Airbourne have revealed the invaluable career advice offered to them by Motörhead legend Lemmy at the start of their career.
The Australian rock ‘n’roll quartet were thrilled when Lemmy agreed to appear in the video they shot for 2007 single Runnin’ Wild – “His only request was: ‘I need two big bottles of Jack Daniel’s, two big bottles of Coca-Cola, some onion rings and a limousine’,” frontman Joel O’Keeffe recalls – and even more delighted when the great man offered to share some of his hard-earned wisdom with them, as they reveal in a new interview in the new issue of Classic Rock magazine.
“So, we’re sitting around waiting while they’re messing about with the cameras, and this limo pulls up and the window comes down,” says O’Keeffe, setting the scene. “We couldn’t see anything, just the glow of a cigarette. Then the flash of a lighter lit up his eyes and face, and he goes: ‘Okay boys, jump up.’ So we went over there like four little squirrels and peer in through this half-open limousine window. We go: ‘There’s a problem with the camera, they fucked something up. He goes: ‘‘Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of drinks and music’.”
The quartet – then featuring Joel O’Keeffe, David Roads (since replaced on rhythm guitar by Brett Tyrrell), bassist Justin Street and drummer Ryan O’Keeffe – climbed into the limo and received some sage advice from their hero.
“It was like the master and his apprentices,” Joel O’Keeffe recalls.
“It was this really useful list of things to do, ‘Have you got a manager? Have you got a lawyer – a real one, not a fake one. Your label – that’s gonna change. Don’t get girlfriends – that you give a fuck about, anyway. You’re gonna be attacked from every side –people are gonna try and change your sound, your look, every single detail’.”
“And they did,” Ryan O’Keeffe chips in. “They tried to change the shit out of us.”
“We were too this, too that: too hard, too blunt, too rock’n’roll,” says Joel. “They wanted to get me all dressed up, take different photos.”
“It was the greatest chat we’ve ever had,” he adds. “Having Lemmy look at you eyeball-to-eyeball and tell you how it is, this little nothing band from Australia, it was a real gift.”
Airbourne’s self-titled sixth album is out on August 28 via Spinefarm.
In addition to an in-depth feature with Airbourne, the new issue of Classic Rock magazine includes articles on Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Blackie Lawless, Faster Pussycat, Pat Travers, Accept, Evanescence and more.
Buy it online here.
And keep your eyes peeled for a very special Airbourne bundle edition coming to the CR store soon.
(Image credit: Future)
(LouderSound)
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