nature airliner
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nature airliner

Tokyo, Tōkyō, Japan | Established. Jan 01, 2010 | SELF

Tokyo, Tōkyō, Japan | SELF
Established on Jan, 2010
Duo Folk Singer/Songwriter

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Music

Press


"http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/issues/2015/09/178_187656.html"

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Nature Airliner is neither an airline, nor an adventure company, but the name could easily be mistaken as a brand in either business sector. Moreover, the Tokyo-based bi-cultural folk duo never stays long in one place.

Their journey began in the autumn of 2007, when Canadian musician Laurier Tiernan met businesswoman and photographer Eiko Hosaka in Tokyo. Proposing to her two weeks later, they were married after four months and their pace has never let up.

"By 2010, I had a substantial amount of airplay for my (punk) solo career. However, I also had a stack of unreleased folk songs," Tiernan said. "One day, I asked Eiko to try singing one of them in our bedroom and her voice just blew me away. I then begged her to play just one gig with me, as a duo."

That first show led to a flood of offers, taking them to cafes, restaurants, hotels, bars and festivals around Japan. Tiernan plays the guitar and Hosaka provides vocal for Tiernan's folk music.

Then, in December 2010, Nature Airliner was accepted to play two nights at the Hard Rock Cafe Guam. In 2012, they won the award of "Performer of the Year" at the Kansai Music Conference in Osaka and they performed at both the Narita World Music Fes in Chiba and the Sky High Festival in Nagano in 2014.

As they soared toward their goals, they never lost sight of their roots.

"In 2009, Ken Bailey of Westfield Radio based in Ironton, Ohio, told me that Music Connection magazine in Los Angeles was looking for journalists to review concerts of unsigned artists with potential," said Tiernan. "I immediately thought it could help the Tokyo indie music scene."

After submitting his writing samples and Hosaka's photography portfolio, the pair was hired as a team and has since brought numerous Tokyo acts to the attention of the American music industry. When asked what his favorite subject has been so far, Laurier was torn, "It is either the interview I did with John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, or the concert review we did for Taylor Swift." Hosaka said, "For me it was definitely Taylor Swift; I like her music and I understand her."

Nature Airliner's latest accomplishment is being accepted to play at Zandari Festa 2015, a SXSW-syle showcase festival held in Seoul's Hongdae district, from Oct. 2 to 4. The pair says their individuality is the reason they are heading to the capital of Korea.

"Some industry insiders (in Tokyo) were saying that we should attend networking events overseas, and one of our contacts in Australia thought we'd go over well in Korea. We're not K-Pop, but all of our songs are either love songs or are songs intended to bring more love to the world as a whole. I've been told that Korean people would appreciate that," said Tiernan.

Hosaka's answer is more personal. "I love Korean food and Korean TV dramas, so when we were accepted (by Zandari Festa) I thought we should grab this chance!"

In addition to their Sunday performance for Zandari Festa 2015 at West Bridge Rooftop, Nature Airliner will also perform at Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon on Oct. 2, and Thunderhorse Tavern in Noksapyeong on Oct. 3.

For more information, visit Zandari Festa's website at www.zfesta.com or contact Nature Airliner directly at natureairliner@gmail.com.

meeyoo@ktimes.com - The Korea Times


"Ex-Edmonton Musician Sends His Love From Tokyo"

A former Edmonton musician is sending his love from Tokyo.

Laurier Tiernan's folk duo Nature Airliner, which also includes his wife Eiko, dropped its latest single Celebration on Valentine's Day.

Tiernan carved out a living as a hard-edged solo rocker after moving to Japan a decade ago, but Nature Airliner is a much cuddlier animal than his solo work.

"I had been in a lot of bands that were very negative and very intense and very political and very angry," Tiernan says. "When we started (Nature Airliner), the goal was to bring more peace to the world and bring more love to the world and bring more happiness to the world. So we thought it would be cute to launch the new single on Valentine's Day."

The husband-and-wife team formed Nature Airliner in 2008 when they wrote a Christmas song to send to their relatives back home in Canada.

Having undergone lifesaving heart surgery earlier that year, Tiernan found himself writing more calm and optimistic songs, which he found were better suited to a female voice. Eiko had never sung before, but Tiernan convinced her to play a one-off gig and the project stuck.

"I didn't realize it consciously but I was just really tired of being political. I had been that way for so long and it was just part of myself, but as my heart improved after the surgery I lost interest in doing it," Tiernan says.

"LOVECORE"

Nature Airliner is making a mark on the Tokyo scene with an uplifting brand of folk it dubs "lovecore." The duo hosts its own quarterly all-ages music night, headlining for bands of similar styles, and has a full-length album is planned for June.

Keeping true to Tiernan's francophone Canadian roots, Nature Airliner will release both English and French versions of Celebration.

The singer/guitarist has not been free of Edmonton's winter chill this season.

While we have enjoyed unseasonably warm weather, Tokyo has gone the opposite direction. That has meant more bad news for people displaced by the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the country last year. Many are living in temporary shacks built by the government that are ill equipped for handling cold.

"This year is especially cold for Japan. Here in Tokyo we've had ice on the ground for about a week now, and that's completely uncharacteristic for Tokyo," Tiernan says. "The government erected shacks for the refugees but the pipes are bursting because it's so cold this year."

Nature Airliner played two benefit shows last year to help those hit hardest by the disaster, and have another potential gig on the way to benefit a rescue operation for the animals left behind in Fukushima.

The couple's own ninth-floor apartment took a beating from the earthquake, but they were luckily out on tour at the time.

POSITIVE MESSAGE

Nature Airliner aims to keep pushing its positive message through tough times, and is actively seeking opportunities to spread the love across Canada.

"Somehow in the next 24 months we definitely intend to come to Canada. We have so many friends and fans and relatives all over Canada that want to see us play," he says.

Tiernan last played Edmonton as a solo act in 2007 but has yet to find a suitable offer to bring Nature Airliner back west.

"If there are any talent bookers out there, venue owners or whatever, who like our sound and would like to have us over, we would love an invitation."

Listen to Celebration at nature at reverbnation.com/natureairliner or facebook.com/natureairliner.

kevin.maimann@sunmedia.ca - Edmonton Examiner


"Musical Mom: Eiko Hosaka-Tiernan"

“Speed is the best currency, and life rewards the bold,” sings Eiko Hosaka-Tiernan, vocalist for Tokyo-based acoustic folk-pop duo Nature Airliner, in their uplifting self-penned track, “Never Die” – a line that seems to define her story.
In life, Eiko fills a wide array of roles: that of a devoted mother; a loving wife; a musician; and a full-time businesswoman, working as a sales manager for an American company.

“It is not that difficult [juggling everything],” Eiko divulges, “because my husband helps me out a lot. I am a well-organized person, and multitasking is not difficult for me as a big part of my job is coordinating people and things.”

Born in a small town in Akita prefecture, Eiko is now a mother to her 21-year-old son and married to Canadian musician Laurier Tiernan, the other half of Nature Airliner.

“I married my ‘present husband’ four years ago, and he happened to be a musician. I had been watching him perform solo for 3 years and I didn’t intend to get involved with his music career, but last year, he begged me to perform with him for an acoustic project.”

When discussing her musical influences, Eiko professes her love for rock band Queen. “Even to this day, I am a huge fan. I have been listening to them for more than thirty years. However, rather than any particular band or musician, I was much more influenced by the decade: the ‘70s.”

And although still a huge fan of rock music, motherhood has affected how she performs and creates music. “I can say that I’m not a crazy rocker anymore,” she jokes. “I always think about the audience – especially my fans and friends who bring their children to our shows.”

While the ‘70s were her musical inspiration, Eiko was influenced in life by the works of Mother Teresa. “When I was 19, I wanted to go abroad and work in a voluntary camp somewhere like India. But I read that Mother Teresa said, ‘Start within your family’. So I decided to stay in Japan, because I felt I had to do something for my family.”

The idea of family is one dear to Eiko; as a mother active in both the corporate world and the creative one, we asked her how she would handle her son following a less traditional career field.

“A few weeks ago, my son told me that he’d decide to become a professional bassist if he couldn’t make his goal of being hired by the company of his choice. I’ll just say one thing to him: ‘I’d love that!’ I respect every choice he makes because his life is his own and not mine.

“Many parents tend to make the mistake of living vicariously through their children and forcing their aspirations onto their kids. But I want to say to those parents that it’s not too late to pursue your own dreams, which you had when you were younger!”

And finally, what does family mean to Eiko?

“Ideally, I think a family should be a place you go home to every day after work. It’s nice to feel that someone is waiting for you.

“When my son was younger, he was my reason to live and work. Now, he has his own life and my definition of family is changing to reflect that. In part, my family is now a source of pure joy because it is no longer a source of responsibility, but a collective of people who enjoy each other’s company and support each other’s dreams.”

INFO
To hear Nature Airliner’s music, visit www.reverbnation.com/natureairliner or purchase them on the iTunes store. - Tokyo Families Magazine


"Folk duo hopes to bring love through music"

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Eccentric husband-wife folk duo Nature Airliner is composed of Laurier Tiernan, playing the guitar, and Eiko Hosaka, providing vocals.

The bi-cultural folk duo is currently based in Tokyo, Japan, but they have been heading overseas more often in attempts to reach more global audiences.

This year alone, Nature Airliner performed in Rochester, Minn. in the United States, London and Essex in the United Kingdom before arriving in Seoul in October to take part in the Zandari Festa.

"I was born with a rare medical condition called the Marfan syndrome," Tiernan told The Korea Times. It is a genetic disorder that affects the connective tissue and the heart and this is why Tiernan is over two meters tall.

The musician walked his first professional runway in Tokyo in March and thought it would be nice to share his story with other Marfan patients.

"To share the story, I contacted various Marfan support networks across the world. Many children with the syndrome die young and if they see me working as a professional musician, reporter and model, I could give them hope," Tiernan said. "The Marfan Foundation in America invited me as a guest of honor to their annual conference and asked me to conduct a children's choir, emcee a fashion show and perform as Nature Airliner."

The duo said it is virtually impossible for foreign music to take root in Japan.

"In Japan, almost nobody speaks English and people love to hear Japanese music. In the 1970s and '80s, when I was younger, I listened to American and British music, but nowadays young people don't listen to music from overseas," Hosaka said. "Our aim is not to become superstars, but to find an audience who appreciates our music. But it's almost impossible in Japan."

The duo is clear about their goals, wishing to spread more love in the world.

"We want to continue what we've been trying to do _ bringing more love and healing to the world. Often after concerts, people come up and say they have been healed," Tiernan said.

"We not only play the music, we also chitchat with the audience between the songs. We want to give people hope to live," Hosaka said. "We don't really have to aim for big audiences. Small audiences are fine, but we want to share our message more clearly with our audiences."

Hosaka said the band's music is for people in their 40s and 50s who listened to rock music and have a basic knowledge and interest in music, but who do not listen to music much now because of their busy lives.

"They definitely love music and we want to bring them back to live music," Hosaka elaborated.

For more information about the band, visit www.facebook.com/natureairliner or contact infolaurier@gmail.com. - The Korea Times


"nature airliner, A Band with Its Heart on Its Sleeve"

There’s a lot of heart in the music of nature airliner. The duo of Laurier (guitar, vocals) and Eiko Tiernan (vocals) are known for their positivity and emotional power, and it’s clear from spending any time with them they’re a solid team, musically and professionally. It was a personal ad in one of Tokyo’s English language magazines that first brought them together, and from a whirlwind romance to a major surgery for Laurier to several years of hitting the stage as a duo, their life together has been full of surprises.

Ahead of their June 16 gig at Sound Gallery Slope and a recording session overseas, we talked to them about the sound of California poppies, the power of positivity, and having a musical “change of heart.”

So the two of you met through an ad in the personals. How did things go when you first met?

Laurier: Our first phone conversation, in a way, was the genesis for nature airliner, because when I first heard Eiko’s speaking voice, my heart stopped. It sounded corny, but the first thing I said was, “your voice sounds like California poppies! Listening to your voice, I can see these California poppies swaying in the wind beside the ocean.”

Eiko: So we decided to meet for one dinner, and we decided to meet the next day as well. And then we decided to meet that weekend. And two weeks after that, he proposed to me.

Laurier: She was over at my house and I think it was after we had breakfast at a nearby place, and she handed me cutlery, and nobody else in my whole life had ever handed me cutlery except for my mom or something.

Eiko: Sounds like he was mistreated for a long time…

Laurier: And then on the way home from the restaurant, she looked at me out of the blue and she says, you know, “sometimes I see a little girl in your eyes, and I love her!” And I hadn’t come out to her as being genderqueer yet, and I almost started crying again, because nobody has done that to me either. Everybody has always had issues with my bisexuality or with my gender issues or whatever – boys and girls had difficulty with it. And the fact that she embraced me completely – I think I proposed to her that night.

Eiko: We got engaged four weeks after we met, then got married four months after, in February 2008. In March, he had open heart surgery.

What happened?

Laurier: Long story short, I was born with Marfan Syndrome, and I was diagnosed as a teen, and then when I was 27, I decided that I didn’t want to have any more heart checkups. Because I was tired of being stressed all the time, and the more I stressed, the more I had chest pain, and every time I went for a checkup I had more chest pain and I thought fuck this, I didn’t want to know any more. I’m just going to live my life, and just die when I die.

Then, when we got engaged, I told Eiko about my heart condition, and she said, when was your last checkup and I said, “It’s been seven years,” and she said, “you should really get that checked out since we’re getting married.” And when we had the checkup at St. Luke’s International Hospital, they said sometime in the next year, you should have surgery just to make sure that nothing bad happens. At the time I was teaching English part time, and I said, can I wait until the summer break, and they said it should be fine. So I thought I had nothing to worry about, but three months later I had to have emergency heart surgery.

And you said that your musical personality changed after your surgery?

Laurier: Yes, exactly. Apparently – someone sent me an article from a medical journal – the phrase “a change of heart” is a medical phenomenon, according to a lot of cardiologists. A lot of people who have heart surgery go through an emotional change. I was laughing about this with a fellow cardiac patient recently – it was most notable in the recuperation phase after the surgery. The day after I had my heart surgery, I was lying in my hospital bed and trying to watch a DVD of Nirvana and I was crying and sobbing. And Eiko said why are you crying you’re watching one of your favorite bands, and I said Kurt’s dead and I couldn’t deal with the heaviness and the negativity of the music any more. So over the next two years after the surgery I slowly but surely couldn’t scream the songs I used to scream any more.

When I was recuperating from the surgery at home I started writing a stack of acoustic songs that were more gentle and had higher melodies than my usual stuff. And I could have transposed the songs, but at the time I didn’t like doing it. So I asked Eiko if she could try and sing some melodies in our bedroom just to see what it would sound like. And her voice to me was so amazing and I asked her, “baby can we play just one show?” She was kind of against it but she reluctantly agreed.

And Eiko, have you been playing music most of your life?

Eiko: No! My music career for my entire life is, when I was 17, I formed a girls’ rock band in high school. I started the band, but I was kicked out because I was too bossy. So my music career was almost four months long. Then after that, no; I never played guitar, I never sang in front of people.

Where was your first gig?

Laurier: It was at the Dickens. It was a terrible gig. It was June 2010, Thursday.

Eiko: There were only three customers there, and they were strangers. I just remember after the gig, I just told him, “I’m not going to do that any more! This is the last time.”

Laurier: We were offered another gig really quickly at a different venue and there were a lot of people and it was jam packed and the applause kept going, and that was the turning point.

How often were you gigging once things picked up?

Once or twice a week. At the peak of our gigging we were playing 10 shows a month at one point.

Were you getting paid?

Laurier: Oh, yes, we were consistently getting paid, and that’s one of the reasons I put my solo career on hold.

Eiko: We were always either getting paid, or we got free food and drinks, and didn’t have to pay the noruma [a customary fee that bands often have to pay to small venues in Japan].

Have you tended to play more the kind of foreigner-friendly venues, because I know that most “live houses” tend to charge? Why did you not have to pay?

Eiko: We generally bypassed the live houses, and only paid to play once in our career. We try to play more restaurants, hotels, and other venues where we are not expected to pull customers on our own.

What was the gig that you did that was the furthest from Tokyo?

Laurier: It was a charity concert for The Marfan Foundation that took place in Rochester, Minnesota, last year.

What are some of your most memorable shows?

Laurier: For me, it was the Hard Rock Café Guam. Six months after we formed this unit, HRC Guam gave us a two-night engagement in their chapel-shaped room. The acoustics were fantastic, and it was truly wonderful to perform on their stage after having swum with tropical fish (in the ocean) all day. Another one of my favorite shows was the concert we played at the Annual Conference for The Marfan Foundation in Rochester, Minnesota, last year. Being born with Marfan Syndrome, and having bypassed an early death that it almost caused, I have long dreamt of “giving back”, and the way the parents of the children applauded nature airliner during that show was one of my favorite moments of our career so far.

Eiko: I think it was when we played in Korea (at Zandari Festa) in 2015 and 2016. Since Zandari Festa is a SXSW-style festival, they really appreciate the musicians and we were treated really well. When you play at a live house in Tokyo, often the venue is crusty and you’re at odds with the noruma system. However, in Korea, I could have pride in being a musician.

How many albums and singles do you have?

We have one EP and four singles. It’s a relatively small number for the amount of time that we’ve been together, and that’s something that we are looking to improve upon, this year.

And, you are going overseas to record at a currently confidential location at the end of June?

Laurier: Yes, that’s true. That’s also why I’ve been playing so many solo shows around the Tokyo area recently.

Will Eiko be singing at any of these shows?

Eiko: I will only sing at the Friday, June 16 show, at Sound Gallery Slope in Shinagawa. Laurier is going to open with his solo act tiernan, and we will finish up with a pianist, to give people a sample of a full band project that we’ll be launching later on.

What would you say is the big motivating factor behind nature airliner? Why should people come see your gig?

Laurier: We want to empower people, because there is so much negativity in the world these days. Some people will rightly say that we are at the most peaceful point in human history, but it can sometimes seem like the world is getting worse, because there is such a magnifying glass on all the negative things in this world, due to social media and other things. So, we want to bring the power of positivity to people, and the power of positive thought, because as I said, I am living proof of its power. Before my heart surgery, I was a negative asshole and nothing ever worked for me, no matter how hard I tried. But since I had my change of heart, things that once seemed impossible are coming to me with ease. - Tokyo Weekender Magazine


"After His Aorta Burst, Laurier Tiernan Changed His Tune and Formed Nature Airliner"

There’s a fine line between losses and gains, enemies and friends, and blessings or curses: Laurier Tiernan, from folk duo Nature Airliner, teetered this line almost his whole life.

At 14, Tiernan was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome—which is characterized by a possible abrupt aorta bursting in one’s heart. Marfan syndrome kept him arm’s length from near death his whole life. So naturally, Tiernan turned to punk as a means of expressing an angst warranted by the sudden impending death that could have happened at any moment.

Tiernan was angry, which persisted in his professional and personal life, and he was plagued with bouts of depression that only furthered his descent.

“I was faced with an early death, if not, a sudden death, since my aorta could rupture quite unpredictably, so I was struggling with depression, and the side effect of the drugs they had me on gave me depression and suicidal thoughts,” he says. “I could feel the weight of this existential angst, even with the help of five therapists in five years.”

Regardless, Tiernan translated this anger and confusion into his music and after a few minor successes, including airplay on Radio Canada and CBC, Tiernan still couldn’t find his bearings in Canada as a musician. But during a low point, a friend of Tiernan’s started a record label in Japan and agreed to release his first EP. Tiernan took the opportunity to start anew and the EP was relatively successful.

Not long after moving, at the age of 34, Tiernan’s nightmare came true and his aorta burst. After a grueling eight-hour surgery, thanks to Dr. Sunao Watanabe and a team of five other doctors at St. Luke’s International Hospital, Tiernan’s life was saved. With his nightmare finally faced, Tiernan had a new outlook: his attitude changed, his music relaxed, and he found inner peace.

“Before my surgery, I was always negative, because of my impending death, and from that I had negative things happening, I just attracted it. After the surgery, I had such a change of heart, literally. My actions became more positive, my thoughts became positive, I was just so grateful to be alive.”

With a new perspective and his wife Eiko joining him on his musical endeavours, Nature Airliner was born and the positives started to grow. With a sponsorship from Taylor Guitars and Levi’s Jeans, a U.K tour under its belt and offers to play festivals overseas, Nature Airliner embraces the demons and now translates them into something a little more digestible.

“My music as a solo career was steeped in misery and anger,” Tiernan says. “But since Nature Airliner formed after my heart surgery, it’s completely different; it’s no longer angry or miserable songs, and instead we play music we want to say inspires or encourages people. We want to play music that urges people towards their ideal happiness no matter the odds—that’s our message—we want to uplift against all odds.”

This change of heart has also given him a new perspective on his former self, which has Nature Airliner revisiting some of Tiernan’s older, angrier songs too.

Tiernan says, “In a sense, I’m reconciling with my past to build a greater future.”

Tue., Sept. 4 (8 pm)

Nature Airliner

Shaker’s Roadhouse

$15 (All Ages) - Vue Weekly


"Japan visits the International Pop Overthrow: an interview with Nature Airliner"

The International Pop Overthrow is just what the name implies: an international festival of pop and power pop, marking its 13th anniversary here, starting today (August 30) at the Fairview Pub.


The Straight spoke to California-based IPO impresario David Bash last year about his travels to various IPO's globally and past notable IPO installments in Vancouver. 2018 finds him as enthusiastic as ever about coming to Vancouver, "which is definitely my favourite of any city I've been to,” he says.

Bash tells the Straight he’s particularly looking forward to "good food, particularly Indian at Judge's and India Oven, and of course there will be record shopping." (We’ve been recommending Noize to Go, which, last time we visited, was bursting with cool stock).

But much as he loves Indian food and vinyl, Bash is, of course, mostly looking forward to the live music. One band he’s particularly excited to see is the rootsy pop unit Pikal, from Anchorage, Alaska. “I think they’re wonderful. They're only the second band from Alaska we've ever had at IPO,” Bash explains, the first being a band called Roman Candle who played the IPO in Los Angeles in the 2000s.

There will also be several IPO regulars, including—among many others—axewoman Siobahn DuVall, youthful Liverpool-esque pop craftsmen the Top Boost, the delightfully-named Gold Stars Are For Suckers, and We Found a Lovebird, fronted by Larry Lechner, whose time on the Vancouver music scene dates back to 1980s band One Fell Swoop.

“We Found a Lovebird is an excellent pop/rock band,” Bash enthuses, “and Larry's been very cool about lending their drum kit to the festival.” (For his part, Lechner points out that the band has a new video, "Jesus and Radiohead", recently premiered by the Straight. (See also our 2017 feature with him here.)

Besides that, there are two unexpected reunions at this year’s IPO, of "the Top Drawers and the Rye Catchers, two awesome pop bands from back in the day," Bash tells readers. "They'll be part of the bill on Saturday, September 1, and everyone is getting really excited about it! Patrick Jacobson, one of the main men of the Top Drawers, moved to Yellowknife a few years ago, but will be back in Vancouver for this show, and we can't wait to see him!"

Meantime, one of the newer acts that catches the Straight's eye is Friday openers Nature Airliner, a duo consisting of Edmonton-born guitarist Laurier Tiernan and his wife Eiko. They play fragile, gorgeous, and somewhat haunting folk-rock.

Tiernan’s backstory includes a youth spent under the shadow of Marfan syndrome—an incurable genetic disorder that can lead to ruptured aorta, if untreated. The discovery that he had this condition, when he was a teen, caused him much depression. It was music that helped show him a way forward, he explains:

“In 2001 I graduated with honours from the Professional Music and Technology program of Selkirk College [in Nelson, B.C.] and won the ‘Gala provincial de la chanson’—an annual French-Canadian singer-songwriter competition—in Vancouver. This led to my first airplay on Radio Canada and CBC television, and my first royalty check; which showed me a glimmer of hope for my life.”

The road ahead wasn’t without pitfalls, but eventually Tiernan would move to Japan, marry, form a power trio called tiernan. He recorded an EP called The End of the World, but just as it was catching on, Tiernan’s aorta began to rupture. He was rushed to hospital for an eight hour emergency surgery, which saved his life.

“After the surgery on my aorta, I had a ‘change of heart’ and decided to give up my former angry punk rock career to start an acoustic singer-songwriter duo called Nature Airliner with my wife Eiko on vocals,” Tiernan explains. “I think I was making punk rock because subconsciously I was always pissed off about my life hanging in the balance, so to speak. After my heart surgery, as Eiko likes to joke, I started having more blood go to my brain, so I could think more clearly, became a happier person, and wanted to make more spiritual and more positive music.”

Eiko and Laurier of Nature Airliner
Eiko and Laurier of Nature Airliner
“More than half of our common interests are music-related,” Eiko chimes in. “In terms of our musical tastes, we are from different generations, so our tastes didn't match when we first got married. Now we both listen to 70s and 80s music quite a lot, like Cheap Trick, Queen and Fleetwood Mac. In terms of things that we disagree on, Laurier is a huge Jónsi fan, but I can't stand him. He also tends to like glitch and things like that, which I dislike.”

Speaking of influences, Tiernan nods to the “transcendental and spiritual sparseness” of the acoustic guitar on the early albums of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. “And of course, I spent my musical formative years in punk rock, so Canadian bands like SNFU and Propagandhi—as well as American bands like Nirvana—definitely had an influence on my right hand technique.”

Another thing that brings them together is a distaste for what Eiko calls “factory-made J-pop,” with its thin sentimentality and saccharine sweetness. She draws a blank on her favourite Japanese artists (but they’re from the 80s, she says, adding that “when I was growing up, most of the best music was from the U.K. or America.”) Tiernan’s favourite Japanese artists, meanwhile, are “indie artists like the grunge band D.O.G.S., the jazz singer Sachiko Hara and the folk singer Ken Hidaka.”

2018 marks Nature Airliner’s first IPO performance, and the first stop off on a small cross-Canada tour. There’s only one final question for the band. What is a Nature Airliner, anyhow?

Tiernan chuckles. “It's an anagram of my full name, but also we chose it because we are both huge fans of nature and air travel.”

Nature Airliner opens the Friday night (August 31) lineup of the Vancouver International Pop Overthrow. The full schedule is viewable here. - The Georgia Straight


"How a serious illness led a punk rocker to folk music success"

A major health crisis gave Edmonton-born punk rocker Laurier Tiernan a new outlook on life, and a new sound for his music.

The life-long rocker gave up the frenetic beats and hard edges that had long defined his work for something totally different — a folksy, acoustic sound he refined with the help of his wife, Eiko.

The Tokyo-based duo, now known as Nature Airliner, is currently on a short cross-Canada tour, with a show in Edmonton on Tuesday night at Shakers Roadhouse.

Tiernan, 45, was diagnosed as a teenager with Marfan syndrome, a condition that can cause the aorta to rupture. After his aorta dissected in 2008, he went through emergency surgery, and a lot of the anger that fit with his punk repertoire faded.

I think I grew up angry because I had the possibility of sudden death hanging over my head all the time.
- Laurier Tiernan
"I think I grew up angry because I had the possibility of sudden death hanging over my head all the time," Tiernan said Tuesday on CBC's Radio Active.

"I think, subconsciously, I was always angry because of that. That my life was always in the balance."

Love and music in Japan
Tiernan moved to Japan after college to work on his punk career, at the invitation of a friend who had set up a record company there.

After lacklustre sales from his first album, he started again with a new group and was getting radio play around the world.

"I thought this was my big break — and then my aorta dissected just as [things] were taking off. So I had to have emergency heart surgery. And after that, I kind of lost my taste for angry punk music," he said.

In recovery, Tiernan said he started writing acoustic songs.

The duo Nature Airliner released their album, Cardinal, last year. (Supplied/Nature Airliner)
"But I couldn't sing them myself. I'd ask Eiko to sing the melodies in our room to try it out. And as soon as I heard her voice, I thought I really, really want to try doing something with her."

Eiko Tiernan didn't have a musical background, aside from singing in a girls band in high school.

"I just took it as, 'This is the family business, so I have to get into it,' " she said.

Her voice fit perfectly with the gentle melodies her husband was writing.

Success as a folk duo
The pair released a new album, Cardinal, last year.

While the sound of Nature Airliner is totally different than the music Tiernan started his career with, in some ways it is still influenced by his illness.

Tiernan said the single Letting Go was written to encourage people to pursue their ideal lives.

"I spent 10 years feeling suicidal," he said. "I overcame the depression. I now want to write songs that will hopefully give people energy to go forward, and pursue the life of their dreams, regardless of what's being thrown at them." - CBC


Discography

4. Cardinal [Album]

- on iTunes and Amazon, November 10th, 2017

3. Twelve Billion Arms [Single]
- on itunes, June 21st, 2011

2. EP [EP]

-on itunes, November 15th, 2010

1. Merry Christmas (to Our Loved Ones) [Single]
- on itunes, November 1st, 2010


Photos

Bio

nature airliner is an alt-country duo based in Tokyo. They have toured extensively around Japan, and have performed abroad in contexts like the Hard Rock Cafe (Guam), Zandari Festa (Seoul), the Troubadour (London, England). Their work ethic has garnered them a handful of major sponsors; such as Taylor (guitars) M.A.C (cosmetics) and Onkyo (in-ear monitors). Their latest album - "Cardinal" - was recorded at the former Columbia Studio A, in Nashville, Tennessee, and was released as a digital-only album on November 10th, 2017. On April 29th, 2018, they embarked on their first UK tour, including performances at the Hard Rock Cafe Edinburgh, and four showcase performances at the Liverpool Sound City festival. The CD-edition of Cardinal (including the non-album single, "Letting Go") was officially released on June 1st, 2018. 

All of nature airliner's recordings to date are available at all major online retailers. http://www.natureairliner.com/

For inquiries and bookings please e-mail: natureairliner@gmail.com

Band Members