“Loving a band with all your heart is something you understand when it happens to you. On the surface, others can see it as a petty obsession, but they’ll just never know the feeling of putting so much faith into a few people on the other side of the world. It’s hard to explain it to them, the listening to a song after song on repeat, the waits for new albums, the excitement and surreal sensation when you finally see them live. They don’t understand why the lyric booklets give you a sense of comfort, or why you paste photos of them all over your bedroom walls. And they can’t understand why one band could matter to you so much. And you think to yourself, ‘Because they saved my life’, but you say nothing, they wouldn’t understand.” ~ Alex Gaskarth, lead singer of All Time Low

All Time Low is one of my favorite groups of people, and they have always been one of my top favorite bands. They may be “just another band” to you, but to me, they mean everything. Would it sound too cliché to say they are my world? It’s true though, because without Alex, Jack, Rian, and Zack, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. They have taught me many things, and have inspired me to do something with my life.

I remember the day I found All Time Low. It was five years ago, when I was in sixth grade. It was the day I lost my best friend (and only friend), in a stupid fight over absolutely nothing. After crying for hours, I found myself online, searching for any kind of song to make me feel better. I found their song Weightless. The line “Maybe it’s not my weekend, but it’s gonna be my year” stood out to me. I put the song on replay; I listened to it for hours, just thinking about that one line. I became determined to live by that line. It’s five years later, and I still live by that line, because through that one line, they taught me that no matter what, you have to get back on your feet.
Another song that means a lot to me, is their song Therapy. In ninth grade, I had a run-in with a really troubled teen. She was sitting there alone, crying, and I decided to go talk to her, or maybe just offer her a hug. Sometimes that’s all someone really needs, just a hug. Well this girl, maybe she did need more, but she would never confess it to anyone but me. I became some sort of life-saver for her. She held on to me like a rock, and confided in everything to me. It wasn’t good for me in any way, shape, or form. Every one of her problems became my problem, and then I became the problem. I didn’t know what to do, and I just sort of shut down. “Give me therapy, I’m a walking travesty, but I’m smiling at everything.” And that’s what happened. Because of her dragging me down with her like she did, I ended up in therapy.
I have good situations involving their songs too. Not all of them are quite as, I guess you could say, dark. The song Jasey Rae, means a lot to me because of the “inside joke” it holds. My friend Kirsten and I, whenever we see each other, we sing out a bridge to the song. It goes, “I never told a lie, and that makes me a liar. I’ve never made a bet, but we gamble with desire. I never lit a match with intent to start a fire, but recently the flames are getting out of control.” We sing this song because, one day in our science class, she was humming it to herself. I recognized the tune and sang it out loud. We became friends in that instant. It’s true what they say, that music really brings people together. You can make really great friends through it.

It’s not just All Time Low’s music that makes me love them though. I love them because they help people achieve their dreams, and dare others to dream. It is because of them that I am learning to play the drums; that I have a dream of becoming a music producer and working for a record label. Heck, because of All Time Low, I see a future for myself; I see a tomorrow. I hope that one day I can meet them, and just let them know how much they truly mean to me.