It must be hard for Brisbane bands to make the trek down the east coast in the band van. Especially hard if the band is four-piece Rollerball and the driver is drummer Cam ‘Cracker’ Roach. “When Cracker drives he won’t listen to others in the back,” says Rollerball lead break maestro Dave Talon. ”’I need to piss’. ‘Sorry’. ‘Can we stop at that great roadhouse?’ ‘No’. ‘We should get petrol now’. ‘She’ll be right’. When he does stop it’s always at a servo with dead pies and old chips. All this stems from the fact Cracker has the most bland taste in food and takes three hours to eat a sandwich.” Sounds a lot like my family trips along the Hume, except my dad didn’t wear a tracksuit and a flanny and play in a rock band.

For those who came in late, Rollerball first appeared amidst howling vocals and big, fuzzed stoner riffs on the 1999 EP Lost in Space. A quick peak at that album gives you some idea of where they’re coming from: cover art featuring a surf safari Kombi van marooned on the moon, big trippy early seventies lettering on the cover art. And of course the kick-off track was Jonathon E, an homage to the lead character in the 1975 film… you guessed it, Rollerball.

Rollerball are a band happily looking back to the past for their musical inspiration. Easy comparisons come with singer Matt ‘Tenpin’ Boland and his occasional similarity to former Kyuss frontman John Garcia; comparisons also that came from the band’s earlier, dirtier sound that would have been at home on a Desert Sessions stoner rock compilation. But calling the band stoner rock or tracing a lineage back only a few years ignores their real attraction. Rollerball are an Australian rock band in the true sense of the word, kinda blokes-around-the-barbie-with-tinnies saying stuff the ‘fair dinkum’ way. They’re more Torana than Trans Am, more Narre Warren than Nevada. Unashamedly retro?

“Modern-sounding music to me just isn’t as good as the formulas of the late ‘60s, ‘70s and early ‘80s. Ska, punk, rock,” says Talon. “It was all mastered back in those days so anything I’m involved in has that sound. I want to have people listen to a ‘Ball release and not be able to tell when it was written and recorded.”

It’s hardly a revelation that rock is back in fashion. Having been around for the best part of six years and recorded albums tagged with the dreaded ‘critical acclaim’ (which is code for not selling much) Rollerball might have timed their run a bit better this time. “Rock is back every few years,” agrees Talon. “This time it’s a little bigger because the big labels say so. We don’t have special haircuts and aren’t fresh on the scene, so I don’t think the pop-rock thing is a factor in our world. But it’s good that people are turned on to live music, it’s positive.”

Last year the band recorded their second full-lengther, Oversize with producer Mark Opitz, a studio legend who’s worked with AC/DC, Angels, Divinyls, Cold Chisel and Hoodoo Gurus. “Mark’s mic tricks are gold,” recalls Talon. “Doing guitar overdubs in the control room and having a perfect sound coming from the speakers was very special.” In an earlier interview Talon agreed that Rollerball specifically chose Opitz for his mastery of an earlier rock sound: “Anything we could do to keep with the ‘70s rock vibe was preferable.”

But timing wasn’t in the band’s favour. Their previous label went bust, leaving them without support for their new album. It’s only now that the band have recovered, set up their own label and released the first single, Broken Open. So why the delay? “We wanted to release a single, because we think the album deserves it,” Talon says. To give the double a-side a boost, there are six live songs included. “We were so happy with the live recording done at a Sydney gig last year [The Marquee] that we had to get it out there… it’s the first recording of any kind that really does justice to our live sound.”

There’s also a storming cover of Stevie Wright’s Black Eyed Bruiser (which, for hardcore rock trivia fans, featured Angus Young playing lead guitar on the original single release of 1974). It’s the second Stevie Wright cover the band has recorded, originally putting a version of the classic Evie – Part One on the 2001 single Let Your Hair Hang Down. So, kids, there was life before Jet and all that. “Stevie was a forgotten force in Aussie rock history four or five years ago when we covered Evie,” says Talon. “I used to get into debates with the few people who remembered him because everyone thought he was dead! Now in 2005 he’s finally had credit given to him, I think it’s great. He was the king for a time, the Allan Border of Rock.”

In the not too distant future, wars will no longer exist and Rollerball will play:

Friday 16th September The Excelsior Hotel, Sydney with The Divine Electric.
Saturday 17th September Bizzo’s Caringbah, Manly with Van.
Friday 23rd September Currumbin Creek Hotel, Gold Coast with Hammertone.
Friday 7th October The Rev, Brisbane
Friday 21st October Criterion Hotel, Warrnambool with Winterun
Saturday 22nd October Green Room, Melbourne with Winterun
Saturday 5th November Sol Bar, Coolum