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Airbourne - Interview
Joel O'Keefe |
Standing Up For Rock N Roll |
| AIRBOURNE SEEMED TO HAVE COME OUT OF NOWHERE AND TAKE ON THE ROCK N ROLL WORLD BY STORM. PROUDLY BRANDING THE KIND OF AUSTRALIAN PUB-ROCK THEY GREW UP ON, AIRBOURNE HAVE ALREADY AMASSED A CULT FOLLOWING, AND LOOK SET TO TAKE OVER THE ROCK N ROLL WORLD. WE CAUGHT UP WITH FRONTMAN JOEL O'KEEFE TO FIND OUT HIS PLANS. |
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September 2007
HOW ARE YOU GUYS FEELING; EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE GOING ON FOR YOU AT THE MOMENT?
Yeah, good, the trains back on the tracks and its not stopping; we’re just going for it.
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HOW LONG HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN ON THE TRAIN FOR NOW?
(laughs) Oh, you know. Me and Ryan (O'Keefe; drummer & brother) have been playing since we were little. We’ve probably been playing for 8 or 9 years, but really since we were little. This is what we have always done, even through school and stuff like that. It’s always been rock n roll, just hasn’t been anything else.
HOW LONG HAS AIRBOURNE BEEN TOGETHER?
This line-up...probably 4 or 5 years I guess.
SO YOU HAVE THE ALBUM OUT NOW, TOO MUCH, TOO YOUNG, TOO FAST (LATEST SINGLE) IS DOING WELL?
Too Much is doing great. Runnin’ Wild too, and Stand Up For Rock N Roll is a real crowd favourite. It’s a real call to arms, they're just Aussie pub rock songs, played really loud.
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Backstage with the 'Bourne
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WELL IT’S GOOD TO HAVE SOME OF THAT BACK ON THE RADIO?
Yeah, it’s a bit different these days. |
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YOU GUYS ARE ORIGINALLY FROM WARRNAMBOOL (SOUTHERN OZ)?
Yeah, from down in Warrnambool, we’re all from that area. Roadsie (David Roads) is from Penshurst, but that’s just up the road.
I’M ACTUALLY FROM GEELONG (SAME STATE). PLENTY OF BANDS COME FROM YOUR AREA?
Yeah, Warrnambool seems to... I mean this whole Western district. Even Geelong, all the boys from Jet are down that way. It’s just like the footy (Australian Football); all the good players come from the Hampton league.
NOTHING BETTER TO DO OUT THERE?
That’s it. We’ve only got our one or two things that we know how to do, and we do them well. Its either football or rock n roll. |
Kickin' up a storm |
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SO AC/DC IS AN OBVIOUS INFLUENCE. EVERYONE SEEMS TO BE COMPARING YOU TO THEM?
Well, it’s not a bad thing. AC/DC is one of the biggest bands to come out of Australia. I mean there’s Rose Tattoo, The Angels, Billy Thorpe, Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, I mean they’re all Aussie pub rock bands, they just never made it as big as AC/DC. You know, people just always say AC/DC because they overlook all the other ones that are similar. Against all other bands in the world; Aussie pub rock bands are the best.
YOUR VOCALS ACTUALLY REMIND ME MORE OF ROSE TATTOO; IT’S GOT THAT MEANNESS?
Yeah, a bit more angry, a bit more meanness too it. We’ve always listened to a lot of Rose Tattoo. When you’re growing, in school and stuff, I mean when we were growing up, none of the other kids were into what we were; like Rose Tattoo. We’d just got home and fuckin’ pump up Rose Tattoo, as opposed to whatever the hell was on the radio at the time; Blink 182 or some shit like that, whatever every other kid was into.
And then you get the anger like FUCK THEM! ROSE TATTOO! YEAH! It just gets you pumped up.
THOSE GUYS ARE STILL GOING TOO. I SAW ANGRY ANDERSON NOT LONG AGO, PLAYING ON THE AXL ROSE TOUR?
Oh yeah, he kicks arse. He absolutely kicks arse that guy.
YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN ON A FEW BIG TOURS YOURSELF NOW?
Yeah, we did Motley Crue, we did the Stones (Rolling), that was pretty cool, it was a big show. The one coming up at the moment is Motorhead and Rose Tattoo. |
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Less talk...more rock
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SO YOU WILL BE PLAYING WITH ROSE TATTOO THEN. MOTORHEAD IS LIKE THE ENGLISH VERSION OF TATTOO OR AC/DC, THOSE GUYS ARE AN INSTITUTION?
They are, its just one of those bands. They’re a fans band, but they are also a bands-band. Every band in the world will always respect Motorhead. They just demand respect from everybody. You just go ' yeah, Lemmy’s king'. I mean, fuckin’ hell. |
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YOU HAD A 5 ALBUM DEAL WITH CAPITOL, WHAT HAPPENED THERE?
Capitol kind of folded I guess. Went into liquidation and got taken over by Virgin, who took over the entire label, and dropped 75% of the acts! Then 70% of the staff had to leave, it was just basically a whole take over. They couldn’t afford to keep all of their bands, and market them all over the world. So they kept all the big money earners. They kept like...um, you know, like Coldplay and those kinds of ones. But they got rid of a lot of big acts. But, it actually worked out really good, because we got out album back, and we didn’t have to pay for the fuckin’ thing. Then we went straight to Roadrunner, who are a metal label, and really get where we are coming from. It’s just been good from day one. Roadrunner have got the real Michael Gudinski (Mushroom Records founder) style attitude, which is great.
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All Aussie |
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SO WHAT’S YOUR PLAN FOR THE STATES?
Well, we have a club tour coming up after this Motorhead tour, or before? I can’t remember. But we have a bunch of clubs we’re going to do in L.A. and stuff like that, and in New York. Get it all pumped up there again, and then come back and do some festivals, then we’ll probably stay over at the U.S. for a bit. |
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SO, YOU'VE OBVIOUSLY BEEN OVER BEFORE?
Yeah, we recorded there for 6 months, and we played at the start of that year, which was two thousand and...six? Um, what year are we in now? (2007!) Okay, yeah, it must have been the start of 2006 that we went over there.
HOW DO THEY TAKE THE LIVE SHOW?
They love it. They’re pretty similar to Australians. The audience has been starved for it. They haven’t been around that kind of rock n roll for so long, that’s in your face, loud and just about a good time; it just hasn’t been there.
YOU GUYS GOT SOME SONGS ON THE MADDEN AND NASCAR VIDEO GAMES?
Yeah, a bloke over there; who is really helping us out, it’s really working out well. They’re really getting onto this Aussie pub rock thing. Seeing it for what it is, and not trying to change it. They’ve just gone ‘We want the whole track and don’t care if there’s fuckin’ swearing, and whatever the hell's in there, we want the whole fucking thing, because its great and its honest.'
SOME PEOPLE DON’T REALISE HOW MUCH OF A BOOST A VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACK IS?
Oh yeah, it’s the new radio. I mean, like it’s the stuff that parents can’t get to. Mom and Dad’s can’t get inside that world. They can get inside the radio, because they listen to it in the car, but they can’t get to their PSP with their headphones on.
WHAT KIND OF SET DO YOU GUYS PLAY?
It’s all pretty much stuff on this album, and a few B-sides we have. But you know, we don’t really do many covers. We have fun sometimes, just to try them out.
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Joel, getting...well, Airbourne!
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I LOVE THE SONG CHEAP WINE, CHEAPER WOMAN, GREAT RIFF?
Yeah, ha ha. That’s a real crowd favourite that one, they love it.
SO YOU’VE GOT YOUR BROTHER IN THE BAND TOO?
Yeah, I me an Ryan fight like fuckin’ cats and dogs. But I’ve got guitar and he’s on the drums, so we at least have a massive kit in between us, for when it gets too crazy on stage, so we can’t really hit each other when we’re up there. Unless I come over the kit, but that’s a whole 'nother story all together.
BROTHER BANDS SEEM TO STAY TOGETHER. EVEN VAN HALEN IS BACK NOW?
Yeah, and Crowded House just got back together down here. Brothers fight a lot, but they don’t ever break up a band, and if they do, they always come back, because they’ve been fighting all their life, its nothing new. It’s never anything personal, just brother stuff.
SO, WHAT’S NEXT FOR AIRBOURNE?
Even now we’re putting down songs and jamming the out, sometimes we try a new one live, to see how it goes over. We just keep recording as we go. And the first album hasn’t got a full release in North America yet, so that’ll be in January.
WELL, THAT’S ABOUT IT BUDDY, ANYTHING ELSE?
Nah, it’s been a great chat!
We’re playing at Bathurst 1000, and we’re going to New Zealand next weekend, then Hotham after that. So there’s a few things here or there before we hit the States. |
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Brother and Airbourne drummer; Ryan O'Keefe
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WHERE ARE YOU STATIONED AT THE MOMENT?
In Melbourne, we all live together in the same house! So um, every time we come home it’s just, everyone’s chucks their shit everywhere, it’s the biggest fuckin’ mess, and it’s like a band room. We just chuck all the gear in there and set it up all up and shit. We got about 600 Watts of P.A. we put in the other day, just for rehearsals, just so we can hear everything. The guitars are just so fuckin’ loud; we had to bring in all the stuff for the vocals. Yeah, so the neighbours love us (laughs). It’s all about standing up for rock n roll; it’s a call to arms. Just like what we were talking about before, fuck the neighbours, we’ll degrade the fuckin’ property value, we’re gonna turn it up and do what we want. |
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