Daily Music Guide | Interviews

Air Traffic

Chris, David, Jim and Tom from the band take time out from their tour for a chat about how the band got together, and their future plans.

Thanks for coming down in the middle of a rather big tour guys - how’s that going?

Good. Really good.

What’s the best night you’ve played so far?

We played a gig down at Portsmouth's Wedgewood Rooms where we got the crowd to sing to one of our songs, that we’re going to put on our album, and that was really good. We needed to get them to sing a refrain, because I wanted a crowd to be singing, and I got them to sing it over and over again. And that was cool.

How long have you guys been playing together for now?

Coming up to 3 years now, somewhere around there.

At what point did you sit down in rehearsals and think 'actually, we’re pretty good, and something could happen here’?

I dunno really. I think we were always taking it seriously, we’re all just into the idea of taking it seriously, but we never really talked about it, it just sort of…we just kept doing it, and doing it, and doing it. [and they’re waving at us. Wahey! Waves to passers by]. Erm, I dunno. Yeah, so at what point did we start taking it seriously, I suppose when we came to London, and sort of got gigs. When we came round to going to Uni, we all decided to go to Unis in and around the area of London, so we could get the band together, and that’s when we actually tried to make a go of it, because you have so much spare time when you’re at Uni, so you just kind of end up like just carrying the band on, and get it going really, and that’s when I think it started.

Were you all mates from home to begin with?

Yeah, I mean we all know each other from school, so it was just kind of like that, really.

You’re doing pretty well considering you haven’t yet released an album. Are you quite surprised about the size of the tour, and the reaction you’ve got, considering you haven’t even got a full length album yet?

Yeah, definitely this tour, and we’ve actually got quite a lot of people up for turning up to the venues now, and they’re selling out now, and there’s a really really big buzz about us now, and as you say, especially as we haven’t even released a proper single yet, that’s gone into the charts, or an album, and even like people who are working around us, they can’t believe how well it’s all going as well, so it’s great.

Is it strange now that you've started to get people singing the words back to you at gigs?

Yeah there are a few songs where they’re doing it now, it’s really really great. You just kind of feed off them, and it makes this whole live show much better. Most nights they’re singing ‘Just Amuses Me’ back, which is weird, because I think…is it on Myspace now? Um, I think it’s been taken off now. I don’t know how they know it, I guess it’s floating around BearShare or something. Limewire’s probably got it - works wonders!

Is this something you like to encourage then? Are you happy that people are getting your tunes for free from Limewire?

It’s something you can’t really avoid, unless you start this whole massive battle; we never really want to go down that road, to be honest with you. But you know, it’s fine, so long as people listen to it, and they’re liking it, then hopefully... If they’re coming to our shows, if they like it and they come to see us, then that’s great.

As a group, do you feel like you’re all kind of into the same kind of music, or do you feel that you all have different tastes?

Very different, yeah. We have this strong collective of stuff that we all really like, but then we’ve got stuff that we each individually like as well, that doesn’t really go round as much, but elements of which still creep in.

Is there anything that you really can’t stand, that someone else in the band listens to?

Erm, I really can’t stand...skating on thin ice here...but Jim tends to listen to lots of really hip, NME–esque bands, and like, just really trendy – even though it’s really shit music, I just can’t deal with it at all. I mean, some of the stuff I like, some of the stuff he listens to, I’m just like, ”Off!”

Such as..?

Erm, mentioning no names! [laughter]

Fair enough. So is reviews in the NME something that obviously you’d welcome, or is it something that you’re worried about at the same time?

A little bit, erm, I dunno. I’m not too worried about NME particularly, I’d rather have Mojo, or Q and stuff. Yeah, NME haven’t really been very supportive, [laughter] but we haven’t really got anything out there to cling onto, I guess that’s why they haven’t. But we have been under their nose enough, so I just hope that they’d do something, anything, but…They always have been nice when they have written about us, but it’s only been like a paragraph, or a sentence, so we’ll see. I’m sure the next few months will be better on that front. And we’ve got Something Like Charlotte that’s coming out soon, and that’s more leaning towards their side of things.

You’re playing SXSW in March, you must be pretty excited about that?

Yeah it’s going to be amazing, definitely. There are lots of new bands that you read about in the NME as well that are going over there, so it’s gonna be a really good chance just to check out some live music, because it’s been ages since I actually had chance to go and see bands play, so it should be really cool.

What are the bands like that are supporting you on your tour?

Ghosts and whothewhatnow? Yeah, they’re good guys. We just did our last show with ghosts last night, actually. So that’s a bit sad. But they’re really cool, good to know, we got on quite well by the end. Yeah, good.

Are there any other bands out there who you’ve formed friendships with recently?

I really like this band called Kowalski [sp?] who are from Northern Ireland, done a few gigs with them recently, I think they’re looking at getting signed imminently.

Finally, can you just tell us a little bit about the new album – when’s it out, what’s it called, all that sort of thing?

What’s it called, that’s the main question [laughter]. Ooo, erm we’ve still got loads to choose from...

Is it finished and recorded yet?

Yeah, it’s recorded. It’s actually just gone off to be mastered tomorrow, so we’re just racking our brains today, trying to get a track listing together, and get some ideas for album titles, but I think it should be coming out – fingers crossed – June or July somewhere, just before the summer really starts.

Have you got any big festivals lined up at the moment?

We’re down to do T in the Park and Oxygen, and I think there’s a V Festival as well... I mean, Reading and Leeds and all those ones don’t happen until later on, so the booking agents don’t start getting too far down the line, so just hopeful...to do Glastonbury one day.

RECENT MUSIC RELEASES


Artist: Air Traffic Title: Fractured Life Release: 02/07/2007 Buy Now \| View Details	Artist: Air Traffic Title: Shooting Star Release: 18/06/2007 Buy Now \| View Details