“Hi, we’re an unsigned band from Los Angeles,” introduces The Airborne Toxic Event singer/guitarist, Mikel Jollett, to the frisky and diverse sold-out crowd at the Troub.
Two songs into the set, you would have been hard-pressed to believe that this Los Feliz quintet wasn’t signed by a Major or Major Indie (your Merges and Sub-Pops of the world), much less completely unsigned. Joined on stage by Noah Harmon (bass), Steven Chen (guitar/keyboard), Anna Bulbrook (viola), and Daren Taylor (drums), the soft-spoken Jollett crooned with his Morrissey-esque baritone and we soaked it in. The band members weren’t just going through the motions like so many other typical indie-xerox bands. They were playing with stage presence, with exuberance, with gracefulness.
This was not your ordinary hype-band.
Continue reading ‘The Airborne Toxic Event @ Troubadour, LA 3/03/08′
