Fresh from a UK tour with Pretty Vicious and Irish dates with Feeder,Brand New Friend release the title track of their forthcoming debut album. Seatbelts For Aeroplanes comes out today (4th April) and the band have also been confirmed for shows with Kodaline and Starcrawler.
This is the second single from the album to come out, following the track ‘Girl’ which received great airplay from Annie Mac, Huw Stephens and Phil Taggart on Radio 1, John Kennedy on Radio X and 6Music’s Steve Lamacq.
Listen to the single Seatbelts For Aeroplanes below!
‘Seatbelts For Aeroplanes’ is a song about two people desperately trying to keep a relationship alive’ explains vocalist Taylor. ‘The opening line (where the song and the record gets its title!) comes from an off the cuff remark my little brother made on a flight home from Newcastle. He turned to me and asked ‘What’s the point of having a seatbelt on an aeroplane? It’s hardly going to save anyone’s life if we fall out of the sky”. I just thought ‘I’m having that!. It became the central metaphor for the whole song. I was going through a bad break-up at the time and I remember thinking that even if I can’t be with that person forever, I’d love to at least be a happy memory for them one day’.
The band, who began as a duo with brother and sister Taylor and Lauren Johnson started off playing and writing when Taylor received his first guitar for doing well in his GSCE’s. After releasing an EP ‘American Wives’ they hooked up with Aaron Milligan (bass) and Luke Harris (drums) and developed a fuller, punchier sound which transformed the gigs they had been playing to much more energetic affairs. Playing their first Irish tour in January 2017, they soon followed on with shows on the BBC Introducing Stage at Hull (during its City of Culture year), festivals and support slots with local bands. In the meantime BBC Radio Ulster and Radio 1 were taking note and giving support and the new year kicked off with a sold out show at the Duke of York in Belfast.