Siren MUSIC the
4
College Tribune | October 28th 2008
Old School rock is bourne again Airbourne drummer Ryan O’Keefe chills out on the bonnet of his car in Melbourne, takes the odd sip of bourbon ’n’ ginger ale, and answers the odd question from Stephen Tuohy. Run for cover you prog-techno, après-punkfunk, genre-pillaging, headband-wearing fairies. Airbourne are a band which care for one word only, and that word be Rock. So what if you haven’t heard of them and probably believe that the days of straight rock are long dead. Whether you enjoy rocking out shamelessly to permed guitar heroes of a bygone age, or if you just enjoy sneering at how silly it all looks, Airbourne will provide ammunition for all. The story of Airbourne is as timeless as any: Four lads from Warrnambool, Australia, becoming transfixed with no-nonsense rock and then forging a career by playing said no-nonsense rock. The man who hits the drums with the sticks really hard, Ryan O’Keefe, explains that they happened upon records from such greats as Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy and so on, “in Grandma’s”. The tale of how the band allegedly met their bassist while having some amazing whacked out rock orgy in the sand dunes is also suitably played down; “Well, we used to drink in the sand dunes. On this one session, we had a big bonfire and stuff, and I had to head off, and as I was rolling down a sand dune, Justin, the bass player, was on his way up. And that’s how we met”. It’s refreshing to know that although these Aussie lads play 80’s rock, they’re not into perpetuating the macho stereotypes that generally come with it. None the less one has to wonder how an Australian band playing such a dated brand of rock deals with the big and obvious comparison to legendary outfit AC/DC. There really is only one way to deal with it when you think about it, and Ryan does so impeccably; “It’s an honour, I mean every band is compared to somebody, so you might as well be compared to the best”. Regardless of what you make of their AC/ DC pilfering shenanigans, they are undeniably a hard-working band, especially considering
that they already have a studio album under their belt. With their tour dates stacked a mile high and reaching into every crevice of the planet, it would be understandable if O’Keefe would have difficulty in picking out a highlight amongst the numerous venues, but he barely hesitates: “Our best experience was probably playing a music festival in Germany in front of around 75,000 people, which was, surprisingly enough our most relaxed gig, we walked on to the stage like we were walking out of a toilet! We were all very casual, talking about things that had nothing to do with the gig immediately beforehand, and then someone just went, ‘off ya pop’ and we said, ‘oh, no worries’ and just wandered out in front of this massive audience!” Airbourne will be making an appearance in November in the Ambassador, and according to O’Keefe the audience can apparently expect a “very energetic gig with a lot of sweat, a lot of booze, and a lot of good memories”. Aside from spreading their balls-to-the-wall brand of rock via live shows, the band will also be working on their second album upon the completion of their tour. Anybody expecting an electro-folk album will be left wanting, as O’Keefe states; “We’ll pretty much be always the same. We love the sound we play, the rock’n’roll, I guess we’ll always be doing that”. Beyond their second album their plan is as straightforward as their music; “We’ll tour forever”. Undoubtedly, some will look at this honest band with their outdated honest rock and laugh, but just remember; MGMT and their future imitators will look similarly amusing in twenty years time. As long as there is an audience for them, there will always be room for true rock bands like Airbourne.
» Airbourne play the Ambassador on November 10th
Young Diarmuid Laffan caught up with No Age drummer Dean Allen Spunt to talk politics, censorship and the group’s close relationship with their fans, ahead of their recent Whelan’s appearance. When their former band, Wives, imploded in 2005, Dean Spunt and Randy Randall decided to keep going as a two-piece. They called themselves ‘No Age’ after a compilation tape Spunt found at the record store he was working at, and set about developing a truly original sound with punk rock delivery swamped in hazy guitar distortion. This unlikely marriage of punk and shoe-gaze somehow managed to sound immediate and distant at the same time, forcing the listener to search for melodies hidden just beneath a wall of fuzz. After the more conventional Wives, Spunt was happy to try something different; “I like
stuff that isn’t so in your face, that draws you in and you have to look a little bit deeper”. After self-releasing a string of EPs, No Age were signed to prominent alternative label Sub-Pop and started to attract international attention with their critically-acclaimed debut, Nouns, released earlier this year. No Age honed their sound playing at the Smell, an increasingly famous underground club in downtown Los Angeles. The Smell’s mystique is largely down to its collaborative ethic, with the club’s dayto-day running taken up by the local artists and musicians who volunteer there; when the crowds started getting too big for the facilities, No Age helped dig out trenches for a new set of toilets. When asked what drives the