For nearly ten years, The Aviators have delivered catchy hooks, grooves and horn lines to funk-hungry ears around the country. The band are about to call it quits, but not before serving up one last morsel, The Ballad of Sour Jayne, a spicier and more surprising album than their first. Melody Thomas talks to the boys.
IT’S a strange sequence of events: A band releases an album, tours and promotes it, makes a music video, and then breaks up. But for The Aviators, the split is less about the end of a good thing, and more about the beginning of great new things.  
“It’s just a natural fruition. You don’t want the fruit to go overripe, so you pluck it and give it out to people,” explains trombonist Dave “Skip” Brennan.
Most members will go on to form new bands, some will head into different creative fields, and a few, like bassist Simon Love, are heading off overseas.
Brennan: “It’s not because the love is gone, it’s because the Love is going to Europe.”
It’s hard to imagine the love ever disappearing from this group, some of who have known each other since primary school.
“We’re all really good mates who’d hang out with each other anyway, so we may as well be in a band. The worst thing about the split is gonna be not seeing as much of these boys who I love so much anymore. But I’m really excited about moving on to fresh musical projects,” says guitarist Paddy Bleakley, one of three who’s been in The Aviators since it started.
When we spoke to The Aviators last week, they were in the middle of their final South Island tour, taking a break from gigging for three nights in the middle of Peel Forest, near Geraldine.  Not surprisingly, they were out playing Frisbee.
“Yesterday we drove to a place surrounded by snowy mountains, and played Frisbee for an hour and a half. That was a real highlight,” says Love.
“And we’re eating like kings,” adds Bleakley, “Beef stew with pumpkin mash and mushrooms, and mulled wine with brooded sultanas, which means they’re soaked in whisky, and the night before we had a lemon roasted chicken with veggies.”
Fine home dining, relaxing group exercise, and bonding in romantic settings - The Aviators sound a little like a modern couple. Their music video, for the single Hits and Misses, also features a male model in a state of undress – are they ready to be re-labelled The Gayviators?
“If we found a new following in the gay community we would fully embrace that. Well… at least to the extent of being warm to it,” laughs Love.
“That was actually the original name of the band, but David and I went back in the closet, so we had to change it,” adds Bleakley.
Jokes aside, there’s one woman all band members consider a love of their life. Sour Jayne, the old tour bus to who their album title pays tribute, was sold to finance the album.  
“My best memories will always be of touring with Jayne, when everybody was together on the same mission,” says Bleakley.
A freshly repainted Jayne lives in Levin now, home to a large family who loves to holiday.
“One guy wanted to do her up, then sell her on for profit, and he was offering $500 more. But the Levin family loved her more; we knew they’d treat her better. We couldn’t see her go to a bad home,’ says Bleakley.
Now touring in two station wagons, they’ve played venues in Arrowtown, Raglan and the Catlins, to name a few. But it’s their homecoming they’re most looking forward to.
“As awesome as all those gigs have been, in Wellington we’re gonna play ‘til we’re bleeding,” says Love.
Fans of The Aviators know what that means: bring your dancing shoes, and lots and lots of energy.
The Aviators album release tour, Bodega, April 29.