Wolfmother 'Cosmic Egg' album

The Australian rock band that comprise Wolfmother are back together - minus two founding members - ready to release a new body of work and spend some time on the road. For the six shows in support of The Killers the Aussies will unveil new songs they've spent months recording in L.A.

The Grammy-winning four-piece recently dropped teaser track "Back Round" on iTunes, MySpace.com/wolfmother and wolfmother.com. Wolfmother is also opening for AC/DC on its "Black Ice Tour," beginning in February in 2010. The down-under tour sold out faster than any other tour in the Australia's history.

Led by guitarist/frontman Andrew Stockdale, the band cooked Cosmic Egg for three years. Wolfmother recorded over the course of two months with U.K. producer Alan Moulder (Smashing Pumpkins, The Killers, My Bloody Valentine). The new Wolfmother is going to sound similar to old Wolfmother with one immediate difference: this incarnation will be a four-piece, with the addition of a rhythm guitarist.

Stockdale recently spoke to MTV News about the band's forthcoming second album, the group's first since the departure of drummer Myles Heskett and bassist/keyboardist Chris Ross. Due out on October 13th VIA Interscope Records, the CD showcases the added punch of three new musicians (rhythm guitarist Aidan Nemeth, bassist/keyboardist Ian Peres and drummer Dave Atkins).

"I used to think musicians were like monks and music was like a religious path, because it tests you. It tests your ego, your jealousies, your competitiveness, all those things. How it's going to consume you. If you can keep writing songs. It tests you in so many ways." I decided to answer those challenges, for one, because I can't help myself, but also, because I'm the Wolfmother guy all the time. I'm the dude from Wolfmother. It confronts me all the time. I didn't want to justify myself to the press, or explain what happened, or what didn't happen, or who said what, or why. ... I didn't want to get involved in all that. So I thought the best thing to do was just make music and let that speak for itself."

"For a while, I was thinking of not going forward as Wolfmother, but then, eventually, I decided just to do it. It's a bizarre situation, because you're making new music, but you're also connected to the first record, and the new people are replacing people. It's not a new band with a fresh slate. But once we got started making this record, I thought, 'It's more of a challenge to continue as Wolfmother,' because there is a first record, there is something to compare it to .and that makes you push yourself."

The follow-up to Wolfmother's 2006 self-titled debut, got it's name from a yoga poise. "I did a yoga class and one of the poses we were doing was called 'cosmic egg', and I thought yeah, that's it. It's like the fetal pose," says Stockton. "Prepare for the onslaught."

Their single, "New Moon " is at Alternative radio.

Wolfmother plans to headline a U.S. tour after the album's release later this year.

Wolfmother tour dates
08/31/09 Mon Merriweather Post Pavilion Columbia, MD
09/01/09 Tue Nikon at Jones Beach Theater Wantagh, NY
09/02/09 Wed PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel, NJ
09/04/09 Fri TD BankNorth Garden Boston, MA
10/31/09 Sat City Park New Orleans, LA

Wolfmother biography
Brothers and sisters sound the siren, the long-awaited return of Wolfmother is well and truly upon us. It is official, the transcendental dreamweavers will return with a wonderfully ambitious new record, Cosmic Egg, scheduled for release on October 13th.

This will be preceded by the release of the joyously shredding first single, "New Moon Rising," which makes its radio premier this Friday August 14.

It's been a long road back following the internationally lauded, self-titled debut Wolfmother record, one that sold over 1.4 million copies worldwide and earned praise from all and sundry, including a Grammy.

However it's a road Wolfmother had to travel in order to find themselves in the inspired place they are today, about to take the exit to somewhere over the rainbow, halfway along the path to righteousness and rounding the corner of a new beginning, right outside the dragon's lair. And here they're clutching a confident, bold, kaleidoscopic step forward titled Cosmic Egg.

The seeds for Cosmic Egg were sown when the touring cycle for the debut record came to a close, and frontman and guitarist Andrew Stockdale sat down to start from scratch at his home studio in Brisbane. Following an extensive gestation period and the enlistment of new band members, Stockdale and his band of merry men, with producer Alan Moulder, rode ashore in picturesque hippy mecca Byron Bay, Australia, to begin pre-production.

Moulder meanwhile brought a giant hessian sack of worldly producer experience to the table, filled of milestone works from the likes of My Bloody Valentine, The Smashing Pumpkins, Ride and Nine Inch Nails. From there the process transplanted to Los Angeles for recording proper to commence, a location that added another dimension of rich experience to Cosmic Egg, and the perfect place to make magic from one's own mind, a fact concisely reinforced in the resultant 50-odd minute suite.

Cosmic Egg is, in short, the sound of the Wolfmother world being rethunk and cracked wide open, with a sprawling, jubilant galaxy of musical and metaphysical harmony spilling forth. Expedition is welcome to all.

Lead single, "New Moon Rising," is a thumping, ripping slice of optimistic future-blues, complete with textbook flaming Wolfmother guitar and joyously bludgeoning drums. It's a thrilling rush of goodtimes direct to the soul and one that's sure to be inescapable very, very soon.

Ahead of the 12-track sophomore broadcast, Wolfmother (Andrew Stockdale [Vocals/Guitar], Ian Peres [Bass/Keys], Aidan Nemeth , Dave Atkins ) will journey across the USA in support of The Killers through late August / early September, then will return home to unleash the new recordings upon Australian audiences for a series of theatre dates in the second half of September.

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Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg