{"id":30031,"date":"2016-07-12T23:00:35","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T13:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=30031"},"modified":"2016-07-13T06:47:26","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T20:47:26","slug":"david-roadsy-roads-airbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2016\/07\/david-roadsy-roads-airbourne\/","title":{"rendered":"David \u2018Roadsy\u2019 Roads of Airbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Airbourne\"<\/a>
\n\u201cAt the end of the day we\u2019re not reinventing the wheel, people know what they\u2019re gonna get with Airbourne because it\u2019s rock and roll and we don\u2019t go too far out of the boundaries of that, we\u2019re not gonna go bring a keyboard in or something like that, we know the boundaries\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

From Summernats release: Fun-loving, rip-roaring, hard-partying rock\u2019n\u2019roll band,\u00a0Airbourne\u00a0is the perfect fit for Summernats on Saturday night. The Nats have been trying to get Airbourne on the festival for seven years, and the organisers are thrilled that calendars have finally aligned. Airbourne are currently in the studio working on a new album due for release later this year. Their show at the Summernats is an all too rare opportunity for fans of this crazy bunch of blokes to see them in Australia.<\/p>\n

In Melbourne and rehearsing for some upcoming shows overseas, we caught up once again with Roadsy to fill us in on all things Airbourne, their new album, their upcoming appearance at Summernats, Aussie rock, touring and much more\u2026<\/p>\n

So, it’s been about three years since we chatted, so let\u2019s catch up. How have the last three years been for you?<\/strong>
\nYeah not bad, we finished the \u2018Black Dog Barking\u2019 touring cycle last June, since then we\u2019ve just been based back home in Melbourne working on album number four which we\u2019ve now currently finished which was recorded in Melbourne this time round and now we\u2019re just rehearsing the old stuff at the moment before the album comes out, and getting ready to go back over to Europe next week actually we fly out\u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also been about three years since you guys last played a show here, why was now the right time to come back?<\/strong>
\nJust cause we\u2019re so busy overseas with the work load of touring over there but we\u2019re trying to come back and get Australia in as well and then The Summernats obviously they\u2019ve been trying to book us for the show in January since 2010 they\u2019ve been trying to make the show work with our management since then and then finally they\u2019ve got us for the thirtieth anniversary.<\/p>\n

So how did you get involved in Summernats? Was it a case of they just wanted you and it finally happened?<\/strong>
\nYeah they\u2019ve had a lot of Aussie acts over the years play their event and yeah, like I said before they\u2019ve just been trying to get us for so long and finally we had that opening there in January because we\u2019re going out for five months and we\u2019re back in December, so we sort of had January free so it worked out fine. I think we\u2019re playing on Saturday the 7th<\/sup> of January.<\/p>\n

Could that open a window and can we expect some more shows after you get warmed up again?<\/strong>
\nYeah most likely, nothing\u2019s confirmed at the moment but definitely, we can\u2019t just play the Summernats and nowhere else, that\u2019ll piss a few people off *laughs* so we\u2019ll definitely do some other shows off the back of it.<\/p>\n

You’ve never played it before, what do you know about the festival?<\/strong>
\nJust that it\u2019s all about the street machines, street cars and drag races and bands and music and just a good time I guess, and that\u2019s very big for Australia.<\/p>\n

Pretty much what Airbourne is all about really?<\/strong>
\nYeah that\u2019s right, I think it suits us right down to the T to play that festival, definitely our market to play that sort of demographic, I think it\u2019s going to go down really well.<\/p>\n

For a band like you guys where the show is so full on and energetic you never seem to slow down, when do you get a chance to sort of stop and take it all in? Do you ever get a chance to do that?<\/strong>
\nOh, in between albums I guess *laughs* while we\u2019ve been home\u2026 we\u2019ve never really taken a long break, since we sort of signed with Capitol way back in 2006 and did \u2018Running Wild\u2019 it\u2019s just been constant, and you can\u2019t really slow up too much though, we\u2019re not at a level where we can go off the road for consecutive years and then come back for a tour. It\u2019s been growing more and more overseas and we\u2019ve just had to keep servicing it, get another album out and tour it, get another album out and tour. If we disappeared for a few years we\u2019d probably lose that momentum, especially on the last couple of albums because it was growing so much in that time that we just had to keep going and that\u2019s why we\u2019re getting this album out and doing it all again. So just in between album cycles, when we\u2019re at home writing albums is when we get a bit of time.<\/p>\n

Now Australia loves you guys of course, but the overseas market seems to love you guys about a billion times more, what do you think it is that they relate to and are attracted to with Airbourne?<\/strong>
\nI mean there\u2019s still a huge rock following here in Australia, but it\u2019s just a bigger scale over there, millions more people, it\u2019s a lot more concentrated, the cities are a lot closer together and you\u2019re in a different country almost every day, and then obviously the festivals as well, they have such huge metal and rock festivals that draw in up to 100,000 people and by the time you tour those sorts of festivals it takes up so much of the year. You could really be on the road flat out for four months just on festival season over there, where here in Australia if you were just to tour the cities you\u2019d be done in a couple of weeks unless you\u2019re Jimmy Barnes or John Farnham where you can do a real detailed tour of Australia and go to all these outback towns and rural areas, but we sort of don\u2019t have that sort of pull to do that in Australia, we\u2019d probably just do a city tour here and that would be it.<\/span><\/p>\n

So you’re in the studio working on a new album, what can you tell us about it so far?<\/strong>
\nWell we have the single about to drop, \u2018Breaking Outta Hell\u2019 and people are probably seeing the artwork come out for that, and that is the single artwork, people seem to think it\u2019s the album artwork but it\u2019s the single artwork, we\u2019re still working on the album artwork. So we just finished it it\u2019s all been mixed and is about to go into mastering and that\u2019s probably going to release later on this year maybe in the spring time in Australia. We\u2019ve got the single to come out to build that up, but the album is sounding really great, we worked with Bob Marlette who we worked with on the first album, we had Mike Fraser come out and sound engineer and mix the album, two big guns in the music industry. Mike Fraser is renowned for working with AC\/DC on the last five albums, so that goes back to the \u2018Razor\u2019s Edge\u2019 in the early 90\u2019s, and Bob\u2019s worked with a lot of big artists like Alice Cooper and Rob Halford just to name a couple, it\u2019s a long list. Having those guys come out to Australia it was a really good process and it\u2019s just sounding amazing.<\/span><\/p>\n

So as we\u2019ve said it\u2019s called \u2018Breakin\u2019 Outta Hell\u2019 why was this the perfect name for the album?<\/strong>
\nWe had a few ideas up in the air and that\u2019s kind of the way it goes, but Airbourne we\u2019ve always got a big archive of riff ideas and song ideas and song titles and lyrics etc and it\u2019s just a matter of getting the right title to a song that feels right and it\u2019s a title we\u2019ve had floating around for a while and finally just felt right to go on this album and we thought it was just a cool title so it found its place.<\/span><\/p>\n

As time moves on, how do you feel you’ve grown as a band to be where you are today?<\/strong>
\nWell you know, we\u2019ve still got our Aussie pub rock roots, that\u2019s what we are, we\u2019re a pub rock band, It\u2019s definitely that type of music that can grow from the pub to a big stage and that\u2019s definitely what we\u2019ve done over the years. I think we\u2019ve had a healthy growth over the years as a band, all the amount of touring we\u2019ve done overseas, living out of vans and doing all these hard, endless tours has made us tighter as a band like musicianship wise and our performance and we\u2019ve had a steady growth going in to bigger stages, it definitely hasn\u2019t been an overnight success and we\u2019ve gone from the small stage to the big stage, it\u2019s been the right sort of growth and we\u2019ve just learnt as much as we can on the way, and working with different producers on every album and with song writing and just song structures as well. At the end of the day we\u2019re not reinventing the wheel, people know what they\u2019re gonna get with Airbourne because it\u2019s rock and roll and we don\u2019t go too far out of the boundaries of that, we\u2019re not gonna go bring a keyboard in or something like that, we know the boundaries we can stick within in song writing and all that and we just try to do it better and better as we grow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you do me a favour, can you get Joel to wheel a keyboard out on stage one day and pretend to start playing and then just fuck it off and see if everyone freaks out?
\n<\/span><\/strong>*laughs* Come out with a Keyboard guitar and then say \u2018just kidding\u2019 and snap it over his knee or something. *laughs*<\/span><\/p>\n

What are your thoughts on where Aussie rock is these days?<\/strong>
\nI think it\u2019s always there, there\u2019s still a big following, even in Melbourne alone, just the rock scene here, you go hang out at Cherry Bar and there\u2019s just a lot of bands that are fans of rock music in general. It\u2019s probably not as big or as common as it was obviously back in the 70\u2019s and all that, and it\u2019s hard when venues are closing down, it\u2019s like an endless battle there especially iconic places like The Espy and The Palace in the city and they nearly got rid of The Tote there a few years back and they\u2019re just such iconic venues and it\u2019s hard to see them get knocked down. I think hopefully all that\u2019s starting to stop now with the government stepping in and hopefully putting an end to that, like when people move next door to a venue and the sound complaints gets places closed down, I think something is being eradicated about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah it\u2019s a bit like that here in Sydney too, at least we have Frankie\u2019s Pizza\u2026<\/strong>
\nOh yeah, that\u2019s right, went there for the first time last year. That was a great little place actually!<\/p>\n

Lastly, with the year now heading down, finish this sentence for me. By the end of 2016, Airbourne want to…<\/strong>
\nWell, come home to Australia, play the Summernats, play a few more Aussie shows and we\u2019re gonna gear up for another proper world tour next year in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Catch Airbourne at SUMMERNATS 30\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

January 5\u00a0– 8, 2017
\nExhibition\u00a0Park, Canberra<\/p>\n

Tickets\u00a0at\u00a0www.summernats.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n


\nEssential Information<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Melbourne, 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 album:<\/strong> Breakin\u2019 Outta Hell (album coming soon \/ single out now)<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n