… The Airborne Toxic Event, a Los Angeles band that takes its name from UD‘s adored White Noise, by Don DeLillo. In this interview, the band’s leader explains how he chose the name.
I read that you took your name from the novel White Noise by Don DeLillo. For those of us who are unfamiliar with the work, what is that referring to?
In the novel, the Airborne Toxic Event is a big cloud that is a result of a giant chemical explosion. The huge poisonous cloud threatens a nearby town. The hero, Jack, gets exposed to it. He’s told by the doctors that he’s going to die. When he asks when, the doctor says, “You may live a week; you may live 40 years.” Which is really unhelpful because that is true for everyone. The Airborne Toxic Event [evokes] his fear of death. It changes him in these really important ways. The same thing happened to me in [the] year I formed the band, with my mom dying and my own health problems.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:55PM
What I remember most about White Noise (I’ve only read it once, I’m sorry…) is that everything, deep into the writing style, is interrupted by a commercial break.
An entire culture with ADHD.
It resonated with my frustrations, as well as my loose attitude toward structuring complete thoughts when I write.