Wolf of a Broken Family

The Zeppelin induced Australian rock group Wolfmother has decided to call it quits. Well, kind of. Bassist/keyboardist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett have announced they are leaving the band. And in case you don’t listen to Wolfmother, that leaves one little piggy. Singer Andrew Stockdale has promised Wolfmother devotees that he will find new members and continue to put together a new disc over the coming months. So, if you like his high pitched squealing, there will be more of it. In a statement on the F10 Blog Dustin was heard to say, “Oh, so kind of like Journey?”

The band announced their parting of ways in a fashion only suitable for the times, via their MySpace page. The rather heartfelt note to fans explains that:

Longstanding frictions within the group then lead them to take an extended break during the second half of 2007 to consider their future…

In early 2008 they regrouped and worked on new material. Initially encouraged by those sessions, they committed to a handful of live shows to ‘road test’ the new songs and to try to find a way forward.

Those dates concluded with a headlining slot last Sunday at the Splendour In The Grass Festival in Australia’s Byron Bay where rumours circulated about possible lineup changes.

Following that show Chris Ross decided to announce that he was leaving the band due to irreconcilable personal and musical differences. Myles Heskett has also decided to leave the band rather than continuing as part of a changed lineup. The pair has been working together on songs for some time and they plan to focus their energies on that new project in the future…

In the meantime they simply ask all Wolfmother fans to please understand that in spite of their best efforts over a long period of time, they just could not find a harmonious way to work together and that has [led] to the decisions announced today.

Prior to the quoted next they only refer to their Grammy twice…

Over at Pitchfork Matthew Solarski had an interesting idea. If you’re a bass player or drummer who’s on hard times, mosey on over to the Wolfmother MySpace page and start plastering the message board with requests for an audition. I heard that’s how their going to choose the new members of the band, whoever can put the most messages up by the end of next week.