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Dallas band Air Review garnered quite a following after their song “America’s Son,” off of the band’s 2009 self-release EP, received airplay on 91.7 KXT. The upbeat, folk-pop song became a favorite, highly requested, and even landed on the station’s “Best Songs of 2011” list .
The quintet formed in 2008 and is comprised of of three Texas natives, one member from Oklahoma, and one Bosnian member. Doug Hale, the vocalist, keyboardist and guitarist, grew up in Irving.
After the band played shows in 2009, they took a slight break to work on their new full-length album, Low Wishes. Hale said the band felt their first record was more in the style of Brit-pop and Brit-rock. The band wanted to switch gears and change the sound direction for the new album.
“We originally wanted to write something a little more in the folk genre,” Hale said. “However, after the writing process began we quickly realized we didn’t want to be a folk band. So we started bringing back in more of the layers we had been so adamant on peeling away.”
He said they wanted to fuse electronic, rock and folk music and are pleased with the sound on the new album. “We came up with something we’re much happier with, and we’re really doing what we love right now,” he said. “It seems to be better received, as well.”
Head on up to Denton to hear songs from Low Wishes at Air Review’s noon show at Lou’s. If jamming out to the band’s new songs isn’t enough incentive for you, Hale said there will be a crawfish boil. So, expect lots of crawfish and good music.
FrontRow: What is the best concert and the worst concert you have ever been to?
Probably the most memorable and one of the most enjoyable concerts I’ve ever been to is Up In Smoke, which was back in, like, 2001. It was Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Eminem. It was a rad show, it’s not every day you get to see those three guys live. Nate Dogg was there, as well.
Worst show, can it be one of my own? It can be one of my own. Yeah, you know what, I make the rules. Not long ago we played a show out of state, and it was in a club that we had no business playing in. It was basically a frat party. It was just a bunch of fraternity boys and sorority chicks, about 150 of them just literally screaming over our music, hanging around the bar. There was a handful of people there for us and everybody else just really couldn’t care less about what we were doing on stage. At one point, this sweet little frat boy came up stage, I think his name was Jeff, and he tapped me on the leg, ’cause I was in between songs. I looked down at him and he said, and I quote, he said, “Can you play songs that don’t make us want to kill our moms?” To which I answered, “No.”
FR: What was the first movie you saw in the theaters?
Oh my gosh, I can’t remember. This probably isn’t the first movie I ever saw in theaters, but the movie Big with Tom Hanks. There was a dollar theater in Irving called the Chateau, and I have distinct memories seeing that movie. I must have been like seven, or something like that. I remember just seeing where he hooks up with this older chick and I just thought it was the coolest. I don’t know why, but that really impacted me as a youngster. I have vivid memories of that, especially that scene , for some reason. It was probably the closest thing to, like, a sex scene that I had seen at that age. But I remember it distinctly having an impact on me.
FR: What’s the closest you have ever come to dying?
Well, in high school I dislocated my knee cap playing Hacky Sack, which was extremely painful. It definitely wasn’t close to dying, but I would imagine dying would suck and it really, it really, really sucked.
FR: If you could choose any decade to live in, which would it be?
Now. As a musician, although I think it’s harder than ever to make a living doing music, I think that you’re allowed the possibility of reaching so many more people. You know, we have fans across the world because of the Internet. So, it’s much easier to reach people, and therefore you get this gratification of knowing people are enjoying what you’re doing even if you don’t necessarily make as much money as you would have in decades past.
FR: What was your favorite toy as a kid?
Definitely G.I. Joe. It was, uh, so flexible.
FR: If global warming melted the ice caps covering 90 percent of the known world with water, what city would you hope was spared so you could live there?
What city? Australia. I always thought of Australia as being a really cool city to visit.
FR: Australia being a cool city?
Yeah, that’s my answer. (Laughs)
FR: If you could change one law — make something that is illegal legal, or something legal illegal — what would it be?
I would say that for strictly selfish reasons only that artists, okay, so in Ireland artists are tax-exempt, or income tax-exempt. So, I would choose to have no income tax as an artist.
FR: If you weren’t playing music and had the talent and circumstances to do anything else, what would it be?
It would be art, like visual art. It would be like collaging.
FR: What’s on your playlist right now?
A couple of bands I’m currently listening to right now would be Ritual Union by Little Dragon. It’s kind of this sexy, R&B, synth pop. And then also, Indians, it’s an album called Somewhere Else. It’s these gorgeous, really simple songs with very little percussion, but just tons of synth and tons of airy vocals. They’re just gorgeous.
