Tom DeLonge On Angels & Airwaves’ Return: “Music Is My Life And Who I Am”

Tom DeLonge is an incredibly busy man. Not only is he developing a paranormal kids’ TV series Strange Times, tackling some jaw-dropping projects with his multifaceted To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science company and working on a six-part mini-series called Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation, this week he also returned with new music from Angels & Airwaves.

It's been two days since the trio – completed by guitarist David Kennedy and drummer Ilan Rubin – unveiled epic new single Rebel Girl on Rise Records, as well as news of their first headline tour in seven years. With the triumphant new track also set to feature on an upcoming AVA album and feature film, it's hard to imagine just how Tom has found the time to embark on yet another ambitious project. But, as he tells Kerrang!, his many ventures outside of music also impressively tie up perfectly within the band's comeback.…

“Music is my life and who I am, but I’m a lot more than that as well, and I got sidetracked starting my company because I had an opportunity," he explains of how Angels & Airwaves' new music first came about during this start-up period. "I actually created To The Stars as an entertainment company to create the multimedia parts of the Angels & Airwaves albums – it was to bill these movie projects that could be coupled with an album, so we could do these big art projects.

“One of those stories was about UFOs, and I was going to put out there some stuff that I knew had never been out there, and it would probably ruffle some feathers in a bad way in the U.S. government. I spent the greater part of a year working my way into those places within the U.S. government that manage that subject, making relationships and getting them to understand what I was doing so I wouldn’t get in their way. It’s not some big conspiracy, but it’s just a very difficult subject that they have to deal with, so I didn’t want to come out and create a bunch of uproar by putting out a hundred million dollar movie and scare a bunch of people that have hard jobs to do!

“This movie and album combo kind of came up when all that stuff started spiralling into something really big that wasn’t even a part of my initial plan. Yet it all tied up so perfectly, and it was so ambitious, that it just made sense. I said, ‘Holy shit, if I don’t jump in and do the music right now, I’ll be missing a massive opportunity to really tie everything that I’m passionate about together in one year.’ (Laughs) So that’s what pushed me to go, ‘Fuck, this is the time and this is the moment.’"

We've got a huge new interview with Tom coming in next week's issue of Kerrang!, where the musician talks all things Angels & Airwaves – from new music to hitting the road again for the first time in seven years. Keep your eyes glued to Kerrang.com for more on that soon…

Angels & Airwaves will be touring the U.S. this September and October, with tickets going on sale from May 3 at 12pm local time. Head on over to angelsandairwaves.com for information on VIP packages and meet and greets.

Catch them live at the following:

4 Phoenix, AZ – Marquee Theatre
6 Austin, TX – Emo’s
7 Dallas, TX – House of Blues
9 Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
10 Orlando, FL – House of Blues
11 Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore
13 Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
14 Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore
15 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
17 New York, NY – PlayStation Theater
18 Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
20 Detroit, MI – Saint Andrews Hall
21 Chicago, IL – House of Blues
22 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
24 Denver, CO – Summit
25 Salt Lake City, UT – The Union
27 Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo
28 Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
30 San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom

October

1 Los Angeles, CA – The Belasco Theater
2 Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
4 Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
5 San Diego, CA – House of Blues

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