"We're being compared to the best rock band still alive... What do you want us to do? Cry and ask to be compared to Coldplay?". That's how hyperactive Joel O'Keeffe responds when asked how it feels to be compared to the legends of AC/DC. Both make explosive hard rock, both hail from Australia and both unleash crowds and passions. So much for the comparison.

But we've never seen AC/DC do so many antics live, we've never seen AC/DC climb a stack of speakers dozens of meters high to perform solos without any protection whatsoever. And with good reason: Airbourne have renewed a genre that the general public thought was moribund, infusing its ardor, passion and youth into a hard rock genre the likes of which the Australian West Coast has never produced.

In terms of music, it's a veritable hurricane of sound that Airbourne like to put on tape in just two or three takes, when they're still energetic and excited about playing their new material. The result is always terribly enjoyable, in the pure tradition of old-school hard rock, but with a freshness that's a pleasure to hear. From rhythmic compositions to hard boogie and sounds to make US hard rock swoon, the O'Keeffe brothers on guitar, vocals and drums, Justin Street on bass and newcomer Jarrad Morrice on rhythm guitar, have mastered their subject to perfection.

But what they prefer to the polished post-production of their albums is the raw sound they manage to produce on stage, deploying an almost limitless energy. Frontman Joel O'Keeffe is always unleashed, slamming, crowd-bathing and showering his audience with dozens of pints of beer. Because Airbourne's fiery spirit, straight from the other side of the globe, is best experienced with a drink in hand and a headbang on the back of your neck!