Short of his Delhi gig, Andrew Stockdale spoke to Iknoor Kaur about breaking the myth that every musician needs some inspiration
With his good-old afro and laidback attitude, Andrew Stockdale was happily enjoying his afternoon meal of palak paneer when the waiter came and placed a glass of fresh, rich lassi in front of him. While his companions on the table gave him a confused look, he quipped: “It is the best drink in the world. You can just sip on it all day with a straw.” Whether or not he liked India, one thing was clear — the man loved lassi. That was the first personal introduction we had to the lead vocalist/guitarist of Wolfmother and it was definitely an unexpected one. Recently back from his Vh1 Rock Rules Mumbai gig, Stockdale was here to play at the Hard Rock Café last evening and he was not even close to his rockstar self. “There is kind of a relaxing energy in India. It just makes you feel good. There is culture here and the food is just fantastic,” he said.
Known for their immensely famous track Joker and the Thief, Wolfmother is an Australian hard rock band that was formed in 2000 by Stockdale, Chris Ross and Myles Heskett. However, after a lot of entries and exits in the band — Stockdale being the only constant — the band now consists of him, Ian Peres and Aidan Nemeth. “I follow music, not people,” said the 37-year-old artiste. “When I start working on a particular idea, I represent what I have in mind to the band and that has been the case all along. And luckily, it has helped me through the entire time when the band members have changed. I feel that when you got to go for it, as an artiste, you got to go. I can’t follow other people’s schedules and if someone says ‘Hey, I’m busy today, I can’t come.’ I say fine. I will do it without you. I can’t stand being held back because you never know where that idea you have at that moment is going to go. What if I wait and later the idea’s gone or the energy has shifted. It is a challenge to finish an idea, be it good, bad or average,” he shared.
Stockdale had one and a half hour line up prepared for the gig which included some numbers from the first and second Wolfmother album and one song from his solo record — A long Way To Go. “I want the performance to be high on energy. Some of the tracks I’ll play are Dimension, Woman, Joker and the Thief, White Unicorn, Colossal, Vagabond, love Train, Apple Tree, New Moon Rising, Mind’s Eye and California Queen,” he informed.
As 13-year-old, Stockdale was heavily inspired by Jim Morrison. He elaborated, “I remember when I first heard the Doors, I came to know that Jim Morrison did ‘dreams of consciousness’ writing and I was very inspired by that. I would put a pen in my hand and go into a dreamland and just write whatever came to my mind.” However, he feels that it is best not to get inspired by anything. “I just sit down for an hour with my guitar and something comes to me just by playing it. The more I play, the more I get inspired. Sometimes you don’t need to be inspired at all. The biggest myth is inspiration. You should just do something even when you’re not inspired and then the process will surprise you,” he explained.
As for Indian music, Stockdale hoped he could someday produce music like The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s lonely Hearts Club Band. “I’ve been listening to a lot of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s music and I love the instrumentation. Honestly, if I found someone with sitars and tablas in Australia, I would definitely do something like the Sgt Pepper’s material,” he said.