Rock music is increasingly coming back into fashion; bands like Jet, The Vines, The Darkness and The Datsuns, have been lauded by critics for recasting 70’s rock for the this generation. These bands draw heavily from overseas influences, including The Rolling Stones, The Who and Led Zeppelin.

Rollerball have also looked back in creating their sound, but rather than looking exclusively to overseas bands, they have also drawn heavily from some of Australia’s greatest rock bands. When I spoke to guitarist Dave “Talon” Jackson earlier this week he was keen to emphasise the dual influences on the band’s sound. “We’ve been particularly influenced by early to mid ‘70s British rock, as glam started to get heavy. At the same time we’ve also been influenced by ‘70s Australian rock, stuff like AC/DC and Black Eyed Bruiser. “Stevie Wright has been a huge influence on the band.”

Rollerball formed on Queensland’s Gold Coast during those heady days of the late nineties. Over time they’ve had a few line up changes, but the current one has stable for the last few years. Whilst the band has a diverse range of musical tastes, the common threads are that early-mid 70s rock sound. Stuff like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, AC/DC, The Easybeats and Stevie Wright Project – good old-fashioned balls to the wall rock. On their current record, Oversize, you can all of these influences working together, in particular the Australian tone. The eighties rock sound that invades the record on occasion is put down to the influence of Mark Opitz who is a big fan of early ‘80s hair metal, the same stuff that’s influencing the likes of The Darkness.

At the moment the band are divided, with half the members living in Brisbane, and the other half on the Gold Coast. Dave describes them as a “Burleigh” band. For these guys, being in a band unfortunately is a hobby, as “there’s just not enough money to be made in the Australian scene.” So members of the band balance out their need to survive with other work.

Whilst the band is not as full time as they would like it, Dave puts this down to a changing dynamic in the Australian music scene. “Up until the mid-80’s the Gold Coast had a thriving scene, you could see one of seven bands each night.” But poker machines and the changing tastes of punters mean that now you’d be lucky to get one venue with live music on a busy Saturday night. Dave also puts this down to the prevalence of large festivals.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love playing at large festivals, like the Big Day Out and Livid, and we’ve played both on occasion. But they’ve taken something away from the scene. People now go to a festival, see a bit of a bunch of bands sets, and say they’re done with live music for the year – they’ll keep talking about those bands all year, but they’re not out there supporting bands playing in clubs and pubs. Their only experience of live music is a bunch of thirty minute festival sets.”

Whilst the big festivals may have dampened the music scene a little on the Gold Coast, Dave reckons the Brisbane scene is as a good as it’s ever been. Whilst Rics may have fallen on tough times due to increased pressure from the Brisbane City Council, Dave doesn’t believe this will be as detrimental to the scene as what us southerners are led to believe. “Who goes to Rics to see live bands? It’s pretty much like playing in a corridor.” The venue he thinks that’s had the most influence on the Brisbane vibe is the legendary Zoo.

“The Zoo’s a venue which bands want to be at. Playing at The Zoo makes you a good band. There’s always a crowd there – it’s the Zoo. You can go there and have a good time without the music being intrusive. Don’t get me wrong it doesn’t mean its turned down low, they’ve had to close the windows in there, to stop noise complaints. But you can go up the back, play a game of pool and have the band in the background. If you’re more keen to see the band you just move towards the front.”

Another Brisbane venue the band is a big fan of is the Rev. “It’s an old church which has been turned into a pub and live music venue.” The band are playing a show there on December 10, before they kick off on a more major tour on the back of Oversize. “The album tour for Oversize was a series of gigs over four weekends in the major capital cities. We felt like rock stars as we flew out to city did a gig and then flew home to work during the week. This time we’re keen to really get back out on the road to give the album a good play around the country, hopefully during January and February 2005.” Dave says punters should expect up to ninety-minute sets, with the band playing a selection of songs from their two EP’s and two full-length albums.

FasterLouder will have details of Rollerball’s forthcoming tour as they become available. Their current album Oversize is available nationally on Rhythm Ace Records. Read the FasterLouder.com.au review of Oversize which was our recent Album Of The Week here.