Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musician
Andrew Stockdale, the powerhouse behind Wolfmother, shares his remarkable journey from busker to rock icon.
Despite playing guitar eight hours daily, he tried to abandon music for something "legit." After studying photography and even shooting for Vogue, he finally gave himself an ultimatum at age 27: one last gig before quitting forever. That decision changed everything, leading to Wolfmother's formation, a five-times platinum debut album that stayed on charts for 78 weeks, and multiple ARIA Awards.
The conversation reveals fascinating glimpses into Andrew's world—from his flamenco dancer mother to busking under escalators across Australia, from his brother's failed grunge band to drinking margaritas with Roger Daltrey in Barcelona. Throughout it all, he maintains a refreshingly unpretentious approach to rock stardom. "This is guitar, bass and drums. That's all it is. That's all the best stuff's ever going to be," he explains, rejecting the industry's excesses with the same authenticity that defines Wolfmother's sound.
As Wolfmother prepares to headline Adelaide's Beer and BBQ Festival, he offers wisdom that extends beyond music: follow your passion regardless of recognition, stay humble despite success, and remember that sometimes the things we try hardest to escape become our greatest calling.
Subscribe to Still Rocking It for more intimate conversations with the artists shaping Australian music.
What has Andrew Stockdale been up to lately? Let's find out!!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
That Radio Chick, cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rocking itpodcast where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
We are celebrating 10 wonderfulyears of our beer and barbecue
festival, celebrating all thingsbeer and all things barbecue,
(00:27):
and what an amazing lineup ofmusic we have.
There are a total of 34 artistsand bands playing over the
three day long weekend in June.
So I shall see you down thefront, but in the meantime we
are chatting to Andrew Stockdale, founding member, lead singer
and guitarist of wolf mother,who are appearing on the friday
(00:50):
night.
To catch up on podcasts fromother favorite artists, simply
go to that radio chickcomau.
You're with shirley that radiochick and I'd like to welcome
into the Zoom room today AndrewStockdale.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Hi, cheryl, good, good Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Andrew from Wolf Mother, you've got a big gig
coming to Adelaide soon, whichwe will talk about shortly, but
in the meantime, if I could justask a couple of questions about
you.
When was it that you discoveredmusic was going to be your
thing?
Is it in your dna, or how didyou realize music was your
passion?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
it's funny, like it's like I was playing music but I
didn't realize it was my passion.
It was sort of like I wasthinking I should stop doing
this and like do something legit, something real, like get a job
or study something that wasgonna make money yeah so I
didn't really know, like youdon't know, that other people
(01:51):
don't play eight hours a day andstop and start, you know,
record the radio and then learneverything you know, you think
that's normal yeah, um, but thenyou know, as you get older,
like you feel like you've got toditch music.
As you get older, you know likeyou hit 18 and then I studied
photography but I'd still likestart bands and busk and go and
(02:13):
battle the bands, and then youfinish uni, then you meet some
friends and you jam, do a gig,and then you think I got to stop
music.
Then I hit 27 and I was likeI'm going to do a gig and if I
suck, like seriously, like youknow, tell me, tell me and I'll
stop, and then I'll get a joband I'll quit music.
And and then you know, afterthe first gig we got another gig
(02:35):
and then we got signed and wegot a manager and we got this
and that, and then 20 yearslater I'm still gone.
But yeah, I definitely put likean ultimatum on myself to like
not be a burden on society andmy friends.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
And not being a starving musician.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, yeah, yeah Is.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Mom and Dad musical at all?
Or have you got any siblingsand are they musical?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, my oldest brother is a music teacher.
He was surprised at like how Iplay the guitar and that I could
do all this stuff because Inever had a lesson and'm you
know, I just taught myself.
And then my other brother, hetried to start a grunge band in
the 90s.
He's eight years older than me.
I was going to finish highschool and join his band.
He was on the doll in, I think,ireland for like two years and
(03:20):
they booked in one gig and theyended up paying the sound guy
like 300 pounds or something andthey played to no one.
They played to an empty venueand ended up paying just the
sound guy to be there and thenhe quit music.
So he was really down on bandsand he was kind of like don't,
yeah, he was disillusioned.
So when wolf mother took offand he came to our first gig he
(03:43):
was like over the moon, he, hecouldn't believe it.
He's an architect now.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Probably earning more money than all of us, is he?
We'd hope so, so you neverreally had a plan B.
I mean, other than you studiedphotography.
If this music thing hadn'tworked out, did you have a plan
b to fall back on?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
plan b.
Well, yeah, photography, like Ikind of exhibited in a few art.
The most successful photographyventures that I had was when I
had an exhibition and it soundsreally like if I just did what I
wanted to do and had it, Iwould sell like prints for like
this is 20 years ago, like aphoto for like three grand to an
architect, wow, put into abuilding, and it was like my
(04:28):
photos were like it's like aphoto of a fan, like an old 90s
fan, on this bedside table on amilk crate.
It was kind of funny, you know.
So take a photo of like a fanon a milk crate and then like
blow it up like one by twometers so it kind of looked
quirky kind of stuff.
You know what I mean.
Very arty, yeah, I was right inthe thick of that.
(04:49):
But then that started to likeyeah, then I started doing
weddings and I'd get like fivegrand a wedding.
I actually shot for vogue.
I shot for like australianstyle and I remember when I shot
for Vogue I got paid 600 bucksand they paid me six months
after it was published.
Wow, they'd have to wait forthe magazine to come out and
(05:10):
then they pay 600 bucks after itwas published.
Yeah, no, I was like paintingwalls in studios to get free
time to, like you know, do photoshoots and assisting
photographers and like Iactually meet bands.
Like I told um Killing Heidi, Isaid you guys are getting
photographed for this magazineand I was a dude, like getting
your ham and cheese sandwichesand painting the walls.
(05:32):
They can't remember becauseit's 20 years ago, but yeah,
like I was in Sydney doing thatstuff yeah, the coffee bitch
yeah, yeah, the coffee bitchyeah.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
You are listening to Still Rocking it, the podcast
with Cheryl Lee.
Time for a song.
One of my favourite Wolf Mothersongs from the Cosmic Egg album
is New Moon Rising.
Let's have a listen to that andthen we're back to hear what
pearls of wisdom Andrew issharing with his 19-year-old
daughter of wisdom.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Andrew is sharing with his 19-year-old daughter.
Yeah, my daughter's 19 and I'mlike just go to wherever you
want to work and just get thecoffees, because, like through
osmosis, it just robs off on you.
Just hang out there, you'rearound it.
You know it's the same um withmusic.
I was in a band when I was like17 and we spent.
(06:30):
You know, when you have arehearsal and you spend four
hours and you paid 50 bucks andyou're in this crap hole,
everything sounds like crap.
You're like exhausted and youload all your crap out of a
rehearsal space.
Someone put radio head on in thecar and I was like we suck, I
quit.
I thought I'm never gonna makethat same mistake again.
(06:51):
It's like, okay, radio headexists, that's cool, great.
That okay computer is a seminalmasterpiece, like sergeant
peppers and progressive musicand data.
So f***ing what we're gonnamake our piece of s*** and
that's what we're gonna do.
And so now I just stand by thatto this day.
And if someone says that sucks,I'm like it probably does.
(07:14):
I don't know, you got to do thething that sucks to move on.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
You know it's like um it's part of the process, yeah,
and then someone goes.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
You're a legend and then someone's like doesn't say
that, but you know it's like youget an award.
You get a prize for justturning up in this industry.
You get a certificate forparticipation.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Just the one daughter , Andrew, one child.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, one daughter she's 19 and a five-year-old and
a seven-year-old.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Following you into the family business.
Is she musical too?
Uh, she wants to be an actoryeah performing.
It must be in your dna, Ireckon yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Well, my mom was a ballet dancer.
She's a flamenco dancer.
I used to play flamenco inshopping malls.
I can walk around like the goldcoast and brisbane and mel and
go.
I freaking sat under thatescalator for three hours and
played flamenco guitar.
You know, I can pretty muchlike every train station in
(08:17):
Sydney I've like stood in frontof for like two hours and play
the acoustic at some point,because it's good to get that
experience.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
It's good to stand in front of people and like be
nervous and make a fool ofyourself so you sort of started
jamming, I guess, with ChrisRoss Myles Heskett back in 2000
and officially formed in 2004.
A year later you released amother of an hour, a wolf mother
(08:48):
, number three on the ARIAcharts, and it stayed in for 78
weeks, oh my.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
God Well done, cheers , thanks yeah.
Answer my God Well done, cheers, thanks yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
And certified five times platinum.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, that was counted.
That must be 20 years ago, so Ithink it's gone a bit more than
that by now.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Oh yeah, you're probably right, Even better.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And also just was going to congratulate you in
2006 at the ARIA's BestBreakthrough Artist Album, Best
Rock Album.
Mm-hmm, yeah that will berecognised by your peers.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
That was great.
Yeah, yeah, totally, I've gotthem over there, just on the
table right there, awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Still Rocking it podcast with that radio chick,
cheryl Lee.
Let's play a song from thatalbum right now Joker and the
Thief.
It's the sixth track and thesixth single from the band's
self-titled debut album,released in 2006.
Joker and Thief are a referenceto the lyrics of Bob Dylan's
(09:52):
1967 song All Along theWatchtower.
In 2018, it was in the TripleM's Ozzest 100 most Australian
songs of all time.
Back to speak to the guy whowrote that song.
Straight after this, the bandhas been compared to the likes
(10:19):
of Led Zepp and Black Sabbathand Blue Chair and you
personally your vocals have beencompared stylistically to
Robert Plant from Led Zepp andOzzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath
and Audrey Daltrey from theHoop.
That's a pretty big compliment,but they sound a bit like you
yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, I met Ozzy, met Roger Daltrey in Barcelona on
the last European tour.
I was in Barcelona a few daysearly for a gig and I saw Zach
Starkey's Instagram and he wasin Barcelona.
I was like you know, I've methim a few times in London.
I was like hey man him a fewtimes in London I was like hey
man, can I come along to the gig?
So I was watching the gig andthey had this orchestral, like
(11:03):
an orchestra, backing them up inthis arena.
Uh, it was all seated.
I mean, the who's fan base arelike a bit old now like walking
frames yeah, yeah, they're likeall sitting down.
I think I stood up and I washaving a beer and I was like,
and someone's like, can you getout of the way, can you sit down
?
And they're down, sunny, but uh, somehow I wound up back at
(11:27):
their hotel.
I went to the bar and I justbought 10 margaritas.
I just brought it over to thetable and I'm like having a
margarita, and roger daltrey's,like who, bought these
margaritas.
What was like it's all yours,man, take one if you want.
And he had one and the uh, themusical director of the
orchestra had a margarita andand I was asking him a million
(11:48):
questions about the who and allthis.
And, yeah, I was asking himabout, um, one festival, isle of
white.
I was like, oh, did you get a?
Get a helicopter into like isleof white?
He goes.
We went to isle of Wight.
I was like, oh, did you get ahelicopter into Isle of Wight?
He goes.
We went to Isle of Wight in theback of a Volkswagen Beetle,
mate.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
I'm going to have to remember that Next time I'd like
to meet somebody, I'd try amargarita's.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
It's always a good icebreaker.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Thanks for the tip.
Now, who have you got coming toAdelaide with you?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Because it's a bit of a fluid line-up.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
sometimes the players who are you going to bring to
the Beer and Barbecue Festival.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
James Wesner on the bass and Brett Wolfenden on the
drums, so we have a Dutch lastname and a German last name,
very multicultural.
Yeah, they're playing good.
Yeah, we're having a good time.
We just did a Red Hot SummersFestival at the start of the
year, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Have you performed at the Beer and Barbecue before?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I have not.
I've been waiting 20 years forthe chance to do this.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Finally, it's its 10th year this year.
Have you played with any of theother artists on the bill,
because there's a shipload ofartists playing over the three
days.
Have you played with any ofthem?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Never played with Custard, never played with the
Chats.
Who else is on there?
Tim Finn, tim Finn.
Oh, I played with Tim Finn onceat some Gibson Guitar Expo
demonstration thing in Melbourne.
Once had a chat with him backthen yeah, wow, yeah, that's,
that's pretty amazing.
You know, grew up listening tohim for sure yeah, it's a
massive lineup.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
We're really looking forward to catching up with you
when you get here.
I haven't got my timer on, so Ihope I'm tell me when I don't
have anything on after this.
So it's fine oh, okay, I justwanted to ask you, you know, um,
yeah, do you have any specialrequests on your rider, like
I've got to have it or I'm notgoing on?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
yeah, I know I've like at the moment.
Well, I'm not drinking, so Ijust a bottle of water.
That's pretty, pretty basic.
We played in france last yearin beer ritz and toulouse and I
remember there was like 300people, all the crew and
everything.
A mess.
They must really look aftertheir crew over there.
(14:12):
But I remember on thesettlement sheet for the gig it
was like three thousand dollarsfor, like, the catering and,
like you know, you're sitting inthis big hall with rows of
tables, everyone's having athree, four course meal, there's
bottles of three bottles of redwine.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
As you can imagine, the show got pretty random that
night yeah, you know, theanswers to these questions would
have been a lot more fun in the80s if you have a fancy rider,
you got to remember that you'repaying for it in the long run.
You know I mean you're payingfor it.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
I'm sure you could put anything you want on there
yeah like.
My approach is like this like Itry to be low fuss, you know
what I mean.
I'm like I try to stay out ofthe way.
I don't want to be like um aband that's going to be like a
drain on resources yeah I'm not.
I'm not that way inclined, andanyone can go to the bottle shop
(15:04):
and buy whatever the hell youwant for like freaking 50 bucks
or something.
It's not like the end of theworld, true.
It's funny how, when you go, toa festival or a venue and
they're like, oh my god, we'vegot a bottle of wine and a
bottle of vodka and, yeah, it'sfreaking 50 bucks at dan
murphy's dude.
You want me to stop off and getit now To have your rock moment
.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah, you don't demand blue M&Ms then.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
The David Lee Roth thing.
No, with the Ryder it's liketotally fine, if they gave us
nothing, I don't mind, I don'tneed to have my Every time you
need it.
I'm more of a minimalist.
You know what I mean.
I like, I like, um, I thinksometimes people want to have,
like they want to have 20guitars and 20 amps and this and
this and more and more and more.
(15:50):
More lighting, more production,more you know, to kind of prove
their status or their value ortheir worth.
And the promoter goes oh man,this is a big band because they
ordered all this crap, and it'slike this is a rock band because
they ordered all this crap.
And it's like this is a rockband.
This is guitar, bass and drums.
That's all it is.
That's all it's ever going tobe, that's all the best stuff's
ever going to be.
So, like, what more do you need?
(16:11):
You know?
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Like keep it simple, sweetie.
Totally this concept.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
I mean, I'm saying that, but I'm surrounded by crap
.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
You are listening to, still rocking it, the podcast
with cheryl lee.
We're going to have a song fromroger daltrey, who andrew met
in barcelona and shouted himsome shots.
So, roger daltrey of the who,this is a little bit different,
though.
Don't let the sun go down on meand this is from the lost boys
original motion picturesoundtrack from 1987.
And then we're back to sayfarewell to andrew from wolf
(16:47):
mother oh, you're busy I onlyjust recently came into radio,
like five years ago in my 50s,so oh wow, yeah, I'm making up
(17:08):
lost time.
Andrew, was there anything elsethat you would like to discuss?
Any other topics?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
At the moment I can't think of anything.
I'm yeah, I'm happy with whatyou got.
If you're happy with it, I alsohave a TV show.
It.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
It's called Rider TV, hence the rider question, and
we are filming an episode overthe 10th anniversary of the beer
and barbecue, so we will seeyou there with.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Kat yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
And I was just hoping that we might be able to just
get five minutes with you.
How's it all going?
How are you enjoying the fest?
Have you done anything inAdelaide?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
You know blah, blah, blah five minutes.
Yeah, that would be lovely tograb you sort of.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
We'll be on site two, I think, of the three days
grabbing snippets of this andthat to celebrate the 10th
anniversary.
Yeah.
And it would be lovely if wecould grab five quick minutes
with you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, cool In thegreen room or whatever suits.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
You'll see me down the front, cool, with the
cameraman in tow.
Awesome, awesome it's lovely tomeet you, Andrew, and I
appreciate you spending a bit oftime with us today.
All the best, and we lookforward to seeing you in
Adelaide.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Thanks, cheryl, nice to meet you.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Love you, Mindy.
Bye for now.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
I'll see you later.
Bye.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Still Rocking it podcast with that radio chick,
cheryl Lee.
Let's go out with the Tim Finnsong, shall we Fraction too much
fiction?
And he'll be on the bill withWolf Mother at the Beer and
Barbecue Festival.
There's a fraction too muchfiction.
There's a fraction too muchfiction.
You're with Cheryl Lee, thatradio chick.
(18:41):
Thank you so much for joiningme on the Still Rocking it
podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can supportAussie music and I'll see you
down the front.
That Radio Chick, cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rocking itpodcast where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
We are celebrating 10 wonderfulyears of our beer and barbecue
festival, celebrating all thingsbeer and all things barbecue,
(00:27):
and what an amazing lineup ofmusic we have.
There are a total of 34 artistsand bands playing over the
three day long weekend in June.
So I shall see you down thefront, but in the meantime we
are chatting to Andrew Stockdale, founding member, lead singer
and guitarist of wolf mother,who are appearing on the friday
(00:50):
night.
To catch up on podcasts fromother favorite artists, simply
go to that radio chickcomau.
You're with shirley that radiochick and I'd like to welcome
into the Zoom room today AndrewStockdale.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Hi, cheryl, good, good Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Andrew from Wolf Mother, you've got a big gig
coming to Adelaide soon, whichwe will talk about shortly, but
in the meantime, if I could justask a couple of questions about
you.
When was it that you discoveredmusic was going to be your
thing?
Is it in your dna, or how didyou realize music was your
passion?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
it's funny, like it's like I was playing music but I
didn't realize it was my passion.
It was sort of like I wasthinking I should stop doing
this and like do something legit, something real, like get a job
or study something that wasgonna make money yeah so I
didn't really know, like youdon't know, that other people
(01:51):
don't play eight hours a day andstop and start, you know,
record the radio and then learneverything you know, you think
that's normal yeah, um, but thenyou know, as you get older,
like you feel like you've got toditch music.
As you get older, you know likeyou hit 18 and then I studied
photography but I'd still likestart bands and busk and go and
(02:13):
battle the bands, and then youfinish uni, then you meet some
friends and you jam, do a gig,and then you think I got to stop
music.
Then I hit 27 and I was likeI'm going to do a gig and if I
suck, like seriously, like youknow, tell me, tell me and I'll
stop, and then I'll get a joband I'll quit music.
And and then you know, afterthe first gig we got another gig
(02:35):
and then we got signed and wegot a manager and we got this
and that, and then 20 yearslater I'm still gone.
But yeah, I definitely put likean ultimatum on myself to like
not be a burden on society andmy friends.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
And not being a starving musician.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, yeah, yeah Is.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Mom and Dad musical at all?
Or have you got any siblingsand are they musical?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, my oldest brother is a music teacher.
He was surprised at like how Iplay the guitar and that I could
do all this stuff because Inever had a lesson and'm you
know, I just taught myself.
And then my other brother, hetried to start a grunge band in
the 90s.
He's eight years older than me.
I was going to finish highschool and join his band.
He was on the doll in, I think,ireland for like two years and
(03:20):
they booked in one gig and theyended up paying the sound guy
like 300 pounds or something andthey played to no one.
They played to an empty venueand ended up paying just the
sound guy to be there and thenhe quit music.
So he was really down on bandsand he was kind of like don't,
yeah, he was disillusioned.
So when wolf mother took offand he came to our first gig he
(03:43):
was like over the moon, he, hecouldn't believe it.
He's an architect now.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Probably earning more money than all of us, is he?
We'd hope so, so you neverreally had a plan B.
I mean, other than you studiedphotography.
If this music thing hadn'tworked out, did you have a plan
b to fall back on?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
plan b.
Well, yeah, photography, like Ikind of exhibited in a few art.
The most successful photographyventures that I had was when I
had an exhibition and it soundsreally like if I just did what I
wanted to do and had it, Iwould sell like prints for like
this is 20 years ago, like aphoto for like three grand to an
architect, wow, put into abuilding, and it was like my
(04:28):
photos were like it's like aphoto of a fan, like an old 90s
fan, on this bedside table on amilk crate.
It was kind of funny, you know.
So take a photo of like a fanon a milk crate and then like
blow it up like one by twometers so it kind of looked
quirky kind of stuff.
You know what I mean.
Very arty, yeah, I was right inthe thick of that.
(04:49):
But then that started to likeyeah, then I started doing
weddings and I'd get like fivegrand a wedding.
I actually shot for vogue.
I shot for like australianstyle and I remember when I shot
for Vogue I got paid 600 bucksand they paid me six months
after it was published.
Wow, they'd have to wait forthe magazine to come out and
(05:10):
then they pay 600 bucks after itwas published.
Yeah, no, I was like paintingwalls in studios to get free
time to, like you know, do photoshoots and assisting
photographers and like Iactually meet bands.
Like I told um Killing Heidi, Isaid you guys are getting
photographed for this magazineand I was a dude, like getting
your ham and cheese sandwichesand painting the walls.
(05:32):
They can't remember becauseit's 20 years ago, but yeah,
like I was in Sydney doing thatstuff yeah, the coffee bitch
yeah, yeah, the coffee bitchyeah.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
You are listening to Still Rocking it, the podcast
with Cheryl Lee.
Time for a song.
One of my favourite Wolf Mothersongs from the Cosmic Egg album
is New Moon Rising.
Let's have a listen to that andthen we're back to hear what
pearls of wisdom Andrew issharing with his 19-year-old
daughter of wisdom.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Andrew is sharing with his 19-year-old daughter.
Yeah, my daughter's 19 and I'mlike just go to wherever you
want to work and just get thecoffees, because, like through
osmosis, it just robs off on you.
Just hang out there, you'rearound it.
You know it's the same um withmusic.
I was in a band when I was like17 and we spent.
(06:30):
You know, when you have arehearsal and you spend four
hours and you paid 50 bucks andyou're in this crap hole,
everything sounds like crap.
You're like exhausted and youload all your crap out of a
rehearsal space.
Someone put radio head on in thecar and I was like we suck, I
quit.
I thought I'm never gonna makethat same mistake again.
(06:51):
It's like, okay, radio headexists, that's cool, great.
That okay computer is a seminalmasterpiece, like sergeant
peppers and progressive musicand data.
So f***ing what we're gonnamake our piece of s*** and
that's what we're gonna do.
And so now I just stand by thatto this day.
And if someone says that sucks,I'm like it probably does.
(07:14):
I don't know, you got to do thething that sucks to move on.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
You know it's like um it's part of the process, yeah,
and then someone goes.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
You're a legend and then someone's like doesn't say
that, but you know it's like youget an award.
You get a prize for justturning up in this industry.
You get a certificate forparticipation.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Just the one daughter , Andrew, one child.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, one daughter she's 19 and a five-year-old and
a seven-year-old.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Following you into the family business.
Is she musical too?
Uh, she wants to be an actoryeah performing.
It must be in your dna, Ireckon yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Well, my mom was a ballet dancer.
She's a flamenco dancer.
I used to play flamenco inshopping malls.
I can walk around like the goldcoast and brisbane and mel and
go.
I freaking sat under thatescalator for three hours and
played flamenco guitar.
You know, I can pretty muchlike every train station in
(08:17):
Sydney I've like stood in frontof for like two hours and play
the acoustic at some point,because it's good to get that
experience.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
It's good to stand in front of people and like be
nervous and make a fool ofyourself so you sort of started
jamming, I guess, with ChrisRoss Myles Heskett back in 2000
and officially formed in 2004.
A year later you released amother of an hour, a wolf mother
(08:48):
, number three on the ARIAcharts, and it stayed in for 78
weeks, oh my.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
God Well done, cheers , thanks yeah.
Answer my God Well done, cheers, thanks yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
And certified five times platinum.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, that was counted.
That must be 20 years ago, so Ithink it's gone a bit more than
that by now.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Oh yeah, you're probably right, Even better.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And also just was going to congratulate you in
2006 at the ARIA's BestBreakthrough Artist Album, Best
Rock Album.
Mm-hmm, yeah that will berecognised by your peers.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
That was great.
Yeah, yeah, totally, I've gotthem over there, just on the
table right there, awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Still Rocking it podcast with that radio chick,
cheryl Lee.
Let's play a song from thatalbum right now Joker and the
Thief.
It's the sixth track and thesixth single from the band's
self-titled debut album,released in 2006.
Joker and Thief are a referenceto the lyrics of Bob Dylan's
(09:52):
1967 song All Along theWatchtower.
In 2018, it was in the TripleM's Ozzest 100 most Australian
songs of all time.
Back to speak to the guy whowrote that song.
Straight after this, the bandhas been compared to the likes
(10:19):
of Led Zepp and Black Sabbathand Blue Chair and you
personally your vocals have beencompared stylistically to
Robert Plant from Led Zepp andOzzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath
and Audrey Daltrey from theHoop.
That's a pretty big compliment,but they sound a bit like you
yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, I met Ozzy, met Roger Daltrey in Barcelona on
the last European tour.
I was in Barcelona a few daysearly for a gig and I saw Zach
Starkey's Instagram and he wasin Barcelona.
I was like you know, I've methim a few times in London.
I was like hey man him a fewtimes in London I was like hey
man, can I come along to the gig?
So I was watching the gig andthey had this orchestral, like
(11:03):
an orchestra, backing them up inthis arena.
Uh, it was all seated.
I mean, the who's fan base arelike a bit old now like walking
frames yeah, yeah, they're likeall sitting down.
I think I stood up and I washaving a beer and I was like,
and someone's like, can you getout of the way, can you sit down
?
And they're down, sunny, but uh, somehow I wound up back at
(11:27):
their hotel.
I went to the bar and I justbought 10 margaritas.
I just brought it over to thetable and I'm like having a
margarita, and roger daltrey's,like who, bought these
margaritas.
What was like it's all yours,man, take one if you want.
And he had one and the uh, themusical director of the
orchestra had a margarita andand I was asking him a million
(11:48):
questions about the who and allthis.
And, yeah, I was asking himabout, um, one festival, isle of
white.
I was like, oh, did you get a?
Get a helicopter into like isleof white?
He goes.
We went to isle of Wight.
I was like, oh, did you get ahelicopter into Isle of Wight?
He goes.
We went to Isle of Wight in theback of a Volkswagen Beetle,
mate.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
I'm going to have to remember that Next time I'd like
to meet somebody, I'd try amargarita's.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
It's always a good icebreaker.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Thanks for the tip.
Now, who have you got coming toAdelaide with you?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Because it's a bit of a fluid line-up.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
sometimes the players who are you going to bring to
the Beer and Barbecue Festival.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
James Wesner on the bass and Brett Wolfenden on the
drums, so we have a Dutch lastname and a German last name,
very multicultural.
Yeah, they're playing good.
Yeah, we're having a good time.
We just did a Red Hot SummersFestival at the start of the
year, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Have you performed at the Beer and Barbecue before?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I have not.
I've been waiting 20 years forthe chance to do this.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Finally, it's its 10th year this year.
Have you played with any of theother artists on the bill,
because there's a shipload ofartists playing over the three
days.
Have you played with any ofthem?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Never played with Custard, never played with the
Chats.
Who else is on there?
Tim Finn, tim Finn.
Oh, I played with Tim Finn onceat some Gibson Guitar Expo
demonstration thing in Melbourne.
Once had a chat with him backthen yeah, wow, yeah, that's,
that's pretty amazing.
You know, grew up listening tohim for sure yeah, it's a
massive lineup.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
We're really looking forward to catching up with you
when you get here.
I haven't got my timer on, so Ihope I'm tell me when I don't
have anything on after this.
So it's fine oh, okay, I justwanted to ask you, you know, um,
yeah, do you have any specialrequests on your rider, like
I've got to have it or I'm notgoing on?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
yeah, I know I've like at the moment.
Well, I'm not drinking, so Ijust a bottle of water.
That's pretty, pretty basic.
We played in france last yearin beer ritz and toulouse and I
remember there was like 300people, all the crew and
everything.
A mess.
They must really look aftertheir crew over there.
(14:12):
But I remember on thesettlement sheet for the gig it
was like three thousand dollarsfor, like, the catering and,
like you know, you're sitting inthis big hall with rows of
tables, everyone's having athree, four course meal, there's
bottles of three bottles of redwine.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
As you can imagine, the show got pretty random that
night yeah, you know, theanswers to these questions would
have been a lot more fun in the80s if you have a fancy rider,
you got to remember that you'repaying for it in the long run.
You know I mean you're payingfor it.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
I'm sure you could put anything you want on there
yeah like.
My approach is like this like Itry to be low fuss, you know
what I mean.
I'm like I try to stay out ofthe way.
I don't want to be like um aband that's going to be like a
drain on resources yeah I'm not.
I'm not that way inclined, andanyone can go to the bottle shop
(15:04):
and buy whatever the hell youwant for like freaking 50 bucks
or something.
It's not like the end of theworld, true.
It's funny how, when you go, toa festival or a venue and
they're like, oh my god, we'vegot a bottle of wine and a
bottle of vodka and, yeah, it'sfreaking 50 bucks at dan
murphy's dude.
You want me to stop off and getit now To have your rock moment
.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah, you don't demand blue M&Ms then.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
The David Lee Roth thing.
No, with the Ryder it's liketotally fine, if they gave us
nothing, I don't mind, I don'tneed to have my Every time you
need it.
I'm more of a minimalist.
You know what I mean.
I like, I like, um, I thinksometimes people want to have,
like they want to have 20guitars and 20 amps and this and
this and more and more and more.
(15:50):
More lighting, more production,more you know, to kind of prove
their status or their value ortheir worth.
And the promoter goes oh man,this is a big band because they
ordered all this crap, and it'slike this is a rock band because
they ordered all this crap.
And it's like this is a rockband.
This is guitar, bass and drums.
That's all it is.
That's all it's ever going tobe, that's all the best stuff's
ever going to be.
So, like, what more do you need?
(16:11):
You know?
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Like keep it simple, sweetie.
Totally this concept.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
I mean, I'm saying that, but I'm surrounded by crap
.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
You are listening to, still rocking it, the podcast
with cheryl lee.
We're going to have a song fromroger daltrey, who andrew met
in barcelona and shouted himsome shots.
So, roger daltrey of the who,this is a little bit different,
though.
Don't let the sun go down on meand this is from the lost boys
original motion picturesoundtrack from 1987.
And then we're back to sayfarewell to andrew from wolf
(16:47):
mother oh, you're busy I onlyjust recently came into radio,
like five years ago in my 50s,so oh wow, yeah, I'm making up
(17:08):
lost time.
Andrew, was there anything elsethat you would like to discuss?
Any other topics?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
At the moment I can't think of anything.
I'm yeah, I'm happy with whatyou got.
If you're happy with it, I alsohave a TV show.
It.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
It's called Rider TV, hence the rider question, and
we are filming an episode overthe 10th anniversary of the beer
and barbecue, so we will seeyou there with.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Kat yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
And I was just hoping that we might be able to just
get five minutes with you.
How's it all going?
How are you enjoying the fest?
Have you done anything inAdelaide?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
You know blah, blah, blah five minutes.
Yeah, that would be lovely tograb you sort of.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
We'll be on site two, I think, of the three days
grabbing snippets of this andthat to celebrate the 10th
anniversary.
Yeah.
And it would be lovely if wecould grab five quick minutes
with you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, cool In thegreen room or whatever suits.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
You'll see me down the front, cool, with the
cameraman in tow.
Awesome, awesome it's lovely tomeet you, Andrew, and I
appreciate you spending a bit oftime with us today.
All the best, and we lookforward to seeing you in
Adelaide.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Thanks, cheryl, nice to meet you.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Love you, Mindy.
Bye for now.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
I'll see you later.
Bye.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Still Rocking it podcast with that radio chick,
cheryl Lee.
Let's go out with the Tim Finnsong, shall we Fraction too much
fiction?
And he'll be on the bill withWolf Mother at the Beer and
Barbecue Festival.
There's a fraction too muchfiction.
There's a fraction too muchfiction.
You're with Cheryl Lee, thatradio chick.
(18:41):
Thank you so much for joiningme on the Still Rocking it
podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can supportAussie music and I'll see you
down the front.
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