If it aint broke don’t fix it, I guess. As I’m writing this I am listening to a Deep Purple show from ’69 and strongly resisting the urge to write all the things you’ve already read about Wolfmother. All the things you already know about their sound and influences. I was thinking about it though, and maybe it’s kind of like how the Stones did better Honky Tonk and Robert Johnson covers than Americans did. Maybe it takes a young Australian band to pay accurate homage to the British roots of psych and hard rock. Whatever the reasoning behind it, Wolfmother does it, and well.
The circumstances surrounding this show were a little different. Blender magazine has set up shop at the Gramercy Theatre for the time being, and this was a party to celebrate the changing of the marquees – not an uncommon sight in New York these days. So it was an interesting mix of folks in the crowd, but no one lacked in enthusiasm. I have to say, it was a great audience. Wolfmother came on and did their thing and the people loved it. Their sound is so familiar that it’s almost borderline comforting. Like an old sweatshirt. I realized during the show that whenever I go to see a band that I’ve never heard before, I’m hoping for something. Like putting a quarter in a gumball machine, you’re most likely cool with whatever you get, but you definitely want the red one. I want bands to be Led Zeppelin. I do. All the way. So this was fun for me. What was also fun was the jam they launched into coming out of “Woman”. I would clock it at about ten minutes and it had a couple different movements. Sweet. By the way, if you want to see a video from the show, Abbey has one on her website, you can see some of Chris Ross’s antics. I think he has an abusive relationship with his keyboard. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an instrument hold up so well under such a beating.
I hope Blender gets some good shows into the Gramercy. It’s a neat venue with seats rising up the back wall like the old Northsix. Now that was a great venue.
