Wolfmother Split

Australian Band Wolfmother have announced that they are splitting up. It seems things have been strained with the band for a while now and they played a fraught headline set in Byron Bay on Aug 3rd and this announcement came 4 days later.

Its such a shame to see these guys split up, great talents, great music. If you havent been exposed to them you shouldn’t be put off by the split, ok so you will never see them play live, but they are worth listening to.

Here is the official announcement taken from their site

Grammy Award winning rock band Wolfmother has announced the resignation of bass/keyboard player Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett effective immediately.

Singer/guitarist Andrew Stockdale now plans to find other musicians over coming months and to then begin making a new Wolfmother album.

 

Wolfmother toured the world virtually non-stop through 2006 and early 2007 on the back of their acclaimed self titled debut album. Longstanding frictions within the group then lead them to take an extended break during the second half of 2007 to consider their future.

 

In early 2008 they regrouped and worked on new material. Initially encouraged by those sessions, they committed to a handful of live shows to ‘road test’ the new songs and to try to find a way forward.

 

Those dates concluded with a headlining slot last Sunday at the Splendour In The Grass Festival in Australia’s Byron Bay where rumours circulated about possible lineup changes.

 

Following that show Chris Ross decided to announce that he was leaving the band due to irreconcilable personal and musical differences. Myles Heskett has also decided to leave the band rather than continuing as part of a changed lineup. The pair has been working together on songs for some time and they plan to focus their energies on that new project in the future.

 

Wolfmother’s self titled debut album is one of the most successful Australian rock releases this century. It has sold over 1.3 million copies and received multiple ARIA Awards and a Grammy – making them the first Aussie band to receive such an award in 25 years. Other highlights for the group have included appearances at just about every major music festival in the world, sharing stages with Pearl Jam, The Who and The Strokes, and a special performance inducting the about every major music festival in the world, sharing stages with Pearl Jam, The Who and The Strokes, and a special performance inducting the legendary Led Zeppelin into the UK’s Rock’n'Roll Hall of Fame.

 

Andrew Stockdale, Myles Heskett and Chris Ross will make no public statements at this time except to say that they are each really looking forward to making their new music over the years ahead.

 

In the meantime they simply ask all Wolfmother fans to please understand that in spite of their best efforts over a long period of time, they just could not find a harmonious way to work together and that has lead to the decisions announced today.

The Verve’s Richard Ashcroft: ‘I’m going solo again’

Richard Ascroft has said despite reforming the band he plans to work on his own before too long, what a crying shame…..why did he reform what is a great band to headline Oxegen and Glastonbury and thats it!! Why oh why, i saw them play at Oxegen..class act altogether. The crowd was going cazy for them. Everyone has there reasons, may we hope this is not the end of the Verve for say another 11 years!!! Looking forward to there new album “Forth” released 25th August (I cant wait after hearing there new song on Phantom 105.2)