Sky Bombers

In the last few months they've recorded their debut record in Hollywood, played packed out shows all over America, shared the stage with the Foo Fighters, and learned a thing or two from Snoop Dogg. Unsurprisingly, my recent chat with Sky Bombers vocalist and guitarist Hugh Gurney turned out to be one of the most colourful and revealing interviews that I've ever been associated with.

"The whole recording process was great. It was something that we thought we would never really get the opportunity to do. We got to fly over to Hollywood and we lived there for 6 weeks or so with Rick Parker, our producer. He had come to one of our shows a while ago and he really liked us, and we really liked the work that he had done with bands like the Von Bondies and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, so it was kind of a no-brainer to have him work on the album with us."

Of course, Hollywood isn't always the greatest environment to knuckle down and work hard on recording a well-polished album.

"We had a few hiccups, I guess. There were a few times when we were a bit too hung over to do the recording justice on a couple of days, but I guess that goes hand in hand with being about 21 and living in Hollywood. Also, we were living next to Snoop Dogg at the time, so that was the cause of a bit of trouble. I didn't actually get to meet him but Rav [Sharma, Bass] and Scottie [McMurtrie, drums] did manage to have a chat with him. They also got to meet the lead singer from the Pussycat Dolls; she was hanging with Snoop for a while. I was pretty jealous about that," Gurney laughs. "So yeah, there were more than a few distractions, but we're very pleased with the final result of the album. It really has exceeded our expectations and I can't think of anything that we could have done to make it better."

The band's recent return from America sees them now promoting their debut album on a more local scale. It seems that Los Angeles has left a lasting impression on Gurney though, as he spends the majority of the interview explaining his star-struck experiences there.

"One of the biggest highlights while we were over there was a show that we did at the Viper Room in Los Angeles. We sold out the Viper Room which was pretty cool, and it was Scottie's birthday as well. Then that same night I got to meet Slash from Guns N' Roses. That was one of the coolest experience that I had while over in the States, it was really bizarre. I sort of spoke to him for about a minute and then I just snuck back into the darkness," he laughs.

Sky Bombers also managed to support the Foo Fighters on the Auckland leg of their recent tour, and sharing the stage with such an accomplished group seemed a daunting task for such a young and humble band.

"It was so scary when we played with the Foo Fighters, just because of the sheer size of the crowd, and also the fact that we're huge fans of theirs. When we found out that we were going to do the gigs we pretty much almost died. The boys from the Foo Fighters were really cool as well. We got to hang out with them a lot. I remember once I was drinking shots with Chris Shiflett [guitar, Foo Fighters] and Kaki King because it was Chris' birthday. Then I remembered that I had to catch a plane back to Melbourne at 5 o'clock in the morning, and at this time it was about 3 o'clock. So I got in a taxi and I just spewed the whole way to the airport. The flight home wasn't a very fun experience."

With their debut album ready for release, and a full scale album tour just around the corner, Gurney convinced me that local fans of the band have a lot to look forward to in the coming months.

"You can definitely expect a full blown album tour very soon, which will probably be from Melbourne up to Brisbane, and then hopefully over to Adelaide and Perth as well. Hopefully we'll be able to get out and see some more of the country, because while we did have a lot of fun in the US, these local shows really are the best, and I really hope that we'll be able to take this album all over Australia."

Ashley Prigent

'Take Me To Town' is out now through Sony/BMG.