Air Traffic are one of the breed of piano-led English indie rock bands, prevalent in the early 21st century; they hail from the sleepy seaside town of Bournemouth on the South Coast, not a hotbed of musical heritage to date. The group's name originated from its rehearsals in an abandoned industrial unit near the runway at Bournemouth International Airport, where air traffic control signals could be picked up on the band's equipment. Singer, pianist, and main songwriter Chris Wall's roots go back to Ireland -- both his parents were of Celtic descent and his uncle Jimmy McCarthy was a folksinger living in the town of Cork. Wall met drummer David Jordan and guitarist Tom Pritchard while still at school and they formed Air Traffic as a sideline to their exams, only really taking a potential career in music seriously during their gap year while in Queensland, Australia. On returning to London, the three 21-year-olds recruited a fourth bandmember, bass player Jim Maddock. Their first single featured the tracks "Just Abuse Me" and "Charlotte," and was released as a limited edition of 500 copies on the Fandango label, the independent record label of live music promotion company Club Fandango, in July 2006.