By a combination of talent, hard work and the right sound, Halifax band In-Flight Safety has played its way to three East Coast Music Awards nominations -- including the increasingly diverse Rising Star category.
By Daniel MacIsaac <daniel.macisaac@hotmail.com>
Posted: Feb. 14, 2007
Talk of the town
Listen to a radio report on In-Flight Safety that first aired on CKDU FM on Nov. 14, 2006, after the band won three awards at the Nova Scotia music awards, including band of the year.
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NovaNewsNet took to the streets to ask music lovers what the ECMAs mean to them, for Halifax and for the artists involved. See how they responded.
In-Flight Safety are up for three awards at this year's ECMAs: Rising Star Recording, Group Recording and Video. Photo: Courtesy Sonic Entertainment Group
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Halifax pop quartet In-Flight Safety is flying high. Just five years after coming together at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., the band mates find themselves nominated in three categories at the 2007 East Coast Music Awards: Rising Star Recording and Group Recording for the album The Coast Is Clear and Video of the Year for the single Surround.
How did that happen? According to singer-guitarist John Mullane: "blood, sweat and tears."
"We have always bled for the band and our music -- and this stance has afforded us a lot of heartache but also a lot of amazing times," Mullane, 29, wrote in an e-mail while the band was performing throughout the Maritimes last weekend. "I don't know too many bands who have arranged their lives in this way -- and in terms of one's own sanity, I wouldn't recommend it, (though) being recognized for those efforts is very wick-awes."
The passion comes through in In-Flight Safety's music -- romantic pop-rock that fans and critics compare to Britain's Coldplay. The video for The Coast Is Clear title track shows Mullane, bassist Brad Goodsell, keyboardist Daniel Ledwell and drummer Glen Nicholson on a rocky Atlantic shoreline and seemingly defending it against an invading horde of military aircraft, oil rigs and tankers.
"You came along to say your peace," Mullane sings against a dramatic sunset. "Well, have no fear, the coast is clear!"
That passion was also clear from the start, according to Charlie Hunter, Mount Allison's director of international admissions. Hunter knew the boys when they became In-Flight Safety and when their talent was already apparent -- even while they took part in other activities, such as soccer.
"One of my vivid memories was going down to the practice field where I saw John, who was injured at the time, sitting on a soccer ball reading and writing music," Hunter recalled.
Hunter described the band mates as "heart-on-the-sleeve" kind of guys whose sincerity and sound quickly attracted attention. "They had a following at Mount A that was very loyal," he said. "I always thought they had something special going ... and would make a point of saying to them after each gig: 'Keep doing what you're doing.'"
Rose Cousins has been touring with In-Flight Safety in the run-up to the ECMAs. Photo: Courtesy Rose Cousins
In-Flight Safety has been following steps taken by ECMA Rising Star nominees Matt Mays and El Torpedo, who won the award in 2004, and George Canyon, who won it in 2005. "Release an album, tour all over Canada, not just their own province, submit to showcases and awards at their provincial music awards," is how ECMA director Steve Horne described the winning formula.
"All these steps are ways to introduce your band to the music industry, potential juries and the general public," he said.
Even while the Nova Scotia music association was presenting In-Flight Safety with three awards last November, including Best Band, the group was out of town and on the road. They had just arrived home from a European tour and were immediately off again -- this time touring across the Prairies by van. And even in the run-up to this week's ECMAs, the group maintained a busy schedule of concerts throughout the Maritimes, accompanied by folk musician and fellow-traveller Rose Cousins.
"I think that travelling is key in a successful career, so I consider Halifax my home base and travel quite often," said Cousins, who has also received an ECMA Rising Star nomination for her album If You Were Me as well as a Songwriter of the Year nod for the single Good Enough.
Like In-Flight Safety, Cousins said she expects the ECMAs to help spread her name and music across Atlantic Canada and beyond. "I'm honoured to be recognized for the craft on which I base my career and for the new recording," she said. "I feel like I'm just getting started and the nominations are certainly helping increase my profile."
Jim Reyno says the East Coast music scene is more diverse than ever. Photo: Daniel MacIsaac
But while In-Flight Safety represents the rock side of the region's rising stars, Cousins represents the folk. Horne pointed to the number of nominated folk musicians -- including Jill Barber and Ruth Minnikin -- as evidence of an increasing popularity in Atlantic Canadian folk.
Jim Reyno, entertainment editor for the Halifax Daily News, agrees. He describes the diversity of the ECMA's Rising Stars nominees as a healthy trend, and one due in part to technology and communication and the spread of music through the Internet.
"I think the success of acts as diverse as In-Flight Safety and Rose Cousins shows how eclectic East Coast music has become," Reyno said. "In-Flight Safety and Cousins have effectively incorporated non-traditional East Coast music into their sound.
"I think more and more bands are doing that and the region is musically better for it."
Win or lose Sunday, Mullane and In-Flight Safety will be back to work soon afterward. The band returns to the road in March, and then plans to shoot a new video, write a follow-up album, play the summer festival circuit and perhaps tackle another national tour.
"No rest for the wicked and crazy," Mullane concluded.
That craziness is even paying off countrywide, however. In-Flight Safety will also be dropping in on Saskatoon in April for the national Juno Awards, where The Coast Is Clear has received a Best Video nomination.
