Wolfmother
Interview by Arye Dworken
Photography by Jason Vaughn

Andrew Stockdale, singer and guitarist of Wolfmother, sits at the dining table in his hotel suite soaking up a murky Indian curry sauce with Nan bread. With his impressive golden-brown Afro and a distinctive retro style (clothes too tight, an un-ironic silk vest), he is a facsimile of the past-equal parts Marc Bolan and Jimi Hendrix. Bandmate and keyboardist Chris Ross is lying on the couch, watching TV, while the third son of Wolf, drummer Myles Heskett, is sick in the adjacent room, trying to catch up on much-needed sleep in the midst of a whirlwind tour. For the hour I spend with them, the Australian trio are attempting to catch their breath from what seems like an unending promotional journey. They are local rock heroes in their homeland; the rest of the world is only now catching on.
Wolfmother is not rocket science, but there’s still a huge demand for their formula. In fact, when I see their blistering set at New York’s Mercury Lounge, the place is full to capacity with rabid, devoted fans raising devil horns in the air and dressed in the ultimate rock ‘n roll no-no: the band’s logo T-shirts. Each song that Wolfmother plays from their self-titled debut can be directly associated to a rock reference: “Apple Tree” sounds jacked from a White Stripes record; “White Unicorn”, for all intents and purposes, could be a Led Zeppelin outtake; and “Woman” is as unholy as Black Sabbath. But the appropriation is pretty much the point of the music. “I once said to my girlfriend in university that if someone just wrote music that sounded like Led Zeppelin, they would be enormous,” Stockdale tells me. It’s disarming to hear a band address their influences with such a refreshing honesty. One could even call their self-proclaimed homage a mission statement. Therefore, we can only assume, the enormity can’t be that far behind.

Did you expect Wolfmother to have the response it has in America-for example, the sold-out shows?
Andrew: When we first made the demo, we had the feeling that it sounded good. It’s not like we were going to make a record for the sake of it. Not to sound arrogant, but, objectively, we knew that other people would connect with it.
Are you celebrities in Australia?
Andrew: We’re being recognized all over now. Yeah. It’s pretty weird. But then again, my hair generally gives me away.
I’ve read that you [Andrew] discovered that you could sing in falsetto when you were signing Beck’s “Debra.”
Andrew: Yeah, I used to sing like that low indie voice, pretty standard, but then we were mucking around and I tried the high pitch.
Does it hurt to sing like that the whole time?
Andrew: It is physically demanding. My brother plays guitar and did a cover of “Woman”, and by the end of the song, he was coughing and his throat hurt.

It seems like you stumbled on this classic rock sound on accident.
Andrew: Yeah, actually, that’s true. I never even owned an electric guitar when we first started Wolfmother. That was the first time I played a riff.
Where you classic rock fans beforehand?
Andrew: Kind of. Not huge. We were concerned that it was too much of a rip-off at first. We got the impression that it was a bad thing to sound so much like classic rock. No one wants to hear that their band is a rip-off. And to this day, it’s both a blessing and a curse.
Wolfmother sounds like early Rush to me. I mean this as a compliment. And you have a trio just like them. What do you think about that comparison?
Chris: [Laughs] I only know the “Tom Sawyer” Rush. And I’m not sure it’s a good thing to be compared to them.
Your crowds are really interesting. You’re not playing for hipsters really-I noticed a bunch of classic rock fans in the audience.
Andrew: We get this feeling that we can be successful here. Before we came to America, we were convinced that we would be playing for like, 20 people. But it seems the press is on our side and now it seems doable. We’re selling shows out now, like 500-person venues.
What’s with the word “wolf” in band names?
Andrew: I have no idea how that caught on.
Do you think you’ll stay in Australia, or will you move when you become too famous like that guy from Silverchair?
Andrew: [Laughs] I don’t think I would move anytime soon, but maybe I would live closer to the beach.

Do you enjoy touring or would you rather be home?
Andrew: Well, I miss my girlfriend and family, but then I get home and I have to run errands. Honest to God. My family sends me out to pick up things from the shop.
What’s been the highlight of being in this band so far?
Andrew: Playing in front of 50,000 was absolutely incredible. Winning over that many people is an enormous challenge. I was completely floored. My adrenaline was rushing.
There seems to be a true energy on the stage. On a number of occasions, you two just barely avoided hitting each other.
Andrew: Chris has had a few accidents. But it’s quite a change from what it used to be. We used to be pretty shy.
You seem generally pretty laid-back.
Andrew: Yeah, we’re pretty chilled, I guess. I’m not terribly talkative.