Lifehouse: Just A Moment.

Lifehouse play M-One at ANZ Stadium on October 5. Stanley Climbfall is in stores on September 30.

In a matter or months, Lifehouse went from being an unknown college rock act to sharing stages with Pearl Jam, Matchbox 20 and Fuel. No mean feat. Lifehouse’s debut album No Name Face spawned the massive single Hanging By A Moment, and with the band’s foundation in the considerable songwriting talents of their charismatic frontman Jason Wade (barely out of his twenties when the band’s No Name Face album first hit stores) Lifehouse have continued their evolution into the rock stratosphere with their second disc Stanley Climbfall. Early next month they’re set to make an appearance in Brisbane as part of M-One.

“We toured on the last record for a year and a half, almost two years,” drummer Rick Woolstenhulme explains from his California home, where he’s “chillin’ watching the TV and listening to some Zeppelin... We actually leave tonight to go on tour, so I’m just waiting for someone to come by and pick me up.”

This extensive time spent on the road has sharpened the band, both as performers and as a song writing unit. Fans of No Name Face will be relieved to hear the new album builds upon and re-enforces the sounds the band began to develop on their first record, partially, from Rick’s perspective, due to the solidity of the bands line up.

“I didn’t actually play on the last record, I joined the band just after we started touring for it, so this record has a different sound. It sounds more like a band sound. It doesn’t sound like anyone else, it juts sounds like us, you know what I mean. I wasn’t around for the last one, so this is my first record as Lifehouse, so it was a lot of fun.”

“I’d done a little doodle crap in the studio before (with other acts) but this time around there was a lot of pressure riding on the band, let alone on some 21 year old kid. It was a learning experience for sure, getting to see how it all comes together when you’re under the gun.”

Did you get some time off to write the record, or was it done mostly while the band were on the road?

“This was written while we were touring on the last one. Jason’s the main songwriter, and he just writes, that’s all he does. Which is a good and bad thing I guess…”

The band’s upcoming appearance at M-One finds the band eagerly anticipating the experience.

“I go after it even more with the bigger shows, because of the adrenaline,” Rick enthuses. “It’s like an outer body experience watching yourself play when the crowd is that big. It feels like you’re watching Keith Moon play with The Who or something. You get really pumped for big shows. It could be a bad thing, I don’t know.”

What was the first big show that you saw yourself?

“Oh man, Cheap Trick. It was at an Arena. I’ve seen the like six times now. Or Huey Lewis & The News, that was one of the first shows I went to too. That stuff is the bomb right there. Huey Lewis, man, I like him. I think he’s great. But I think I liked Cheap Trick better.”

Is that what inspired to you work towards becoming a full time musician?

“Actually both my parents were musicians, and I started playing drums when I was nine years old. So I’ve been able to focus on music most of my life. My parents would kind of let me slack off in school as long as I kept the drums going. Luckily my dad had good taste in music, so I grew up listening to Elton John, Led Zeppelin, so many really cool things that I got exposed to young.”

Do you think you pick things up from those experiences that come through in your playing?

“I think I still do now. I saw Dave Grohl play a couple of nights again, and it was so amazing. I guess there’s bits and pieces that I pick up from everyone, but all drummers have a little bit of John Bonham or a little bit of Ringo Starr, if they know it or not.”