"Our EP had gone gold before we had a manager... now I have my own makeup artist making me look good, now I'm a professional," Wolfmother frontman Andrew Stockdale joked with a mischievous grin for Billboard's cameras in Los Angeles recently. "That's how much things have changed."


Above: The Billboard.com video Q&A with Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale, presented in HD.

Jokes aside, since Wolfmother's 2006 self-titled debut hit No. 10 on the Top Rock Albums chart and spawned a Grammy win for best hard rock performance for the track "Woman," the Australian rawkers have actually undergone radical change. "Long-standing frictions" among the members brought Wolfmother to the brink of a breakup in 2008 as keyboardist/bassist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett left the group. But now Wolfmother has re-emerged with a new lineup that includes guitarist Aidan Nemeth, bassist/keyboardist Ian Peres and drummer Dave Atkins --Stockdale remarks there's more "trust on stage" -- and, finally, a sophomore album. Stockdale called the multi-version "Cosmic Egg," due Oct. 27, "heavy," "visceral" and "experimental." "It's pretentious, yet honest... and broadly accessible to lots of people," he laughed.

Following a five-date run Oct. 14-21 in Europe, Wolfmother will perform at Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit shows near San Francisco on Oct. 24 and 25 before kicking off their North American tour on Oct. 29 in Dallas. The tour will make a circuit of the U.S. before finishing up at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles on Nov. 24.