The second installment in the
Wolfmother series takes off for a run of shows in September as a preview to their October 13 release of
Cosmic Egg.
The band have been in LA for the last two months working on either the follow up to their debut, or their first record, depending on which side of the purist velvet rope you fall on. That being that the power of Wolfmother was always in the guitar heroics, wail and pompadour of its frontman, or that the original band was a remarkable display and reminder of the punch of a three-piece power unit.
The new bands performance at Sound Relief wasn't much of and indication. As we
said then:
Tensions rise palpably for a reunited Wolfmother to take the stage. Will they be any good? Why do they need three members to replace two? Will anyone care? Turns out "pretty good", "not really", and "yes". Maybe it's unfair to judge this new lineup still in its infancy (and in a stadium no less) but the band shows none of the leanness that made it so lively. Andrew Stockdale's voice is as strong as ever and the riffs are legible, but there's a lithe rawness missing. It doesn't deter the crowd, who lap up every familiar epic. But when the new keyboard/bassist goes for a keyboard stand tilt, a la the departed Chris Ross, the whole thing collapses to the floor in a heap. Early days.
Still that was before the band took off to record their album with Alan Moulder in LA, a bonding process surely. By the time this thing wraps at the Pier Hotel in Frankston VIC, the new band will have either silenced the naysayers, or crashed and burned. We're thinking the former but if the latter, a more perfect place to do so there is not.
Support comes from Yves Klein Blue and Jack Ladder.
WOLFMOTHER - NEW MOON RISING TOUR 2009
Thu Sep 17 - The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD
Sat Sep 19 - The Enmore, Sydney NSW
Wed Sep 23 - Capitol, Perth WA
Thu Sep 24 - HQ Live, Adelaide SA
Fri Sep 25 - The Palace, Melbourne VIC
Sat Sep 26 - Pier Hotel, Frankston VIC
Tickets go on-sale Friday Jul 17 from
ticketek.com.au