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 Guitarist DAVE TALON from local hard rock institution ROLLERBALL gets in touch with TOM HERSEY to look back on ups and downs of the band’s decade-plus existence and talk about their new long player, Submarine.
Rollerball have achieved something of a mythic status among Brisbane rock circles. They’ve remained on the radar, periodically playing shows, filling support slots on big bills and releasing tunes since the late ‘90s. It’s a harrowing thought, but the kids who wrote about Rollerball when they were starting out now probably have mortgages and actual jobs. Which makes our chat with Dave all the more surprising, as despite the band’s rich history of playing shows and releasing EPs, live compilations and the sort, the band is only now releasing their third full length album. Citing in part the realities of life outside the band as the reason for this, Dave explains that the delays in release have made the end product a better album.
“Submarine is an overdue record. We were hoping to have a long player out two years ago. But, y’know, for a bunch of different reasons like personal hurdles that popped up here and there or just different logistical problems, etcetera etcetera... And it turned out to probably be a good thing. We’ve never really been a band that sits and nuts out songs forever. I’d be lying if I said we spent the last couple of years creating this record. But the list of songs we finally got together when we decided to make the record a year ago were probably a lot stronger than those we had sitting on the shelf from when we initially decided to make the album.”
The imminent release of Submarine will see Rollerball increase their touring activity. Starting with their album launch this Friday night at Rosie’s, the four piece will be playing shows around the state before heading interstate for a few dates. Amassing a cult following over the years, Dave speaks with a sense of pride about how the band’s fanbase turn up to the shows. “We don’t have a huge group of fans around Brisbane, Australia or the world … but the fans we do have generally get really in to it. If people like Rollerball, they generally really like Rollerball and that’s a great thing for us as a band.”
Having been around long enough to chart trends, yet programmed with the good sense not to try and follow them, Rollerball have stood the test of time and they aren’t likely to stop or change any time soon.
“The sad thing about the rock scene is that it’s kind of exciting to big record companies for about six months every two or three years. It becomes the flavour of the week and rock is back and whatever band is going to be the saviour of rock & roll. You just watch these cycles and it’s like keeping up with different cuts of jeans, you just watch this stuff come and go. We’ve always had a direction that we’ve followed and that we felt really good about. We never really tried to follow the fashion or jump on any bandwagon that have since come and gone.”
ROLLERBALL play Rosie’s Live on Friday Jun 26 with support from Shellfin, Mick Medew & The Rumours and F1-Elevens; followed by shows at the Hard Rock Café Surfers Paradise Friday Jul 3 and The Zoo Saturday Jul 11 (+1 Records Showcase). SUBMARINE will be in stores Jul 4 through +1.
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