AIRWAYS

For Airways, “rather die trying to make it than die not trying to make it! Do or do not, there is no try” is the band’s ethos. Perfectly in line with their ethos, the story of Airways is one about taking chances and risks.

The story of how Airways formed is an unusual one. Singer/Songwriter Jake Daniels was on a writing trip in Los Angeles building his repertoire of solo songs, and crashing at his manager’s house. On night one of his stay, Jake met Chicago native Brian Moroney, who also happened to be staying in the same house while on tour as a drummer. The two hit if off famously and at the end of the trip, half-serious, half in jest, Jake invited him out to the UK to help start a band.

Two months later, Brian left his home in Chicago and was standing on Jake’s doorstep in Peterborough, UK.

Add in Jake’s long-time hometown friend Alex Ruggiero on guitar and Birmingham musician Jamie Reynolds on bass, and Airways was born.

Having found all their members, Airways went straight in the practice room knowing that “it’s really hard to find a band where everyone is fully committed, especially when you’re younger and everything. So it’s nice to go into it knowing everyone is 100% dedicated and just work.”

In early 2016, what came out of those long nights in the practice room and studio was their first single ‘Ghost Town’, a song that reflects on societal change and comments on today’s society being immersed in technology.

Rather than wait for something to happen, the band got proactive and sent the song to all of their favorite online blogs. They were surprised to get replies, but even more surprised by how positive they were, including being described as “a young, refreshing and exciting indie rock band with hints of Arctic Monkeys, Cage The Elephant, Gorillaz and Circa Waves”.

‘Ghost Town’ was picked up by Charlie Ashcroft at Amazing Radio, the track surged to the top of the poll on his Audition show to find a regular place on the station’s playlist, with John Kennedy picking up the track for Radio X, together with plays across a number of BBC Introducing shows. Follow up track ‘One Foot’ kept the buzz around the band growing. The video portrays the track itself very well, addressing the struggle of being young in the 21st Century and feeling out of place.

With two singles down, Airways enlisted Nothing But Thieves guitarist Dom Craik and producer Julian Emery, who is best known for his work with Nothing But Thieves and Lissie, as co-producers for their EP. Craik and Emery brought a uniquely modern, fresh, original sound to the band’s clever lyrics and instant hooks.

With comparisons from Jamie T, Cage The Elephant, Gorillaz to Twenty One Pilots, the guys are excited to see how their EP will be received. Airways themselves however don’t aim to be pigeonholed, describing their own sound as groovy rock and with Jake saying that, “it’s important for us to focus on something different for each song and make sure they don’t sound exactly the same, but still have something that gels them all together. And that’s my whiny shitty voice. And I think quirky lyrics as well”

Their debut EP “Starting To Spin” went on to rack up over 5 Million Spotify streams, songs landed on big play-lists including Walk Like A Badass and New Noise, more plays on Radio 1 and Radio X, plus plays on Triple J in Australia and SiriusXM’s Alt Nation in the USA.

Once again, the band enlisted friend Dom Craik from Nothing But Thieves to produce their second EP, which will feature fan-favourite “Alien”, along with four additional tracks which are set for release in early fall. These past two years, the band has been touring non-stop, effectively establishing themselves as an International touring act in the UK playing BBC Introducing Stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals, tours with Dead!, Xcerts, The Hunna, Sunset Sons and mates Nothing But Thieves, a sold-out Headline Tour, plus they hit the USA and EU with Nothing But Thieves, and played at SXSW in the USA.

Airways are set to seek and destroy every venue they come across, picking up new fans and plaudits along the way, all the while knowing life is about taking risks and chances…and they’re okay if they die trying.