Lifehouse reunites Gilbert brothers
By THOMAS BOND
Get Out
June 19, 2003

Drummer Rick Woolstenhulme had the perfect guy in mind when his modern rock trio Lifehouse was looking to add a lead guitar player: his younger sibling Sean.

We'd gone through so many different guitar players and every time we'd get a guy I'd think, Why don't I just get my brother in here? Rick says. Finally, I just said, Hey, dude, maybe you should come play with us.

Though he was already a member of successful major- label band the Calling, Sean leapt at the chance to play with his brother.

When they actually made the invitation, my brother and I had talked about it before, so they knew and I knew what my choice would be and I said yes right away, Sean says. It's great. It really is a dream come true. It was definitely the right decision and I have no regrets about it.

There was just the small matter of telling his bandmates in the Calling, with whom he was on tour, that he was jumping ship.

I just sat them down and told them straight up that it was a good opportunity to play with my brother and be the lead guitar player in a band, which I wasn't in the Calling, Sean says. They understood, although I think there's probably still some animosity on their end.

The Woolstenhulme brothers biggest fan, their mother Annie, was all for her only children joining forces.

I feel more comfortable with them being together in the same band, she says. Sean was held back a little bit in the Calling. In Lifehouse he can be more creative and it's a better situation for him.

The boys are best friends, and also the other players in Lifehouse are all very good guys. There's a positive atmosphere in the band and my boys have always been very positive.

Lifehouse which also includes singer/songwriter Jason Wade and bassist Sergio Andrade enjoyed tremendous success with their 2000 debut album No Name Face, which spawned the No. 2 single Hanging by a Moment. The band's follow-up album, Stanley Climbfall, was issued last September just as Sean joined the band but hasn't matched its predecessor's success.

Our first record was such a massive thing, but our new record's sales have been a lot slower than everybody had planned, Rick says. The first one sold three and a half million copies, and this one is creeping up on gold (500,000 copies). It's humbling, but it's made us better musicians because we knew we really had to get our live show together to make sure that when we go tour for the record that we're even better than the record.

The quartet must be doing just that because the Rolling Stones invited Lifehouse to open three tour dates at the end of last year.

That was definitely a dream come true, Rick says. I was sucking up the moment, playing with (Stones drummer) Charlie Watts kit right behind me, but at the same time I almost wanted to hurry up and finish so I could see the Stones!

On the last night we did with them, Mick Jagger walked into our dressing room in Vegas and sat down and started talking to us. We were all like deer in the headlights, completely shocked that he's sitting there with us! He gave us a lot of great comments, so it was neat.

Contact writer Thomas Bond at or .

Lifehouse

With: Fiction Plane
Where: Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
How much: $17
Info: