For the man with the enormous curly head and the circular saw voice the album almost means a new start. Since the departure of his former fellow musicians Myles Heskett and Chris Ross in 2008 - only shortly after the brilliant kick start - Stockdale has seen a lot of things different than hoped for. The three newcomers were able to take home a Grammy for the catchy tune "Woman". Then the road got bumpy. The second album "Cosmic Egg" turned out to be a difficult procedure, the separation then took place due to the usual ominous "musical and personal differences".
"Cosmic Egg" continued to indulge in the fuzz-distorted sound of the golden era. But many songs lacked catchiness, partly also the charm of youthful exuberance. Since then Stockdale has been working with changing musicians from his studio in Byron Bay, East Australia, as the singer and guitarist tends to do everything on his own. In 2014 he released the third Wolfmother album "New Crown", quickly and spontaneously recorded at home on Byron Beach. But the record, initially released as a download only, hardly made any waves.
For album no. 4 the scion of an artist couple from Brisbane has rethought. Instead of doing everything on his own, he has brought producer veteran Brendan O'Brien to his side. "For me, it's a return to Wolfmother's roots," he says. "I have made three Wolfmother albums in the meantime, as well as my solo album ["Keep Moving' from 2013; note], on which I experimented with acoustic instruments. This time I remembered the power of our first album. One aspect was that at the beginning I had single-handedly recorded demos of 'The Joker & The Thief', 'Vagabond', 'Woman' or 'White Unicorn'. Later I had probably somehow forgotten that at the beginning of these songs were my demo recordings. I think the approach provides the best basis for the songwriting process."