We want to sweat and scream with our fans

Last updated 12:26, Thursday, 06 November 2008

WHAT do Airborne Toxic Event sound like? The Clash? Babyshambles? Arcade Fire? Bruce Springsteen?

Interacting: Airborne Toxic Event

One American blogger has compiled a list of more than 50 bands who are comparable to the Los Angeles five-piece, who bring their sound to The Brickyard, Carlisle, next Thursday.

But frontman Mikel Jollett doesn’t believe the hype.

Speaking while on his way to Derby, where the band kick off a set of 30 gigs in 30 days around Britain during November, he says: “It’s very flattering, but in a way it’s premature being compared to the Clash and Bruce Springsteen.

“We are just brand new, and we have got to earn that kind of comparison.

“Bruce Springsteen wasn’t Bruce Springsteen until he was Bruce Springsteen.”

Airborne Toxic Event – named after a cloud of gas in a novel by

postmodernist writer Don Delillo – appeared on the scene last year with debut single Does This Mean You’re Moving On, a short, sharp shard of a tuneful magic.

They have played a smattering of shows in England, as well as receiving airtime from indie DJs Steve Lamaqc and Zane Lowe, and will bring their spirited live experience to Carlisle for the first time next week.

And anybody expecting static indie shoegazing could be in for a shock.

Mikel says: “The whole point is to interact with people.

“We want to make people dance, we want to sweat with them and scream and jump about.

“The point isn’t to look like you’re not trying.”