Spotlight - Wolfmother

Photo Credits (in order of appearance) : Michael Weintrob, Chris Strong, Michael Weintrob, David Vann, Michael Weintrob

A quote by William Blake once inspired Jim Morrison, and decades later the surrealistic prose of another author has summed up the vision of a new group of psychedelic messengers. From the inner city of Sydney, Australia comes Wolfmother, a heavy power trio whose debut album harkens back to the days of spatial rock anthems. 

“I was reading a book by  -Tom Robbins,” explains the group’s bassist and keyboard player, Chris Ross. “Every floor.  third or fourth chapter he’d go off on this psychedelic  , rant that started with, ‘Is this the room of the wolf mother wallpaper?’ We were developing this sound at the time that has really solid riff structures but also has weird stuff on top of that, too.”  Feeling a similarity between Robbins’ surrealism and its own sound, Wolfmother was born. Al-though the band members were hesitant at first—“They thought the name sounded too much like a German death-metal band,” laughs Ross—the moniker  stuck.

Ross started jamming with drummer Myles Heskett and singer/guitarist Andrew Stockdale about six years  ago, and together the trio experimented in the realms of of jamming to say, ‘Let’s try an  write some songs and do some shows,’” Ross reflects. “I got to this point where I really wanted to know where the songs begin and end…we wanted to have parts where we all hit it at the same time.” With a new structure in mind, Wolfmother signed with Modular Records and released its first EP in 2004. A year later, the band rented a space at Cherokee Studios in Hollywood to begin work on its self-titled debut album.

In its glory days, Cherokee hosted acts like David  Bowie and Pink Floyd during its The Wall sessions. atmosphere proved inspirational: The resulting album is 12 tracks of raw,  feedback-drenched rock that seems to come straight out of the stoner ‘70s, reminiscent of Led Zeppelin and early Black Sabbath. With titles such as  stuck.“Witchcraft,” “Tales from the Forest of Gnomes” and “White Unicorn,” Wolfmother’s psychedelic, indiegroove laced songs go beyond parodying psychedelic mythology to become the next link in the chain. “We always get the classic rock references, which makes sense. We all grew up on that stuff—The Beatles, The Who, Black Sabbath and more left field kind of stuff like Yes and Pink Floyd,” says Ross. “But at the same time we also listen to a lot of indie bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth. 

Ross also sites their home environment as a source of inspiration. “When people think of stoner rock they the release of Wolfmother earlier this year, the band has think of deserts and arid landscapes,” notes Ross. “We taken its sound all over the globe on the festival circuit,  were formed in the inner city, in warehouses with the including stops at Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival, Lollathe free-form psychedelic. “It took us four or five years monorail going by the window. That’s a different kind of palooza and an opening spot for Pearl Jam. Wolfmother’s arid landscape.”

  Unlike other bands that remain content to simply  name-drop the forefathers of rock as influences, , ‘Let’s Wolfmother did its homework and it shows. “People  attribute a quick rise to us,” says Ross. “We developed our sound and songwriting outside of the public eye, which I guess made it easier for us to experiment.” Since the release of Wolfmother earlier this year, the band has taken its sound all over the glove on the festival circuit, including stops at Japan's Fuji  Rock Festival, Lollapalooza and an opening spot for Peal Jam. Wolfmother's stage presence has awarded them comparisons to MC5 and other high-energy acts. “We’ll read the dance-floor .If the crowd is chilled out we’ll say 'Let's make this jam really spacious,’ but if the crowd is really nuts we’ll just make this jam fucking banging and try to incite a riot.” 

Want more of the Wolfmother sound? 

THESE ALBUMS WILL LEAVE YOUR HEAD EITHER BANGING OR SPINNING. 

BLACK SABBATH
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This album from the Ozzy  years marks Sabbath’s move away from pure heavy metal and toward more psychedelic arrangements. The stoner classic is full of dark, tripped-out tunes about everything from love to the universe

THE CORAL
The Coral
The Coral are among the new  school of rock surrealists and most closely resemble Pink Floyd’s Piper at the Gates of Dawn, with similar artwork to match. And yes, there is even a song about clocks.  

  LED ZEPPELIN
III
From the folky feel of  “Tangerine” and “That’s the Way” t  the explosive bombast of “The Immigrant Song,” this album covers the scope of their offerings to the rock gods in a way that only Zeppelin could do it.