I’ve been hearing the The Airport 77’s for a while now. This is their second album, and a good one, just like their first. I recommend MJ Lenderman too.
Andy Sullivan of the band was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.
Andrea Weiss: Who were you listening to when recording this album?
Andy Sullivan: The Osees, Bad Moves, MJ Lenderman, the Midnight Callers, the Messthetics, Nad Navillus.
AW: Who’s in the band?
AS: Andy Sullivan, guitar and vocals; John Kelly, drums and vocals. We were lucky to have Cal Everett on board for this record, playing bass and singing as well. He contributed two fantastic songs, “She's Everything” and “Anyone But You.” He lives too far away to play with us regularly. Gina Cocco just joined as our full time bass player.
AW: With “1999” were you afraid it would be misread as a cover of Prince’s song, or a comment about Taylor Swift’s album?
AS: No. Songwriting is like archaeology -- you start off with a random chunk of stone sticking out of the ground and start excavating until the whole lost city emerges. This song started off with a lyrical fragment - “take me back” - I heard at a performance of a Verdi opera in Maine last summer, and then built on the two-note musical motif you hear in the verse and the chorus. The 1999 hook emerged later. I think of it as a response to the Prince song -- the long aftermath of the party. Prince isn’t the only one with a 9 to his name: Taylor Swift had 1989, Bryan Adams had “Summer of ’69,” the Smashing Pumpkins had “1979.” I guess I could have made this song “Take Me Back to 2009” but that doesn’t seem quite right, nobody was having a good time in the depths of the Great Recession.
AW: “Summer Can’t Wait,” which is a great song, seems to be about summer, the season, a disabled person, or both. Which would be the correct interpretation?
AS: Both of your interpretations can be correct; there’s not necessarily a right way or a wrong way to interpret this song. It evokes a certain mood - unease, romance, idleness - that could fit either scenario. I see certain distinct images in my head when I think about this song -- the August sun setting over an empty playground, a swimming pool with nobody in it, idle kids milling around the house.
AW: The slow, dreamy songs, like “Satellite,” are good, and I like the change of tempo. What made you include more slow songs on this album? Was it just that they fit in well between faster songs, or is there another reason?
AS: We took more chances with this record than with our previous two. There’s more shifts in tempo, texture, and mood, and that creates opportunity for the two ballads at the end of the record, “The Hands of Time” and “Satellite.”
AW: There are songs that sound a bit like great Fountains Of Wayne songs. Were they someone you were listening to when writing the songs?
AS: We are big Fountains of Wayne fans. Each song is like a short story. We actually played at a gala Fountains of Wayne tribute show in April 2023, so yes, we were listening to them a whole bunch when we were making our record.
AW: What do you hope happens with this album?
AS: We hope a lot of people hear it and enjoy it!