About us...
The music of The Airstrip One combines the grandiose, epic, melodic beauty of post rock bands such as Sigur Ros, Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai, with the hard gut wrenching drive of modern progressive behemoths such as Tool, Muse, Isis and Pelican.But in sharp contrast to many progressive bands, at the heart of the music of The Airstrip One lies a defining sense of melody based on a creative belief that all great bands should have great songs.The Airstrip One provide songs that all music fans can sing along to, whilst simultaneously adhering to no presupposed musical limitations that popular music has restricted itself to.
The band formed in February 2005 in Manchester, meeting at University. Arming themselves with a set of great songs, more effects pedals than your average band can cope with and a strong belief that great meaningful music can change the world, The Airstrip One rehearsed on a regular basis and played gigs in some of Manchester city centre's best live music venues.
In Summer 2006, The Airstrip One recorded demo's of their songs 'Axiom' and 'Enough is Enough' at Manchester's cutting rooms,and the resulting CD was snapped up immediately by fans in Manchester.
In October 2006 Steve Lamacq at BBC RADIO ONE played the demo of 'Axiom' on his show 'In New Music We Trust' as the featured demo of the week, describing the band as ambitious enough in their structure to warrant mainstream radio play. A recording of this show is available to listen to on the bands MySpace fan page (www.myspace.com/theairstriponestripclub).
2007 sees the band back in action on Manchester's live circuit increasing their fanbase with their already growing reputation for incedary live shows, and in April The Airstrip One recorded the songs currently on our two MySpace pages at Manchester's Restrike Studios. On May 22nd the band supported the much lauded New York Experimental Rock band 'Battles' when they headlined Manchester’s world famous Academy 3 venue. This was the bands biggest performance so far and stands as testament to both the quality of their music and their popular live performances.
After a successful headlining show as part of Oxjam in October, the band are now preparing for another headlining show, this time in Club Academy on December 16th.
Contact The Airstrip One direct be email: [email protected]
What the critics say:
"Exceptional" - manchestermusic.co.uk
"Promising Stuff" - Darren Taylor, Rock Sound Magazine
DEMO OF THE WEEK - Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio One
The Airstrip One on MySpace
The Airstrip One do not believe that a bands success depends on the number of "Friends" they have on MySpace and consequently are not really interested in friend collecting. This page exists purely to let people hear the music and learn about the band, if you would like to receive bulletins about gigs and other band info then by all means add us but don't feel that you have to, its totally up to you the listener. News
03/03/2007
They say all good things come to an end...
Hi everyone, this page hasn't been updated for a long time, mainly because i was getting tired of doing all the admin in the band and was hoping someone else might do it but alas!!
Anyway, fist some bad news, Simon our bassist has decided to leave the group to pursue a career in Engineering, it was great to play with him and we're sorry to see him go.
Secondly, we have a few upcoming shows (not all listed yet) and these are unfortunately to be our last as the band. I personally have put all of my energy into the success of The Airstrip One over the last 4 years, but I cannot carry the weight of this burden alone any longer. Without the support of my band mates in furthering the admin side of the band, a musical future has become impossible, so i shall pursue music alone from now on (more details to follow).
On a lighter note, we've had fun playing in The Airstrip One and whilst we are still in it we'd like that fun to continue so come down to our shows. The 21st won't be our last but we'd love to see you there.
Thank you,
Andrew x
17/12/2007
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
Thank you so much to everyone who attended our christmas show last night it was great to see so many people there and we really hope you enjoyed our set, especially the new track "Irons In The Fire" and our cover of the Chris De Burgh festive classic "A Spaceman Came Traveling". We also hope you are reveling in the joy of receiving your goodie bags as well.
Well thats it from us for 2007, its been a bit of a crazy one with some great highlights (supporting Battles, reviews in national magazines and last nights great show to name but a few). We'll be back in 2008 for more musical adventures so until then we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Finally, a gift to all who missed out on a goodie bag last night or couldn't make the gig, I've put up the new track "Irons In The Fire" on this page for you all to listen to. Enjoy.
Peace and good will to all....
Andrew x
19/11/2007
THE AIRSTRIP ONE CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR 2007!
Firstly thanks to everyone who came along to hear us play at Retro Bar last night, we had a great time playing and although that new song didn't get aired (sorry, we weren't tight enough playing it yet) we're glad you enjoyed 'Enough is Enough' which I don't think we've played live since November 2006!
Next up we are headlining at Club Academy on December 16th, details on how to get tickets will be posted asap. It'll be our biggest show we've ever done as headliners so help us make it a festive treat - we've got some surprises in store!
Finally you can read an excellent interview with us by James Wilkes in the current issue of "Play Pause Stop" magazine which is available for free from many a fine bar and cafe in Manchester.
Catch you all soon,
Andrew
8/11/2007
NEW GIGS AND A ROCK SOUND REVIEW
Hi everyone, we have some exciting news for you all:
Firstly we have two new gigs, the first is on 16th November in Retro Bar, we're on at 9:00pm and maybe we'll be doing a new song? Come down and find out! The second is The Airstrip One Christmas Spectacular 2007 at Club Academy! This is a big gig and it'll be a festive extravaganza of epic proportions! We are headlining so skip down to Santa's groto and tell him you've had your Christmas present early this year!
Secondly we are reviewed in Rock Sound Magazine this month! They describe ours music as 'Promising stuff' which isn't bad at all really! They even put in a picture of taken in our creepy cellar. Check it out, i think we're on page 33.
Thank you, stay well everyone
Andrew x
19/10/2007
REVIEW BY MANCHESTERMUSIC.CO.UK!!!
Hi all, www.manchestermusic.co.uk reviewed our CD for and you can read their favourable review HERE .
If you have a face book account, go to this link to check it out and sign up:
The Airstrip one - Ministry of Information .