In-Flight Safety

Rejecting the sea shanties long associated with their maritime Canadian roots, the indie quartet In-Flight Safety assembled in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2003 and drew inspiration from the expansive, keyboard-centered rock of Coldplay, Travis, and Radiohead. Vocalist-guitarist John Mullane, keyboardist Daniel Ledwell, bassist Brad Goodsell, and drummer Glen Nicholson first encountered one another at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. A contest win at the North by Northeast Festival led them to commit to music professionally once David Bowie wrote to express his admiration for their initial EP, Vacation Land. Their first album, The Coast Is Clear, appeared in 2006; its title track received a Juno Awards nomination for Video of the Year, while selections from the record were placed in episodes of Chuck and Degrassi High: The Next Generation and in a Dell Computers advertising push throughout North America. Capitalizing on the reception for their 2009 follow-up, We Are an Empire, My Dear, the group performed at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and secured releases in Europe through deals with Conehead Records in the U.K. and Waggle-Daggle in Germany.