Rock and Pop: Interview - Mikel Jollett, The Airborne Toxic Event
Published: 30 September, 2010
by ROISIN GADELRAB
A couple of years ago LA band The Airborne Toxic Event took up residency at The Dublin Castle in Camden, staying in “skanky” hotels and living it up in Marathon Kebab house.
Within six months they were playing to audiences of thousands.
Now, having put the finishing touches to their second album they’re about to cross the Atlantic again, this time touring non-traditional venues like Islington’s Union Chapel (October 3).
They will also attend the premiere of their DVD All I Ever Wanted – The Airborne Toxic Event: Live From Walt Disney Concert Hall (out October 4), which has been accepted into the prestigious Raindance Festival.
Frontman, guitarist, chief lyricist Mikel Jollett is wide awake – it’s 10am and he’s at home in LA thinking about packing.
“I get up at, like, 7am,” he says. “I know it’s decidedly not rock and roll of me. The last couple of weeks we’ve been finishing this record we’ve been making for about nine months.”
Their biggest hit to date, Sometime Around Midnight, captured the attention of fans, but Mikel’s moved on from drawing too heavily on his previous break-up and says the songs have other stories to tell.
“It’s definitely not a re-read of the first record,” he says. “It’s probably both louder and quieter. I wrote the last record when I was going through a pretty devastating break-up. It was a pretty bad time.
“On this record there’s some songs about my folks and one about Afghanistan – the hypocrisy of nation building in the context of war.
“Then there’s some ballads. It’s definitely a different kind.”
Turns out the new album was supposed to be an electro mash-up effort, “but we ended up making a big rock record”, Mikel confesses.
Back to their stay in Camden: “We got to know Camden pretty well. We stayed in this super skanky hotel that had like bloodstains on the floor. It was such a grimy place, we were sleeping three to a room because we were so broke. I like The Dublin Castle, it reminded me of a lot of bars in LA. We liked the rock and roll falafel place (Marathon Kebabs), at night it becomes like a rockabilly night, people dancing and eating falafel. That was the most happening joint in London, I really liked that place.”
He’s not likely to be found complaining about touring either.
“I used to be a carpenter and my hands were sore – that was work,” Mikel adds. “The people who come to our shows have jobs and work. We don’t work, we travel around and play music.”
• See extended interview at www.camdennewjournal.com