Air Dubai

Air Dubai is a six-piece hip hop band from Denver, Colorado. The band is composed of vocalists Julian Thomas and Jon Shockness, with Lawrence Grivich (guitar), Michael Ray (keyboards/synth), Taylor Tait (bass), and Nick Spreigl (drums). The band is known for their highly energetic live performances and their sound has been characterized as a mixture of R&B, jazz, and alternative rock. The band was voted Westword Magazine's best Hip Hop band in their 2010, 2011 and 2012 award showcases. In December of 2012 the band announced via their social media pages they had been signed to Hopeless Records. History edit: Beginnings and The Early October (2008-2009) edit: Air Dubai began as a collaboration between Julian Thomas and Jon Shockness. The duo debuted their independently released mixtape The Early October on October 29, 2008. The mixtape features jazz tinged influences and production with topics ranging from love songs to conflicts between America and the Middle East. Westword Magazine wrote of their first album that, "The tracks here flow not just with deft lyrics, but also with intelligent observations and a rich frisson of artistic traditions. Fans of PM Dawn's particular fusion of R&B, jazz and hip-hop will appreciate how well Air Dubai integrates all of its sounds with perfect harmony." In June 2009 the duo decided to forego electronic beats and began performing with all live instrumentation. On March 13, 2010, Air Dubai announced on their official Facebook page that The Early October has officially gone out of print. Wonder Age (2010) edit: On April 19, 2010, Air Dubai announced on their official website that a new EP was in the works, with an expected release date of June 15, 2010. On June 1 Air Dubai announced they would be extending the EP into a full album and pushing the release date back. The album was their first release as a full band and titled Wonder Age. Andy Guerrero, member of Colorado Hip Hop band Flobots acted as producer for the album. On August 7, 2010 Air Dubai announced via their official YouTube channel that Wonder Age would be released worldwide on October 5, 2010. On March 28, 2011, Air Dubai released a remix album featuring remixed songs from Wonder Age for free on their official website. Day Escape (2011) edit: In summer of 2011, Air Dubai visited northern California to work on their next musical venture. Legendary producer Sylvia Massy, who has done albums for such bands such as Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Prince was the lead producer for the album. On October 14, 2010, they announced via their facebook page that they would be releasing their newest album October 25 titled "Day Escape". The release of Day Escape saw further success for the band, with multiple songs being featured on MTV's Jersey Shore and I Used To Be Fat. With the release of Day Escape, Air Dubai also began touring extensively as well as making several festival appearances. BE CALM (2012 - Present) edit: Shortly after the release of "Day Escape", Air Dubai began writing for what was to be a follow up EP. When they compiled their scrapped demos with the new songs they were writing, they realized they had enough material to produce a full length. The album, which finished production on June 20, 2012 was recorded in Austin, Texas and was produced by grammy award winning producer Dwight Baker. On August 17, 2012 they announced via a video trailer on their YouTube channel and website that their new album, which is planned to be released in Fall of 2012 will be titled 'BE CALM'. On September 12, 2012 they released the first single from 'BE CALM' titled 'All Day' and shortly after the second single titled 'Warning'. On November 11, a few days before the planned release date for the album, Air Dubai announced they would have to postpone the release of 'BE CALM". In December 2012 it was announced that this was due to the band being signed to indie music label Hopeless Records.

Source: Wikipedia

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