The Adobe Flash Player is required to watch videos on this page

Clear For Takeoff

Play All

Check out our new album "Line Of Fire" here: http://bit.ly/I78KOr

Quick Links
About the Artist
Music
Achievements
Press Coverage
Stage Specs
Return to Clear For Takeoff's profile

At-a-Glance
One-Sheet

Hometown	Ellicott City, MD
Genres	Rock, Alt. Rock
Band Members	Brendan; Marc; Joey; Joe
Achievements	» more
Upcoming Shows	None

Contact Information:	Publicist Allison CharmCityPr@gmail.com 443-8639122 Booking Joey Booking@cftband.com 443-614-2717
# Years Experience Performing Live:	3
# Live Perfomances Past Six-months:	30
Market Draw:	Home: 251-300; Away: 51-75
Venue History:	Baltimore Soundstage - Baltimore, MD Hard Rock Cafe - Baltimore, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion - Columbia, MD Recher Theatre - Towson, MD Six Flags America - Bowie, MD Club 3 - Willmington, DE Kennys Castaways - New York, NY The Ottobar - Baltimore, MD Stevenson University - Owings Mills, MD Johns Hopkins University - MD, US Goucher College - Towson, MD Crocodile Rock - Allentown, PA Towson University - Towson, MD Sonar - Baltimore, MD The 8x10 - Baltimore, MD Charm City Music Festival - Baltimore, MD University of Delaware, Newark, DE - Newark, DE O' Riellys Pub - Philadelphia, PA Kingdom - Richmond, VA JaminJava - Vienna, VA
Opener Experience:	The Paper Tongues; Cartel; Jesse McCartney; Hawthorne Heights; The Black Keys; Aaron Carter; Ryan Cabrera; Cee Lo Green; Two Door Cinema Club; Action Item; TV On the Radio; Weezer; Flogging Molly; Eve 6; Stephen Marley
Similar Artists:	Jimmy Ear World; Fallout Boy; Green Day; New Found Glory; Something Corporate; Yellowcard
Performing Rights Society:	SESAC
Discography:	Line Of Fire EP—2012; Voices (Letting Go) Single—2012; Wake The City LP—2010

Expand All Expand All

Expand

About the Artist

With the release of their sophomore album “Line Of Fire” recorded byplatinum-selling producer Rob Freeman (Gym Class Heroes, CobraStarship, Hit The Lights), Clear For Takeoff have been blasting theEast Coast with their distinctive brand of punk-inspired...

Expand

Music

Expand

Achievements

Reached 57th in Best of Pop chart in 2014. In the top 100 for 5 weeks.

Reached 56th in Best of Pop chart in 2013. In the top 100 for 7 weeks.

Top 10 in Modern Rock, October 2012

Expand

Press Coverage

Clear for Takeoff music triumphs by Sarah Lacorte
Clear for Takeoff music triumphs locally and nationally After their set was over, Clear for Takeoff’s drummer and former Towerlight columnist Joe Whiting stood in the middle of a New York sidewalk beside stacked up amps and guitar cases. As he waited for bandmate Joey Enste to parallel park the van, he thought for a moment about how far their band had come. “A really big part of the experience for me is the post-show packing and load-out from the venue, where we mingle with the other bands and can really reflect on how much went into making the gig happen that night,” Whiting, a 2010 alumnus, said. “It kind of hit me right then and there how much had gone into getting us to the point where we could come up to New York, one of toughest music scenes to be a part of, and put on an awesome show, even if no one knew who we were.” Clear for Takeoff, founded by Enste, Brendan Biondi, Marc LaMartina and Whiting, has also had success outside of booked gigs. “One thing that was pretty neat though was our licensing deal with Hollister Co.,” Entse said. “Within three months of releasing our first album, ‘Wake The City,’ our song ‘Rockaby in E-Flat’ was put on Hollister’s Fall 2010 playlist, which was played in over 1,200 stores across the world alongside renowned artists.” Soon after, the band’s song “The Drive Home” was featured on Microsoft Zune Marketplace, a software that lets users download music, videos and podcasts, and Clear for Takeoff earned a spot in the 2010 Last Band Standing competition for DC-101’s Chili Cookoff. “More recently, we had a truly memorable experience performing at the Virgin Mobile Free Fest 2011 in September with Cee Lo Green, The Black Keys, deadmau5, and Two Door Cinema Club,” Enste said. “We were also fortunate enough to perform at Six Flags America inside the Gotham Arena with the Paper Tongues, and with Cartel this past November at the Ottobar in Baltimore.” Clear for Take Off’s sound draws from alternative and pop-rock influences like The Beatles, Queen, Weezer and Green Day, according to Entse. “The addition of classic piano however, we feel is something that sets us a little farther outside most bands in the genre, and we would be lying if we said that having two lead singers wasn’t somewhat inspired by all-time music greats – Paul McCartney and John Lennon,” he said. “We chose this as our musical arena not only because it’s music we love to play and listen to, but also because the bands we look up to are all about positivity and having the courage to stand up for what they believe in.” Whiting said that a large part of Clear For Takeoff’s motivation comes from their experience with music as adolescents.

Clear for Takeoff Talks Up New Music in HC Chatham by Onastasia Youssef
“I think we all go back a really long way as far as our musical pursuits go…” Joe Whiting, Clear for Takeoff’s drummer, explained. “My parents had me take piano lessons… So did Mark, and Joey’s been involved in school bands…After all our prior training at school, it was a natural next step to form a rock band. As we got older and were able to get into more legit venues and clubs, that’s kind of where it went from there. We were able to transition from high school messing around to being a pretty serious band.” Brendan Biondi, the lead singer and guitarist, interjects, “Being awesome!” “Yeah,” singer and piano player Marc LaMartina adds, “I think…that we all had a lot of different smaller bands that we were a part of that became pretty successful in our own right, but when we met each other and formed Clear for Takeoff, it was different. We could tell it was special compared to everything else, it fit really well, we had a lot of chemistry together, and the rest is history.” History began in 2009 when Marc LaMartina and Brendan Biondi, the band’s lead singers, met. After joining with drummer Joe Whiting and bass player Joey Enste, they formed alternative band Clear for Takeoff. Working together to create a rock sound (which they describe as “Jimmy Eats World meets New Found Glory”), they drew inspiration from their favorite bands: The Beatles, the Ramones and Queen. “Well, besides the sex and the drugs… [All laugh],” Brendan continued, “I think we all just eat, sleep, and breathe music. It’s just who we are.” In Towson, Maryland, the boys performed their first show together at the Recher Theatre in June 2010. The band’s second appearance as Clear for Takeoff was at the Last Band Standing Competition at Jammin’ Java. For some, it was their first time in a band with two lead singers. For some of the others, it was just another day in the life as a musician. Even so, they knew there was something special about this band. Similar values and music influences led to a long-lasting collaboration that eventually blossomed into their first EP, Wake the City. Brendan notes that, “Every song on the CD is special to us, because we wrote them all. ‘Rockaby in E-Flat,’ it’s a different like dance, old-school kind of vibe and it…wound up playing in [Hollister] stores worldwide.” “We had the whole story behind the album,” Joey says. “Brendan and I had a bunch of songs we recorded and Marc had a bunch of songs…. ‘The Drive Home’ was written after we had formed Clear for Takeoff, it was the first song we ever wrote together.” Joe says, “We like to have fun…one of our goals is just to make the experience fun.…” The band notes that they try not to become too gimmicky, but they like to keep their performances fresh and entertaining for the crowd. “We dressed up as Ninja Turtles on stage for Halloween.” The band’s biggest success to date was performing at the 2010 Virgin Mobile Free Fest. Its turnout – over 50,000 - was a new record for the festival, which featured performers such as Cee Lo Green. Marc states, “That was such a fun experience… our stage was right next to the West Stage.” There, famous dubstep artist deadmau5 played. “The way it was set up, every time the West Stage would end, we would play, and it went back and forth.” The band’s official YouTube channel features both behind-the-scenes video of the band’s activity and comic episodes written and performed by the band members. Clear for Takeoff credits this online presence to Brendan, who is a big fan of the video-sharing site and its many famous faces, including Charles Trippy, who attended the Virgin Mobile Free Fest. Marc added, “He’s gotten us obsessed, as well, so Brendan was the orchestrator of our YouTube stuff. He’s gotten me on it now… I love checking out live performances on YouTube.” “We love interacting with people,” Marc continues. “We want to explore it as much as possible. We’re not one of those bands who don’t really check it or aren’t the ones who are behind it… That is the most important thing to us. We run our Facebook ourselves, every comment that is posted, we see it and we respond to them. We love reading every single one and we want our fans to know that we care about what they have to say and that we appreciate them.” The band remarks on their newest work: “We didn’t showcase our writing on the first album. [The second album is] more narrative and relatable. They tell stories, and people can really get into them even more so than our first album. We’re excited to hear how people react to it and if it strikes a chord with them.” Brendan holds up a doll of R2DR: “He’s going to be playing the beeps and the boops.” Clear for Takeoff’s second EP, Line of Fire, comes out on iTunes April 21st, 2012. Be sure to buy their latest single today, and visit their official website or Facebook for news articles, music, videos, and more!

10 Reasons You Should Check Out Clear For Takeoff' by Mara Flanagan
Earlier this semester, Music Blogger Onastasia Youssef had the amazing opportunity to talk with the guys of Clear For Takeoff about their history, creative process and even their Halloween costumes. The band's new EP is out today, and we've got 10 reasons that you definitely have to check it out! 1. It'll be the soundtrack to your summer. Whether you're still on campus or you're hitting the highway, nothing will get you more fired up for the months ahead than letting loose with this EP. 2. They're nice. And funny. And all-around awesome. 3. They're produced by Rob Freeman, the superstar behind Cobra Starship, Gym Class Heroes and Hit the Lights: an awesome seal of approval. 4. They've already gone shopping with you. If you're a Hollister devotee, you've probably heard their song "Rockaby in E-Flat" while perusing the racks. Hollister tends to have great taste in music. 5. They played the Virgin Mobile FreeFest last year. Over 50,000 people. Cee Lo Green and Deadmau5. Too cool. 6. They still run their own social media. If you leave them a comment on Facebook after giving the EP a listen, they're going to read it; how cool is that?! 7. They update their YouTube channel all the time with some seriously entertaining stuff. 8. They're nearby. The band is based out of Maryland, so they play a ton of shows only a short road trip away (though we're definitely holding out hope they'll be in Pittsburgh soon!). 9. They call their fans "the squadron." 10. They're pretty epic.

Expand