The Airborne Toxic Event

Talked about by everyone from Rolling Stone magazine to U2 as "ones to watch", Californians The Airborne Toxic Event create grand, frantic, orchestral indie rock that recalls the gothic splendour of Arcade Fire and the stadium pop ambition of Coldplay. Legend has it that in the same week that his mother was diagnosed with cancer, his girlfriend broke up with him and he discovered he was suffering from the skin conditions Alopecia areata and Vitiligo, budding writer Mikkell Jollett turned to songwriting after he realised that his half-written novel was more suited to lyrics. Taking their name from a section in Don DeLillo's book White Noise, the band quickly built up a big local reputation, becoming playlisted by some LA radio stations before they were even signed to a record label. Festival appearances and support slots with Razorlight, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and The Fratellis followed as the band released their self-titled debut album in 2008.

Please enable Javascript to view this page competely.