You guys just began touring with the Uproar Fest, so far what was been the best experience for you guys?

Joel: This tour is like a-- kind of like a big holiday, the gigs are fun, you know, the shows are really fun. When you're not the headline act, you don't have a certain responsibility that goes with that. And you do like 6 hours of media a day, then you do a big sound check, and then you the show, you know what I mean, all of this production, all of this stuff, you got so much pressure, everything's on top of everything, on a tour like this, just rockin' out in the back of the truck in a car park, we still treat every show like it would be our last, 'cause you never know when the bus is going to go off the road or that sort of thing. But, we still take the gig as the utmost serious thing, but it's 25 minutes. So, 25 minutes in 24 hours, outside of that, we do a few interviews here and there. Sort of, for us, this is kind of like-- we've been touring really, really hard in Europe and the UK, we did some Canadian shows touring and stuff like that. So for us, it's kind of like a tour, just a big roller coaster of fun.

How has the crowd reaction been?

Joel: Great! They've been really good. Everyone's showing up to drink and have a good time; I think that's what any festival in the world always seems to attract every day.

You guys released your second studio album this year, No Guts, No Glory, how would you describe the success you've received from it?

Ryan: Really good. Yeah, it's just been overwhelming. It's kind of funny how people sort of catch onto the songs really quick. So...

Joel: Yeah. I mean, like with radio plays and stuff like that, video games, things like that; touring more and being in the public more, this time around, it's definitely helped a lot. And we've already been writing material for the next album. This one still has a lot of legs on it, so it's just an ongoing thing.

Can you give any details for the new material? How does it compare to what you've done with your new album and the previous ones?

Joel: Some of our favorite bands, like Motorhead and AC/DC and Black Sabbath, generally do similar things every time around except they always catch you out in certain ways. So, I mean, on this time around-- we've always been a party band, I guess, if we got to call us something like that, that's what we would be. We're always about having a good time about rock n' roll, we're about sex obviously, we're basically about reminding people that now matter how-- if you've had a shitty week or a shitty month or just where it is you are, come to an Airbourne show, there's no politics, there's no religion, there's no-nothing, but a good time. It's just, forget everything else and just live, breathe good times. I think, so this time around, this tour's been like a roller coaster of a good time, it really has. So, but the ideas for songs are all about having a good time. So, you know, we're just writing about chasing women, drinkin', having a good time, rock n' roll, just all those things come under the Airbourne name.

Since you guys seem to have a lot of fun with recording or with your live shows, do you think that is what gives you a stronger connection to your fans?

Joel: I think it does. I think it does, in this day-in-age in this world, there's a lot of different bands, you know? There's so many different styles of music, so many-- they always have a message, you know there's a message-- everyone always asks us, "So Airbourne, what's your message? I mean, this band is just about politics, and the others, there's a crisis here, you know the polar icecaps are going to melt, so everyone should be aware of that, so what's your message?" Our message is to drink! Have a good time, forget about that, someone else can do that for you, Airbourne's job in the world is to make sure you have a good time.

Good philosophy! You guys do shows in different countries, since each one has a different crowd, do you guys have to alter the way you perform or talk to them?

Joel: Not really, not really. I mean, sometimes-- like, I mean some countries are different, like, I mean, in terms of, like there might be a language barrier, where we'll learn a few words to get through that, but generally, it doesn't matter where you are in the world, rock n' roll is a universal language and everybody understands it. If you grab a beer and (inaudible) on stage and throw it out to the crowd, it doesn't matter where you are, it could be in anywhere and they'll know, they get it, you know what I mean? And the songs that we do, the songs that we write, the songs that we play, they have big enough choruses, that if you don't speak English, you can learn our stuff. We�ve been in countries before that aren't generally English speaking countries and they sang the words back. You know, I've had to look at them because I might've forgotten the words, so I got to look down, like we're in France, the guy's getting it right, so I got to remember my lines off of him!

I've seen the videos of you climbing up above the stages before, I have to say you are insane and fearless, what drives you to do that?

Joel: Well, insanity is someone who gets locked up in a straight jacket and maybe I should, I don't know. But I think, it's more... It's more-- when we play a show, from day one, we've always done everything we can to give the best show we possibly can. From day one, we never had any money to put money into production. Any money that we make, we put back into the show; it's always been a philosophy that we've had, just anything we get, put it into the show, make the show bigger and better.

So, if you're doing a festival and you can't-- you might be limited and not be able to do all of those things, you do what you can to make sure the show is bigger and the best you can. The entertainment that people like-- if you want to listen to music, just put the CD on. If you want to come see a show, we'll give you a show, that's what we do, you know what I mean?

And we put-- to be honest, I love getting up there, I love seeing the entire crowd because from the stage's perspective, you can see just about everybody, but you can't fully grasp it unless you've actually climbed to the roof of the stage, and you can see all the way back to the merch tents, to the bars, you know? All the way back, you can see every single fuckin' person that's out there. And when you get up there, you do the solo, and put the guitar above your head and they put their fists' up, it's like the biggest adrenaline rush I think I've ever felt. It's sort of an addiction, it's a lot of fun.

Do you just do it randomly feel like it?

Joel: Yeah, we never plan it, it's like when you're playing a show, you get all "adrenalized", you never know what you want to do, so you kind of just do whatever, what comes naturally.

So do certain crowds energize you to do it?

Joel: Umm.. Yeah, it's funny, it's umm.. The energy between the crowd and a band, when it starts, like-- have you ever seen those things, like at a science museum, like that ball that you put your hand around and the electricity goes like that (motions how it works), when your hands are around it. When that happens, there's like a connection between the crowd and the band, like when that happens, that takes it up another level, and it's just back and fourth constantly. That really does pick you up.

When you're performing, have you ever felt like your instruments have taken over you, give you a jolt of electricity, and they seem to just play themselves?

Ryan: Umm.. I guess, well.. The best way to describe that, it kind of just happens after playing for a while, anyway, we call it match-fit, where, say you come back on the road after doing our albums, you have to play for quite a while, you sort of need to think about what you're doing, but then after two weeks, I guess, into our touring cycle, it just becomes match-fit, so you don't even think about it. Actually, if you do think about it when you're up there, you usually make a mistake.

Joel: Yeah, it's best just to ride it like some kind of wave.

The reason I ask was because I was reading an interview with Ace Freehley that Dimebag Darrell conducted several years ago and Ace said that he sometimes felt a jolt of electricity and said the strings turned to butter on the guitar and played itself.

Joel: Wow! A lot going on with Ace there, isn't there?! (laughs)

Do you think that with rock or metal music in general that you have to go through a "life altering" experience to allow your artistic ability to shine through your music?

Joel: I think with everybody who's in this industry has had some kind of jolt, I mean, even Mark, our tour manager, has had that same thing, that's why you're here, right Mark?

Mark: Yes, yes!

Joel: He's a tour manager, he tours the world, he's toured with tons of bands, he's worked in this industry for a long time, but he wouldn't be here if it wasn't for some kind of, like, it is, like you were talking about, life-altering, like something just happens! (snaps finger) And all of a sudden, that's the path you go down, and I think that it's very true. You don't just walk into this industry and go, "Oh, I want to be cool and I just want to go and do that." That kind of thing.

I think it's true with just about every industry and I think Bill Gates got to where he was because he thought, "Oh, I think it's going to be cool to invent computers." I think he was right into do that sort of shit and was just obsessed with it, and just turned out to be one of the most successful people in the world. But with us, the addiction comes from the fact when we plugged in our instruments, the changing point was going to school every day, and I remember being in grade 4 or 5 at primary school. And basically it was like, we discovered a band called Atlantic Rhythm Section and there was a song called Boogie, no one really knows this song, but it's a hell of a song, one of the first lines is, "I was horny, horny as hell."

Now when you're a kid and you hear that, and-- but the thing is, the song starts out as a slow blues number, and then it just kicks into a double time, like a real rocker! You know what I mean? And then, you start discovering these bands, it's sort of like, "What is this sound?! Guitars! Drums! What are these things?!" You know? And then you start forgetting about school and all of a sudden you start rebelling against everything that is to do with like, rules and law, and school and mathematics, for fucks sake.

I was in there in English class and stuff like that, I was always good at the creative side, really shit at just the rough learning, like, it's just like I write it down, duh-duh-duh-duh-duh, and they'll say, "Joel, you always write really good, dramatic stories, but you just don't seem to pay attention in class." Yeah, because class is fucking boring! All I'm thinking about is rock n' roll and I think when that moment happens, you just go down that path, and nothing gets in your way. And I think that's why everybody in this industry is here at some point. If you ask, "Why did you get here?" They will remember one certain point.

I remember there was a festival in Australia called the Port Fairy Folk Festival and there was a guy there-- I must've been about, I don't know, four-years-old/five-years-old/six-years-old, and I had never seen a band in my life, ever. And this band, they played, the guy was swinging the guitar, he had a headband on, he's just swinging the guitar around, he took his shirt off, he was like right into it, you know? And he's like-- I don't really remember the band and I never-ever will, and anyway, we went to the pub because they have Irish sessions, where everyone's at the pub, everyone's drinking Guinness [Beer], and it's just so much fun, and you could smoke in a pub, little kids ran around and smoked in the pub, it was like how it used to be! And so, this potato, somebody brought in a couple of sacks of potatoes, so the pub just errupts into a potato fight! People are throwing potatoes!

My hero, this dude I had seen that day, 'cause I was like, "Oh, can I meet you? Can I get your autograph?!" He's like, "I don't sign autographs! Who are you? I'll sign one for you." You know? Then he picks me up, puts me on his shoulders, there's potatoes flying around everywhere. And pretty much at that point, from that day, I was sitting on top of someone's shoulders like that, having potatoes fly past my head, I just wanted to play the guitar. I just wanted to get out and play in a band and then that was it!

What would your answer be to that, Ryan?

Ryan: Umm. Well, quite simply, Joel had no one else to play with, so my drum kit was bought, and here I am. (laughs)

(laughs) That sounds very passionate!

Ryan: (laughs) Well, I already hated school!

Joel: Yeah, we didn't like school.

Yeah, I didn't either.

Joel: It's a waste of time, it really is! Common sense is the only thing you should ever learn.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joel: You can learn common sense, that's all you need to know. You don't need to know nothing else. Math, you just grab a fucking calculator, you do it on your phone now, whatever.

Ryan: Yeah, common sense is it.

Joel: Yeah, what? Really? Who handwrites anymore? You use a laptop. You've got to move with the times. You've got to think ahead. You can't think, you can't like-- I remember getting told to write lines, I felt like just going and getting a computer, just typing the line at once, alt-C, duh-duh-duh-duh-duh, a hundred-thousand times, and then giving it back. What do you want? Fuck it, I just made a quantum leap in your bullshit. (laughs)

Ryan: (laughs)

(laughs) Would you say that your music helps you two bond more since you're brothers or have a deeper connection?

Joel: Umm. I think being brothers in general is one thing, we've always fought since we were kids, but we've always also have been against everybody else for a majority of reasons, whether it be the police, whether it be just anything. When we first started playing, you know, he [Ryan], got his drum kit and I had no one to play with.

Ryan: (laughs)

Joel: We'd crank it up loud and the neighbors would call the police straight away, so from then on, it'd always become a fight. When you're doing shows and when you're trying to get (inaudible), when you're going out on the road, and there's shit always against you, there's so much flack that you're going to get caught in, there's all this red tape, so many fucking stone walls to fucking break down; that's what keeps you going.

But I mean, our great-great-great grandfathers, there's a long story I could tell you, but they were two of the toughest brothers in the fucking world, they took on a bunch of murderers and rapists that tried to take their home back in the potato famines back in Australia, and they killed them all, because they were going to kill their family, and they stood up with just pitch forks and nothing but that, and just killed them all, and they didn't get hung. It was when they opened up the jails, we were running out of troops, they didn't want to send proper troops in, so they just sent some of the world's most evil people to go and do that. So, those two brothers stood up for that kind of thing. So, part of it comes from that, who knows. It could be a deep, something from the deep past.

What has been one of the most important changes you both have noticed since the beginning of Airbourne?

Ryan: Umm. (pauses) Well, the thing is, I played my first show when I was 13, and we had both been playing since we were 11. So, there really is-- I don't know how--what else there is, you know? This is sort of the way it's been.

Joel: We've seen a lot of the world. You know, before we started out as a band, we decided we wanted to go to the U.K. first, decided we wanted to go to Europe first, so you know, we went to two of those before we went to the US, and we toured the US. So, we're doing what we set out to achieve, but to us, we think-- to us, it's what it is, we're kind of like, we're still that same band that started out when we were kids, we still got these certain goals, still going out to achieve certain things, still doing what we're doing, still having a fucking great time! We still get a writer every day, which is good.

What is something you guys would like to achieve most now?

Joel: Just to keep the thing going forward, just-- the production truck, I want another production truck! I want two trucks full of shit! You know, next summer, I want three trucks full of shit, you know what I mean? We want to keep getting onwards and onwards.

If you guys could go back in time to when you formed Airbourne, what would you both say to yourselves then to yourselves now?

Joel: Umm...

Ryan: Umm...

Joel: Umm... (laughs) I'd probably say, "Just letting you know that you're probably going to develop a problem with alcohol, you're going to have a lot of fun, so don't listen to me, I'm just going to go back to being who you're going to be."

Ryan: Umm... More or less of the same lines, I guess, umm. I'd probably sit myself down and educate myself about the different kinds of alcohol around the world, like about whiskey from Scottland, German beer, and French wine.

Joel: Oh, the other thing too, I would say, I'd go back and say, "Here are the skematics, here's how you build it, it's called an iPod, start doing it now, Steve Jobs is going to do it ten years, so before then I want you to build it now, and then that way, you'll own the iPod.

But then would you guys be where you are now?

Joel: Well, that would be like a side thing, the invention of the iPod is just a side thing, we'd sell them at the merch stand, you know?