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Wolfmother
Black Sabbath is truly a great name. Deep Purple, though taken from the title of a wimpy M.O.R. song, actually isn't a bad pun. When everyone was talking about heavy Blues, why not be so heavy that you're Deep Purple? Even Led Zeppelin, a name that started as punch line to a Keith Moon joke, conjures an awesome image. You'd think a band that draws inspiration from on these legends would come up with something spectacular.
So what's up with Wolfmother? What kind of name is that? Sure, they're Aussie's, but still that doesn't completely explain a lapse like this. But that's who they are and here's what happened.
Heralding from Erskineville, Sydney, Australia, Wolfmother formed in '00. Four years later they began recording for the sole purpose of using the material to secure bookings. And it worked. The group made an '04 appearance at Australia's mega annual party, Big Day Out. From there they returned to the studio to re-record their songs which comprised their self-titled debut EP. The effort garnered a lot of radio play and sold well enough to pull them out of the local scene.
The next stop was L.A. where they recorded their full-length debut, another self-titled effort, with producer Dave Sardy (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Oasis). Their double A-side single "Mind's Eye/Woman" managed to crack the Aussie Top 30 (barely) but the album did far better coming dangerously close to the top.
By this time everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. Wolfmother won the '05 J Award from the youth radio network Triple J for the best Australian album of the year. Rolling Stone listed Wolfmother as one of their Top 10 Bands to Watch 2006. A second stint on the Big Day Out tour kicked off '06 as the group released follow-up single, "White Unicorn." That was followed by "Joker and the Thief," which nailed alternative radio airplay in the U.S.
Listening to Wolfmother conjures up an image of Deep Purple's Ian Gillan fronting Black Sabbath. Wait. That did happen in the early '80s and didn't turn out so good. Wolfmother is better than that. Though guitarist/vocalist Stockdale neither possesses Gillan's dramatic range nor Ozzy's demonic menace, he comes reasonably close.
Wolfmother hit their stride when they spit out machine gun, pulsating, riffs on "Dimension," "White Unicorn," "Joker & The Thief," "Love Train" and "Pyramid." Veering from this straight-on approach they tend to get a ponderous. However, Wolfmother shows some vital versatility on the ballad "Tales" and the appealing, jaunty album closer, "Vagabond."
Sure, it's all been done before. But to their credit, Wolfmother does it better than it's been done in a long time.