Jay Dunne - vocals, Damian Gardiner - bass, Simon Hepburn - guitar, Jedi Master Jay - turntables
YOU THINK YOU KNOW 28 DAYS?
After this Extremist Makeover, think again. Rip off the bandages, peel off the gauze, and Rip it Up will be but a distant memory. The riffs of Sucker will seem lightweight next to Hate Now. What's the Deal won't fire up the party like Birthday fires up the party.
After all - this is an extremist makeover, right?
Well, hold up, stop right there, don't go taking that title too literally.
"It was plagiarised from a news article, something about the war," says vocalist Jay Dunne. "You could tell this dude had this title, and he was fucking keen to use it, even though it didn't even directly relate to the article. So, people are like, 'Is this a complete new makeover for you guys?' And I go, 'Well, it's a different album, there's completely new songs on it, the artwork's all different... and all new underwear!' No, it's not about that, and we probably should have chosen more wisely, but I, like the dude I plagiarised it from, was just too excited by that name."
SO, WHAT HAS CHANGED?
28 Days had a number one album - Upstyle Down - back in the days when topping the charts actually meant something. They followed that up in late 2002 with the more sombre, gold-selling Stealing Chairs - named for a favourite pastime of their late, great drummer, Scott Murray.
28 Days have sold over 200,000 albums in Australia alone. They've toured extensively in Europe and North America, the latter of which has seen them return with stories that start like this: "I was in bus, with strippers. Just me..." And end like this: "I get up to lots of that stuff." (Anything else Damo may have said in between has been censored to protect the sensitive).
In Australia, every 28 Days tour is an event. "We've got a good fanbase," says guitarist Simon Hepburn, "a good bunch of dudes who know we're just doing what we like to do."
And since Scotty's departure, they've suffered a textbook case of exploding drummers.
"We are a four piece again," confirms bassist Damian Gardiner, "you got any good drum machines?"
"That's the correlation between us and Spinal Tap," says Jay. "Unfortunately it's us and it's not as funny when it is you."
AND SO TO EXTREMIST MAKEOVER
28 Days have always been a unique mix of punk, hardcore, hip hop and devil-may-care humour. These days, there's even a little emo in the mix. "It works the best," says Jay, "when Hep's thinking Rage Against the Machine, and I'm thinking Saves the Day. We meet in the middle and end up with 28 Days."
On Extremist Makeover, with the help of uber-producer Ulrich Wild, they turn it up to 11.
Turntablist Jedi says they found Ulrich under a rock. Damo says the found him via Bodycount. Wherever they unearthed him - this US-based Swiss guy who has worked with everyone from Pantera to Soundgarden to Beck to Sting, and who the band say has a "crazy European porn sense of humour" - they found the right guy. "He's worked on such a variety of music," says Jedi, "that he could bring out all the diverse elements we've got as a band."
On this front, first single Use It, a storming anthem with a killer catchcry of "In the end it's all about the music!", is just the tip of the iceberg. Extremist Makeover wins respect with the scathing Plastic Fucks. Takes the piss with the thumping Girls 101. Even gets deep with the pogoing political number Democracy (which is just begging for Michael Moore-directed video). As per usual, it is 28 Days ignoring the haters, and following their own path. It is, simply, the album of their career.
"We had this whole thing of always being a little pissed off that people don't get us," says Jay. "But when we play heaps of different music, and that's what we wanna do, I s'pose you can't really be pissed off about it. That's why it'll always be them versus us."
HEY, WAIT A MINUTE - STING?!
"He kept that one quiet!"
'EXTREMIST MAKEOVER' TRACK-BY-TRACK
Use It
Jay: It's a motivational tool. It's about bands and people that in the past have had a go at us, people we don't even know. If I'm pissing them off by writing music, I'm gonna write a whole album. So that's about taking it and using it to our advantage. We'll write a song about it and then sell it to people you hate! Just winding c*#!s up.
Democracy
Jay: Havin' a go at Bushy. And, if it's so easy to become the President of America, I might as well have a crack. When I started reading about all that, all the September 11 stuff, it's fuckin' scary. In a way, I was happier before I knew - like Damo before he knew Dame Edna was a man. But it can only be laughed at, because what am I gonna do? Write a song about it?
Just Calling
Jay: It's a song of love lost and betrayal. (Does it hurt to talk about it further?) I'll say yes. Just for the Dashboard fans, yes. It is a bit emo...
Girls 101
Jay: This is a love song from Simon to the girls, written from my perspective.
Hep: If I wrote it I'd just end up saying "Root me, root me now. Take your clothes off, let's root".
Jay: No, it's a pisstake. It's to piss off man-haters and band-man-haters.
Jedi: Playa-haters.
Jay: The last album was so... for us, pretty sombre (laughs). So we're just trying to get back to our peeps! There's something to be said for comedy... when Aussies were racist and sexist, they were fucking funny. It's obviously wrong, and changes have been made for the better, but some things are getting lost and some things are becoming taboo. So lines like "girls like cock" are definitely there to get a rise.
Damo: Someone's gonna take huge offence to that and have a big go at us.
Jay: I hope so. Bring it on! I cannot wait.
Birthday
Hep: That was written at six in the morning. It was slower on acoustic, but when we bought it into the studio we banged it up a bit.
Damo: It's just about miserable c*#!s that hate their birthday and won't go out and celebrate it.
Jay: Hep had a mate over at his joint, who was complaining it was her birthday, "Write me a song". So we kept the riff, and then thought, make it more about everyone's birthday. You know, it's like "Come out drinking", and they're like "Nah, I'm not gonna make a big deal out of it." "You're gonna fucking go out and drink for your birthday, you miserable prick!"
Hate Now
Jedi: Superheroes - "Where does your life take you late at night?"
Damo: I don't know what Jay wrote it about, but I think it's about superheroes.
Hep: I think it's about straight edge fuckheads who look down on us.
Damo: It's about a superhero whose quest is to go out and chase down every cocksucker straight edger and eliminate them! That's my opinion.
Jay: It's what we think about them and what they think about us. We just don't trust each other. A general we hate you and you hate us. It's just a weird dislike that started somewhere and has no end.
Jedi: People who base their image not only on bands they love, but bands they hate. Like it's cool to hate that band - that's a load of wank.
Your River
Jay: It's in case I die unexpectedly; it's a message to my son Jackson.
Hep: Wasn't that written after we all had a fight?
Jedi: When Jay and Hep start fighting, that's when you know it's starting to go somewhere. If they're happy, you know it's gonna be shit. If they're at each other's necks, it's gonna be a good song. How long have you been writing songs together, even before 28 Days? It'd be about 10 years now, wouldn't it? 28 Days is seven years... You'd think you guys would have your act together by now.
The Old You
Hep: The music in that song's heaps inspired by Hot Water Music.
Jay: This song's about a friend I once had, one of those people who comes to the pub, and you're like "How ya going?" And they're like "I'm alright... I s'pose." "What's wrong?" "Oh, this happened." "Well why don't you fix it?"
Damo: Drama queens.
Jay: They don't know any other way, and they love the taste of pain. That's why the chorus says - "So please don't ask me when, cos today's the day to start and then you might find the old you". So it's people who are just like "Why aren't things working out?" "Cos you're living in la la land. Do something about it!"
Runaway
Damo: This is a song for girls. But what's it about?
Hep: Being ashamed of what you've done.
Damo: Running away from your problems?
Jedi: It's an ode to Huckleberry Finn.
Jay: It's a light-is-just-around-the-corner song.
Damo: Redemption!
Plastic Fucks
Hep: A lot of fucken angst to it, a lot of real truth to it.
Jedi: It's groundbreaking. I reckon it is! It's fucken sci-fi, it's hardcore, it's fucken everything. It's rad.
Jay: I didn't think of anything when I was singing that. Normally I have some influence from somewhere, but that was just brutal, I just started screaming.
www.28-days.com.au
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