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Air Traffic
Posted by Laila Hanson on 30-May-08 @ 12:43 PM|
HQ: London, England NOW PLAYING: Fractured Life (ASTRALWERKS) WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: The skies are friendly in Air Traffic's perfectly coiffed mix of catchy, glam hooks and Brit-style pop. YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE: Muse / Coldplay / Keane STORY: Reed Fischer PHOTO: James Sharrock Getting Air Traffic's brand of British rock off the ground has turned the small-town group into big-time workaholics. "When you're really busy, your whole pace of life really speeds up," says fast-talking singer and keyboard specialist Chris Wall during a call from his London flat. "Your brain speeds up, your heart speeds up and everything. Then you have a break and you're like, 'Ugh. What do I do?'" In 2003, Wall formed the band with guitarist Tom Pritchard and drummer David Ryan Jordan, two of his classmates from Bournemouth, an English coastal resort town with no music scene to speak of. During practices near the local airport, their amps picked up air traffic control signals and thus the band's name was born. Eventually, Air Traffic's artistic growth and university studies moved them to London, where they connected with bassist Jim Maddock. Nearly four years after their first experiments with tender piano melodies, crunchy guitar chords and Wall's melodious tenor, the full-length debut Fractured Life hit the U.K. this past July. Wall speaks excitedly about the plans they have for the long-awaited U.S. release of the album this month. Up to this point, Air Traffic has packed shows abroad, thanks to the success of singles like the catchy guitar anthem "Charlotte." These shows couldn't be more different from their small, back-to-basics performances in America. "When there's only a few people there, you have to work harder," Wall says of sparsely attended slots at last year's South By Southwest and CMJ Music Marathon. "[The U.S. fans] have no crowd mentality. They're kind of just standing there going, 'I don't want to move really because everyone can see me.' You've got to reach out and get them." This foursome's tireless ability to reach out also shows up in their rabidly updated MySpace page postings, which give no shortage of praise to their equally rabid fans around the world, with a Belgian fan club among their Top Friends. More gigs on U.S. soil in early 2008 should increase their devotees here, but Wall says Air Traffic aren't opposed to lending a song to a TV show like Gossip Girl or Grey's Anatomy, which would be the closest thing to getting the national airplay they get in the U.K. "In England, when you want to get exposure, you get on national radio because there is just one station that covers the whole country," Wall explains. "In America, each state is so different and so fucking far apart. [TV] is something that could actually span the entire country, so if that's the way forward than sure, why not?" Before Fractured Life is released stateside, Wall plans to visit his folk-singer uncle Jimmy McCarthy in Ireland. There, McCarthy's got a nice piano in a soundproof room, and Wall expresses desire to make some noise while writing new material. "I just want to be prepared for when they say, 'It's time for album two,'" Wall says. "I don't like doing it in my flat because I've got people living around me, and I get quite self-conscious. Usually the best songs come when you just lash out." ALT |
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