Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
What has Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale been up to lately: OR Margaritas with The Who's Roger Daltrey
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!!
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
That Radio Chick, cheryl Lee here. Welcome to the Still Rocking it podcast where we'll have music news, reviews and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians and artists. We are celebrating 10 wonderful years of our beer and barbecue festival, celebrating all things beer and all things barbecue, and what an amazing lineup of music we have. There are a total of 34 artists and bands playing over the three day long weekend in June. So I shall see you down the front, 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 night. To catch up on podcasts from other favorite artists, simply go to that radio chickcomau. You're with shirley that radio chick and I'd like to welcome into the Zoom room today Andrew Stockdale.
Speaker 2:Hi, cheryl, good, good Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1:Andrew from Wolf Mother, you've got a big gig coming to Adelaide soon, which we will talk about shortly, but in the meantime, if I could just ask a couple of questions about you. When was it that you discovered music was going to be your thing? Is it in your dna, or how did you realize music was your passion?
Speaker 2: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 was thinking I should stop doing this and like do something legit, something real, like get a job or study something that was gonna make money yeah so I didn't really know, like you don't know, that other people don't play eight hours a day and stop and start, you know, record the radio and then learn everything you know, you think that's normal yeah, um, but then you know, as you get older, like you feel like you've got to ditch music.
Speaker 2:As you get older, you know like you hit 18 and then I studied photography but I'd still like start bands and busk and go and battle the bands, and then you finish 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 like I'm going to do a gig and if I suck, like seriously, like you know, tell me, tell me and I'll stop, and then I'll get a job and I'll quit music. And and then you know, after the first gig we got another gig and then we got signed and we got a manager and we got this and that, and then 20 years later I'm still gone. But yeah, I definitely put like an ultimatum on myself to like not be a burden on society and my friends.
Speaker 1:And not being a starving musician.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah Is.
Speaker 1:Mom and Dad musical at all? Or have you got any siblings and are they musical?
Speaker 2:Yeah, my oldest brother is a music teacher. He was surprised at like how I play the guitar and that I could do all this stuff because I never had a lesson and'm you know, I just taught myself. And then my other brother, he tried to start a grunge band in the 90s. He's eight years older than me. I was going to finish high school and join his band. He was on the doll in, I think, ireland for like two years and they booked in one gig and they ended up paying the sound guy like 300 pounds or something and they played to no one. They played to an empty venue and ended up paying just the sound guy to be there and then he quit music. So he was really down on bands and he was kind of like don't, yeah, he was disillusioned. So when wolf mother took off and he came to our first gig he was like over the moon, he, he couldn't believe it. He's an architect now.
Speaker 1:Probably earning more money than all of us, is he? We'd hope so, so you never really had a plan B. I mean, other than you studied photography. If this music thing hadn't worked out, did you have a plan b to fall back on?
Speaker 2:plan b. Well, yeah, photography, like I kind of exhibited in a few art. The most successful photography ventures that I had was when I had an exhibition and it sounds really like if I just did what I wanted to do and had it, I would sell like prints for like this is 20 years ago, like a photo for like three grand to an architect, wow, put into a building, and it was like my photos were like it's like a photo of a fan, like an old 90s fan, on this bedside table on a milk crate. It was kind of funny, you know. So take a photo of like a fan on a milk crate and then like blow it up like one by two meters so it kind of looked quirky kind of stuff. You know what I mean. Very arty, yeah, I was right in the thick of that. But then that started to like yeah, then I started doing weddings and I'd get like five grand a wedding.
Speaker 2:I actually shot for vogue. I shot for like australian style and I remember when I shot for Vogue I got paid 600 bucks and they paid me six months after it was published. Wow, they'd have to wait for the magazine to come out and then they pay 600 bucks after it was published. Yeah, no, I was like painting walls in studios to get free time to, like you know, do photo shoots and assisting photographers and like I actually meet bands. Like I told um Killing Heidi, I said you guys are getting photographed for this magazine and I was a dude, like getting your ham and cheese sandwiches and painting the walls. They can't remember because it's 20 years ago, but yeah, like I was in Sydney doing that stuff yeah, the coffee bitch yeah, yeah, the coffee bitch yeah.
Speaker 1:You are listening to Still Rocking it, the podcast with Cheryl Lee. Time for a song. One of my favourite Wolf Mother songs from the Cosmic Egg album is New Moon Rising. Let's have a listen to that and then we're back to hear what pearls of wisdom Andrew is sharing with his 19-year-old daughter of wisdom.
Speaker 2:Andrew is sharing with his 19-year-old daughter. Yeah, my daughter's 19 and I'm like just go to wherever you want to work and just get the coffees, because, like through osmosis, it just robs off on you. Just hang out there, you're around it. You know it's the same um with music. I was in a band when I was like 17 and we spent. You know, when you have a rehearsal and you spend four hours and you paid 50 bucks and you're in this crap hole, everything sounds like crap. You're like exhausted and you load all your crap out of a rehearsal space.
Speaker 2:Someone put radio head on in the car and I was like we suck, I quit. I thought I'm never gonna make that same mistake again. It's like, okay, radio head exists, that's cool, great. That okay computer is a seminal masterpiece, like sergeant peppers and progressive music and data. So f***ing what we're gonna make our piece of s*** and that's what we're gonna do. And so now I just stand by that to this day. And if someone says that sucks, I'm like it probably does. I don't know, you got to do the thing that sucks to move on.
Speaker 1:You know it's like um it's part of the process, yeah, and then someone goes. That's amazing.
Speaker 2:You're a legend and then someone's like doesn't say that, but you know it's like you get an award. You get a prize for just turning up in this industry. You get a certificate for participation.
Speaker 1:Just the one daughter, Andrew, one child.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one daughter she's 19 and a five-year-old and a seven-year-old.
Speaker 1:Following you into the family business. Is she musical too? Uh, she wants to be an actor yeah performing. It must be in your dna, I reckon yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, my mom was a ballet dancer. She's a flamenco dancer. I used to play flamenco in shopping malls. I can walk around like the gold coast and brisbane and mel and go. I freaking sat under that escalator for three hours and played flamenco guitar. You know, I can pretty much like every train station in Sydney I've like stood in front of for like two hours and play the acoustic at some point, because it's good to get that experience.
Speaker 1:It's good to stand in front of people and like be nervous and make a fool of yourself so you sort of started jamming, I guess, with Chris Ross Myles Heskett back in 2000 and officially formed in 2004. A year later you released a mother of an hour, a wolf mother, number three on the ARIA charts, and it stayed in for 78 weeks, oh my.
Speaker 2:God Well done, cheers, thanks yeah. Answer my God Well done, cheers, thanks yeah.
Speaker 1:And certified five times platinum.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was counted. That must be 20 years ago, so I think it's gone a bit more than that by now.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, you're probably right, Even better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:And also just was going to congratulate you in 2006 at the ARIA's Best Breakthrough Artist Album, Best Rock Album. Mm-hmm, yeah that will be recognised by your peers.
Speaker 2:That was great. Yeah, yeah, totally, I've got them over there, just on the table right there, awesome.
Speaker 1:Still Rocking it podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. Let's play a song from that album right now Joker and the Thief. It's the sixth track and the sixth single from the band's self-titled debut album, released in 2006. Joker and Thief are a reference to the lyrics of Bob Dylan's 1967 song All Along the Watchtower. In 2018, it was in the Triple M's Ozzest 100 most Australian songs of all time. Back to speak to the guy who wrote that song. Straight after this, the band has been compared to the likes of Led Zepp and Black Sabbath and Blue Chair and you personally your vocals have been compared stylistically to Robert Plant from Led Zepp and Ozzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath and Audrey Daltrey from the Hoop.
Speaker 1:That's a pretty big compliment, but they sound a bit like you yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I met Ozzy, met Roger Daltrey in Barcelona on the last European tour. I was in Barcelona a few days early for a gig and I saw Zach Starkey's Instagram and he was in Barcelona. I was like you know, I've met him a few times in London. I was like hey man him a few times in London I was like hey man, can I come along to the gig? So I was watching the gig and they had this orchestral, like an orchestra, backing them up in this arena. Uh, it was all seated. I mean, the who's fan base are like a bit old now like walking frames yeah, yeah, they're like all sitting down.
Speaker 2:I think I stood up and I was having a beer and I was like, and someone's like, can you get out of the way, can you sit down? And they're down, sunny, but uh, somehow I wound up back at their hotel. I went to the bar and I just bought 10 margaritas. I just brought it over to the table 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, the musical director of the orchestra had a margarita and and I was asking him a million questions about the who and all this. And, yeah, I was asking him about, um, one festival, isle of white. I was like, oh, did you get a? Get a helicopter into like isle of white? He goes. We went to isle of Wight. I was like, oh, did you get a helicopter into Isle of Wight? He goes. We went to Isle of Wight in the back of a Volkswagen Beetle, mate.
Speaker 1:I'm going to have to remember that Next time I'd like to meet somebody, I'd try a margarita's.
Speaker 2:It's always a good icebreaker.
Speaker 1:Thanks for the tip. Now, who have you got coming to Adelaide with you?
Speaker 2:Because it's a bit of a fluid line-up.
Speaker 1:sometimes the players who are you going to bring to the Beer and Barbecue Festival.
Speaker 2:James Wesner on the bass and Brett Wolfenden on the drums, so we have a Dutch last name 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 Summers Festival at the start of the year, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Have you performed at the Beer and Barbecue before?
Speaker 2:I have not. I've been waiting 20 years for the chance to do this.
Speaker 1:Finally, it's its 10th year this year. Have you played with any of the other artists on the bill, because there's a shipload of artists playing over the three days. Have you played with any of them?
Speaker 2:Never played with Custard, never played with the Chats. Who else is on there? Tim Finn, tim Finn. Oh, I played with Tim Finn once at some Gibson Guitar Expo demonstration thing in Melbourne. Once had a chat with him back then yeah, wow, yeah, that's, that's pretty amazing. You know, grew up listening to him for sure yeah, it's a massive lineup.
Speaker 1:We're really looking forward to catching up with you when you get here. I haven't got my timer on, so I hope I'm tell me when I don't have anything on after this. So it's fine oh, okay, I just wanted to ask you, you know, um, yeah, do you have any special requests on your rider, like I've got to have it or I'm not going on?
Speaker 2:yeah, I know I've like at the moment. Well, I'm not drinking, so I just a bottle of water. That's pretty, pretty basic. We played in france last year in beer ritz and toulouse and I remember there was like 300 people, all the crew and everything. A mess. They must really look after their crew over there. But I remember on the settlement sheet for the gig it was like three thousand dollars for, like, the catering and, like you know, you're sitting in this big hall with rows of tables, everyone's having a three, four course meal, there's bottles of three bottles of red wine.
Speaker 1:As you can imagine, the show got pretty random that night yeah, you know, the answers to these questions would have been a lot more fun in the 80s if you have a fancy rider, you got to remember that you're paying for it in the long run. You know I mean you're paying for it.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you could put anything you want on there yeah like. My approach is like this like I try to be low fuss, you know what I mean. I'm like I try to stay out of the way. I don't want to be like um a band that's going to be like a drain on resources yeah I'm not.
Speaker 2:I'm not that way inclined, and anyone can go to the bottle shop and buy whatever the hell you want for like freaking 50 bucks or something. It's not like the end of the world, true. It's funny how, when you go, to a festival or a venue and they're like, oh my god, we've got a bottle of wine and a bottle of vodka and, yeah, it's freaking 50 bucks at dan murphy's dude. You want me to stop off and get it now To have your rock moment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you don't demand blue M&Ms then.
Speaker 2:The David Lee Roth thing. No, with the Ryder it's like totally fine, if they gave us nothing, I don't mind, I don't need 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 think sometimes people want to have, like they want to have 20 guitars and 20 amps and this and this and more and more and more. More lighting, more production, more you know, to kind of prove their status or their value or their worth. And the promoter goes oh man, this is a big band because they ordered all this crap, and it's like this is a rock band because they ordered all this crap. And it's like this is a rock band. This is guitar, bass and drums. That's all it is. That's all it's ever going to be, that's all the best stuff's ever going to be. So, like, what more do you need? You know?
Speaker 1:Like keep it simple, sweetie. Totally this concept.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm saying that, but I'm surrounded by crap.
Speaker 1:You are listening to, still rocking it, the podcast with cheryl lee. We're going to have a song from roger daltrey, who andrew met in barcelona and shouted him some shots. So, roger daltrey of the who, this is a little bit different, though. Don't let the sun go down on me and this is from the lost boys original motion picture soundtrack from 1987. And then we're back to say farewell to andrew from wolf mother oh, you're busy I only just recently came into radio, like five years ago in my 50s, so oh wow, yeah, I'm making up lost time.
Speaker 1:Andrew, was there anything else that you would like to discuss? Any other topics?
Speaker 2:At the moment I can't think of anything. I'm yeah, I'm happy with what you got. If you're happy with it, I also have a TV show. It.
Speaker 1:It's called Rider TV, hence the rider question, and we are filming an episode over the 10th anniversary of the beer and barbecue, so we will see you there with.
Speaker 2:Kat yeah.
Speaker 1: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 in Adelaide?
Speaker 2:You know blah, blah, blah five minutes. Yeah, that would be lovely to grab you sort of.
Speaker 1:We'll be on site two, I think, of the three days grabbing snippets of this and that to celebrate the 10th anniversary. Yeah. And it would be lovely if we could grab five quick minutes with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, cool In the green room or whatever suits.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You'll see me down the front, cool, with the cameraman in tow. Awesome, awesome it's lovely to meet you, Andrew, and I appreciate you spending a bit of time with us today. All the best, and we look forward to seeing you in Adelaide.
Speaker 2:Thanks, cheryl, nice to meet you.
Speaker 1:Love you, Mindy. Bye for now.
Speaker 2:I'll see you later. Bye.
Speaker 1:Still Rocking it podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. Let's go out with the Tim Finn song, shall we Fraction too much fiction? And he'll be on the bill with Wolf Mother at the Beer and Barbecue Festival. There's a fraction too much fiction. There's a fraction too much fiction. You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick. Thank you so much for joining me on the Still Rocking it podcast. Hope to catch you again next time. Get out when you can support Aussie music and I'll see you down the front.