There’s a long-running joke that the biggest music fans on earth are, in fact, musicians. All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth would happily back that claim.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone AU/NZ, the frontman recalled running into Garbage’s Shirley Manson leaving a hotel, a moment he described as “bonkers”.

“I’m such a huge fan. That kind of thing doesn’t happen enough, it’s nice to run into your idols,” he said.

“It’s those moments where you zoom out and you go, ‘What is life?’ When someone tells me that we’ve been a part of their process or their journey in making music, it’s one of those things I have a hard time getting my head around.”

For a band with nearly two decades of global touring, chart success, and a generational pop-punk legacy, you’d assume All Time Low had outgrown starstruck encounters. Not quite. Gaskarth admitted that the fan-to-musician feedback loop still feels surreal.

“I think that we still deal with a bit of imposter syndrome,” Gaskarth explained. “Running into someone like Shirley, I’m going, ‘I love your band, you and Butch [Vig] are a huge part of why we make the music we make.’ It’s cyclical, I guess. It’s funny to be in a band where we’ve been able to be that for some people. It’s humbling.”

Now in their second decade, All Time Low still have the chemistry that first propelled them onto global radars in the early 2000s.

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Their set at Good Things 2025 in Melbourne, which Rolling Stone AU/NZ gave a positive 3.5-star review, switched between nostalgic favourites like 2009’s “Lost in Stereo” and a decent dose of newer, softer material. Predictably, the review noted that closer “Dear Maria, Count Me In” scored one of the loudest reactions of the day, with the Melbourne crowd singing back every syllable.

The last time Gaskarth was in town for Good Things was over five years ago, with Simple Creatures – his project with blink-182’s Mark Hoppus. He admitted that the energy then was much different.

“That was a different time because we were figuring out how to be a band,” he said. “It had a much different vibe and dynamic. It’s awesome to be back here with the boys. The last time we were here, we were headlining in 2023. It’s always fun doing a festival like this, festival gigs are just really cool. We know so many people out here, we keep running into old friends.”

All Time Low will wrap up their Australian run tonight in Adelaide at Hindley Street Music Hall – select tickets are still available here.