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 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.
Just a few bits and pieces that have been amusing me lately. Firstly I’ve been hitting the disco wave hard recently and dusting off some of my old vinyls. I’ve got loads of cosmic oddities to share with you but I’ll save it for another post, or just upload a new mixtape, whatever comes first. Here’s a couple to wet your appetite.
Ladyhawke is about to drop her highly anticipated debut EP shortly through Modular which I’m extremely excited about. Remixes are slowly showing up for her next single ‘Dust till Dawn‘ which, in this case, has been sculptured by Linus Loves (Remember him?).
Miami Horror has been busy lately teaming up with non other than Fred Falke, remixing the likes of The Presets and touring the USA but he’s taking a different approach with his latest remix of ‘Totally Michael‘, a new signing to IHEARTCOMIX.
Finally I’ll leave you with a link to the teaser mix for the next Bang Gang double mixed cd compilation to be released on Modular in October/November, containing tracks by Cut Copy, Fred Falke, Surkin, A-Trak, Ghostface Killa, Pryda, M.I.A, Treasure Fingers, Kid Cudi, Beni, The Presets, Breakbot, Das Pop & Louis La Roche. 45 tracks in 10 minutes, it’s a rave in itself, Gurn away!!
Peter Kirk makes up The Outlaws (occasionally other people join in on the act too), one of the star signings on Modular’s DJ team, alongside The Bang Gang Deejays and Van She Tech. Born in Bristol (in the UK) but living in beautiful Australia; this guy knows how to put out a bangin’ display of tunes that will get anyone in the perfect party mood. Outlaws hold a residency Starfuckers in Sydney, as well as Massive Attack’s club Tube in Bristol, UK. I was lucky to grab an interview with the man himself:
WAN: Your mixtape “It’s Not French, But It’s F*cking ‘Aving It” is bloody epic. What was the inspiration in the track selection and how big of a task was it to churn out mix like this? OUTLAWS: Thank you! The tracks are the kind of things I play when I DJ (well sometimes). I love all kinds of music and like to get away with playing as varied a set as possible (so long as it works and people seem into it!). I never understand DJs who have “a set” that they play every gig – that would get really boring. I hope that the mix is a bit different to other things out there and anyone who listens enjoys it!
“Big Task” wise, it’s always awesome fun doing a mix, so it never seems like hard work! I’ve already started work on a new CD, as well as a Modcast thingy for the Modular website. The worst thing is trying to remember where I’ve put records I want to put in a mix!
WAN: Van She Tech, Bang Gang and now Outlaws under the Modular Deejaying umbrella. How’d this come together with Modular? OUTLAWS: The cosmic forces aligned and it all seemed like a good idea at the time I suppose. I’d left my UK agency, Marty from Modular was starting the agency – Bang Gang were leaving their agents so it seemed like a good idea to all get it together.
WAN: How did you come about working along-side the Bang Gang posse? Was it through Modular or had you known the lads even before that?
Whats it like to be studio buddies? Do you get much ‘work’ done? OUTLAWS: I met Jamie Doom when I first toured Australia many years ago. We got on well and raved it up – I played at the Bang Gang night a few times, then we hung out when he came to England and then more when I toured again in Australia. I got to know the rest of the guys as well and I think there’s a kind of shared love of daft raving. So yeah, it’s not a Modular thing, it’s more a mates thing. Studio wise, with the amount of time I’ve been spending in Australia it seemed like a good idea. We get quite a lot of work done. There’s lots of pissing about and talking shit, but it’s certainly not the same level of junkie drop in centre the last Bang Gang studio was. Jamie’s busy with his label stuff and I’m busy with production and Gus is busy being Gus. An awesome graphic designer called Mitch is in there with us too – he has an embarassingly incredible work ethic and puts together all the Bang Gang stuff, and the man like Spruce Lee is in there too. All in all I think we’re a happy gang of worker bees.
WAN: Tell us about your upcoming production work. What can we expect from your camp in the coming year? OUTLAWS: Well, the ongoing effort to finish some original music that I actually like continues. There are a couple of things on the go at the moment. “Magic E” should actually get finished soon and a new track called “We Won’t Stop Partying For Anyone”. At the moment I’m remixing Walter Meego and a lovely new singer on Universal called Gin Wigmore. I’m also doing The Presets, but I’m very late on actually getting that one done! I’m also doing a thing for Herbert’s label Accidental which is cool and the new Toecutter single on Bang Gang 12”. I think I’m doing the new Pnau single too. I want to try and produce a few songs with The Atrocities and I’d love to do something with The Peacocks too – I saw them in Melbourne and really liked on of their songs. Just so this list gets EVEN MORE stupid and long, I was supposed to be doing something with Mission Control – I like them and they’ve got some great songs – so hopefully that will come together too!
WAN: You recently played at the huge Glastonbury Festival in the UK - not for the first time either! Tell us about your most recent experience there. OUTLAWS: Well – for a start it was all good fun. As soon as I got there I bumped into Skull Juice and Casper Clark from Bloggers Delight – which is always a pleasure because they’re all lovely guys. I played a few records and the ended up playing a storming set back to back with those guys in one of the dance tents with 360 degree visuals and loads and loads of gurning ravers, which was nice. After that it all went a bit spiral fury psychedelic milkshake, I lost a day, bumped into Cut Copy and The Presets, and generally let myself down. Emily Eavis liked my sunburn though. And I dragged Kim Presets out to Bristol after the festival to show him a good night out – he left, drooling, saying it was his favourite UK city. I call that a result.
WAN: Finally, What would be the ideal party to throw? Which dj’s? Venue? Country? Music? OUTLAWS: It would definitely have to be an outdoor rave – I miss running a sound system and doing Free Parties. There would definitely have to be at least a 50k rig to rattle the lungs and eyeballs. Location wise - it would be nice to do it on a beach in Cornwall, or maybe one of those pretty, isolated ones in Australia. Definitely a free bar and enough Donkey Dust to subdue a colony of T-Rex.
Music wise I reckon: The KLF, Underworld in their prime, Stone Roses (with a full line up), Erol and Soulwax, and my old pal Clark Kunt. I reckon with a line up like that it would be a party everyone could enjoy, not just music obsessed boys!
The other thing to make it perfect would be making sure that no one there had anything to do for a few days afterwards so they could get massively refreshed.
Here’s a rad mix Pete did exclusively for the blog!
Tracklisting for “Mini Maxi Mix”: 1. Intro
2. Alan Hawkshaw - Hot Pants
3. Carlos Berrios - Get It On
4. Alex Gopher Gordini Mix (Brakes On Mix By Air)
5. Zeigeist - Tar Heart
6. AA - So Far (Dumb Dan Remix)
7. Pink Skull - Drugs Will Keep Us Together - Trevor Loveys Remix
8. Tambour Battant - Atomik Cirkus
9. Don Rimini - Nervous Breakdown
10. Ascii Disko – MDMA
11. Dream Frequency - Feel So Real
12. Alex Gopher - Belmondo
13. Curved Air - Armin
14. Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)
OK so we have this equation:
p = j + k
(where p = the presets, j = julian and k = kimberley isaac moyes (k.i.m.))
So therefore, k = p - j …
Yeah, so anyway, KIM is The Presets, minus Julian. Confused? Well you could also say KIM is 1/2 of The Presets. OK, I think you get the gist…
KIM (Kimberley Isaac Moyes) produces, drums, programs and as mentioned, is in one of Australia’s top dancefloor indie-disco banger groups, The Presets.
On his own, his music sounds very different to his band-work, as expected. It’s more sexier, less bangin’. Even deeper I guess… PARTY MACHINI babez.
We managed to catch Gus da Hoodrat, one sixth of the Bang Gang Deejays, just before he boarded a flight with Jamie Doom to Europe for their epic 100% Mega Dance Tour for Modular. Gus has been part of the Bang Gang dj posse ever since their weekly nights at the infamous Club 77 in Sydney and has since taken the party around the country for monthly raves at Third Class in Melbourne and more recently around the globe, from Miami to Fabric in London.
Gus tells us about his new Finger Prince mix, the new releases coming out on their Bang Gang 12’s label and his personal hair styling tips…
Waves: What were the first records in your collection when you started djing? Gus: I distinctly remember buying my first “modern dance” record at central station when I was young and it was Pete Heller’s french filter interpretation mega hit ‘BIG LOVE’ , and it has this dope Keith Haring image on the front of a big love heart (funnily enough)…. after that it was Stardust and then it was Rappers Delight (I think this was bought because i thought that if all else failed this would always work - I saw an 80 year old jammin’ to this at a wedding when I was a kid and instantly knew it was an all time classic boomer….for all ages.)
Also I had inherited my grandmothers collection of dope Ravi Shankar and Trinadad steel drum band records and my dad’s Beach Boys and American Graffiti soundtracks….they kept me in check.
Waves: What were the last three records that you purchased? Gus: Im gonna give you 4, cos one is an album, and that doesn’t count, that is more me in my car kinda thing, or maybe with a girl or something, or just watching tv, and not actually watching the tv, just listening to the record…you know??
Metronomy - Heart Rate Rapid (peep the primary 1 remix - whackattack!!) Telespazio - Galileo (totally adventurous electronic disco boogie vibe going on here…all the way from the outside to the last groove) The Mole - Baby You’re The One (this is a straight up techno record with a crazy disco vibe going on, reminds me of some Roulé records, its on Wagon Repair - these guys are probably French Canadians so they can get away with it.) MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (this album is amazing, like doing backflips in space while flying a kite)
Waves: Have your musical tastes broaden over the years? Gus: Maybe…I do enjoy pop music more than I ever have in the past…I think some of it is amazing…I suddenly realised that all the old music I love was once “pop” music, and therefore I should be more accepting of those boy bands out there making my shopping at Woolworths a more pleasurable experience.
Waves: Any particular tracks that you just can’t help playing at each gig? What records never leave your bag? Gus: Here some of my all time favs; Beatles - Day Tripper, Bob Sinclar - Ultimate funk, Plastik Man - Spastik, Tiga - Burning Down, Bag Raiders - Fun Punch, etc etc etc … man way too many to go through…
Waves: Who are the artists these days that are capturing your ears with a new or individual sound? Gus: I love all the artists working on our label - Bag Raiders, Like Woah, ZZZ, Whitenoise, Spruce & Kato and all the other amazing locals - Cutters, Juggers, Presets, Van She, Bumblebeez, Soft Tigers, etc etc etc…you know the score.
Internationally I am touched by people like Breakbot (cos he makes smoochy dance music), Hercules and Love Affair (smoochy gay dance music), Siriusmo (gay dance glitch music), and then of course Mr. Oizo - the man behind the man that keeps on reinventing himself…. always a huge inspiration for me.
Waves: Who are the dj’s that you look to for inspiration or enjoy watching play? Gus: Boys Noize, Jaime Doom, Andee Frost, U-Go-B, and DJ Craze….many others though.
Waves: What has the future got install for the Bang Gang Posse? Any future releases or raves? World Domination? Gus: The future holds many possibilities, as a posse we are going to fight the warriors down at coney island for our small place in history…. of course we will kiss and make up after as they are a bunch of cool dudes who got pinned for something they didn’t do…that is when we will have a rave - monthly in melburn - at 3rd class…our favourite dance den.
No releases planned as we have discovered that we are djs - not producers.
Waves: How does the rest of the world embrace the Bang Gang deejays?
Do you get similar crowd responses when you dj overseas? Gus: It is different everywhere you play - sometimes they hate you, sometimes they love you but the most important thing is that you always have fun in your own little cosmic world. I think people have started to except us, ill let you know when i get home in a few weeks…
Waves: Have the roles within the group changed from when you first started out? Gus: Oh they haven’t really ever changed, I think we are all just alot more busy now and it just means we do things differently.
Waves: Any new releases coming up from the Bang Gang 12 inches label?
Have you got your eye on any up and coming local talent? Gus: We have some stuff coming from ZZZ, New Bag Raiders, New Like Woah, Death Set remix release, Toecutter, and many many more…all we have to do is get organised and they may come out before the end of the year (fingers crossed).
Waves: What was the inspiration behind ‘Disko Robot Cocks’? Gus: It was me learning how to use pro tools with Christopher Brave, him and Brainzar taught me everything I know about that program, unfortunately I have now forgotten everything, that song was our original form of experimentation.
Waves: Favourite food to eat before a gig? Gus: Oysters..
Waves: What can the kids expect from your Prince Fingers Part 2 mix? Gus: More disco, less techno, and another hour of their life they may want back after they listen.
Waves: If you weren’t djing, what other occupation would we find you working? Gus: Oooooooh.. Definitely a custodian of the arts.
Waves: And finally, Patch wants to know the secrets of maintaining a maine like yours? Gus: Never Shampoo. Always Kondition.
You can listen/download Gus da Hoodrat’s lastest Finger Prince mix installment over at www.banggangpodcast.com and for those of you in the UK and Europe be sure to get down to one of the 100% Mega Dance Raves near you.
And for those of you who need your music fix, here’s the Juggers remixing the Cutters for the upcoming release of Hearts on Fire.
The new kid on the Modular block is Ladyhawke aka Pip Brown and she is already creating a flutter around the world. Originating from New Zealand, she has traveled through Sydney and Melbourne and now resides in London where she continues to write dreamy synth-pop ballads drawing on influences such as Stevie Nicks and Van Halen (what a combo!). Ladyhawke already has a cult following which will soon explode into bigger things once her first single drops.
‘Back of the Van’ is the first official release from the half-bird half-lady songstress and will be out soon on Modular bundled with a massive collection of equally catchy remixes. Along with the Van She Tech remix, which we posted a couple of weeks back, the single also includes stellar remixes from the likes of Mock & Toof and Fred Falke!! Falke brings an added funk to the song, adding a huge slap bassline underneath her subtle vocal melodies. Pip also lends her sexy vocals to a track on Pnau’s latest album which could easily be mistaken for something straight out of the fluro era!
Keep an ear out for her next single ‘Paris is Burning’ which is set for release in June!
The lovely people at Modular are giving us a chance to see the mighty Cut Copy light up the stage just in time before we set off on our adventure to the mighty Daft Punk gig. I already got my ticket to this gig (right in the middle of exam time - heh, that won’t stop me!) With Knightlife and Damn Arms supporting, what more could you ask for?
Actually there is something more I could ask for, and thats the Cut Copy album ‘In Ghost Colours’ which is unfortunately due out next Feb. Although, to keep us happy the single from the album, ‘So Haunted’, will be released in the coming weeks. Suss the myspace rip and tell me what you think about the track - I think its a brilliant follow-up from ‘Hearts on Fire’.
If you haven’t heard of Knightlife then what a laugh!; this majestic character’s tunes will be hitting a dancefloor near you in the not-so-distant-future. His signed to Cutters, a label setup by Cut Copy themselves which has had such acts like KIM to Midnight Juggernauts. Grab his 12″ ‘Ambopop/All Systems’ here and check out his new demo - gosh!
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