Boys to Men

In 2003, four high schoolers in Baltimore, Maryland, created a band: Alex Gaskarth, vocals and guitar; Jack Barakat, guitarist; Zack Merrick, bassist; and Rian Dawson, drummer.

The boys practiced in their basements, and their parents drove them to concerts. Documentaries and social media clips from the early 00s show them living out of a van as they traveled across the country for shows.

All Time Low has amassed significant success since its first album, “So Wrong, It’s Right,” which “Rolling Stone” lists among the top 50 greatest pop-punk albums. Defying the odds of the pop-punk scene, All Time Low has steadily increased its fanbase and fame over the last 20-odd years, including putting on a hometown show for 14,000 people and selling more than 3.5 million albums in the U.S.

All Time Low’s music has more than five billion streams worldwide, and the song “Monsters” featuring blackbear secured the band the number one spot on the Billboard Alternative Airplay Chart for 18 weeks in a row. The musicians also launched a wine company, Everything is Wine, in 2019; their first bottle sold out within an hour.

On October 17, a new album joins the catalog: the band’s 10th studio-length album, “Everybody’s Talking!” complete with an accompanying headlining tour in the U.S. this fall.

“We’ve come a long way since some of those [early] records, but it’s nice to know that we’re still painting with some of those same colors,” Gaskarth says. “What’s great about that is there’s something for everyone on this record. For long-time listeners, I think people are going to be really excited about the body of work as a whole.”

The Making of “Everybody’s Talking!”

When All Time Low was in its infancy, the band operated on a cycle: Write and record the album in the studio, release it, tour, then repeat. Now, with time and experience on their side, the band does things a little differently. Gaskarth and Barakat write songs on the road — whenever inspiration strikes. When it’s time to create the album, the band already has songs, recordings, and concepts to choose from.

“Time is what makes you realize if a song is great, just good, or just okay,” says Gaskarth, who describes the band’s songs as stories.

While plenty of Gaskarth’s stories stem from his personal experiences, creating enough material to fill 10 albums, he often looks to those around him — and their experiences — for inspiration. This practice, he says, creates songs that are more universal; songs that can appeal to a wider range of listeners.

“The more you write music and the more time spent making albums, you begin to look outwards at the same time you look inwards,” he says. “I think it’s important to cast a wide net when you’re writing about feelings and big emotional moments because it helps [the music] to become a little more universal.”

During the creation process, the albums and the stories they hold are All Time Low’s. The members and producers are the only consumers. They are the only people to fall in and out of love with these songs, to nurture the album to completion. But everything changes on release day: The album takes on a new life and becomes the audience’s.

“It’s a really daunting experience when you write a new record. Finally getting to play [the songs] in front of an audience is cathartic, and still it’s very scary because you never know how they’re going to react,” Dawson says. “Going on tour at the top of a record cycle is still one of the most exciting things about being in the band for me.”

Releasing an album then immediately going on tour is the ultimate definition of real-time feedback — the musicians have no idea which songs will become hits until they’re played live.

“Sometimes, it happens the way you plan out in the studio, [thinking] these songs are going to be fan favorites, and sometimes, you play a song once or twice just to see how it goes, and it goes off. And you’re like, ‘Huh, I never thought that song would have had that life,’” Barakat says.

Bound by Ink

It’s not uncommon for the band to see a fan with a creative rendition of their album artwork or lyrics, and Dawson’s awe at this dedication never fades: “We have such a cool, fortunate life, and so much of it is mind-boggling.”

Fans make a commitment when they forever dedicate a portion of their skin to All Time Low, but Dawson can relate — he felt the same way about blink-182, the inspiration behind his first tattoo. Dawson describes his artwork as reflections of moments in time: “Each limb is a different era of my life.”

However, it is unique for someone to get Gaskarth’s face tattooed onto their body. “Someone in the world has a really detailed portrait of me on their leg. It’s wild and surreal that someone did that,” says Gaskarth, whose first tattoo was a trick-or-treating skeleton wearing a skeleton costume.

Gaskarth’s most memorable tattoo was his second piece, a hand tattoo — a “job ender,” he recalls it being called at the time. “For me, it was an acknowledgement to myself, making that choice to say I picked music to be a career. It’s a leap of faith when you put yourself in a role like that and hope it works out.”

Barakat’s first tattoo is the same as Dawson’s, the blink-182 bunny, and for a similar reason: “[blink-182] is the reason why I wanted to pick up a guitar in the first place, and I knew that sent me down a path in life that I never looked back on.”

Barakat’s tattoos, he believes, are the outward projection of his personality: they’re loud and colorful. “I do appreciate a little bit of chaos and a lot of colorful themes that have no actual planning, understanding, or meaning at all,” he says jokingly.

Merrick, who was the first band member to get a tattoo, got a swallow on his chest. “I just felt like that was kind of my calling,” he says. The rest of Merrick’s tattoos represent accomplishments, such as hiking Mount Fuji — a different way to tell his life story. Merrick is also a partner in Baltimore’s Layer 3 Collective studio, which came to All Time Low’s hometown stadium show last year to tattoo anyone who wanted new ink.

All four guys got tattoos in celebration of their 20th anniversary, and it was the second tattoo they share. The first was the band’s original logo, a skull and crossbones. In recalling their first matching tattoo, Gaskarth says, “That was the day we decided we’re all going to do this together. We’re bound by ink.”