Friday, November 20, 2009

Wolfmother: A Potential Rock Act


I was wondering about which all bands of recent times have been the most influencing Rock n Roll acts, and eventually came up to Wolfmother, an Australian hard rock band that formed in Erskineville, Sydney in 2000. Originally, tha band is a trio comprising vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, bassist and keyboardist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett .

The band lists its influences as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Pink Floyd, and relatively new bands like The White Stripes too. While most critics have compared the band's sound to resemble Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath , I myself would agree that Wolfmother's, though original, sound does resemble Led Zeppelin , and bit of Deep Purple too ( Eg: Space truckin )

But, History has been full of varied sounds and acts , and it does seem very much possible that if you make out a riff or some lyrics today, they might be traced back easily ! Nevertheless, Wolfmother has been a really great Hard Rock act, and they have done some really sensible, amazing compositions that I very much liked.

Their hit single, "Woman" , a quite grunge, blues-inspired awesome Guitar riff by Andrew Stockdale, and an equally brilliant vibrant synthesizer by Chris Ross ( he is also the bassist of the band, and as per me, He has done a great job in both sections. His synth in Woman reminded me of Deep Purple's early keyboard sound, as in songs like 'Child in Time' too ! ) , and a nice hard beat by Myles Heskett. Woman was also included on video games as Guitar Hero II, MotorStorm, Pure, Saints Row 2, Tony Hawk's Project 8 and NHL 07 .

Another of their wonderful hits, "Joker & the Thief", with again a 'Nut-Cracking' work by Andrew Stockdale, appeared in films Jackass Number Two, Shoot 'Em Up, Shrek the Third and The Hangover (2009 film) and video games Need for Speed: Carbon, Rock Band, and MLB 07: The Show, as well as commercials for both Mitsubishi and Peugeot cars.

'Woman' also won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 2007 ceremony . The band has also been nominated for various awards , and they did definitely deserve all the nominations .

The band's guitarist Andrew Stockdale has been the Star in most of their songs, as I feel . The band's Hard Rock, Distorted riffs coupled with some whacking vocals by Stockdale have definitely been the best part of the band for me.

Here are some of their live performances to watch out :




2 comments:

drewzepmeister said...

I've heard of these guys before. I've got a few recordings from them somewhere. They rock!

bearockr said...

They surely do rock drew, and the fact that they have so many influences from the classic era makes them a must band for all to hear atleast once !