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Air Dubai by Maxine Ross.

Sunday, November 29, 2009 03:50 PM // Share This

Air Dubai

A Denver grown, often described Hip Hop Rock group is on the verge of innovative creation. Taking a concept from bands with foundations of success built on live shows, the crew aims to be a band centered on the art of live performances.

Opening for such acts as Guru and Flobots, Air Dubai is proving to be a force in the realm of live artistic expression. The band consisting of vocalists Julian Thomas (Vox) and Jon Shockness (Rhias), Bassist Jordan Bever, Beau Osland on Synth and Backing vocals, Lawrence Grivitch,guitar and Nick Spriegl on drums, is coming off the high of the debut album Early October released in 2008.

Party On! is the latest EP release and features the title track "Party On!" in addition to several remixes. Air Dubai takes time to chop it up with Fly Magazine on the concept of staging, influential genres and the evolution of Hip Hop Rock.

Talk about the concept of being a live performance band.

Nick: The live band setting allows us to fully express ourselves musically. In the way we make music, playing with beats wouldn't work. We're not at all putting down a rapper and his DJ because that works so well for so many artists, but the live band format is the only way Air Dubai can work. With what we are trying to say how we are trying to say it, this is how we have to go about it.

Rhias: Nowadays we have all these tools and just anyone can create it. I feel that
detracts from the love and artform. A live band helps recreate some of
that passion.

Vox: It's definitely a very fulfilling experience. As Nick said, this is really the only way Air Dubai can work; we've tried the beat thing before, and we've just found much more success and reception as a live band.

You've said that it's time periods and genres, rather than specific artists that define the group's influence. What are those genres and time periods and what about them are influential?

Rhias: Time periods are about the moments in a life that changed you or
impacted you in some way. That can be a summer romance, your first
break up, a great party, a news report that affected you, those are the
things that influence us. Life and the joys and pain that come
with it.

Nick: Anything and Everything. Between the seven members of the band, every time period is covered.

Vox: Periods of time in love translate to songs such as Ten Weeks. Vacations in California translate to Warm Day in LA. A crazy night becomes Party On. Its all life experience and it all influences what we write about and how we write about it.

Air Dubai's method of success is largely centered around performing live shows. How does that play into the current music climate?

Vox: When I was younger and I would go to hip-hop shows, I was always satisfied leaving the venue, but never really wowed or amazed at the performance. I began to notice that the satisfaction I recieved was simply from seeing my favorite artists, not from the shows I saw, which afterall sounded exactly like their records. So when I started this project, not only did I want to give the fans good quality recordings, but what I really wanted was to create a live experience that cannot be re-imagined or re-created on a CD.

Nick: People enjoy going to see live music, so it has worked to our advantage in that sense. On the other hand, a lot of people listen to the radio too. I think in order to be a successful artist or band you have to have both. We are currently working on our first full length album and soon people will be able to experience Air Dubai from the comfort of their own home.

Rhias: It's no secret label companies and artists are searching for ways to get the public to buy more albums. I think in our case people enjoying support local music and that means not only buying albums but going to shows. Plus we try and create a different experience from album to stage that means the things you hear on the stage will not be a part of the album and vice versa.

"Party On!" is the latest effort from the crew, tell me about the EP's theme.

Rhias: The EP was about having fun. I think with the remixes and the single itself people can listen to the music and
take it for what it is. Its a party song. The message behind it is simply to enjoy yourself and dance the night away.

Vox: Personally, I think people have recently begun to seriously confuse the link between quality of music and social conscientiousness. Basically, Party On! was our way of tackling the focus of mainstream music without jeopardizing our musical intergrity. It allowed us to push the boundaries our fans may have set for us, and deliver to them something unexpected, yet fresh.

Nick: This EP is about having a good time. The songs are straightforward just like the title and gives the listener something they can party to. The cool thing about this EP is that we took the our version of "Party On!" and had it remixed by producers from all over the world. This EP features the original and three remixes.

What does the term 'Hip Hop Rock' mean as it relates to Air Dubai's music?
Nick: Those are two very general terms that we use to help people put a finger on what our sound is. We're Hip-Hop because we have rappers. We're rock because we have a band. But, do those terms really mean anything? Art is art. Music is music.

Rhias: I think in our case people would say we're Hip Hop-Rock because that's a safe zone.
The way we see it, we just want to make music. The band just so happens to have a dope emcee and some guitars. One day we're gonna flip the switch and have some classical backing and see what people say then.

Vox: These are the two most obvious genres we fit into. Although I personally feel that Air Dubai cannot be defined since we are always changing. This label is only accurate in the sense that: rock is what we do,and hip-hop is who we are.

What type of musical evolution can we expect to witness during this time?

Vox: I honestly don't know. Our writing process and style changes constantly and has no set formula. Therefore, it literally evolves on its own. I know that there is alot that we all would like to do, and usually each of our individual desires becomes more than we ever expected it would. Thats just the power of Air Dubai.

Nick: That's something we're excited to discover too. We experiment with so many different things when we practice, I think it will be interesting to see the kind of music we're making even a couple of months from now.

Rhias: I think we want to dive deeper into visual music. That means the story's we tell will be more about the senses, the emotions, the sights, the feelings that you experience in life. If you listen to the words everything is telling a story. We want to continue exploring that.

Excellent, how can we keep up with the haps of Air Dubai and maybe catch a performance?

Rhias: If you get a chance please come see a show. We work very hard to provide a great experience for everyone watching and it's going to be different but I believe everyone can take something away from what we do.

Nick: You can check us out at www.myspace.com/airdubai. We have a headliner at the Marquis Theater on November 13th at 6:30pm.