Air Traffic Controller On Recording, Family and Bands

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By Teresa Garigen

Air Traffic Controller, an emerging Boston Indie Rock band, recently released their debut album, The One — a mix of Classic Rock and Indie Pop that is unique and endearing. The music came to be while singer and songwriter Dave Munro was in the US Navy as an air traffic controller, writing songs as a way to fight time and loneliness. Shortly after he returned home he formed a band, produced an album with musician and producer Bleu, and signed to Sugarpop records.

Air Traffic Controller, an emerging Boston Indie Rock band, recently released their debut album, The One—a mix of Classic Rock and Indie Pop that is unique and endearing. The music came to be while singer and songwriter Dave Munro was in the US Navy as an air traffic controller, writing songs as a way to fight time and loneliness. Shortly after he returned home he formed a band, produced an album with artist/producer Bleu, and signed to Sugarpop records.

While playing numerous shows in the Boston area this year, Air Traffic Controller has been named one of the Top Ten Local Bands to Watch in 2010 by Boston Music Spotlight, and nominated by MTV for Best Breakout Boston Artist.

Boston Music News spoke with Dave Munro about what the band has accomplished and what is still to come.

Have you always been interested in music?

Since high school. I saw this kid playing a Neil Young song and I said, ‘Hey, show me how to do that.’ I went into the Navy out of high school when I was 18. I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I just looked through a book and saw air traffic control. As I read into it, it looked fascinating. Music was my hobby at the time. That’s why I think Air Traffic Controller is significant, because it was a period in my life when I was just really going for that and at the same time I realized this other passion I had, so I started writing.

How did the musician Bleu come to produce your album?

I was a big fan of him after I got out of the Navy, he’s basically everything that I am into—his music sort of reminded me of Jellyfish and Queen—outside the box type bands. When I was doing the air traffic control thing I wrote a song, recorded it on my laptop and I emailed it to a friend of mine who now owns Sugarpop Records. He loved the song and sent it off to Bleu who listened and was like ‘I want to produce a record with this guy’. I was in Oklahoma at the time so we did preproduction over the phone, and I was just in my glory, dreaming about how grand these songs are going to be after he touches them. He basically agreed to only do two songs at the time—the first and last songs on the album. By the time I got home they were setting up recording dates and Bleu came back to Boston to record at this house on a lake. It was really cool. We had microphones all around the house, recording in every room. It was wild.

The laptop recording that I did in a hotel room [before coming home to make the record] that’s the real track of “Test 1,2” and “Don’t Tell Me What to Do,” that’s the real acoustic demo. I just did acoustic and vocals and we just ended up using that because Bleu was like ‘there is no way we are going to be able to captured that again.’

Are you into that raw type of sound?

Yeah, I’m really into it. That’s what was really tough. I really love two types of music—to say that I like Jellyfish or Queen and then for me to say I like Bright Eyes or Delta Spirit is kinda being like one of those people who say they like everything, but it’s just whatever is cool and good taste, I guess.

It’s weird to want to make a record that is simply raw, and then get into a studio with somebody like Bleu who just wants to really produce. He wants to make records, he’s not about wanting to capture a quiet little solo thing, he knows too much, he has too much going on in his head to let you make a record like that [Laughs]. So it was good we wanted to make two different kinds of records and that’s why it comes across that way. Sometimes it’s so small and other times it’s just very big, so you have that innocence and that…what’s the word…grandiosity?

Bleu knew right off the bat that he wanted to do string arrangements when he heard “Don’t Tell Me What to Do.” He wanted that to be all about the string arrangement, he wanted it to have this loud hamming snare sound that you hear, and it’s kind of a head turner moment in the song. He recommended putting this tune at the front of the album, which made me realize that it's sort of the first page of this group of story-songs. I decided to run with that idea, and put the songs in their storybook order.

How did Air Traffic Controller start?

The way the band formed…as soon as I got home and started doing this record with Bleu I just called up everything I knew who I was playing with. Where I’m from—Malden, outside of Boston—there is this tight little music community and one particular late night music hotspot, so you know everybody that can play. My brother plays drums, and I just had all these friends that play music so I just pulled them all into the studio with Bleu and we just had a blast.

How is it playing with your brother in the band?

It’s great playing with my brother—it’s hell sometimes [Laughs]. We argue more than normal guys would probably, because we can. But it’s great. When we started making music together we built this recording studio in his house. He’s just always been believing with me—he saw the whole thing through. Before Bleu, my brother [Richie Munro] and I were recording every song I wrote, everything we got. We just dumped all out money into recording equipment and went for it. Those are all the demos that got us where we are.

Do you have a favorite song on the album?

“Don’t Tell Me What to Do.” I feel like it’s very personal and what Bleu brought to the table on that one just made it even more painful [emotional] than it already was. It made it way more impressive to have all those elements. I like that it’s aggressive in the way of a string quartet and the vocals, and not aggressive with the guitars bursting in with a lot of feedback.

What is the song “Bad Axe” about?

A true story about a band called Bad Axe from a place called Bad Axe, Michigan. One week this band came through my small town with a bunch of friends and tore the place apart. It was awesome. They were playing this beautiful Beatles-esque melodic stuff. It really reminded me of John Lennon a lot, it didn’t sound like music from around here. They were just these out-of-towners that won me over.

I just know that Bad Axe is no more [the singer moved out to Nashville to go solo] and I was really bummed about it, so shortly after I got that news I was just walking down the street one day and wrote the whole song in like five minutes. That’s usually how it happens too, like in a car, walking down the street or running or something. I can’t really sit down and write a song.

How’s the Boston fan base and music scene?

Wicked awesome. Boston’s always there for us. Always singing along. Pretty much make every show a party for us, which is what we like. We own them…big time.

Do you have a favorite venue to play?

We have our own little home at The Loft in Harvard Square. That place is just electric. Every time I go there it’s just this big party. All our fans come out, but there are enough people there where we can win new fans. It turns into a dance club when we are done so we get all these people pushing forward and if we get them all movin’ then mission accomplished. And they are just the nicest people there. It is an old landmark too, because it is the original House of Blues—just this old Victorian house in the middle of Cambridge. There just aren’t a whole lot a places you can get what that place can offer. So we keep going back. They like us [Laughs].

So what’s next for Air Traffic Controller?

I really want to do a tour, but I think we have to conquer New England first though. I want to do it smartly, where we sort of need to make a bigger splash in certain areas before we take to the road. We just don’t want to waste it, you know? We need help with the word of mouth thing first.