The lead singer and songwriter has been writing paragraphs on facebook for a few weeks explaining the thought process behind every single one of his songs. Most ATE songs are very emotional and raw -- to get the story behind each song is basically priceless if you've been a fan since the beginning like me.
So yeah, if you know all their songs by heart, head over to their facebook page and read the last few entries. Play the songs while you're doing it, maybe.
My wife and I have been to 2 of their shows, she liked them a lot and I dug the "Mike Ness" type voice of the lead singer. You can definitely tell that they put a lot into their music and choose their words in a deliberate manner. "Gasoline" gets stuck in my head regularly. I can't really say that I am a fan, but I would definitely recommend them if you like a more stripped down rock n roll than has been available in recent years. Here is the link to their facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAirborneToxicEvent
Thanks I probably should have included that. I caught them on an off-day (I think the lead singer was coming of an illness) and didn't think they were too good live, but five years ago, playing only their first album, I bet it was one of the best shows you could see. I think I had the opportunity once and blew it because drugs.
Here's a sample: Timeless - I wrote this song for Juliette, my grandmother. It was a kind of angry elegy for the five family members we’d lost in a very short amount of time. Nothing prepares you for it. I think I realized I had spent 10 years writing about death as a concept to be devoured or explored or exploded — without really experiencing it. Up close it wasn’t interesting at all. Just horrible and draining and very very sad. The song is about that grief — mostly for them, for the fact that they don’t get to be alive anymore, for how boring and predictable the world seems without them. And also how after they’re gone, you can still hear them in your head: talking to you, persuading you, sharing a laugh— and you want so badly to make them proud, to become the person they imagined you to be.- Mikel