28 Days: Chair Go.

Stealing Chairs is in stores now

It’s a jovial Simon ‘Hep’ Hepburn who chats down the line about the new album by his band 28 Days. The guitarist regularly apologises for heading off interview topics and making good-natured wisecracks, but he’s right to be feeling goofy. Because 28 Days’ brand new album Stealing Chairs is a fine follow-up to the group’s number one debut Upstyledown. The album is the result of sessions with New Jersey producer Machine, over April and May this year.

“It was fuckin’ cool working with Machine, because for a start, he’d worked before on some of our favourite albums (with bands such as Shootyz Groove, Pitchshifter, Vision Of Disorder and HedPE),” says Hep. “I think this record really captures what we’re like as a live band. That’s what we’ve always wanted to achieve with our records, to give them a real live energy.”

It’s an approach that seems to have worked wonders for the band, who started out when a bunch of like-minded lads influenced by the likes of Sick Of It All and the Beastie Boys decided to get together. Marrying their love of hip hop and punk, 28 Days soon entered the national conscience with the feisty single Sucker and the kick ass top 10 effort Rip It Up. A mega-successful debut album followed, along with the band’s regular inclusion on the country’s biggest summer festivals, such as Big Day Out, Livid and Homebake. Before they knew it, legions of kids were moshing and shouting the words to their songs.

Fast forward to 2002 and Stealing Chairs again continues 28 Days’ love of shouty punk rock and hip hop, combining their banging rock assault with the samples and turntables of Jedi Master Jay. These 13 songs show a defiant, confident band, from the re-recorded version of Say What? (a harder, rock-based charge than the Apollo 440 collaboration), to the near-reggae lilt of What’s The Deal? to the angsty melodic crunch of Photos.

The first single from Stealing Chairs was Take Me Away, a song that is surprisingly delicate and melodic from such a traditionally mosh-friendly band.

“We’re conscious of not doing the same fuckin’ thing every time we record or release a single,” says Hep of the album’s first single. “It’s got a different feel for us and that’s why we released it first up. We wanted to put something out that showed we’re not about recycling the same sound every time over.”

There was a time when the future of 28 Days was in question, due to the tragic death of drummer Scott Murray in November of last year.

“When Scotty died, it was of course a tragedy for the band and all his friends and family, but we all talked about it and we decided we should keep the band going,” Hep explains.

Scott’s replacement is Vinnie Jukic, who Hep says has been a vital addition to the band.

“He’s a fuckin’ awesome drummer and fits in really well with the band,” says Hep. “Vinnie was a friend of ours and we got him in to practice with us. It went really well, so he’s now a permanent part of 28 Days.”

The band’s current line-up was announced in March of this year. It was this incarnation that headlined the Australian Warped tour alongside kindred spirits Pennywise, who also lost a band member through a fatal accident.

Playing Australia’s Warped, they caught the eye of US promoter Kevin Lyman, who promptly booked them onto the US and Canadian Vans Warped Tour, playing 20 shows along the east coast in August 2002.

“It was fuckin’ amazing doing Warped in the US, because we played to new audiences and also got to tour with some of our favourite bands,” says Hep.

With Stealing Chairs, it looks like 28 Days will have to prepare themselves for even more new audiences. To 28 Days’ credit, the show has indeed gone on.