Titus writes:
Mr Airplane Man are an American band that I have followed closely from their formation in 1998 to the present day. At that time the current members of the band, Margaret Garrett (guitar) & Tara McManus (drums) experimented with other band members but always preferred playing as a twosome. The band was formed under the advice of Mark Sandman, who at the time was frontman for Morphine. The two girls met each other when they were both 10, but later lost touch when they went to separate colleges. Margaret & Tara come from Boston, Massachusetts, and they have been reported as playing Blues rock, rock & roll, garage punk and garage rock. In their own words, they describe themselves as “A mishmash of deep love for Mississippi hill country blues, Memphis, weirdo rock & roll, drony VU, Boston garage beat and pop wonderment".
Their discography is slightly complex, in that they released their first album ‘Red Lite’ in 2001, ‘Moanin’ ’ in 2002 and ‘C’mon DJ’ in 2004. After this, their third album, the duo went on hiatus which they put down to lack of inspiration. During this gap in their career, they were asked to appear at a festival in Germany, and Margaret & Tara decided to reunite for this. They subsequently released an EP in 2012 called ‘Shaking Around’, which coincided with the time they were asked to open for The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The White Stripes and The Strokes.
In 2014 the band released an LP called ‘The Lost Tapes’ from 1999 – this was a collection of unreleased recordings, and also ‘Mr Airplane Man’ from 1998, which should have been their first album (I told you their discography is slightly complex!) and included Mark Sandman. The duo are known to be very serious musicians, have always been well received and have a cult following. Both ‘Moanin’’ and ‘C’mon DJ’ were both released on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label – a record company that had The White Stripes, Hole, & The Electrocutes signed up to it, so this was illustrious company for Margaret & Tara. Sympathy for the R.I. has become an iconic label, formed in 1988 by John Mermis, also known as Long Gone John - he is their owner & CEO. Just to add to his C.V., John is also a serious record collector, owning over 10,000 records. He also owns Necessaries Toy Foundation (they create 18-24 inch figures apparently) and he also runs the Sympathetic Press, which prints books with rock’n’roll themes. In 2007, Long Gone John announced on My Space (I think this was one of Facebook’s predecessors) that he was selling the Sympathy for the R.I. label for $625,000 ......or $700,000 “if I don’t like you”.
