By: Robert Cavuoto
Not many bands today truly embody the spirit and drive of a classic hard rocking band. Many try, but only a few succeed.
Airborne is one of those bands succeeding with their distinctive style and sound making every song an instant classic.
There isn’t a song in their catalogue that doesn’t get the heart racing and fist pumping.
Hailing from Warrnambool, a small drinking town on the southwestern coast of Victoria, Australia, Airbourne has steadily gained an immense following with their explosive live shows and main stage festival appearances, including a headliner spot at Wacken 2011, Rock Am Ring/Park [Germany] and Download [U.K.].
I witnessed them play at the Uproar Festival in 2010, their performance solidified it for me, as if I was watching greatness, a band on the verge of rock stardom.
Airbourne will be released their new CD, Black Dog Barking on May 17th. I had the chance to speak with guitarist, Joel O’Keeffe, about the new CD.
So, grab a beer and crank it up mate!
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Robert Cavuoto: Most Airbourne riffs have a signature sound, something that tells you right away its Airbourne. Tell me about how you continuously come up with great riffs?
Joel O’Keeffe: A great riff sometimes just comes to you. We never sit down to just write a riff. We never say let’s try this or that. It just happens, we pull them out of the air and when we get it, we really don’t change it.
Robert: The songs on Black Dog Barking are really in the spirit of your last two CDs of hard rocking, beer drinking, woman chasing. I particular loved the song “Hungry” tell me about it.
Joel O’Keeffe: It’s a more fast paced, in your face riff. It’s about being in a rock band on the road. It’s a fist pumping song.
Robert: The guys in the band must all be of like minds when it comes to song writing. Tell me about the chemistry within the band.
Joel O’Keeffe: When we get in a room and plug in we all know what we have to do. We all meld together. We know what we want to do and all we want to do is rock.
Robert: The last two albums have really solidified Airbourne’s sound and musical style. Can you share your insight into how they compare to Black Dog Barking?
Joel O’Keeffe: The key differences in the CDs are the producer we used and the locations of the studios. Black Dog Barking was a little different in that we had a Canadian producer, Brian Howes, and he pulled some great stuff out of us like a good producer should do. He crafted each song to make it the best it could be. He really focused on “feel” something we never did in the past. He would say, “This doesn’t feel right” and when we got it you could tell the difference instantly.
Robert: When I envision Airbourne in the studio I see you guys, writing, recording, drinking, and fighting. Is that the case?
Joel O’Keeffe: You really have to knuckle down quite a bit when you are recording. At the end of the day you might have a few drinks, but when you are in the studio you’re not in there to get drunk and wasted. Nobody does that.
You really have to think about the people who are going to buy the record and what it’s going to sound like and how it’s going to work when we play it live.
Robert: I saw you in 2010 at the Uproar Festival; you guys have an incredible stage preference and high level of energy. How do you keep that up night after night?
Joel O’Keeffe: We just love playing rock ‘n roll. That’s pretty much where it comes.
Robert: I think the highlight to that Uproar show was when you were carried around through the crowd on someone’s shoulders. Have you ever been pulled down by rapid fans?
Joel O’Keeffe: Not too often. Sometimes they grab on but they want to see you keep playing too. When it does happen you just get right back up and keep going.
Robert: Your weapon of choice live and in the videos seems to be the white Gibson Explorer with the beer cap volume knob. Tell be about the guitar and what happened to the other two knobs?
Joel O’Keeffe: I got it in 2005 from a shop in Santa Monica called True Tone which is no longer there. They had some great vintage amps and guitars.
The beer cap is there so I can turn the knob with my little finger easily while I’m playing and picking. The other two knobs for the bridge pick-up and the tone knob I disconnected since I don’t use them. I never use the rhythm pick-up and the tone is always on 10.
Robert: Looks like you’re doing the Rock Allegience Tour in late summer?
Robert: What new songs can we expect to hear live?
Joel O’Keeffe: I’m sure will do “Live it up”, “Hungry” and “Ready to Rock”. I’m not sure how long we will get but we will rock out with as much as we can.
