Wolfmother, The Presets, TheSubstitutes @ Candy'sApartment Kings Cross, 7/10/04

Sun 10th Oct, 2004 in Gig Reviews

There has been a hell of a lot of buzz about Sydney 3-piece Wolfmother, with Woman from their debut self-titled EP all over the radio and their name on everyone lips. Sure enough, upon arrival at Candy’s Apartment the mullets/high heels/straight leg jeans brigade had already lined up to secure themselves tickets. With the EP being such a strong release, I knew that it would be a gamble whether they could live up to the hype but was hoping and praying all the same. 

Once we were nice and cozy inside The Substitutes stepped onstage to begin proceedings. Their middle-of-the-road moody indie rock didn’t really do much for me, nor did they incite much enthusiasm from the early arrivers, bar one keen punter who performed an impressive one-man mosh pit. The most interesting thing about The Substitutes was their female bass player who appeared to be dressed like some sort of evil nurse, and had her rock moves prepared and down pat. I’ve seen worse, but I’ve certainly seen better. 

Not long after came that crazy electro-synth duo The Presets, whose brand of ‘80s inspired disco pop was clearly right up the alley of most of the ultra-cool boys and girls in attendance. Candy’s had really begun to fill by this stage, and the crowd seemed to be getting well into the Presets set, particularly their extended version of Pretty Little Eyes. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling the same love as many others were, and found myself particularly underwhelmed by the group’s repetitive and uneventful set. It wasn’t so much the live set as my overall dislike of their music, and their performance made me even more impatient to witness the rock revolution that I expected Wolfmother to be. 

Finally the time rolled around and Wolfmother were hitting the stage, and quite a few older rockers began to crop up amongst the crowd amid the youngsters. It’s near impossible to describe Wolfmother’s music without dropping references left, right and center, and though usually this would signal a lack of originality, in this case, it simply points to the long tradition from which they have arrived.

Here’s a couple; on the EP they come across kind of like the White Stripes performing Black Sabbath covers, or is it the other way round? Either way they ripped straight into Dimension and the crowd was lost immediately in the thumping drumbeats, psychedelic guitars and singer Andrew Stockdale’s flawless and downright impressive Ozzy-esque vocals. I half expected them to look like Spinal Tap so was rather surprised to find they are actually very young and trendy looking, with Stockdale sporting some of the funkiest pinstripe flares I’ve seen. Straight into Woman and Apple Tree and by now I was well and truly sold and felt like I was in a time warp back to the heyday of ‘70s rock, and loving every minute of it! The band seemed so excited by the crowd’s enthusiastic reception, with Stockdale positively beaming.

They played and awesome version of The White Unicorn – the most psychedelic track on the EP, but most impressive of all were the new songs they performed. Funk Train was, as the name suggests, a funky and very catchy number while closer and personal highlight Mind’s Eye was a trip down the more experimental path, featuring an extended organ solo from bassist Chris Ross, invoking the obvious references to mindfuckers Yes.

Awesome stuff, simple yet effective with so much energy and lacking any pretension – this band are one to watch. They are only limited by their newness now, and their lack of material was highlighted by their encore reprisal of Woman, though no one, including myself, was complaining! If their new material is anything to go by these guys are just going to get better and better. Take my word for it, this time the hype is justified.