INTERVIEW
All Time Low
Alice Gee | 17/09/2025
All Time Low are on a an all time high with the launch of the brand new album ‘Everyone’s Talking’. For the band it marks a connection to music reconnecting with their love for the creative process. Having navigated emotional highs and lows, connect and disconnect, the band are ready for a new era balancing their excitement. The album is a labour of love, made with intention throughout with Alex learning the right moment to let go and pass the baton to the fans. Alex opens up on the bands next chapter, from striking a balance between being adventurous and staying true to the bands roots to the gratitude to the band feel in still being able to do what they love most.
Alice
Hi Alex! Hope I didn’t wake you up too early! Are you calling from the city?
Alex
I lived in LA for a little while, but the longer I was there, the more I found I wasn’t a city boy. We're all from Maryland originally, so I moved back to be with family and live in the woods.
Alice
I'm a bit of the same really. I live in London currently, but I grew up in the country side so I'm debating whether to make a move.
Alex
I mean, I loved it while I was there. I lived in the valley, it's a slightly different speed. It was great but it kind of served its purpose and its time for me. And then I was like, You know what? I just don't think city life is for me, but I mean, London may be a slightly different story. I think I could potentially live in London.
Alice
Do you know what? It’s a little similar to New York, just not as intense. Where I live in north London it’s a little like suburbia, so it is a bit quieter, but as someone who’s brain is non stop, I do wonder, if a slower pace would do better for me.
Alex
That was what I was always up against living in. La, was that the constant pull to be doing the next thing. I need to be in a place that moves slower around me, so that my quick, moving brain isn't literally a magnet to all this.
Alice
You have new music coming out! It's been a hot minute, so I imagine you're being pulled in every direction at the moment, in terms of promo and getting ready for tour.
Alex
Well, you know, obviously setting up new music, setting up a record, there's a lot to. We're getting ourselves out there as much as we can and but it's exciting, you know, we literally just finished the album, it’s being mastered today. So we're very much at the precipice of where I don't get to tweak or change anything anymore. It's like it's not mine anymore. I'm handing it over to the fates of everyone else. It becomes everyone's album at that point. So it's an exciting day. We've been plugging away at it for a good amount of time now, so it feels nice to have a complete body of work that's, you know, finished.
Alice
I’m so sorry to have missed you in London the other week when you were travelling, but speaking of travelling you’ve got a lot more coming your way
Alex
We've got a big tour ahead of us this fall, and then obviously, shortly after that, we're back in the UK playing all the arenas, which is very, very exciting. We haven't been to the UK in like, two, three years to play shows. So this is a big moment. They're big gigs going back to the arenas, which is always daunting, but it's exciting because they're on sale now, and it seems like there's a lot of excitement, and people who are chomping at the bit for those tickets. We're feeling good. We're in that stage now where a lot of the hard creative work is done, and now we get to shift gears and ready to play this live and bring people together. And that's always really celebratory.
Alice
For me, it's often hard to know when you're creating something, when to stop, and when to trust that moment when it's done.
Alex
That's something I've learned. There is a moment where you have to pull yourself away, because you can always go and keep tweaking, keep rewriting things, keep trying new ideas on a song. But I think it's almost like that idea that the more changes you make to the original idea, is it even that idea anymore. So I try to stop myself at a certain point, and if the songs are just not getting there in my mind, then it's like, maybe the song is just not the one and I think that's an important and valuable thing.
But also, there's always this moment for me where I have to coach myself now back to the moment in the studio where we're all up and just jumping around and everyone's vibe, and everyone's heads are going and it's like, yes, this song, this idea is awesome. There is something great here. There's a pureness to it. The more you work on something, you kind of lose that. You can you lose the focus of the thing that made it magical to begin with. Good practice for me is reminding myself, no-no, rewind back to that moment, because that's how hopefully people are going to feel when they hear it for the first time.It's about not losing sight of that moment and what made this song special.
Alice
It's a good skill to have. Because you've been doing this for, you know, over 10 years how has the music evolved to where you find yourselves now writing this new chapter, and what you want to kind of say and do with it.
Alex
I think a big part of this now is there's a lot more intention in everything we're doing. And what I mean by that is, when we first started we were quite a bit younger. I mean, we've been doing this for over 20 years. But when we first started, we were just coming out of high school. We were inspired by bands like The Offspring, Green Day, Blink and kind of emulating what they did on and off stage in their music and the banter and everything. And it was kind of about just chasing the fun of it all. It was loud, fast, energetic music. We're just cruise control. I think now having done it for 20 years, we’ve kind of ridden the highs and the lows of it.
There's a lot of gratitude that goes into every step now, just realising, taking pause, stepping back, and going like, we're really quite lucky to still be here doing this, and getting to have another go at it and the fact that people still care and give it the time of day. The way that I see it is that we just go in with a lot of gratitude now for getting to have the platform and having the opportunity. Because there are a lot of artists out there who never get that opportunity, or there are a lot of artists out there that have their moment, and then the moment is gone and that's it. So I think the fact that the band has stood the test of time is something that we really don't take for granted.
It's about telling stories that still feel like they apply to us now, you know, we've always written as the boys that we were and the boys that we are. So I think our music back when we were 20 years old is different from the music we're making when we're 35 plus.
Alice
Baring in mind your early releases where in my teenage years, and I feel like there's something nice about, you know, those years are so formative. You're able to look back and see the progression of it all, almost, whilst also having your fan base who have, almost experienced that all with you and been part of it in a way which is quite emotional.
Alex
It's pretty wild to get our heads around. I think one of the things that we often see is that at this point our band somehow has become multi generational and that's a pretty wild thing to get your head around. I didn't know it was a dream of mine, but I think now that we're here, it's like, wow, we've become this band that means a lot to not just the people that were with us when we first started, but there are people that are have been discovering us as we've progressed. We go to our shows, and we see, people that are coming as full families. People will pull me aside as I'm walking to the bus or something, and say, I was at your show 15 years ago and now I'm here with my daughter, or my son or and that's a pretty mind blowing place.
Alice
It's the best sort of memories. When I was younger it was mine and my dads thing to go to gigs together from about. We’d often go to Shepherds Bush Empire and watch all the bands there, and they are such beautiful memories for me. So it’s lovely for you to be watching your fans experience that.
Alex
I think music for everybody is formative. And you know, when you like music, especially at a young age, music is so integral in anchoring itself to really massive core memories. Those are the stories that when people share that with me, the way a song has connected with them at an age where it will forever mean something to them, it’s mad that this is my job, you know, it makes it, something that is kind of supernatural in a way.
Alice
How do you balance then, you know, writing, you know, things have a natural evolution, and so does sound and where you are as a band and over the years?
Alex
It can be tricky, because the more you do it, the more, especially as a band, the band becomes its own identity. Threading that needle can be tricky, because you always run the risk of alienating fans from the thing that they’ve attached themselves to with the band. Fortunately, I think that we've been granted a really wide lane. I say that a lot, but we have, we have always tried new things. Even back on our early albums, there was always a song or two that was a bit of an outlier and a bit of a thing that would challenge the status quo of what people knew “All Time Low” to be. And sometimes it ended up being a super popular song on the record, and other times it was like the weird one. I think that that little bit of evolution allowed us to grow and grow and incorporate a bit of that weirdness into the next full body of work.
I think over time it slowly allowed us to evolve in any direction we wanted to go. And there have been more extreme cases of that and less extreme cases of that. You know, I remember we put out an album called “Last Gen Renegade”, and the first single from that record was called “Dirty Laundry”, and it was a very different sounding song from what people had come to expect a first “All Time Low” single to sound like. I remember at the time, the Internet was ablaze with, with people being like, What the hell is this? This isn't my “All Time Low”. But in the moment, it felt important for us to do something different like that. It was kind of a necessary step in a very different direction to open up our world a little bit wider, and to show people that we were not a one trick pony. It didn't always have to be one thing that we were known for, we could expand and do some other things and now that song is a massive staple in our show, and when we don't play it live, the internet is ablaze with people going, why didn't you? So it's just this thing that's the natural progression.
I think you have to challenge yourself to make changes, and I think you have to also challenge the audience to change with you and to be down to that ride. You know, at the end of the day, if you don't like it, you don't have to listen. So it's an easy compromise, and sometimes you will rock the boat as an artist in a way that you'll lose some fans here and there, but the hope is always that they kind of come back and go, Oh, you know what, with a little context and 17 listens, I get it now, I get what you're going for.
Alice
There’s got to be a joy in trying something a little different.
It think craving change even if we are a little scared of the outcome is natural. How do you manage to strike a balance between not taking things too seriously while still making music that feels meaningful?
Alex
I think as a group we've found the sweet spot between enjoying ourselves creatively, knowing when to not overthink something or contextualize a song that's maybe more cheeky or tongue-in-cheek, vs knowing when something we're working on holds weight, and recognizing that we need to hold space for both in order to make a complete body of work. We've always taken the creative side of what we do quite seriously in the sense that we want people to get something out of it and walk away satisfied. The other side of the coin is maybe how we carry ourselves on stage or in our music videos, allowing ourselves some levity.
Alice
It really feels both you and your fans have aided that growth. But how do you manage to stay connected to the original spark that united you as a band, whilst evolving with your audience?
Alex
We recognize within ourselves that we have to keep pushing every time we sit down to make something, try new ideas, throw some things in the mix that feel unexpected. If we don't do a few things that shake up the audience here and there then in my mind we stagnate, and I think we've been at our best when we push the envelope a little bit.
Outside of that, I think the spark lives in all of us being absolutely enamoured with the live show. Some artists get road weary, understandably so, but as a band and as individuals we all love performing so much that every time we hit a stage we feel invigorated.
Alice
Will the new record be more of a conversation with yourselves, your fans or the world at large?
Alex
Not to cop out with this answer, but in my mind it's a bit of everything-- There's personal reflection that broadens into more worldly themes; I try to write from an authentic place and usually pull from within for that, but I'm also not interested in making music that's so self-centered and personal that no one else can relate. I think there's a beauty in finding the sweet spot where personal experience intersects with the audience's perspective.
Alice
It’s how we connect with one another, I think I often connect with moments that music beautifully helps me understand more than others. Have there been any specific moments that shaped your new music lyrically or emotionally?
Alex
Our band was in a pretty dark place for a couple of years, post pandemic. We'd lost a bit of that spark and love for the band and hadn't quite found our sea-legs again in the touring space. At times it felt like we were touring more because it kept the machine that All Time Low had become running, rather than doing it for the love and appreciation of the project. It's bound to happen when you do something long enough, but it took us doing some soul searching to get to the other side of that slump and find the passion and joy again to make this new album. There's a lot of those themes of rediscovering your passion, rekindling old flames, and putting your demons to rest on this album that poured over into the lyrics.
Alice
In finding that passion again I imagine there’s been quite a relief. I think it’s normal and healthy to reevaluate and evolved. How do you balance staying true to your roots while also pushing your sound forward for longtime fans and new listeners?
Alex
We've never really made a conscious effort to stay true to any sort of roots. Maybe in the early days there was some kind of self-imposed ethos we had to hold ourselves to, but the more we've done this the more we learned it's about being true to who we are now that leads to the best version of All Time Low. We are always growing and evolving, but we're also the sum of our parts, and to that extent I think there's always going to be echoes of by gone eras in our latest works. We try to keep it sincere and we just hope with every drop that people come along for the ride.
Alice
Where did you find unexpected inspirations—personal, musical, or cultural—that influenced this new material having written as a band for so long?
Alex
I always love pulling from my childhood when we get creative, going back and listening to what my parents had on around the house and drawing bits and pieces of inspo from them; Genesis, The Beatles, Prince, Quincy Jones, The Cure, Queen-- I think there are nuggets of all of these points of inspiration kind of subtly laced throughout the new music.
Alice
The music industry has evolved so much since 2003, when the band was first established. Has this evolution changed how you go about navigating your personal identity and mental health in public spaces?
Alex
We came up along-side the rise of social media both as a means to connect with people, and as a marketing platform for the music. Over the years, at least to me, that sphere has become a much more easily manipulated space, very polarizing and toxic. At this point, I've taken a pretty big step back from social media, and use it in a much different way now. I'm much more interested in the connections we form with our audiences on stage, and the messages we deliver in our music. That's freed up a lot of bandwidth for me personally to find enjoyment and positivity in more rewarding endeavours.
Alice
Looking back, how has your relationship with mental health changed from your early days as a band to now?
Alex
There's a greater level of awareness, a greater sense of self and self-care both at home between tours and on the road. Balance.
Alice
What are you most excited about with the new tour
Alex
Delivering the best All Time Low show yet. We always look to be better at what we do, and execute at a higher level. We're taking this tour around the world, and we're just so looking forward to sharing the new music with people.
Alice
Having accomplished so much, is there a bucket list of things you’d still like to explore?
Alex
Would love to see All Time Low play Glastonbury. One day!