{"id":16504,"date":"2013-05-13T07:45:54","date_gmt":"2013-05-12T21:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=16504"},"modified":"2013-05-11T13:17:08","modified_gmt":"2013-05-11T03:17:08","slug":"david-%e2%80%98roadsy%e2%80%99-roads-of-airbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2013\/05\/david-%e2%80%98roadsy%e2%80%99-roads-of-airbourne\/","title":{"rendered":"David \u2018Roadsy\u2019 Roads of Airbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>\u201cWe\u2019re the kind of band that\u2019s a live band, we always just want to be touring and playing shows but at the same time you\u2019ve got to tell yourself that you can\u2019t do that until you write a good album and make sure you do it right and release it *laughs*.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Bio and this sums the band up perfectly: Airbourne is the walking, talking, living, breathing, screaming, spitting, fist-pumping embodiment of all that hard rock has encompassed since the movement began.\u00a0 Fun-loving, rip-roaring, hard-partying and filled with melodic danger and grinning optimism, Airbourne craft underdog-championing anthems with reckless abandon.<\/p>\n

With their third album just around the corner (released May 17) and the two already before it that carved Airbourne a name in the rock world as not only a kick ass rock band as mentioned above, but also one of the best live acts out there at the moment, and they\u2019re not slowing down\u2026<\/p>\n

We chatted to Roadsy ahead of the release of the band\u2019s new album \u2018Black Dog Barking\u2019 to talk about it and its creation as well as touring and his love of his home country.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re about to release your third record, and congratulations on it, it\u2019s a ripper.<\/strong>
\nThanks mate.<\/p>\n

So can you tell us about the title track and album title \u2018Black Dog Barking\u2019 and the meaning behind it\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah no worries, the title \u2018Black Dog\u2026\u2019 is something that Joel and Ryan came up with and there\u2019s actually a few different meanings to it and Joel would probably give you the best description of it ever, but it\u2019s kind of like one of the meanings is what we\u2019ve been through as a band, all the rigors, the ups and the downs throughout our career, the good times and bad times and it\u2019s kind of felt like at times we\u2019ve had a black dog on our shoulder riding us when going through the hardships of touring and when things have gone wrong. There\u2019s even relations to Winston Churchill back in World War 2, they called him \u2018The Black Dog\u2019 cause of some of his speeches he used to give his troops before going into battle, and I think as a band we have inter-band lingo and names for things like \u2018No Guts. No Glory.\u2019 the name of the last record for example is something we\u2019ve just always said and are inspiring kind of words and I guess \u2018Black Dog Barking\u2019 is the same kind of things. Those little sayings we say always end up making a good rock and roll album title, not to mention the artwork to go with it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been three years since your last release, after so much touring, what was it like getting back in the studio and pardon the pun \u2018Back in the Game\u2019?<\/strong>
\nYeah it was good, I mean we spent a lot of time back in Australia on this record, a lot of time writing and wanting to make sure we got it right and do a good album and so we were happy to get into the studio to see the end of pre-production and finally get it recorded, but it\u2019s not long until we get itchy feet when we\u2019re in the studio. It\u2019s all stressful though because you\u2019re still working on songs and doing last minute fine tuning on songs and stuff, when you\u2019re in there you\u2019re thinking I can\u2019t wait to wrap this album up and be happy with it and just can\u2019t wait to get back out on the road. We\u2019re the kind of band that\u2019s a live band, we always just want to be touring and playing shows but at the same time you\u2019ve got to tell yourself that you can\u2019t do that until you write a good album and make sure you do it right and release it *laughs*. So it was a good experience on this album, if anything it was a bit more chilled out I reckon with our producer Brian Howes, we get along with him and his engineer Jay, we got on really good, so we had a very good working friendship there that was enjoyable I guess.<\/p>\n

You mention you worked with Brian Howes as your producer on the album, changing it up again from the first two albums, but did he bring to the album that you hadn\u2019t done before or had not thought to have done?<\/strong>
\nYeah, he did, he\u2019s a very singer orientated type producer, he\u2019s very influenced by bands like Def Leppard and Whitesnake, he loves all those 80\u2019s type bands and he loves a lot of bands that we all like and him working with us, he was like a fifth member of the band really, we\u2019re on the same page and he knew what we were. In the likes of guitar tones and stuff, Joel and I just worked with his engineer Jay Van Poederooyen and we managed to get some ripping tones there. Brian was really good on just coming in and letting us have our space and work on stuff, but if we got stuck on certain bits like song structure, he would come in and help us out and we\u2019d discuss stuff together . So in a way he really did bring a lot to the table and he kind of really did crack the whip on us all like singing and performance wise like to hit the right melody and if it wasn\u2019t right he\u2019d make you sing it over and over again until you nail it, and we didn\u2019t have that on the last couple of albums, but this album you can notice it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>At just under 35 minutes, the album is just rock from start to finish, you mention that Brian loves Def Leppard and Whitesnake, so are you working up to the big stadium ballad on album number four?<\/strong>
\n*laughs* I don\u2019t know about like ballads, but we\u2019ve always got stadiums in mind when we\u2019re writing songs though, we always actually mention that, we say \u2018can you imagine playing this in a stadium?\u2019 or \u2018can you imagine playing this at Wacken festival in Germany in front of 80 \u2013 100,000 people?\u2019 and if we can\u2019t imagine that we won\u2019t put it on the album, so we kind of treat every song like that in a way.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to reinvent the wheel with balls out rock and roll, but did you have a plan going into making this new record to try something different that you hadn\u2019t attempted before song wise?<\/strong>
\nWell yeah, I guess we\u2019re becoming more and more our Airbourne sound. I know we\u2019ve always worn our influences quite heavily on our sleeves, but we\u2019ve definitely got out own Airbourne sound, it\u2019s always meat and potatoes rock and roll but we just want to have I guess a young, fresh, modern approach to it if that makes sense. Not like a modern style band or sound like it\u2019s from the 70\u2019s, or the 80\u2019s and try and create it so it\u2019s new and fresh like it\u2019s rock and roll roots.<\/p>\n

With the Australian rock scene at the moment, what are your thoughts on it compared to what you\u2019ve seen around the world?<\/strong>
\nWell most rock fans and crowds are all the same, they just love to come down, have fun, get drunk and have a good time, I guess the markets small in some places and bigger in others. Obviously in Europe they have those big festivals that attract two \u2013 three times the size of what Big Day Out would ever have. Australia\u2019s great, we always have good shows there, we\u2019re so far away, we\u2019re such a massive country land mass wise but the music market\u2019s small in Australia you know? Without Triple J and Triple M, I mean Triple M has been playing the new song quite a bit and to have mainstream radio play here in Australia is a big thing to get you out there more, where Europe and those kind of markets, I don\u2019t know how they work, they seem to have your diehard fans that will follow your every step kind of thing. It\u2019s pretty similar though, yeah.<\/p>\n

Touring is something you guys do pretty much more than anyone, with a slurry of festivals and overseas dates coming up, but more importantly you\u2019re heading back home to play some shows this July as well as the Splendour In The Grass festival. What\u2019s it like coming home to play shows for you guys compared to those overseas?<\/strong>
\nI love it, I love playing Europe and big festivals as well, but there\u2019s just a comfort factor about coming to your home country you know? We can be away on tour, but I still miss Australia every day, and I love getting back there, I love the country and it\u2019s just great to get back there and be comfortable and familiar with your own surroundings. Even when you\u2019re driving, you know what to eat, what\u2019s healthy, when you\u2019re driving around America it\u2019s so hard to eat healthy on the road *laughs* and stuff like that. It\u2019s great, I\u2019m glad we\u2019re coming back so soon on this touring cycle as well, as on the last tour we didn\u2019t get back to Australia for three years, so it\u2019s good that we\u2019re coming back for a quick run at the end of July.<\/p>\n

For someone who has never seen you before, give us three words that sum up an Airbourne show\u2026<\/strong>
\nHigh Energy Rock.<\/p>\n

Are you planning on adding any more dates to the run in July?<\/strong>
\nYeah well on this run we\u2019re going Warrnambool, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Splendour. We may do more touring in Australia next year, it\u2019s just that our booking agent overseas and our record label in America have booked in so much stuff for us overseas we were happy we had that little gap to get back and throw those few shows in. Unfortunately we couldn\u2019t get Adelaide and Perth and do a more extensive tour, but we\u2019ll definitely be coming back at a later time to do a proper tour again.<\/p>\n

Since the formation of the band in 2003 how have you seen the band evolve in these ten years?<\/strong>
\nWell we have changed a hell of a lot as a band and as players and that\u2019s all just been through playing every night, we\u2019ve been together for going on ten years now and I think our singing, our stage presence and performance on stage, even individually as a player, everybody\u2019s kind of evolved and created their own character as to what they do on stage. I guess we\u2019ve just gotten better as players and gotten better as a band from playing every night and all that extensive touring has been the best. We\u2019ve become pretty tight as brothers and friends as well, all that living together on busses and stuff. *laughs*<\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Australia<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>Joel O’Keeffe – vocals\/lead guitar, David Roads \u2013 guitar, Justin Street \u2013 bass, Ryan O’Keeffe – drums<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.airbournerock.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Forthcoming release:<\/strong> Black Dog Barking (May 17 – Roadrunner Records Australia)<\/p>\n

Catch Airbourne on tour in Australia this July:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tickets are also on sale May 17 at 9am EST from www.airbournerock.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday 19 July 2013<\/strong>
\nWhalers Hotel, Warrnambool, VIC<\/p>\n

Saturday 20 July 2013<\/strong>
\nCorner Hotel, Richmond, VIC<\/p>\n

Friday 26 July 2013<\/strong>
\nANU Bar, Canberra, ACT<\/p>\n

Saturday 27 July 2013<\/strong>
\nHiFi Sydney, NSW<\/p>\n

Sunday 28 July 2013<\/strong>
\nSplendour in the Grass, Byron Bay, NSW
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