If you haven’t heard of the Airplane Boys, just give it a couple more months. With a sound that’s an unusually wonderful mix of hip-hop, dubstep, R&B, and Lights-style synthpop, this genre-bending duo from Toronto has already played major festivals like Coachella and SXSW, and opened for rap veteran (and fellow Osheaga performer) Snoop Dogg. Not even a little rain during their set could bring these high flyers down.
Her Campus Carleton caught up with the boys, Beck Motley and Bon Voyage, to talk big festivals, big names and the big opportunities they’ve had over the past year.
HC: So first off, great set! How’d you guys feel about it?
BV: Thank you. It was dope. We’re at a point in our lives where we don’t know what to expect from a crowd wherever we go. But when the music turned up, the whole crowd came swarming in, and that’s what we love the most; people celebrating music whether they know us or not. Rain or shine, people were loving it.
BM: It was one of those moments that you look back at and you can tell your kids and grandchildren. It was incredible. No one budged when the rain fell because everyone was engaged with the music. It shows that they respect our showmanship, which is incredible. Nowadays, when it’s raining, a lot of artists won’t even go out into the crowd. My hair was all soaked but I didn’t care. You just go out and you want to have a good time with them. You wanna make them feel like they’re apart of the moment, not just watching it.
HC: You guys have also had a pretty great year, touring with huge artists like Snoop Dogg and Big Sean. How has that been?
BV: It’s been a learning process. Everywhere we go, we try to learn as much as we can. Being around Big Sean who’s an up-and-comer, someone that we look up to, and a veteran like Snoop. To learn from them was amazing. For us, it’s a great example to be around that company the whole year.
BM: We’re the up-and-comers and we look up to all those artists that we grew up with. We watched them, we observed them. So artists like Big Sean, who’s killing it right now, we’re just blessed to be on tour and in his presence. They’ve been where we’ve been and all we can do is just try and see how they’re handling it now. We’re still developing and always will. We’ve been blessed to be a part of these festivals with artists that we look up to.
HC: So speaking of festivals, you guys were at Coachella earlier this year. How does Osheaga compare? Do you feel more prepared for this kind of scene?
BV: I mean, you know, Osheaga was a walk in the park for us. [laughs] It definitely does, the quality of the people, that’s what makes the festival, first and foremost. Montreal has always shown us a great time no matter what. We’ve never experienced being at a show or performing while it was raining, and to see [the audience] stand through that was amazing.
BM: We’re proud believers that it’s the people that make the environment and everyone here, even outside of the Osheaga grounds, has an open mind and a smile on their face.
HC: Now how would you compare playing big festivals like this to smaller, more intimate shows? Do you prefer one over the other?
BV: I mean, they all have their pros and cons, but there’s no real preference. Of course, we love to be out here, but we also understand the importance of doing smaller shows and building. We’ve been blessed to be doing bigger shows like this but you also got to work from the bottom. It doesn’t matter. We care about every person that’s listening to us.
BM: There’s no difference in terms of performance, but the biggest difference in terms of experience overall is that in festivals, we have the choice to walk around and gain inspiration from different acts. We can walk and see The Black Keys, walk to see Snoop, walk to see M83, and that choice makes you feel a part of the culture and a part of music. You’re not just there to perform, you’re there to breathe and live music; to listen, to perform, to eat with other music lovers. That’s what separates music festivals from just venues.
HC: What would you guys like people to take away from your performance today?
BV: We just want people to understand that we’re growing, and we want them to grow with us. We want them to know that we gave it our all, at the end of the day. We jumped in and we wanted them to know that they were a part of it, a part of our experience. Just like Beck was saying, it’s all about that experience.
BM: We want them to feel like they’re in a family room, watching old family movies, and just felt good. To walk away and say, ‘yo, those boys really made my moment’, dancing and singing and jumping in the rain with those two guys from Toronto. That’s all you can ask for.