Airborne Toxic Event have just been to the UK, for just 5 dates including Coventry's Kassbah and the Koko in London, before jetting back to the USA again. We had just 10 minutes to talk to lead singer and guitarist Mikel Jollet who called us from the USA before boarding the plane for last week's shows, so we fired as many questions at him as we could!
Mikel you used to be a freelance writer what was the transition like from writer to forming a band and crafting lyrics? I sat alone in a room for about 5 years working on novels, journalism and essays to pay the rent! Then I started writing songs at like 2am I think you feel more comfortable admitting things at 2am rather than 2pm and loads of songs must have been written in that mind space. After that, I just picked up a guitar and started playing. 5 hours a night quickly went to 6 hours a night. Then a week became a month, a month became a year and I had over 1,100 songs that I needed to do something with!
You were signed to independent label Major Domo before being courted by various record companies. How did you reach the decision to go with Mercury and why? When we first came out we signed with Major Domo as all the major labels wanted us to change the album, rewrite and reproduce. But we were like this is our record not a demo! All Major Domo said was "hey we like your record and wanna put it up!" Mercury didnt want to change our record either. They just said "we love your record". We would have walked if they wanted to change a thing! So we signed to the largest record label in the world, who are now putting out a home recorded record we made it at a friend of ours house! See rock and roll is not that fucking hard!
We never thought we would be in this world of radio, press and shit though! If we just got out of LA if woulda been good! I just never thought we would be here!
You've supported quite a few mainstream UK bands including Franz Ferdinand and the Kaiser Chiefs. What do you think of the British music scene in comparison to the US scene at the moment? I think the audiences are pretty similar it's the press that's different. The US sees Indie music as an underground music scene. The press in the UK want you to fit into a type; everyone is all about the aesthetic rather than your songs. I think they are out of touch with what people like you're supposed to be like this person and that person, but we're just not doing a 'thing'. We have met some great journalists here in the UK, but the question always is whether you fit into the mould or not. How good are you at being Oasis? Well it's just not who we are!
The European crowds are so new to us! We don't know how anyone knows who we are as the records not out! They are so enthusiastic and so wide eyed it's unreal. Very confusing!
You did a 30 shows in 30 days UK tour in 2008, visiting every major UK city, including a residency at the Dublin Castle in Camden, London. What was this like? Do you have a favourite UK city to play in? Yeah that's right we did. We got to see some lovely cities! Stoke on Trent, Yeoville, Fife, Northampton, Southampton, Carlisle, Hull we tried to cover every single spot in the UK! We got to see a few of the cities I really love Cardiff and I quite like Manchester too!
Your new EP is out shortly entitled Happiness is Overrated. Why are you releasing an EP? Hey listen to this song! (laughs). We like the opening statement of this song (Happiness is Overrated) as it encapsulates a lot of what this band is about! You see it in all the self help books "Happiness in 5 steps" etc, but what is important about life is purpose. At some points in your life you may have to sacrifice happiness for purpose. Happiness is only one emotion amongst many. People feel down if they don't feel happy but there are things you can do if your life goes awry!
Your UK dates start tomorrow. How are you are feeling about it and how would you describe your live set? Oh gosh man, I don't know! It depends on the night. Something has to happen or otherwise it's not rock and roll!
Just as quickly as the call began, we had to wrap things up so that Mikel could answer a few more questions from other journalists before rushing to catch his flight to the UK. Be sure to Airborne Toxic Event at a venue near you!
article by: Michelle Owen &Tricia Williams
published: 11/05/2009 08:49
FUTURE GIGS
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