Airbourne: Shaken, But Never Stirred

If it feels like Aussie rockers AIRBOURNE have been around forever, it’s because their career now stretches over fifteen years in length and, in that time, they have ensured the words “As long as you’re alive and we’re alive, rock and roll will never die” from their song Raise The Flag are continually confirmed. However, if anyone thinks that they’re going to hit cruise control on grounds of having made it, they’re sorely mistaken.

“I don’t think we’ll ever think we’ve made it, purely because of the mentality that the band has, which is that we’re still younglings trying to tour the world and get the band out of Australia,” explains drummer Ryan O’Keefe. “We’re always trying to take the band further and further, as you do, and I know we really want to go to both India and China right now, but once that’s done we’re going to be looking for the next challenge.”

Considering that they’ve taken the band out of their home country so regularly over that time, the idea that they’re still trying to break away from their local scene is an odd one, but it’s certainly proved effective and, as is well-known, AIRBOURNE are staunch followers of the ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ attitude. Now five albums in with new release Boneshaker about to be unleashed, there’s been no attempt to mix things up in terms of their style and, when asked if they’ve ever talked about it, Ryan laughs at the concept.

“I actually think that if a band even begins to have that sort of conversation, they should quit and start working 9-5! You gotta do what comes from the heart, you don’t choose to perform in a certain style because your band’s certainly not going to make money that way and, further to that, if you genuinely want to play rock and roll or whatever come from the heart, you’re going to be playing for your own personal gratification and for the people who want to follow you for doing it.”

It’s clear from Boneshaker that everything AIRBOURNE are doing still comes from within with every ounce they can muster; half an hour of no-frills hard rock that holds few surprises when compared to the rest of their back catalogue. Well, maybe one – Weapon of War, the penultimate track, is much darker in lyrical content that what people would be used to hearing from the band, but Ryan is quick to point out that it isn’t AIRBOURNE’s first rodeo when it comes to tapping into something with more depth than the usual suspects of women, alcohol and having a good time.

“There’s a song from [2010 release] No Guts, No Glory called Bottom of the Well which I know has been played at funerals, unfortunately, but AIRBOURNE can and does deliver a bit of a heavy side at time and Weapon of War was one of those moments. However, just like all the lyrics on the record, it was written right there and then, even though we’d had the song title kicking around for a while and one of the guys we were working with lived upstairs from the studio, so we got him to record the spoken word introduction to the song. It just came together from there; I think that’s how great songs do, when you don’t think too much about it.”

Boneshaker also represents the first album the band have made with new guitarist Matt ‘Harri’ Harrisson, who replaced longtime member David Roads. He seems to have settled in well and Ryan is complimentary about his work ethic in the studio. “He’s very spontaneous on a guitar, he’s very able to pick up and formulate things really quickly with what’s happening, especially with the way producer Dave Cobb was working: a lot of the songs, as far as we were concerned, hadn’t been tracked but he’d got together a tape of things when we were still learning them and Harri was able to pick it up from there, which was really good.”

Is there an art to writing a really good rock song? “You certainly need to have passion and – more importantly – fun. Don’t do it for the wrong reasons, do it because rock and roll stems from having a good time. If you wanna make something for people to have a good time, then rock and roll is certainly the way forward.”

With that, pleasantries are exchanged and Ryan is left to the rest of his day, no doubt culminating in a blistering show on AIRBOURNE’s current tour. In a world that seems to move faster every day, a band sticking to their guns no matter what happens around them is a rarity, but we’re all the better for knowing AIRBOURNE are just that.

Producer Dave Cobb is usually associated with producing country records. How did that come about given that producing a band like yourselves would be a little different for him?

Ryan: I wouldn’t necessarily say it was that different – it’s country, certainly, but that sort of music is generally two guitars, drums, a bassist and a singer, it’s in 4/4 time, it’s got catchy choruses and it’s usually about cars and women, which isn’t actually that far from what we do excepts ours has got more of a twang. The thing is, we rang him up and he’s a huge rock and roll fan; there just wasn’t enough of that for him to produce in the States, so when we contacted him he was more than happy to get on board.

Let’s get a big question out the way; were you happy the Ashes stayed with Australia this year?

Ryan: We were actually at Old Trafford for the Test that meant we retained! Yeah, I stayed at a hotel near the football ground, walked over every day for five days, saw (Australian batsman) Steve Smith make 200 and yeah, it was good to retain the Ashes and to see both Smith and (England player) Jack Leach get together for a photo and stick it to the tabloids who were trying to make a story out of nothing and show that, for all the rivalry, there was still a camaraderie between the two cricket teams.

You’ve been over to the UK a LOT since your formation. Why do you love it so much?

Ryan: Because it feels like home, really. I remember the first time we got off the plane for a UK run; we’d done a full tour of the US, dealing with US food and their way of things, we’d never been to the UK before, and we got out the airport, went straight into a petrol station garage and bought sausage rolls, and it reminded us of home; of course, now you’ve got Greggs and that’s a beautiful thing. But yeah, the UK is just like home; as mentioned before we were in Manchester for The Ashes and there’s only one other country in the world you can do that sort of thing, which is Australia. It’s amazing how we live on completely different sides of the Earth, but we have so much in common.

You’re back here at the end of the year, touring in support of Boneshaker, and you have TYLER BRYANT AN THE SHAKEDOWN opening for you. Were you aware of the band before they were picked for this run?

Ryan: Yeah, we were aware of them. They’ve been doing a lot of good stuff in recent years and got on some big supporting bills and they’re very rock and roll as well, so it made sense to give them a call and get them involved.

Who would you still love to tour with?

Ryan: Well AC/DC would be nice…I can’t really think of anyone else, I’m sorry!

Finally, if you had an unlimited budget, what one stage item or effect would you incorporate into your stage show?

Ryan: Well, if I had an unlimited budget, the one item would be the original stage from the 1991-92 Monsters of Rock, and I’d use the unlimited budget to move it back to where it was at Donington Park and hold Monsters of Rock again!

Boneshaker is out now via Spinefarm Records. AIRBOURNE are featured in our latest digital issue. Subscribe to our Patreon to check it out!

Like AIRBOURNE on Facebook.