Interview: Airbourne

Airbourne are very much a band who have learned from the best. Their all thrills live show has been tailored through a heavy touring ethos which has seen them play alongside the all time greats. The band will be stopping by Bristol’s O2 Academy for a sell out show amongst the final dates of their Breakin’ Outta Hell tour. With that in mind we had a quick catch up with the band to see how things are going.

It seems like you’ve had a whirlwind year, how’s everything been going?

It’s been going perfect ever since the record came out. We couldn’t be more happier with the way that the whole Breakin’ Outta Hell tour has been going from start to finish. We couldn’t have asked for a better response to a record so we’re really excited to get back in the studio. Especially with the addition of our new guitarist Harri Harrison, it’s even more exciting now because he’s brought a lot to the table already. We’re looking forward to getting back to Australia and to start writing as quick as we can.

The record has had a long life, is it a great album to be touring?

Yeah it’s great, we’re doing about five tracks off of it per set. So for a new record it’s great because if a song isn’t getting the crowd going we’re not going to play it just for the sake of it being new. However this record seems to stand up to everything and the songs are getting people excited even if it’s the first time some people may have heard it. It’s a very Airbourne album so it’s good to be playing so many new songs in the set.

We’re excited to have you back for a sell out Academy show, will it be the usual all thrills?

Yeah we’re currently doing a few tracks on Breakin’ Outta Hell that we haven’t played for this whole tour until this last month. We’re putting those into the set which is actually pretty exciting because a lot of people have been asking for them a long time. The crowd has been really popping while we play them. Also for a blast from the past we’ve brought out Bottom Of The Well which was played way back in the depths of the No Guts No Glory Tour. That’s a big favourite and a bigger part of the set. It’s probably actually the biggest set we’ve ever done, there’s a lot of songs in there. It’s a really good way to cap off that last album.

You must be very proud to be selling out a venue like that?

It’s good to do something like that just before we go into writing again as well. Like with anything, when your confidence is up it brings a good feeling to get straight back in there. We’ve got four records out now so let’s make this fifth one a real cracker. The sound won’t be much different, hopefully the songwriting is better. It will be Airbourne. It will be rocking. It will be focussed mostly on energising a live crowd. Who knows? It will be interesting.

You’ve got Phil Campbell from Mötorhead supporting you, how does that feel?

Yeah it’s really good to see Phil around so we’re really looking forward to it. We’re good friends with The Mötorhead camp. Obviously they let us use The Bomber for the It’s All For Rock N Roll in the video. One of our new guitar techs onstage Rod used to work for Mötorhead as well so that’s nice. It’s always good to see some familiar faces around.

Lastly, it’s almost ten years since your first album, does that freak you out a bit?

Yeah it’s crazy that it’s that long now, it feels like an eternity. Now we’re just looking forward to the next ten I suppose. If that’s what can happen in ten then we’ll see what we can do with the next.

Airbourne play the sold out show at O2 Academy on November 11.