The Airborne Toxic Event is a five-piece alternative-rock band which began in 2006, in Los Feliz, California, and named after a section of the book White Noise by Don DeLillo. With singer/guitarist Mikel Jollett as its only member, he first met up with drummer Daren Taylor, before being joined shortly thereafter by Steven Chen (guitar), Anna Bulbrook (keyboard, violin), and Noah Harmon (bassist).

In less than two years, and less than one month after The Airborne Toxic Event was fully formed, the group played their first show in Echo Park. Earning a huge amount of positive attention from music lovers and media members alike, a handful of East Coast shows followed, which included two spots opening for The Fratellis. Since then, the band has performed extensively in L.A. and become well known throughout the greater Los Angeles area.

In December 2006, Rolling Stone named the group one of the Top 25 Bands on MySpace, and The Airborne Toxic Event went on to receive equally positive write ups from music blogs and press; notably the L.A. Weekly and Los Angeles Times, which named the group one of the top three Los Angeles bands to watch in 2008. Previous bands to receive this honorable distinction include Cold War Kids and Silversun Pickups.

In a rare move, during the band's January 2008 residency at the popular Silver Lake venue Spaceland, multiple Los Angeles radio stations all officially added the yet-to-be-signed band's single Sometime Around Midnight to their regular rotations, while other stations in San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Seattle, and even Boston and Providence, also showed significant support for the group.