{"id":13300,"date":"2017-09-26T05:30:52","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T09:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=13300"},"modified":"2017-09-26T07:18:04","modified_gmt":"2017-09-26T11:18:04","slug":"airpark-takes-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2017\/09\/26\/airpark-takes-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Airpark Takes Off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Airpark grew out of the ashes of Apache Relay, a Nashville-based folk-rock group that released three well-received albums. Brothers Michael Ford Jr. and Ben Ford left the group to make music in a more modern style. Michael Ford says that \u2013 in contrast to Apache Relay’s lush, multi-instrumentalist sound \u2013 minimalism is the guiding principle for Airpark.<\/p>\n

Ford says that the concept behind Airpark’s debut EP \u2013 Early Works, Volume 1<\/i> \u2013 was \u201chow it would sound with just the two of us.\u201d The instrumentation on the EP features only guitar (with a lower octave on it to cover bass sounds), drums, percussion and vocals. In a phone interview he tells CP<\/i> that the pair’s songwriting approach didn’t change much. \u201cOur songs are always still written on acoustic guitar,\u201d Ford says. \u201cBut we found a fun way to present them that we hadn’t explored before.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"There’s a deliberately repetitive feel to \u201cEven If,\u201d a standout track on Airpark’s debut EP. \u201cI came up with the riff for that song years ago,\u201d says Ford. He experimented with different arrangements for the song, but eventually settled on one that \u201ckeeps it in a hypnotic space; it’s almost a drone, in a way.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Airpark’s current tour takes the band to three dozen cities, mostly in the eastern half of the U.S. The Ford brothers gained a great deal of road experience in their Apache Relay days. \u201cTouring has been a huge part of my life,\u201d says Michael Ford. \u201cI’m 29 now, and I’ve been touring pretty heavily since I was about 20.\u201d He recalls that after his old band broke up, he took a year off of the road. \u201cI thought I was really, really going to enjoy not being on tour,\u201d he says. \u201cBut after about two months I just didn’t know what to do with myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Ford says that he and brother Ben want to build Airpark in a one-thing-at-a-time manner. \u201cI think that’s the way to have longevity in a career,\u201d he says. One of the first things the brothers have done is expand upon the two-man foundation for live shows. Both Ben and Michael play guitar and sing, and they’re joined onstage by a touring drummer as well as \u201c<\/span>a keyboard player who<\/span> plays bass with his left hand.\u201d Ford says that the result sounds like five people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Live dates will feature songs from Airpark’s <\/span>Early Works, Volume 1<\/i><\/span> plus a reworked version of Apache Relay’s most well-known song, \u201cKatie Queen of Tennessee.\u201d The band will also play selections from the Ford brothers’ side project, Summer Buttons, and debut some songs from a forthcoming release. <\/span><\/p>\n

Brothers playing together in bands often have a reputation for discord; Oasis, the Everly Brothers and the Kinks all featured sibling disharmony. But Michael Ford says Airpark has none of that. \u201cIf one of us feels a certain way about something, then we say it,\u201d he explains. \u201cI think that’s a real strength of our relationship, keeping things healthy. Otherwise, things bottle up. And that just leads to an explosion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Airpark grew out of the ashes of Apache Relay, a Nashville-based folk-rock group that released three well-received albums. Brothers Michael Ford Jr. and Ben Ford left the group to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,49,62],"tags":[3169,217],"class_list":["post-13300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-new-release","category-rawk","tag-airpark","tag-apache-relay","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13302,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13300\/revisions\/13302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}