 All conquering rock heroes WOLFMOTHER are returing to Australian shores for a run of massive shows. But, have we been smothered by ‘The Mother’ too much since the end of ‘05? JACK LANGRIDGE asks drummer MYLES HESKETT.
Since the release of their nation-stopping, chart-topping debut album in spring of last year, Wolfmother have become a vexing commodity among Australian music lovers. The saturation bombing of album hits Colossal, White Unicorn and Joker and the Thief by every-single-bloody-radio-station-across-the-country has all but ruined Australia’s most beloved power-trio.
Without mentioning any one particular killjoy (ahem, cou-Triple J-gh), Wolfmother now feel a bit like that annoying pain in the back of your neck – an ache incessantly howling Zepplein-esque mysticisms to the high heavens while slamming down gargantuan prog-riffery.
In a classic case of radio overexposure, the band’s overplaying is something drummer Myles Heskett is concerned about when Rave catches up with him in Baltimore, USA, just south of Philadelphia and New York.
“Yeah, I’ve been a bit worried about that actually,” he says in his slight, soft voice.
“Our tour manager went back to Australia when we were in LA and said, ‘Man, you’re on every fucking radio station I turn on’ and I’m like, ‘Ah, no!’ I know what it can be like. I remember when that Metallica Black album came out. It just got completely overplayed and by the end of it I was like, the last thing I want to hear is Metallica.
“He [tour manager] was saying they [radio stations] were playing a few different songs, not just one single. Hopefully people don’t get sick of it. I’m sure some people are, but what can you do? It’s better than not having anything on there. It’s a great thing for us so, we’re very appreciative of all the support that we’ve had,” Heskett says.
Soundtracking every house party since its release; even saucing up a Suicide Girl’s strip show, there’s something annoyingly unescapable about Wolfmother although the band’s tsnami-like impact has been much deserved with hundreds of thousands of fans cheering the raw power of the band’s live show many times over for the past twelve months, such is the accessibility of their debut album.
On the downside, Wolfmother shows seem much less excitable, even less of a priority, than they were six months ago.
“Nah man, I’ve seem ‘em too many times,” said a colleague recently when conversation turned to Wolfmother’s July tour.
“I missed out on Splendour so I’m just going to Wolfmother,” explained another…
Indeed it seems, in some circles, music fans are suffering from a touch of Wolfmother fatigue. Heskett too, admits to succumbing to fatigue of late – unsurprising given the sheer ridiculousness of their touring schedule and promotional duties.
“You start to run out of energy every now and then,” Myles sighs.
“The hardest bit has been doing press. We’ll rock up and do a whole day of press and then play a show and then get on the bus, get up and do a whole day of press and it’s just constant…really full on, but it’s an amazing thing so you can’t really get to picky about it.”
If perhaps the Wolfmother phenomenon has sapped everyone of a bit of enthusiasm, it certainly has been an amazing ride. It’s fantastic to see a band that played a 1:45pm slot on the Essential Stage at Big Day Out 2004 now ripping international music festivals a new orifice, and receiving all manner of industry kudos. Persistence pays dividends, and Wolfmother know that better than anyone.
Wolfmother play the Brisbane Riverstage on Saturday July 22 and Splendour In The Grass on Sunday July 23. Support is from Swede prog-rockers Dungen.
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