Interviews

From The Archives: 28 Days (April Edition 2004)
(A new initiative from Buzz, looking back over 26 plus years!)
Bass player Damian Gardiner, was on the phone about 28 Days, who have just finished recording a single.
April 6th sees the hardworking guys from down south heading into the studio to record their new album.
Eric Wilde (Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Deftones) has been brought out from the States to oversea the new release. With a love of the Deftones, the 28 Days crew wanted to get a similar sound, something that was ‘Not as Australian.’
We were a little surprised thinking that the Aussie sound was something that was an advantage in overseas markets.
‘It’s very hard to get anywhere overseas with this Aussie sound, unless you’re Jet or one of those new sounding bands. Unless you’re that, America doesn’t give a shit unless you sound kind of heavy. So we wanted one of these heavy guys.’
Eric was flown over for the single and will be returned for the forthcoming album. Expensive? No, not really when you think that bringing one guy out to Australia was easier than taking the whole band out to L.A.
What about the ride? The bourbon, the apartment over looking Albert Park?
‘Uh, uh.’
‘Very good professional working attitude. He doesn’t even go out for dinner. It was a great experience working with someone that has 60 odd million records under his belt. He isn’t a wanker, nor is he evil, he’s just a Swiss guy who happens to live in America.’
What was the biggest shock for your when you got to meet Eric?
‘He’s actually a nice dude and doesn’t look like a rock wanker. There were no snakeskin boots in sight! Eric is willing to listen to our ideas and wasn’t just ramming stuff down our throats. He has worked really well with the band.’
The new releases have been recorded at Sing Sing Studios, their, “home away from home”.’
Did he go for traditional mikes or was there a variation in the use of equipment?
‘We didn’t worry too much about that. We just wanted to get the performance right. We jumped around and performed the music like we do it live. We wanted it live sounding and hopefully that came across.’
What sort of motivation did you bring with you into the studio to rev you up and get that feeling you might get when playing live?
‘It goes back to all this crap that we’re forced to listen to and watch and hear every time you turn on the radio/television. Stuff it, we just want to do our little bit to bring back some heart to music. All this new music lacks heart. It’s cold. It has no heart or feeling. That was our motivation. We imagined ourselves playing live and really enjoying what we were doing. Trying to give back something to our fans, that might have lost a little bit of faith with our last album. There’s so much that goes through your head, you really just want to do it. You need to do it. Not for the wrong reasons either.
Are your traditional fans going to be happy with a new sound designed for the American market?
‘Well we don’t really want to break into the American market, just kind of get out of Australia. We love Australia, but there is only so much you can do here. Just two tours a year is about all that the market can stand. What do you do the rest of the time?
But no, it doesn’t sound different to the rest of the 28 Days sound. It’s more like our ‘Upstyle Down’ release. We’re going back to that sound. In our last album we weren’t really happy with the sound that we had with that and we’re looking to a return to early times. We thought, “Stuff it”, we’ll go back to what we like doing more. It’s a bit more heavier.’
‘If people dig it good, if not who cares. We’re just having the experience of a lifetime, with this huge, big, American producer, which is cool.’
What is the new single called and when will it be outs?
‘Like I Do will be released in April.
‘Its kind of a bit in the Sucker vein. It’s heavier, and its back tot he traditional 28 Days sound. I don’t really know what it’s about. Jay does the lyrics and you have to be careful when you try and describe what he is writing about. I don’t delve into what he is singing about.’
What about the album? Are there many songs short listed as potentials when Eric returns?
Damian thinks for a minute. Uses his fingers, thumbs and toes.
‘About thirty. At the moment it’s all a bit hard.’
But wait a moment here? Isn’t 28 Days known as a band that team works? Damian admits that it is a 20% contribution from each member but that boils down to the whole band dynamics thing from tee shirt sales through to publicity and promotion.
‘We’re all mates, we all hang out. Even when the band is not touring for six months, we all go out every weekend and see each other two or three times a week. That’s the reason why we’re still together as a band. We just love hanging out together and we always have a ball when we’re on tour. We play up. That’s part of our band. The only thing is that Jay does his own lyrics.’
With this homage to the Deftones, are they aware of 28 Days at all?
‘At the Big Day Out last year when they were on the bill we got to be good friends with Stef the guitarist. He watched a number of our shows from the sidelines and came up to us and asked for our CDs. He went back and spoke to Ulrich about it, it was really cool.’
Two members of the band are now fathers. Is it getting any harder for them to tour with young families now at home?
‘Family or no family, no matter what, it’s always hard. It’s incredibly hard to leave Melbourne in the middle of summer and go to England in winter. We have just come to the decision we are the luckiest dudes on earth doing the job that we love. There are always little things that get in the way of loving your job, but they’re not that big. We’re never away for more than three weeks at a time. We take the good with the bad… and we do get to have a lot of time off.’
Any advice to bands nowadays? Damian thought for a minute and preferred to give some advice to the bigger Aussie touring acts.
‘The older bands who have got to where they are should really pass on a bit of their knowledge and experience to the younger bands. There is so much young talent out there to encourage.’