Tweeting earlier today (May 11th), Stockdale cut straight to the point when he revealed “I’m looking for a drummer for the AS [Andrew Stockdale] OZ tour, anyone interested follow and send a DM”. In response to the question of Rosser’s omission, the frontman explained that “He’s out, I couldn’t afford his rate. AS tour is scaling down to smaller venues, I couldn’t pay the WM [Wolfmother] rates”. Rosser originally joined Wolfmother in early 2012 after leaving The Vines, and performed on three tracks on Stockdale’s upcoming album Keep Moving.

In order to be in with a chance of performing with Stockdale, Peres, Steele and Hammond this summer, all fans have to do is send the singer a few videos of their performances of Wolfmother songs ‘Woman’ and ‘Joker & the Thief’ and solo songs ‘Long Way to Go’ and ‘Keep Moving’, and commit to touring this June in Australia. Numerous followers have already expressed their interest on Twitter and Facebook.

Wolfmother’s original drummer was Myles Heskett, who formed the band with Stockdale and Chris Ross way back in 2000. Dave Atkins replaced him in 2008, although left himself due to other commitments two years later. The Mooney Suzuki drummer Will Rockwell-Scott joined in 2010, before leaving in 2012 for Rosser to fill the gap.

The event has been organised by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), who awarded Ross and Heskett (along with frontman Andrew Stockdale) the Songwriter of the Year award at their 2007 APRA Awards ceremony, as well as the Breakthrough Songwriter Award the previous year. Dubbed Songwriter Speaks, the session is described by APRA as focused on “songwriters that not only cross boundaries but hemispheres too”.

Ross and Heskett formed Wolfmother with recently-solo Stockdale in Sydney in 2000, and co-wrote the band’s self-titled debut album released in 2005. They left the band in 2008, citing personal and musical differences, and went on to form electronic group The Slew with Kid Koala and Dynomite D. The duo are currently performing with Sarah Kelly in Good Heavens.

Full details of the event can be found here. Thanks to APRA’s Greg Morrow for the information!

The tour, which will feature former Wolfmother members Ian Peres, Vin Steele, Elliott Hammond and Hamish Rosser, all of whom performed on the upcoming album, will begin in the Australian city of Newcastle on June 6th and comprise an initial 14 shows in 10 cities over three weeks, ending in Stockdale’s hometown of Byron Bay on June 29th.

Support acts are yet to be revealed, and ticketing details will be announced in the coming week. More dates in other countries are presumed to follow shortly after this opening leg. Dates for the tour can be seen below, and also on our tour page.