Airbourne ‘No Guts, No Glory’

No Guts, No Glory

There’s something about the kind of potent rock and roll fury that Airbourne cranks out, all cylinders firing, that makes you want to chug a beer straight down your throat and punch the air as though it’d touched your wife inappropriately. It sounds crude, we admit. But that’s the thing about these Aussie pub rock rebels. Their music, like the new album No Guts. No Glory, are perfect soundtracks for drunken debauchery, and “that’s what we’re here for, mate,” says rowdy lead guitarist and vocalist Joel O’Keeffe.

The above paragraph is the opening statement from Australian rockers, Airbourne’s official website, and I couldn’t agree more, good rock music does fire me up, just like it does millions of other fans of the greatest music ever, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.

Airbourne formed in 2003 in Warrnambool, a small town on the Southwestern coast of Victoria, Australia when Joel O’Keeffe (guitar/vocals) and younger bother Ryan O’Keeffe (drums) decided they wanted to play rock music. After Joel met guitarist David Roads where the two worked for the Hotel Warrnambool, and Ryan, on his way home from a night of drinking met bassist Justin Street, the line-up was set.

In 2004 they released an EP titled ‘Ready To Rock.’ The band moved to Melbourne in early 2005 and later that year signed a five record deal with Capital Records. The boys hit the road in a supporting roll for Motley Crue, The Rolling Stones, and Motorhead and played several summer music festivals.

Runnin' Wild

In 2006 Airbourne landed in the U.S. and starting working on their first full length studio record, ‘Runnin’ Wild’ with producer Bob Marlette. On February 19th, 2007 Capital dropped the band, but EMI got the distribution rights and on June 23rd, 2007 ‘Runnin’ Wild’ hit the stores in Australia, and three singles were released, ‘Runnin’ Wild’ (see video here), ‘Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast’ (see video below) and ‘Diamond in the Rough.’ Eventually the band signed with Roadrunner Records to get the album released world wide.

In the January 17th, 2009 issue of Kerrang! magazine, Joel O’Keeffe revealed that the band had begun writing their next record in the Criterion Hotel, the very pub they played their first gigs in their home town of Warnambool. To record the album Airbourne traveled to Chicago, and with producer Johnny K on board they set up camp, literally. According to guitarist/vocalist Joel O’Keeffe instead of sleeping in a plush hotel, taking inspiration from Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band, the guys would live in the studio to record their album, ‘No Guts, No Glory.’

“We found out that they used to do that for the first bunch of records they did,” Joel explains, “So, the drums were set up in a big room with the guitars and rhythm guitarist David Roads slept behind the amps; I slept behind a bunch of amps; Ryan slept behind his drum kit and bassist Justin Street slept behind this pool table, and we were all in the studio. It was really fun, because you’d just get up and go, ‘Fuck,’ and start recording. That’s how your day was. You just sort of woke up, had some food, and started recording. Maybe you’d have a shower; maybe not. Just sort of walk around in your shorts all day, just rocking away.”

‘No Gut’s, No Glory’ is a striped down, no frills, back to basic’s record, with all the tracks recorded live and straight to analog tape.

“Instead of closing all the doors and keeping the sound all confined, we just left everything open, so the sound would bleed a bit more, so it sounds a bit more open than the last one,” Joel explained. “That was one of the main differences. We just let it be open. We didn’t care if the guitar solo bled through the bloody cymbal mikes. It’s cool, because it adds to it.”

With songs like, ‘No Way But The Hard Way’ ‘Blond, Bad and Beautiful’ and ‘Steel Town’ the record is destine to rock in the traditional Airbourne beer drinking, fun time, kick ass way.

Look for the record to be released Monday, March 8th, 2010 overseas (UK, Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia & New Zealand) and Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 in the U.S.