Read the full interview and find out why Tom decided to start Angels & Airwaves, what he thinks Mark and Travis will think about his band, and why people will think God wrote half of the album.

You can also view a scan of the article.

Tom Delonge has spoken exclusively to Kerrang! about his new project Angels and Airwaves.

In his first interview since Blink 182 announced in February of this year that they were taking an 'indefinite hiatus', Delonge has revealed how he was inspired to get a new band together while the punk-pop trio were touring Europe at the end of last year, in support of their last self-titled album.

"Just before all the blink 182 shit happened when we were in Europe, i has a really wierd epiphany," Delonge confesses to K!, "My heart was beating about 100 miles a mintue for three weeks straigght and it had never happened to me before in my life. I really felt like i'd been touched by something and i felt i was meant to do something massive"

Delonge started working on the fourthcoming Angels And Airwaves album whis is expected to be released in April, shortly after blink went on hiatus. Recording took place in the Foo Fighters' Los Angeles studio.

"As the new record started coming together, it was so beyond my expectations," he says. "I honestly think that people are going to flip out when they hear this. I'm not even joking right now, it's so good. It's so much better than anything i've ever done and i think people will suspect God came down and wrote half of it!"

"It sounds like it has the conceptual depth of Pink Floys, the anthemic architecture of U2 but with Tom from blink writing all the melodies," Delonge adds. "All the songs are very cinematic, anthemic and epic-sounding. The music sounds angelic. Every song gives you the chills and you feel like you want to cry but you're conquering the world at the same time. It sounds like stadium rock done by a band that's meant to be the absolute biggest band in the world."

Angels and Airwaves also includes guitarist David Kennedy (Boxcar Racer/Hazen Street) and drummer Atom Willard (Rocket From the Crypt/ The Offspring). At the time of the interview, Delonge couldn't announce the name of the bassist, but internet reports last week stated that Ryan Sinnm formerly of The Distillers, has joined AAA.
A DVD is also currently being made, which will accompany the band's forthcoming debut album.

"The movie is a third documentary, a third love story and a third CGI," he explains."It's the story of the album, which is the story of the break-up of one of the biggest bands in the world and the creation of the world's greatest band.
"We're currently making the CGI sequences and we're workign with one of the leading art supervisors of 'Star Wars'. I'ts incredible stuff," Delonge adds.

"The documentary part is about me, my life and creating the new band and the love story is about a girl that's on drugs and a guy that's running from his life and they come in contact with the music and it changes them. The whole idea is that even though there is struggle in your life you can find happiness and love within the worst of times."

The frontman is feeling extremely confident about his new band's potential, even going as far to suggest that his former bandmates, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, who have formed a new band called Plus-44 together, will be disgruntled when they hear the album.

"When i sat around planning this, i thought, 'Not only am i going to be back but i'm going to be about 10 times bigger that i ever was'. I feel like there's nothing that can stop me," he says. "All the bands say that they're going to be the biggest band in the world but no-one has any idea what i'm doing. Once they find out, they're all going to say, 'Shit, fuck! We've got a lot of work to do.' When this band lands on the world next year, it's going to be like the second coming of Christ!"

"I always though Blink 182 was my life but i've realised that it wasn't, it was just the first stepping stone," Delonge admits "I've heard Plus-44 and it's totally different to what I'm doing. They (Hoppus and Barker) are amazing musicians but i wouldn't want to be in their situation when this record comes out next year. That's how confident i am about this"

Blink 182's 'Greatest Hits' album is out on October 31 via Universal/Island.

Guitarist/singer says he hasn't spoken with bandmates since hiatus.

Tom DeLonge wants you to know that his new band, Angels & Airwaves, will probably change the way you listen to rock and roll, will more than likely alter your life and will most definitely be the most famous band in the world. You've just got to give him some time.

"Right now, I'm a song and a half from finishing the greatest album of my career, and I swear it's going to be something that will compete with the greatest rock records of all time," he enthused. "Within two years, we'll be the biggest rock act in the world. There's never been a rock band from America that sounds like us. And I hope that what I just said raises more than a few eyebrows."

This isn't the first time he's said all this. Just last month, he released a statement expressing those exact same sentiments, a move that sent Blink fan sites abuzz with excitement — and a bit of resentment, too. But despite the fair share of naysayers that his statement stirred up, DeLonge isn't backing down from his earlier assessments. In fact, he says he'd like to take them all one step further.

"Like I said, there's never been a band from America that sounded like this. Pink Floyd, the Cure, the Police, U2, Coldplay — they all come from Europe — and this band, it has the conceptual depth of Pink Floyd, it has the anthemic architecture of U2 but it has the energy and youthful vibrancy of Blink. I'm freaking out," he laughed. "And I'm not saying this lightly. Every single person who's heard the music understands. If I ever had the chance in my life to do something on a whole different level from anything I've ever done before, this is it."

DeLonge has been hard at work on the Angels album since March, holed up in his home with friends like former Distillers bassist Ryan Sinn, former Rocket From the Crypt drummer Atom Willard and guitarist David Kennedy, who played with DeLonge in his Blink side project, Box Car Racer. And while he won't give away the title of the album or the names of any songs, he did say that the Angels album is "autobiographical," that all of the songs toe the seven-minute mark and that he plans to have it in stores next spring.

"It's cinematic and massive. All the songs have dramatic crescendos and huge stadium choruses," he said. "If you slam the Cure, Pink Floyd, U2 and the Police into one band with me singing, that's kind of what it will sound like. It's everything you like about those little bands, but also with parts of Blink in there too."

And right about the time the Angels & Airwaves album hits stores, you can look for the accompanying movie to drop as well (DeLonge wouldn't answer if the film will play in theatres or will just be released to DVD). And it should come as no surprise that the film shares the album's rather, um, grand ambitions.

"Since [Pink Floyd's] The Wall, this has never been done. A third of the movie is CGI, a third of the movie is a documentary and a third of it is a love story. And it basically tells the story of the breakup of one of the biggest bands in the world and the creation of the world's greatest rock band," DeLonge said. "It's a documentary about the past year of my life. But the whole thing is done with metaphors and analogies of World War II. Because World War II was good versus evil, the grand sense of purpose, and seeing as though I started this new part of my life specifically for my family, I felt that it would be an appropriate reference point rather than using modern images."

According to DeLonge, both the Angels & Airwaves album and film will tell his side of what happened last February when Blink broke millions of hearts by announcing they were going on "indefinite hiatus". While both Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker have since moved on to various other endeavors, DeLonge has somewhat famously remained silent. And he'd like to keep it that way. Kind of.

"I love Mark and Travis to death. They were my best friends in the world, and I miss them tremendously. At the end, our priorities were mad different, and I haven't spoke to them since [the hiatus]," he continued. "So instead of talking, I just made this album and this film. There's a story line that runs throughout it, it's autobiographical, I felt like I lost my two best friends, I lost the band I created, and I did it all for my family. And so I decided to write the album and make the movie about my life. But rather than sit there and whine, I used analogies about love and war, because that's what this whole thing was like. Playing music in the wake of the Blink thing was like finding love in the middle of a war zone."

— James Montgomery

The official line-up for Angels And Airwaves has been confirmed today on their MySpace page.

Tom DeLonge, vocals and guitar (blink-182, Box Car Racer)
David Kennedy, bass (Box Car Racer, Hazen St)
Atom Willard, drums (The Offspring, Alkaline Trio)

Guitarist says album from new band, Angels & Airwaves, is nearly finished.

In the six months since Blink-182 announced they were going on "indefinite hiatus," two-thirds of the band have remained visible and active, freely discussing their plans for the future. Bassist Mark Hoppus has shifted his attention to producing albums and hosting podcasts, while drummer Travis Barker has been doing basically everything under the sun, including starring in a reality TV show, launching a shoe line and working on no less than three other musical projects — the Transplants, Plus-44 (an electronic-tinged project with Hoppus) and an unnamed DJ/drummer collaboration with DJ AM.

The same cannot be said, however, for Blink guitarist Tom DeLonge, who all but disappeared in the wake of the Blink bust-up and has remained silent ever since, granting no interviews and making zero public appearances.

Understandably, fans began to wonder just what DeLonge had been up to. And now, they know ... sort of.

On Friday (September 16), DeLonge released a rather grandiose, cryptic and curiously punctuated statement on his whereabouts. Apparently, for the past six months, he's been hard at work in the studio, "preparing the greatest rock and roll revolution for this generation," a.k.a. the debut album from his new band, Angels & Airwaves.

"I love my fans, and I promise, I will not let you down. The music that we all grew to cherish that was made, not only will continue, but will be much, much better," his statement read. "All I can say is hold on, and prepare ..."

DeLonge's statement mirrors the bombastic braggadocio of an earlier statement posted on — and since removed from — from Angels & Airwaves' MySpace page, which read in part, "I have a new band ... and it is the most amazing music I have ever made by a long shot. I am two songs from finishing the best f---ing album anybody has heard in 20 years."

"This is the best music made in decades ... It is so much more powerful, emotional and melodic than Box Car and Blink put together, that I am currently sh---ing my pants," the statement continued. "You all must know, I didn't want Blink to go on hiatus, but it had to ... you all will learn why ... soon."

OK then. Blink's label, Geffen Records, did confirm that the Angels & Airwaves album is nearly completed, and that a "major announcement" from the band will be coming in the next few weeks. In the meantime, the band's official Web site, angelsandairwaves.com, has gone live, though there's not much on it other than a pretty bitchin' logo.

But when we'll hear a note of DeLonge's "amazing" music remains to be seen. In the meantime, Blink fans jonesing for a fix can take comfort in the fact that Plus-44 is rolling along nicely, and the band plans on hitting the studio sometime in October.

— James Montgomery

For the past 6 months, Tom DeLonge has been in the studio preparing the greatest rock-n-roll revolution for this generation.

Stay tuned to Macbeth Shoes for the latest news regarding Tom DeLonge's new band, Angels and Airwaves

"I love my fans, and I promise, I will not let you down. The music that we all grew to charish that was made, not only will continue, but it will be much, much better. All I can say is hold on, and prepare..." -- tom delonge

More...

Tom DeLonge's project Angels And Airwaves has nothing to do with Purevolume. The manager of Angels And Airwaves said this:
"There has been no music released yet on the web? Somehow on PureVolume.com they say it is the music and it is not. I was laughing because that music sounded so funny. I just want to set the record strait."
Thursday afternoon we might some more information on Angels And Airwaves.

“Never before has a non-profit organization touched me like Keep A Breast. Like millions of others, I have been plagued by the devastating affects of breast cancer hitting not one, but multiple members of my family. Most recently, my aunt Theresa was diagnosed with breast cancer. It is extremely painful to sit and watch, helplessly praying for a life to be saved from an unrelenting, unseen force.

I have searched for ways to be involved; to do my part in what I think is everyone’s responsibility to help others in need. But, in my search, I have never found an organization that makes a greater impact then Keep A Breast. They have created an organization that calls to action those that can truly make a difference in the years to come - teens and young adults. Their events are inspiring, beautiful, modern and unique.

With all this said...be ready this October 2005 for amazing events in New York and Los Angeles where my friends and I will be doing our part to support the cause!”

-Tom Delonge
musician & owner of Macbeth Athletics

The manager for Angels and Airwaves has told the "official" announcement on the music project will be on Macbeth's website very soon.

The following is taken from AbsolutePunk.net:

Tom Delonge's (Blink 182/Boxcar Racer) new project/movie, Angels And Airwaves now has a myspace.com page. Rumor has it, Tom will be an actor in the movie, but details on that aren't available yet. According to his resume, Michael Ostman will be playing a soldier/businessman in the movie (not Tom, like previously reported). Also, the company that is making the movie is Resting Bird Entertainment...hmm... is the countdown on their website solved?

From actor Michael Ostman's website:

(9/9/05) I'm in a movie called AVA. My first day on set, I worked with Blink 182 and Box Car Racer frontman Tom Delonge. His new band is called Angels And Airwaves. I was told the movie might be released in correlation with the bands new album. Thanks to Tom's fans for the cool emails regarding my role in the film!

"Ok guys. I have a REALLY BIG thing here, You ALL should read this. I know it's a long text, but read it anyway. Thanx to my friend Joakim for this.

You all remember the picture on Chrisgeorggin.com.. It looks like a team-photo. Tom is on it and his wife and maybe Ava, and Chris, and alot of other people. That pic came after the "hiatus". Well, in front of them all, there is a banner and on that it said "TAKING STEPS TO CURE CYSTIC FIBROSIS".
(for you who don't know what CYSTIC FIBROSIS is, it is a disease).

After my friend had seen that picture, he wrote a mail to Chris and asked him why Tom and Chris were involved in cystic fibrosis. Chris answerd like this: "the cystic fibrosis thing isnt really a project tom and i are working on. we did a walk for it since i have cystic fibrosis and him and his family always support it so they did the walk."

Well, today my friend search for Angels & Airwaves on google. The first thing that came up was a site that are fighting against cystic fibrosis.

Don't you see an connection?
The name of Tom's "band" is Angels & Airwaves. And those who is fighting against cystic fibrosis is also calling themself that. And that picture with Tom and Chris, where they are on a "fight cystic fibrosis" thing. It seems like Tom was/are supporting them.

The link to that site is:
www.ic-network.com/icangels/

Or just search on Angels and Airwaves on google.

One thing more, on the band "logo", that you can see on their myspace, it's says AVA, Toms dautgher. Could she have that disease? But i don't know, becasue if in the mail to my friend chris said he had that disease. And both can't have it.

BUT THERE IS DEFFENTLY A CONNECTION!

Cred to my friend Joakim. he wanted that i should post his email, don't know why.. here it is
sython182@hotmail.com
Dr. Sweden | 09.08.05 - 1:58 pm | #"
-Thanks Joakim

- PunkDisasters.com

ThatDudeIsHomo brought it to our attention that the name 'Angels And Airwaves' was recently trandmarked. Looking a little deeper we found what it is trademarked for:

IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: a series of compact discs and audio cassettes and tapes featuring pre-recorded music and musical sound recordings; a series of pre-recorded music video cassettes and laser digital video discs featuring music and musical performances

IC 025. US 022 039. G & S: clothing, namely t-shirts, long sleeve t-shirts, sweatshirts, hooded sweatshirts, zipper hooded sweatshirts, jackets, tank tops, hats, beanies, and skull caps

IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: entertainment services, namely, live performances by a vocal and instrumental group

Now im sure your're all wondering who trademarked it right? Here's the name that the United States Patent and Trademark Office lists:

Owner (APPLICANT) Thomas DeLonge

- b182.com

At AbsolutePunk.net the post about "Angels and Aiwaves" was later removed and replaced with:

If you saw the post earlier, know this: I'll have the scoop very soon (tomorrow if we're lucky). I promise it's something you won't want to miss. If you didn't catch the cryptic posts earlier (and me being confused as all hell), that's okay - bigger, better, news is coming your way.