The Right Kind of Famous

A Chat with The Airborne Toxic Event

As a first time interviewer, my nerves were imploding as the phone rang with a Restricted listing. Mikel Jollett of the Airborne Toxic Event is a brilliant musician, and an intimidating guy for those new to journalism. My heart was pounding as I awkwardly introduced myself to a man confident in his every sense of self. Playing guitar and keyboard while singing lead vocals and writing lyrics for the Airborne Toxic Event, Jollett is a man of honesty and integrity that is sometimes lacking in the music industry today. His authentic perspective is a reminder of what music is all about, or perhaps was all about.

The Airborne Toxic Event has picked up huge momentum since the release of their debut album last August. U2 and Franz Ferdinand are just a few of the big-name artists being compared to Airborne Toxic. Those groups are huge names, and leave Airborne with big shoes to fill. In spite of being confronted with enormous compliments, Jollett’s ego is left untouched: ‘€œThat’s just shit that people say. You just kind of go about your life, and you’ve gotta be yourself and be your band and do things that you do. U2 wasn’t U2 after their first record. You kinda have to earn that’€¦ The reality is we’re a new band; we’re on our first record. We’re just sort of touring and putting on our shows and meeting a lot of fans and having kind of cathartic experiences with people. That’s mostly what we’re interested in.’€

In this, Jollett has made it clear that the world of business and money will not be a cause for any loss of self. He consistently remains true to the person he is, without faltering from his values for the sake of publicity or success. ‘€œWe made this record ourselves in a room. You know, we didn’t have any label or anything or any manager; we just made it at our friend’s house. I think for our next record, the plan is to make it ourselves at a friend’s house again’€¦ And so now, we’re on this huge, insane, mostly urban hip-hop label. They kinda let us do what we want. I think they’re kinda challenged by us. I think they’re a little bit like, ‘€˜Who the fuck are these kids?’. Like, ‘€˜What the fuck are they doing?”€¦ We think it’s kinda funny. They kinda just let us do what we want. I mean, if they didn’t, we would just walk away, anyway.’€

Prior to the formation of the Airborne Toxic Event, Jollett experienced a period of great misfortune, one with which most cannot begin to relate. In one week, his mother fell ill with pancreatic cancer, he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and to put icing on the cake, his relationship fell apart. Instead of running from his issues, Jollett created art. His life became words on a sheet of paper, which he openly exposed to his fans. In response to his lack of fear towards revealing his life to the world, he says, ‘€œThat’s sort of the deal when you’re an artist or a writer. That’s your job, is to just kind of lay yourself out there. I’m so used to it. I don’t think there’s anything that I’m going through that anybody else hasn’t gone through in their own lives, you know? In This Side of Paradise by Scott Fitzgerald, [Amory] was talking to his mentor and he’s talking about a scholastic life, and the difference between a scholastic life and a non-scholastic life. And by scholastic life he means, as an artist or a writer, you go through the same ups and downs as everyone else, and the same joys and heartaches as everyone else; the difference is that you leave a record, you know? Or, in my case, you make a record.’€

His experiences opened a new chapter in his life, but Jollett refuses to allow his success born from struggle to set him apart from others going through tough times of their own: ‘€œI don’t know if I know anything that anybody else does other than like, if fucked up shit happens to you, you should just let it figure you in some way. I think it’s good to let things just figure you to become changed by them and then take that disfigurement and use it to make some sort of art’€¦. Most things in life that are worth while actually require that you be unhappy for a period of time while you, you know, do the thing that you’re trying to do. And they require sacrifice; they require purpose; they require actually spending time wrestling with ideas.’€

It’s no secret that the music industry is not the same as it once was. Money is now being made for all the wrong reasons. People are being positioned on pedestals and dubbed ‘€œcelebrities’€ for having a pretty face or a good voice after being digitally altered. Few acts nowadays become famous based solely on their talent and passion’€”a big exception being the Airborne Toxic Event. But being on a stage does not raise them higher than their fans: ‘€œThe people that come to our shows, they work, you know? They have jobs. We don’t have jobs. We get the opportunity to show up and play music all the time. It’s a real privilege.’€

Without live performance, artists almost become figments of imagination. You can hear and see them, but nothing is tangible until they’re right there in front of you, singing the songs you sing at home. Shows bring the audience together with the artist and connect them through their common passion. Jollett put the experience into his terms, and described exactly how a live show should happen. ‘€œI think we kind of see ourselves as an art project disguised as a rock band. We don’t ever really want to be putting on a show in front of people; we always want it to seem like the show is happening to people. At a good show, that’s what happens. There’s a sense of everybody in the room together, going through the shit together. The point is at the end of this cathartic experience and you’re able to return to your life and see it in a different way. That’s very much what we’re after. We see ourselves as servants of that. If the show is a restaurant, we’re the cooks; we’re not the patrons. We’re the ones that are there to work and we enjoy it.’€

During the past year, the Airborne Toxic Event has put on around 200 shows, and still have another 50 lined up to perform before Christmas. Throughout their rocket towards success, the band has remained humble. Their relationship with each other is reflected by their skill on stage and their connection with their fans. ‘€œOur band, they’re all just generally good people. I mean, none of us are perfect, but at the end of the day, they’re all just good-hearted people. Everyone’s pretty funny, too. We kind of make our own fun and we tend to have a good time on tour. Everyone works pretty damn hard, so it’s a good project.’€

The Airborne Toxic Event brings a dusty perspective back into view. They are doing what they love for all the right reasons, and people are recognizing them as something worth taking time to appreciate. It’s refreshing to find a group of musicians dedicated to the power that music holds. Their goals are not jaded by the desire of fame or fortune. Rather, these five musicians hold their values true and their futures unwritten. Airborne Toxic has a long career ahead of them, and even if they don’t consider themselves an inspiration for others, it is clear that they certainly are.