No rest for the wicked as they say.
Since Skybombers got signed fresh out of highschool, the Melbourne lads have kept the tour van engine running relentlessly. Word about these fervent young rockers lads is spreading faster than honey in a sauna the first single 'Always Complaining' off their debut album 'Take Me To Town' debuted at #1 on the AIR charts and #23 on the ARIA physical singles chart, while also gaining solid airplay on Triple J and Nova.
Right off the back of a national tour in support of their new album, the boys have barely had time to draw breathhave kept the tour van engine running with an extended bunch of dates across the East Coast and Adelaide in July.
On route to their next gig in Geelong, we catch up with Skybomber's lead vocalist/guitarist Hugh Gurney for a quick chinwag on meeting David Grohl, playing to 'out of the way' places, and how the sugar coated world of rock and roll is treating them.
MTV: So how you guys going?
Hugh: We're great! We've just been having a bit of a practice, we're on our way to our next gig in Geelong!
MTV: Yeah I see you guys aren't just doing the major cities, your visiting a lot of out of the way places.
Hugh: Yeah, there's heaps of appeal in playing smaller venues, as a band you get to play to audiences and go to places that you usually wouldn't, it breaks up the trip. The crowds are different too, if we go to Wollongong or Canberra where they don't get as many live bands coming through, the crowds go nuts which is the really cool thing that results in us going to out of the way places.
MTV: If someone wanted to get a good indication of what you do, would you tell them to go to a live set or listen to your new album 'Take Me To Town'?
Hugh: Well, we started off primarily as a live band It's a hard question because on the record we tried to capture the live essence; the energy is high up and we recorded all in the same room together I'd say come and see us live and then listen to the album! When we started off in Melbourne it was a tough scene because there are so many bands to compete with so we have to do something really special to stand out, so we have pride in being the best live band we could be. People get that and understand it, and I think that sets us apart.
MTV: Tell me a little about yourselves, you seem relatively new on the scene but have been round a while?
Hugh: We haven't been around a really long time, but we have been building up few years. It all started in high school four years ago, we never took ourselves that seriously but then we got a record deal and that's when we started building it up.
MTV: Apparently you guys are one of the hardest working rock bands in Australia? Why is that?
Hugh: I don't know about that! We work hard, and we tour a lot and when we're not touring we're always writing. We never stop for long we never have any down time there's always something happening.
MTV: Is it harder than you thought it would be?
Hugh: I don't see touring as work, when you look at jobs that 90 percent of people do. We play music, drive around see a lot of places that we wouldn't have otherwise and been to some exciting places like the States and New Zealand.
But there are sometime that are tedious and boring; when you're driving for the twentieth day in the row and have to wake up at 6am to be back on the road that's when it's not so fun It's not as glamorous as I hoped or expected but there are awesome parts! When you think rock and roll you think it's glamorous and staying in flash hotel rooms, but for us it's loading our gear into our Kia Carnival...
But there are sometime that are tedious and boring; when you're driving for the twentieth day in the row and have to wake up at 6am to be back on the road that's when it's not so fun It's not as glamorous as I hoped or expected but there are awesome parts! When you think rock and roll you think it's glamorous and staying in flash hotel rooms, but for us it's loading our gear into our Kia Carnival...
MTV: Is that what you guys are touring in?!
Hugh: Yeah! Its champagne coloured, very nice but always steers to the left so one day it might be the death of us (laughs)
MTV: So you've done a bit of touring oversees?
Hugh: Yeah we've been to the US and New Zealand and hopefully Japan later on the year and back to the States but that's still in the pipeline.
MTV: Do you get nervous playing to crowds you haven't played to before?
Hugh: We definately enjoy playing to people we haven't played to, we supported Foo Fighters when we toured New Zealand and that was playing to 12 000 people which is about 6 times bigger than the crowds we're used to so it was terrifying! I went to the toilet five times in 10 minutes but when we finished we were all stoked and glad to have made all these new fans. We got to meet Dave Grohl after the show and I was so scared and completely embarrassed myself
Hugh: We definately enjoy playing to people we haven't played to, we supported Foo Fighters when we toured New Zealand and that was playing to 12 000 people which is about 6 times bigger than the crowds we're used to so it was terrifying! I went to the toilet five times in 10 minutes but when we finished we were all stoked and glad to have made all these new fans. We got to meet Dave Grohl after the show and I was so scared and completely embarrassed myself
MTV: What did you do?
Hugh: I called him Mr Grohl!
MTV: That's no so bad, it could've been worse! You could have forgotton his name altogether.
Hugh: Yeah, he was cool he just started laughing.
MTV: Any Australian rock acts you really look up to and try to emulate?
Hugh: Bands like The Vines, I grew up really enjoying them But it's more about looking at bands and wanting to emulate their success, rather than wanting to sound like Powderfinger or Wolfmother we more aspire to their level of musical and touring success, I'd love to be able to do a sold out show in every place we go like Powderfinger do.
Hugh: Bands like The Vines, I grew up really enjoying them But it's more about looking at bands and wanting to emulate their success, rather than wanting to sound like Powderfinger or Wolfmother we more aspire to their level of musical and touring success, I'd love to be able to do a sold out show in every place we go like Powderfinger do.
MTV: You guys supported Grinspoon, was there any advice they gave you?
Hugh: Nah, they didn't really pass on any advice, Phil may have passed on a few bad habits though! (Laughs) They were more about having a good time, although we did receive a bit of advice from Dallas Crane, they told us a few words of advice, you know starting out as a young band...
Hugh: Nah, they didn't really pass on any advice, Phil may have passed on a few bad habits though! (Laughs) They were more about having a good time, although we did receive a bit of advice from Dallas Crane, they told us a few words of advice, you know starting out as a young band...
MTV: So how was the Crowd response in the US? The Australian market is dominated with rock but over there you'd be competing with so many different genres.
Hugh: Yeah the crowd response in US was great; there are a lot of musical genres that you compete with in the states but still so many people that love rock. We were on tour with X, an old punk and roll band from 70's and the response we got from their crowds was great because they loved the fact we were Aussies and it gave us point of difference. There are so many people over there, and still a lot of people that are into every sort of genre of music, so it's not like your losing a percentage of your audience.
MTV: Your first single from 'Take Me To Town' was 'Always Complaining' and it debuted at #1 on the AIR chart, were you surprised at the success?
Hugh: Yeah it was a bit of surprise! I'm a massive fan of The Presets and we beat them twice so that was pretty exciting! How that happened I don't know, but it was really cool when it did!
MTV: Where would you like to be in 5 years?
Hugh: Hopefully we'll be releasing records people enjoy and playing to full crowd whether that be 100 people or 100 000 people. That would be my definition of success, releasing albums playing to full rooms and not lying face down in my own vomit! (laughs)
Skybombers album Take Me To Town is out now on Albert Productions
By Penny Newton
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