of dwelling too much on the past is one of the themes of Victorious. >/i>Stockdale has suffered his share of reversals down the years. The message he tries to deliver on the new album is that, while it is important to learn from your experiences, you should not let them define you. “It’s about coming back with a positive energy – with a patience and an understanding. Unless you have mentors who lead by example, there is a lot of trial and error. You have to take your punches and keep going.”

Victorious is out now. A two-disc anniversary edition of Wolfmother was released last year.