Page 36 - Black Velvet Rock Magazine Issue 103

BV103 pg34-37 Airbourne_BV103 pg36 27/12/2019 17:35 Page 3

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up producing the record, that was a very com- it being a big, long, mapped-out plan", he ex- and moodier and darker, dealing with post-trau-
mon train of thought between both parties and plains. "Basically, the way the whole album was matic stress disorder and the things that partic-
that is what we wanted to do with the record and done was as the four of us as a live band and ipants of war are asked to do and see in the
it's what he heard us doing with the record and exactly as we would do in our rehearsal space name of what they are convinced or told or
that is what he felt he could bring to the table in in Melbourne, exactly like you would have done strong-armed into believing is a greater good.
terms of bringing his strengths to what we do." with your mates when you were 15 in a garage That was again something that was very topical
With 'Boneshaker' now having been intro- or something like that. We were just set up with at the time, on the day, and that was definitely a
duced to the world, Harri says, "I think it's a nice our instruments; you know, guitar amps right up song which musically was the one we spent the
position to be in where we can look on the against the drum kit, bleeding into the drums most time going back over trying to find out what
record with a lot of pride for fulfilling the goals with the four of us huddled around - and that is it should be thematically because it didn't feel
which we set as long ago as the end of the pre- the way we recorded the instrumental beds for like a party song. Not that it needed to be, but it
vious album cycle tour, so about two years ago. every song. For several songs on the album we was probably the one which took the longest to
It really was when these conversations started, were able to record them with the first take that settle on what it should be and then execute it.
at least in terms of what we wanted to do and we did and that is what ended up on the record. "Going even further, we are lucky enough
how we wanted to do it differently, and when I From there we would develop lyrics and themes and humble enough to have met a lot of people.
hear the record, and I know it's the same for the or a tone for the song and Joel would record his We've met a lot of war vets and people who
other guys, I hear those things that we wanted vocals. have gone through extremely difficult times and
to achieve and we hear the differences in the "It was about nothing more than trying to it is super-humbling that they have attached
record compared to the previous albums. We embrace the mood of the music and however themselves to certain songs of the band and
hear a lot of qualities in the album that are com- that made you feel when you listened to it. So used the band’s music as a bit of a platform to
mon with our favourite records and what we love naturally, most of what we do is the party stuff, help them through these difficult times, and we
about our favourite records. It's not things like, the fun stuff and we definitely still want a record have, in the past, met a lot of war vets who have
‘that's very perfect’, or ‘that's very precise’, or of ours to basically be a Saturday night sound- hooked on to a certain song which has become
‘that sounds very polished’, whether it's a track, a fun record which you can put on at 9pm almost their daily mantra, so while those songs
Stones record, an AC/DC record or Motorhead and play it before you go out for drinks at the in the past weren't written with that intention, it's
that our guys use for soundchecking. If you take pub with your mates and you can put it back on been nice to create a song which is for them."
a Motorhead record you're never drawn to the at 3am when you come back home, but it was
record for the perfection or a polish to the music, good to do something different." hen discussing 'Weapon Of War',
it's about the energy and the vibe and some- Harri happily continues his thoughts about Wbandmate Ryan said, "When you've
times that vibe is aggression or it's a vibe creat- these songs and tells us more about the some- done seven songs about cars, booze and girls,
ing a different mood, and it feels good to be able what unlikely story of how 'Blood In The Water' it's good to be able to do a song that could really
to hear that in what we did." came to fruition. "The song had that kind of jolty mean something to somebody," so we ask Harri
music at the start of the song with big gaps for a if he thinks we will come to expect more of this
ne of the more obvious differences to vocal; we just so happened to be working on from the band in their future.
Othe songs on offer on 'Boneshaker' that song at the time that Joel and Ryan had Taking a second to consider his answer, he
when compared to Airbourne's previous work is gone back to where we were staying in Nashville tells Black Velvet, "A song like that may really
that a couple of them have a much darker edge and watched the film 'Jaws' that night. So it was not have come about had we not embraced the
or, to use Harri's words, vibe, to them, none as simple as them coming in the following day notion of no rule book, we were just chasing the
more so than 'Blood In The Water' and 'Weapon and saying ‘We should write a song from Jaws' songs to wherever they were going to go. I'm not
Of War'. The guitarist tells Black Velvet about the perspective’ and that song felt like the right one sure a song like that would end up on a record
motivations behind bringing this kind of material to do that with, and within a few hours it was that from day one was created in the pursuit of
into the Airbourne catalogue. 'Blood In The Water' as you hear it on the a hit record or just trying to get singles and stuff
"It was a conscious decision, but it was in record. like that, it would only be created from an atti-
terms of consciously deciding that and poten- "'Weapon Of War' was very similar. That is tude of ‘fuck the rule book, no rules, let's just
tially executing it in a couple of hours rather than the one that I think is most noticeably different chase these songs as far as they can go’, so I

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