Third album: preliminary details

A few early details regarding Wolfmother’s upcoming third album have been obtained by a fan who was lucky enough to speak to the band backstage at a recent gig. Wolfmother.net moderator Jimmi was at the June 1st gig in London, England, and met Stockdale and co. before and after the gig to have a sneaky discussion about the currently untitled follow-up to 2009′s Cosmic Egg.

Writing on the forums, Jimmi explained that the third album is completely recorded and mixed, with just “a few vocal touch up[s] needed”. The album will apparently comprise 12 tracks and be released in approximately three months, indicating a September 2011 release. As for the new songs, Jimmi claims that he has heard a total of five unreleased tracks: two in soundcheck, two in the live set, and another backstage after the gig; he praised the new direction, noting that the songs had “good thumping riffs” and were “really catchy”.

A quick search on YouTube brings up a couple of indications as to the new material, including a song being referred to as “The Year of the Dragon” and another song for which the title is as yet unknown. Another video floating around from the gig shows the band covering a portion of the Led Zeppelin classic “Stairway to Heaven“. It is unknown when this new material will see the light of day, but it seems that the band are ready to release it some time before the end of the year (save for any trademark delays, of course).

More ‘break up’ coverage & rumours

Updated: Blimey, the news is being covered all over the place now – NME, Daily Telegraph (Australia), Gigwise and more. Links at the bottom of the article.

Apparently this rumour, whether it was just Triple J’s speculation or not, is gathering legs across Australia and the world. Here are a a couple of other sites covering the news:

Firstly we have Channel V, that also discusses other rumours ‘doung the rounds’, including:

• Andrew Stockdale has been squirrelled away in a studio for months, engineer on standby just in case he comes up with a moment of genius
• The rift started because Andrew only wanted to create ‘long-winded Floyd-style prog-rock epics’, whereas Chris and Myles are keen to maintain the rocking style they have had to date.
• Chris is the driver of the rumoured line up change as he wants to concentrate on raising his young family.

Channel V
Wolfmother, the rocking Sydney-based band that were signed after only a handful of shows together could be poised to morph into a different beast altogether, if the rumours that gathered steam after the band’s Splendour In The Grass show are to be believed.

Star Pulse also covers the story but takes it a bit far, stating ‘Heavy rockers Wolfmother have reportedly split after a bust-up between frontman Andrew Stockdale and fellow founding members Chris Ross and Myles Heskett’, then contradict themselves by quoting the band’s manager (who I quoted yesterday) who said:

StarPulse
Wolfmother’s manager John Watson has also failed to dispel rumours of a break-up, telling Australian website Undercover.com.au: “Unfortunately, I can’t make any comment other than to say that as soon as the band has clear future plans they will issue a statement and we hope to be able to do that in the next week or two.”

My opinion is this. It is clear there are some differences in the band. Andrew has some different ideas to M&C (or Mac & Cheese as one forum member quipped!) and they are working them out. To me this is probably not unusual for a band that is evolving and heading into their 5th year of existence. They are all creative fellas and hopefully they can work everything out.

The more worrying aspect for the band’s future (as it is) is Chris’ (understandable) desire to be with his family. That’s the thing for me from reading all of these rumours that could create a line up change. I guess that if Chris and Myles are particularly good buddies, Myles could go too – but I think a one member change is more likely, if any.

I guess we’ll have to wait for an official announcement, and keep those fingers crossed.

Coverage:
NME
DAily Telegraph
Gigwise
Herald Sun
Take40
Blabbermouth
Contact Music

Hopefully this will kick the management’s arse into getting that statement out.