Airborne Toxic Event 'self-titled' album

The Airborne Toxic Event is an American indie rock band from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz that consists of singer and guitarist Mikel Jollett, guitarist and keyboardist Steven Chen, bassist Noah Harmon, drummer Daren Taylor, and keyboardist and violist Anna Bulbrook. Named after a section of the book White Noise, by Don DeLillo, the group incorporates string instruments and keyboards, along with a standard rock lineup of guitar, drums, and bass guitar.

The band formed in 2006 by Mikel Jollett. During a one-week period in March 2006 while working on a novel, Jollett learned that his mother was diagnosed with cancer, he broke-up with his lover and was diagnosed with genetic Autoimmune disease. Even though the disease encompasses over 70 different disorders, Autoimmune led Jollet to develop 2 cosmetic conditions: Alopecia areata and Vitiligo . Spurred by these events in his personal life, Jollett turned from writing prose to writing songs, and soon realized he was composing an album instead of a novel.

To supplement his fiction writing, Jollett had earned income as a freelance writer, contributing to organizations such as NPR , Los Angeles Times, Filter Magazine and Men's Health . Since the creation of the band, he has continued to write only fiction. Jollett's short story "The Crack," was published in the Summer 2008 McSweeney's issue 27 sandwiched between short storys by Liz Mandrell and Stephen King

The Airborne Toxic Event played its first show in Echo Park in the fall of 2006, less than a month after it was fully formed. In December 2006, Rolling Stone named them one of the "Top 25 Bands on MySpace." They went on to receive positive responses from music blogs and press, notably L.A. Weekly and Los Angeles Times, which named the group one of the top three L.A. bands to watch in 2008.

During the band's January 2008 residency at the popular Silver Lake venue Spaceland , Los Angeles radio stations KROQ, Indie 103 and 987FM all officially added the as-yet-unsigned band's song "Sometime Around Midnight" to regular rotation. Other stations across the nation soon followed.

The band has grown continuously: On April 24, 2008 the band made its national television debut as the musical guest on the late-night NBC talk show Last Call with Carson Daly.The band next performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on August 1, 2008. In December of 2008, iTunes named the band's song "Sometime Around Midnight" the number one alternative song of 2008. The band performed on the Late Show with David Letterman on January 16, 2009. The Airborne Toxic Event are scheduled to perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 14, 2009.

more Airborne Toxic Event information
The Airborne Toxic Event will be playing a handful of east coast shows next month with more to be announced shortly. In addition to two opening slots for The Fratellis, they will be performing at Pianos in New York on June 12th. The band's self-titled debut album will be released on August 5th on Majordomo Records.

Since arriving on the Silver Lake music scene, the five-piece band--- Mikel Jollett (lead vocals), Daren Taylor (drummer), Noah Harmon (bassist), Steven Chen (guitarist) and Anna Bulbrook (keyboardist and classically trained violinist)--- have quickly made a name for themselves, selling out a five week run at Spaceland and later a headlining show at The Troubadour. The Los Angeles Times calls their music ""Poetry you can dance to...nothing short of amazing" and LA Weekly says ""Absurdly rich with talent... Jollett's baritone could compete with some of the best in Britpop. Live, the group delivers total cohesion and unflappable energy."

Fan interest reached a new level before the band even had management or a record label, when Los Angeles rock stations KROQ and Indie 103.1 both added the song "Sometime Around Midnight" to their rotation after catching Airborne's dynamic live show. Soon after, "Sometime Around Midnight" rose to the top spot on national tastemaker KROQ's most requested list and has remained in the Top 10 most requested for nearly three months.

Tour dates:
June 7th, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
June 11th, Paradise (Sold Out), Boston, MA
June 12th, Piano's, New York, NY
June 13th, Webster Hall (Sold Out), New York, NY

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Airborne Toxic Event - self-titled