“It doesn’t matter how I end, what matters is what I stood up for”: How TX2 defeated the odds to become a ringleader in rock

Five songs into End Of Us, TX2’s rock-opera debut album that’s inspired by American Idiot and The Black Parade, Evan Thomas requests Kerrang! pay attention to one standout line. Midway through The Resistance, a song which calls out the ruling class for continuously withholding the Epstein files, he succinctly summarises the whole point of his artistry:

‘To live a life in regret is a fate worth than death.’

“The album is a concept that ends in flames and sadness, and a lot of life ends that way,” he explains. “In the album, these characters are fighting against odds they know they’re going to lose – but at least they stood up. That’s the message. The odds were completely stacked against me. It’s cool to hate me, and it’s always been that way. Andy Black told me I’m gonna wear the black hat until the day I die.”

Much like Andy’s Black Veil Brides and YUNGBLUD, Evan has polarised alt. fans around the world as TX2. Although he’s become accustomed to torrent of online abuse and criticism over his authenticity, 1.4 million people follow TX2 on TikTok, a testament to his workaholic attitude to social content and the widespread appeal of his vivid, hyper-specific lyricism.

Secretly once a drummer in an Asking Alexandria cover band, fate was always going to drag heavy music to the forefront of Evan’s artistry. Though his first singles under the TX2 moniker resembled the high-octane rap flows of Eminem, elements of rock, punk, emo and metalcore bled into the project, which now sits at the same table as Creeper and Palaye Royale. His career had lift-off in 2023 when I Would Hate Me Too went viral.

“I wrote it when I was thinking about giving up,” admits Evan. “I literally told everyone, over a funny AC/DC butt-rock beat, that I hate myself. For so much of my life, I've been [insecure about being] short – it’s not helpful – but somehow that ended up being the thing that gave me a career. Thank the universe that ‘5”4’ happened to rhyme with ‘man-whore’, because that set off the internet! I put it out there, it's my truth.”

Owning his truth has not always come easily to Evan, though. Throughout his childhood in Fort Collins, Colorado, he was discouraged from dressing how he wanted and taught that to be queer was a sign of mental illness. Moving out to Florida and then Los Angeles, the fresh headspace helped Evan understand he was indoctrinated by these “man-made” teachings and come out of the closet himself.

“I made the change, I became the person I wanted to be,” Evan explains. “I started saying what I wanted to and stopped caring about it. I also realised if I can talk proudly about being queer, then someone else who is struggling in the closet can be like, ‘He’s proud about it. I should be proud, too.’ Now, I can start making a difference for these things I have been bullied [for] my whole life.”

Particularly across the past three years, a handful of fans at TX2 shows have turned into thousands, as Evan hears first-hand how his music has helped them through adversity. Despite his massive online presence and community he calls The X Movement, Evan suggests the most meaningful moments often happen at the merch booth.

“In Denver, there was a survivor of a shooting at a queer club who had bullet holes in their arms, and they told me they were playing our music at some of the queer club meetings they had for survivors,” recounts Evan. “They were talking about how it made them feel powerful. Every city, there’s some survivor of something who's like, ‘Dude, I needed your music,’ or some kid who’s like, ‘All I do is sit alone and listen to TX2.’ Sometimes the parent of the kid will start crying, and then I have to fight back tears.”

He might be the face and songwriting brains behind TX2, but Evan’s refusal to define the project as a band or solo project is emblematic of the open-ended entity it has become. Instead describing it as a “character”, he suggests that fans “can call [themselves] TX2” just like his guitarist and housemate Cam Rostami, bassist Courtney ‘Corky’ Howard and drummer Ethan Church.

Written about his partnership with Cam, 2024 single M.A.D. finds a home on End Of Us, set in a motel shootout at the end of a complex album storyline that, in brief, follows the resistance movement against a vampire apocalypse that has taken over the government.

“M.A.D. is the survivors’ shootout with Cam and I, the last moments before we’re taken away by the vampire guards,” explains Evan. “That’s a metaphor for Cam and I, up against all the odds in our career. Cam is my right-hand man. I don’t have a social life and much family right now, all I have is my band. There’s no purpose in winning and conquering the world if you do it by yourself, and that’s why it’s mutually assured destruction [M.A.D.].”

Featuring Ice Nine Kills, M.A.D. is one of five collaborative tracks on the record, notably including six-minute art piece The End Of Us with Black Veil Brides. After being asked to open INK’s UK arena tour at the tail end of 2025, Evan remains grateful for the belief shown in him by Spencer Charnas, steadfast in the principle that he can’t let them down.

“Spencer saw the hate, and he’s like, ‘Dude, I dealt with this shit too, I’m gonna do what I wish someone did for me,’” says Evan. “He stood up for me, gave me a chance. Every single moment from here has to be [working towards] proving them right.”

Evan is visibly seething when we ask him about The Resistance. His abrupt and direct politics form an important part of his artistry, whether it’s standing up for trans rights or calling out Donald Trump and ICE.

“I once named a song after a governor in the U.S., Randy McNally, so that everyone could look up his name and see the fucked-up thing that was happening in Tennessee at the time [McNally has a history of passing bills that targeted the LGBTQ community]. I don't give a fuck what happens to me. I stand up for what I believe in, and I keep fighting.”

From the ambition of a concept album to his resolute morals, the creative force of TX2 feels somewhat unstoppable. Having revamped fear and hatred into strength and invincibility, Evan describes that mindset as a “superpower” that makes him “bulletproof”, even when the apocalypse – and the end of us – can feel just around the corner.

“If I die standing up for what I believe in, at least I die for something instead of nothing,” he concludes. “It doesn’t matter how I end, what matters is what I stood up for.”

End Of Us is released February 13 via Hopeless Records

Read this next:

• “It created a new future for us”: The story of Green Day’s American Idiot
• Black Veil Brides: “We’re really enjoying the fact that we’ve shared our adult lives together. And we continue to do it”
• The story of My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade: “When it was done, I knew that we’d created a monster”