Ryan adjusts his own gear. These days they have
a crew, but even in the beginning their attention to
detail was immense.
“Even on a five-band bill and we’re third on,
we’d get on stage, pull out all the lights, change the
gels so we’re the brightest thing there,” Joel recalls
in their dressing room later. “And if we had some
money we’d pay the sound man to fucking turn it
up, or we’d buy him a few extra beers, and then
we’d go on and play, and then once we finished
doing our set, jumped on the bar doing
solos, really getting in everyone’s faces.
And no one knew who we were. We
learned all that as young kids. We
always wanted to be the biggest,
brightest, loudest thing.”
Last year Joel was diagnosed with
ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder), which he says “made sense”
of a lot of things. At times he takes
medication for it. “Not for gigs,” he
explains, “because I’ve got this far
without it. It’s more of an off-the-road
thing, just normal day-to-day things
where I just got lost doing them.”
Regardless, their savviness has
earned them a level of consistencymatched by few of their contemporaries. New
album Boneshaker doesn’t exactly rock the boat in
terms of style (it really doesn’t), but it was a change
of tack production-wise. Written and recorded in
five weeks in Nashville with producer Dave Cobb
(better known for his work with country stars), it’s
a raw, jubilantly frills-free record. Breakneck first
takes were chosen over polished later ones. It’s
lean, mean and exhilarating.
The band have previously described theirsongwriting criteria thus: ‘Does it rock? Yes. Can
people drink and fuck to it? Yes.’ Asked if they still
have the same benchmarks, Ryan grins and says:
“It’s basically what rock’n’roll’s always been about.”
This should all be taken with several handfuls of
salt. Their previous album, Breakin’ Outta Hell, has
a song called Down On You, this one has Sex To Go.
“Ha!” Joel laughs. “It’s not necessarily a one-
sided thing. I mean, a chick could sing that to a guy,
or to another girl, or whoever. If someone’s singing
along it doesn’t really matter whether they’re male
or female and what they’re into. Generally you can
sing most of our songs to whoever you want to
sing them to, whoever you are.”
Airbourne get compared to AC/DC – a lot.
There’s ample reason for this, but in terms of
approach they have more in common
with Iron Maiden. They’ve hit upon
a style, and do it very well. They don’t
really change said style. Where Maiden
have Eddie The ’Ead and Bruce
Dickinson’s shrieks, Airbourne have
three-chord shitkickers and Joel
bashing beer cans on his head. They
want to please their fans, not challenge
them. In the past two years, besides
Russia they’ve added South America
and Mexico to their tour schedule. For
all the tension in these places, it’s the
things people have in common that
have stood out.
“They’re just trying to have a good
time,” Ryan says earnestly. “Generally,40 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Joel (^) pours JD & cokes
during Lemmy tribute It’s
All For Rock And Roll.
It’s only rock’n’roll? No, it’s a lot
more important than that.