Your Mothers Dead

need.. to... piss...

I don't really know if I can say that I've ever seen a bands last show. Until now anyway, as Sundays performance at Splendour turned out to be the last we'd hear of Wolfmother. Whether thats a good thing or not is up to you but the stupidity of this decision escapes me. You dont break up at the start of a tour, and you certainly dont break up when you're about to release a new album. The band, or should I say the bass player (the one that buggered off) has cited 'irreconcilable personal and music differences' as the reason for desertion. So what happens now?

First of all, unless you've got Flea, Les Claypool, Stu Ham, Jaco Pastorious or Mick Gallagher playing the four string, YOU CAN REPLACE A BASSIST. Apparently the big haired mo fo Andrew Stockdale wants to keep the band going with a new lineup but I'm sure that soon people will stop giving a shit. The drummer has left as well so its all in a shambles - which brings me to my next point:

Modular Australia are getting their asses kicked and made it public recently, revealing the fact they were running at a $5.9 million loss at the end of last year. While these are being attributed to 'significant investments' that will 'pay off THIS year' its an amazing thing to see when you consider the amount of distribution they do from big name overseas acts as well as the impressive list of bands on the roster including Muscles, The Presets, Cut Copy, Van She, MSTRKRFT and, coincidentally, Wolfmother. For all we know it could be true, and this year could be a good year, but perhaps all is not well and we're not being told about it.

In which case, whats the problem? I find it remotely ironic that the digital revolution has had such an effect on a label that focuses primarily on digital and electronic artists. While the live scene is no doubt alive and well, and everyone knows who's who and how the songs go, no one seems to be buying the albums. Its not hard to see why when you find out how easy it is to get these things on the net for nothing. Either way Modular can start counting some more losses if Wolfmother cant tour to support their own 'significant investment'.

The burning question for me is a matter of co-incidence. Modular released their info late last week, and now Wolfmother has split on the cusp of a new album launch? Maybe they were told they'd have to recoup a bit more, the bass player worked out he'd be getting 15c an album after costs were covered and thought 'fuck this i'll go be a waiter'. Are the two incidents related? Something tells me yes.

At least now the drummer and bassist can ride the coat-tails of being 'those guys from Wolfmother' for a while. Although playing a dingy pub and being reminded of that every night by drunk guys I now share a wage with (as opposed to millions) would quite possibly want to make me kill myself. Keep your eyes on the obituaries.

AND BUY CDS!