THE JULIUS AIRWAVE

When Rick Colado, Chris Gibson, and Mark Hubbard started making music together in the late ’90s as The Julius Airwave, their teenage sound was confident and wild. “Our music eventually became restrained and unsure,” says singer and guitarist Colado, “and now, it’s just fun. But we are an indie rock band.”

This year, the band has released two new singles—Slow Erode and 3 x 2—and has a few new songs in the hopper. It’s been decades since the band has recorded together at all, but these new tracks maintain the thoughtfully driving feeling that The Julius Airwave became known for around Northeast Florida in the early aughts. 

“We just liked playing music with each other,” explains Colado, who in recent years has been performing as frontman of Rickolus and other projects. “Back then, we were just kids smoking cigs, stomping on distortion pedals, smashing drums, and screaming into crappy PA systems.” 

In their formative years, the band pursued commercial success, “which influenced everything,” according to Colado. “During this time, we were more influenced by the people around us,” which included producers and industry representatives who didn’t seem to have the band’s best interests in mind. Citing industry influence as the reason, Colado felt that the music the band were making at the time sounded “uncertain.”

After relinquishing a commercial focus, the band took a DIY approach, but the trio eventually moved on to different projects. Now, they’ve re-joined forces to record new songs and play live. “We just are having a good time,” says Colado. “It’s really relaxed. We have no expectations for these new tunes or the band aside from having fun.”