I didn't know who All Time Low was until @JackAllTimeLow tweeted @Ravens asking how to watch a preseason game on his computer from abroad.
I thought to myself, 'Wow, this guy's a pretty big fan."
Turns out it was Jack Barakat from the Baltimore-based punk band All Time Low. And yes, he and his band mates are huge Ravens fans.
After some chatting and texts I've come to find out All Time Low may is probably the biggest pro-Ravens band out there (at least that I know of).
With more than 450,000 Twitter followers, four albums and a worldwide tour, All Time Low is climbing the Ravens celebrity fans charts.
That's more Twitter followers than former Ravens cheerleader turned pop culture celebrity (and George Clooney's girlfriend) Stacy Keibler and nine times the followers as Baltimore-born actor Josh Charles. Michael Phelps crushes in followers (1.3 million), but he's also Michael Phelps.
"I do feel like between our Twitter followers and everything, we are up there," Barakat said.
"The Ravens aren't like the New York Giants who have all these big celebrities. The Ravens kind of fly under the radar, which I prefer. They don't have that many celebrity fans. I feel like we have a chance to get up there."
The Cockeysville, Md., natives were just 11 years old and not big fans when the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2001. Since then, however, they grown into their fandom and tried to convert their legions of mostly teenage fans.
The band wears Ravens jerseys in videos and fans abroad who don't know anything about the NFL still come to shows wearing purple. They've stirred up Ravens chants during shows and have a released a new song called, "For Baltimore."
"We have people from all over the world who are Ravens fans just because we are," Barakat said. "It's hilarious."
The worst part of their job is being on the road a lot during the football season. If there aren't televisions within view from the stage, the drum tech offstage gives hand signals with score updates to the band while they're playing.
There were televisions when All Time Low was playing a show at the House of Blues in New Orleans. It was when the Ravens were in Pittsburgh last year, so the band was pretty distracted.
"Every time the Ravens would score a touchdown, in the middle of the song we'd be like, 'Yeah!'" lead guitarist Jack Barakat said with a laugh. "We had to apologize at the end of songs." When they are in town, the band tries to get to as many games as possible.
They were at the season opener against Cincinnati and will be in M&T Bank Stadium for Sunday's game against the Patriots. I may be tailgating with them so keep an eye out and stop by.
