November 20th, 2009 - Wolfmother, Heartless Bastards @ Paramount Theater
When Wolfmother first arrived on the scene in 2005 they lead a small explosion of heavy but surely accessible bands some deemed, “hipster metal”. That first Wolfmother record had some redeeming qualities; bottom heavy classic rock riffs, Andrew Stockdale’s Ozzy Osbourne wail, and undeniably catchy and mildly stony songs about wizards, unicorns, mountains, and rainbows which quickly caught the ear of stoner metal fans as well as indie rockers who were in search of a heavy but not scary band to call their own. For a brief period of time even I gravitated toward their brand of caffeine free diet Black Sabbath. Let’s just say they wore out their welcome almost immediately. You can blame “Woman” or Guitar Hero or just the fact that it all seemed so contrived and almost insultingly dumb after awhile. The only thing good about Wolfmother is that they may have had a hand in opening the door for other heavy bands blossoming at the same time. The Sword for instance was laying it down thick and convincingly, and all the while gaining actual credibility in both communities.
I went to see Wolfmother last Friday just to make sure my feelings were warranted in case I had misjudged their intentions, music or whatever. ‘White Unicorn’ and ‘Dimension’ sounded good and I was glad to hear the stuff from their debut at least once live. Overall, the show was big, their sound was big, Stockdale was impressive on guitar, and the laser light show was sweet. It had all the elements of a kick ass rock show. The problem was it was sooooo unbelievably boring. I don’t know maybe my music snob tendencies were in full force, but it was completely lame, especially when they played ‘Woman’, and all the gamers pulled out their Guitar Hero axes to rack up points in unison. Just kidding about that of course, but that was the thought that popped in my head as I looked around at the enthusiastic crowd. I just couldn’t get past the pre-determined arena rock choreography, and to be honest the new songs from “Cosmic Egg” are a slap in the face.
In my eyes a very dark Seattle winter cloud drizzled above Wolfmother’s head the entire set or at least what I saw of it. Not only due to the overall stupidity of their music, but because they also played an in-store at Best Buy earlier that evening. I walked out of the Paramount early in mild disgust, but relieved that my guy feeling was correct. Best Buy? I don’t even want to get into the issues I have with that.
Before Wolfmother took the stage I was in a much better mood believe me. The Heartless Bastards were one of the openers. Ever since being turned onto them a number of years ago, and seeing them for the first time at the Tractor Tavern in 2006, I have been a fan of Erika Wennerstrom and company’s simple but effective blues and roots rock approach. Heartless Bastards have been through town a number of times this year including Sasquatch and a very recent gig with the Avett Brothers, but that didn’t seem to bother the energetic crowd.The set was comprised enitrely of tunes from their newest record “The Mountain”. It’s a very good record and surely one of the best of 2009, but I guess after hearing a very similar set earlier this year I was hoping for a couple interjections from the previous two records-- “All This Time” and “Stairs and Elevators”. Erika is a joy to watch perform and sounded amazing, and the new band is super tight but it seems some of their stronger songs from the past like “New Resolution” or “Into the Open” would make great additions to the set list.
Here’s hoping after they take a break from the constant touring in support of “The Mountain”, they’ll bring back the older stuff when they come to town again. Until then please check them out. Erika’s voice is as unique as they come, and coupled with a solid backing unit her talents never seem to waver.
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