Rolling Stone Australia — July 2017

July, 2017 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 15

S

ince harley-davidson opened

shop in 1903, the brand has grown

fromasimplemanufacturerofadis-

tinctive motorbike into something

iconic (some would say spiritual). The bikes

will be forever linked to Seventies counter-

culture through films likeEasy Riderand

its Steppenwolf track “Born to Be Wild”,

butasVicePresidentoftheHa

ley-Davidson Museum, Bill Da-

vidson,explains,thecoolreal-

lystartedwiththeKing,Elvis

Presley.“WehaveElvis’s

SportsterondisplayinourMil-

waukee museum. At the time,

he was not that well known. He

hadtotakealoanouttobuyth

Sportster. Shortly after he took the

loanouthereleased‘HeartbreakHotel’and

he just skyrocketed. After that he could have

bought a thousand Sportsters and paid cash

for them.”

Davidson, who is the great grandson of

Harley-Davidson co-founder William A.

Davidson,madethetripDownUnderlast

monthtotakepartina2,500kmcharityride

tocelebrate100yearsofHarleyinAustralia.

Throughout the years, Davidson has seen the

brand weave in and out of popular culture,

but he thinks it’s the feeling of freedom and

rebellion that keeps anchoring rock & roll to

Harley-Davidson. “Our brand has always had

a little bit of rebel in it. People over the years

have seen Harley as a way to pursue their

dreams and feel that personal freedom: ‘I

t to take my suit off and put on a

lack leather jacket and just go for

a ride and enjoy nature and all the

elements surrounding me.’”

Iconic images of Marlon Bran-

do sitting astride his Hog in The

Wild One can’t have hurt the

rand’s rebel association either,

ving the way for Harley’s centre-

stage role in shows like Sons of Anar-

chy. Davidson says that Harley-Davidson

owners are no longer just grey-haired bikies,

though. “People like Larry Mullen from U2,

Jay Leno, Neil Diamond [are all fans]. When

you’re a celebrity, everyone wants a piece of

you. I think these guys feel freedom when

they’re on a bike. They can be themselves and

really enjoy the open road and have some

free time.” MATT COYTE

100 Years of Rebellion

Down Under

Harley-DavidsonMuseumVPBill Davidson looks

back on the bike’s mythical place in pop culture

BORN WILD

Dennis Hopper,

Peter Fonda and

Jack Nicholson in

Easy Rider

Known for their warm,

gentle take on indie folk, Husky

(Husky Gawenda and cousin

Gideon Preiss) have packed

away the acoustic guitars

and pulled out the keyboards

for synth-heavy, Seventies-

inspired space-pop album

Punchbuzz. “I think in the

past we considered ourselves

a folk band, and perhaps we

restricted ourselves a little bit

to fi t that description,” says

Gawenda. “With this record

we didn’t worry too much

about that and found a kind of

freedom. We allowed ourselves

to explore things without wor-

rying [about] the results.”

Conceived during a year

spent in Berlin (“A crazy,

dark, long, twisted, hedonistic

dream”) and largely written

and recorded in Melbourne

throughout 2016, Gawenda

is unconcerned that the

change in direction will scare

off long-time fans. “Funda-

mentally we’ve remained the

same band, and people who

know us will fi nd a lot about

this album familiar,” he says.

“Our fundamental objective is

always going to be the same –

and that’s to write great songs

and deliver them as eff ectively

and magically as possible...

to move people, and to move

ourselves.” JAMES JENNINGS

Husky’s

Space-Pop

Melbourne duo leave

folk behind on LP three

Gawenda

and Preiss

Davidson

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