AIRBOURNE Frontman Says JET And WOLFMOTHER Are 'Carbon Copies' And 'Not For Real'

November 27, 2007

Joel O'Keefe, lead singer and guitarist for Australian "pub rockers" AIRBOURNE, recently explained to ChartAttack.com exactly what separates his band from the rest of the Aussie pack.

"JET and WOLFMOTHER are not for real. We are," he said. "That's the difference. They're not for real. They're doing it to be cool, and you can tell. They're starting to lose their fire. They're not Aussie pub rock. You can tell an Aussie pub rock band from a mile away. Like ROSE TATTOO, for example, that's an Aussie pub rock band. AC/DC were an Aussie pub rock band with Bon Scott. WOLFMOTHER and JET are a bad example of rock that comes out of Australia. They're just carbon copies of something they want... they're wannabes. They're like 'American Idol' or something like that. They're not legit."

Roadrunner Records will release AIRBOURNE's "Runnin' Wild" debut in North America on January 29, and O'Keefe is confident that his band will be able to translate the success they've enjoyed in Australia, where the record was released in the summer. That's something that other Aussie rockers like POWDERFINGER and SILVERCHAIR haven't been fully able to do.

"Well, POWDERFINGER and SILVERCHAIR, one important thing, they're both not rock 'n' roll bands," O'Keefe said. "Two, they're not concentrating on those markets enough.

"They got families back home in Australia and they don't get out over there as much as we intend to. We intend to move [to the U.S.] for good. Australia will become a tourist destination for us. We're all going to live in a house together. We've been living in Melbourne together as a band for three years. Our production manager is coming with us, so there's going to be five of us in the house."

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).