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Angels & Airwaves
Angels & Airwaves, April 2012
Background information
Origin	San Diego, California
Genres	Alternative rock, Space rock, Progressive pop punk
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Geffen, Suretone, Independent - Adventure Intermedia, To the Stars
Members	Tom DeLonge David Kennedy Ilan Rubin Eddie Breckenridge
Past members	Ryan Sinn Atom Willard Matt Wachter
Website	angelsandairwaves.com

Angels & Airwaves are an American supergroup, currently featuring former Blink-182 guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, drummer and keyboardist Ilan Rubin (Lostprophets, Nine Inch Nails), guitarist David Kennedy (Over My Dead Body, Hazen Street, Box Car Racer) and bassist Eddie Breckenridge (Thrice). Former members are bassist Ryan Sinn (The Distillers), drummer Adam "Atom" Willard (The Offspring, Rocket from the Crypt and Against Me!) and bassist Matt Wachter (Thirty Seconds to Mars).

Formed after Blink-182 went on hiatus in 2005, the band has continued to record and tour despite DeLonge reigniting his career with Blink-182 in 2009. The band has released five studio albums We Don't Need to Whisper (2006), I-Empire (2007), Love (2010), Love: Part Two (2011) and The Dream Walker (2014). The project also resulted in the documentary film Start the Machine (2008). In 2011, accompanying the two Love albums, the group scored and produced the science fiction drama film Love by director William Eubank in 460 theatres nationwide during their multimedia event, Love Live. The band released an animated short named Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker and their fifth album, The Dream Walker, on December 9th. Other related media, such as comic books and a live-action film, are to follow in 2015.

Of the first two albums, the band says that they were mainly influenced by the music of Radiohead and Pink Floyd, combining them with the grandiosity of U2. Of the first album, Delonge said that it would be "the best music in generations", but afterwards admitted that during this time he was addicted to painkillers. Love project shows further blending of the band's musical aspirations of epic and grandiosity and the cultural revolution in the digital era.

Music history

Formation and origins (2004–05)

Tom DeLonge began working on new material during Blink-182's final tour in 2004 and shortly after they began their break in February 2005. For half a year he worked alone in his home studio before gathering musicians to form the band. Upon fiddling randomly for several weeks with the band's logo, DeLonge realized that if he were to invert the middle "A" of the band's acronym into what appeared to be a "V", he would have the name of his daughter, Ava. As rumors were floating around about the band's "break-up", DeLonge chose to abstain for six months from any interviews surrounding the issue and his future plans; instead he concentrated on writing and recording in his home-based studio. In September 2005, he finally spoke publicly in Kerrang! magazine, where he unveiled the name of his new band, Angels & Airwaves. The band included former Hazen Street guitarist and high-school friend David Kennedy, former Rocket from the Crypt drummer Atom Willard and former The Distillers bass guitarist Ryan Sinn. Atom Willard told Shave magazine that the experience of all the members of the band made the band formation very easy. "There’s nobody trying to figure out what is and what isn’t going to work, not just for themselves but for music and for a band, what life’s going to be like on the road and all that kind of stuff. Everybody had enough experience to just buckle down and do the work. It really has made it easier than anything else."

We Don't Need to Whisper (2005–07)

Soon after forming, the band began recording its first album in DeLonge's studio in California from mid-2005 to early 2006. However, after a fan e-mail hacked DeLonge and stole four demos, Angels & Airwaves had no other choice but to release "The Adventure" as their first single, which was leaked onto radio stations, causing a premature release on May 18, 2006. A few days later, on May 23, they released their first album, We Don't Need to Whisper. The album reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and went gold in both the US and Canada. Despite this success, critics gave generally mixed reviews, with one noting that “while well-intentioned failed to reach the lofty heights to which they aspire”, especially in light of claims made by DeLonge that the album was “the best music made in decades”. Yet, later that year, popularity picked up with the release of singles "The War", "Do It For Me Now" and "It Hurts". The remainder of the year into 2007 was taken up with tours, and in early 2007, the supergroup returned to the studio to work on a follow-up album.

However, problems accumulated and on April 23, 2007, Angels & Airwaves announced that Ryan Sinn would not play at the Free Earth Day concert at the M.I.T. campus due to difficulties within the band. Following this incident, on May 15, Sinn posted on the Army of Angels fan club message board stating that he was "no longer a part of Angels & Airwaves" and had received a call on the evening of April 19 concluding his relationship with the band. Matt Wachter (the former bass guitarist of 30 Seconds to Mars), filled in for the show and was later confirmed as a permanent member.

I-Empire (2007–09)

The second studio album, titled I-Empire and the first song "Everything's Magic" were leaked to the Internet, and on August 25, 2007, it was the most requested song on California radio station KROQ. Angels & Airwaves began streaming the song on their MySpace profile on August 28, 2007. It also became available on iTunes, and reached number three on the iTunes Rock Chart on September 11, 2007, before the song was even made available for nationwide airplay. The band recorded the video for the single on January 20 and 21, and it was premiered on MTV2 Unleashed on February 25, 2008. Their second single "Secret Crowds" was released on February 4th, 2008 along with an accompanying video. The band released a third single, "Breathe", that was released onto the Internet on June 20.

Angels & Airwaves performed at every location on Warped Tour 2008. They also made a fall tour in support of Weezer.

The band took a break from performing in 2009 while Delonge reunited with Blink-182 for a summer tour. During their time off, Atom Willard joined Social Distortion as touring drummer, while Matt Wachter and David Kennedy began work on the upcoming film.

Love Parts: I & II (2009–2013)

When DeLonge and Willard returned in the fall, the band resumed production of its next album. Love is the third studio album by Angels & Airwaves, which was officially released worldwide on February 14, 2010, after being delayed from Christmas 2009. Fuel TV also released it two days earlier for Modlife members, along with Mark Hoppus' remix of "Hallucinations" available to those who donated when downloading the album. The album was released free of charge due to "corporate underwriting". They began producing it in January 2009 but progress was slow due to Blink-182 reuniting and going on tour. The band finished the album in time for its release on Valentine's Day 2010. Love was downloaded nearly 500,000 times during the first 48 hours after its release day. The first single from the album, "Hallucinations", was made available for free through the band's Modlife on December 23, 2009. The band also released the video via Modlife on March 7, 2010.

The band toured North America, starting on March 27 in Anaheim, California. The tour ended on May 30 in Ventura, California, and Delonge returned to Blink-182 to prepare for their upcoming album and European tour. Delonge originally revealed that there would be another tour, rumored to have UK dates, after the release of the Love film in the autumn, but plans were changed due to Delonge's commitments with Blink-182. "Epic Holiday" is on the soundtrack to the German film Kokowääh with Til Schweiger.

The second studio album in the Love project, Love II, was released on November 8, 2011. DeLonge described the album as better than the first part of Love and also confirmed that there would be a box set with both albums and a DVD of the movie. The first single to be released was "Anxiety"; it was premiered following Love Live on August 10, 2011. The music video for "Anxiety" was released on YouTube on August 11, 2011. It was made available for purchase on iTunes on September 14, 2011.

Before the release of Love: Part II, Delonge revealed that Angels & Airwaves had already begun working on two new albums and two corresponding films. On October 4, it was announced on their Facebook page that drummer Atom Willard had left the band. The departure seemed to be a mutual understanding and Atom thanked the members of Angels & Airwaves for a great six years of making music together. On October 7, it was announced that Angels & Airwaves would be part of the lineup for the Soundwave Festival in Australia, in February and March 2012. It was announced on October 20, 2011, that Ilan Rubin, famous for his work with Lostprophets and Nine Inch Nails, was the new drummer of the band. According to the band's website, the band will release an album to accompany a film called Poet Anderson. In March 2012, it was confirmed that Angels and Airwaves would perform the 2012 Reading & Leeds Festivals in August 2012. The band also performed at the annual KROQ Weenie Roast concert on May 5, 2012.

On November 9, 2012, a new EP bundle pack titled Stomping the Phantom Brake Pedal was announced as limited pressing.

The Dream Walker (2014–present)

On April 1, 2014, Tom DeLonge announced via his official Facebook page that the band's fifth album would be released on October 31, 2014. The announcement came with another still from the POET film depicting a futuristic city. In an interview with Alter The Press! published on June 6, 2014, Delonge confirmed the scheduled release date and says of the album: "There are things that will never change, like my melodic sensibility and the way that I write. But the song structures, arrangements, chord progressions and tonalities have all changed radically."

It was revealed on June 24 that Matt Wachter had left the band in order to concentrate on his family. DeLonge posted a message on Facebook explaining that they are still both close friends and that Matt would possibly join them again one day. On July 4 Angels and Airwaves completed filming their new music video for the new single on the album that comes out on Halloween. On July 9, Tom DeLonge confirmed in a photo post on the band's Facebook page that Eddie Breckenridge (of the post-hardcore band Thrice) had joined Angels & Airwaves.

A new song from the upcoming album, titled "Paralyzed", was made available for purchase via MixRadio. Engineer Aaron Rubin confirmed that this version was not yet mastered. He also confirmed that the final version will be released on October 5. DeLonge announced via his Twitter account that "Paralyzed" is not the first single off The Dream Walker. "Paralyzed" was premiered on RollingStone.com on October 7. On October 26, the first single from The Dream Walker, The Wolfpack, was leaked on Soundcloud. On October 30, 2014, Tom DeLonge release the track list for The Dream Walker album. On December 8, the full The Dream Walker album will stream exclusively with Rolling Stone.

In light of recent speculation as to the status of David Kennedy and Eddie Breckenridge with the band, Delonge confirmed during an interview with Rock Sound on November 11 that both members were still involved with Angels & Airwaves, though he did not specify to what extent, claiming "I think people are just confused. I get it, but I try to tell people to look at the whole project, not at any one piece. This isn’t just a band, it’s a little bit of a moving target and a much bigger project."

On January 28, 2015, the music video for "Tunnels" was released, featuring footage from DeLonge's animated film, Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker. The video also features David Kennedy and Eddie Breckenridge playing alongside DeLonge and Rubin, thus confirming their continued roles in the band.

"Different mediums"

The group has been described by Delonge as more than a band but more accurately "an art project larger human themes and tackles them in different mediums"(sic), or simply "a multimedia project". This has been seen in the group's films, live events, and novel approach to fan-artist interaction.

Films

Start the Machine is a documentary that focuses on the break-up of Blink-182, the genesis of Angels & Airwaves, and the making of their first album We Don't Need to Whisper. It was released on DVD on June 17, 2008. Start the Machine was filmed over a course of almost 3 years.

Love is a science fiction film directed by William Eubank and starring Gunner Wright that was released in a special event called Love Live on August 10, 2011. "It starts in the Civil War and you travel through time and space. There's a couple of different storylines. The main one is, a guy gets sent up to the International Space Station, and he gets abandoned up there. He doesn't know why. So throughout his years of being stuck up there, he sees the Earth starting to collapse below. He ends up basically becoming the last person alive. And then decades later, he wakes up one day and there's something outside of the ISS, in low Earth orbit with him."

In late 2014, the band released their most recent short film, an animated piece called Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker, supporting their album The Dream Walker.

A film titled "Strange Times" is also in the works to go alongside an album of the same name though it will not be in production until after POET's release.

Graphic art

The band's albums have featured space rock images with considerable influences from the work of Storm Thorgerson as band members explicitly state that there are Pink Floyd influences in their work.

In November 2011 the band released a special edition copy of the feature film LOVE in Graphic Novel format with the double album and movie from the band's official website.

Band members

Current members

• Tom DeLonge – lead vocals, guitar (2005–present)
• David Kennedy – guitar, synthesizers (2005–present)
• Ilan Rubin – drums, percussion, synthesizers, backing vocals (2011–present)
• Eddie Breckenridge – bass guitar (2014–present)

Former members

• Ryan Sinn – bass guitar, backing vocals (2005–2007)
• Adam "Atom" Willard – drums, percussion, programming (2005–2011)
• Matt Wachter – bass guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals (2007–2014)

Discography

Studio albums

• We Don't Need to Whisper (2006)
• I-Empire (2007)
• Love (2010)
• Love: Part Two (2011)
• The Dream Walker (2014)

Awards

• MTV Video Music Awards
  • Nominated: Best New Artist in a Video (2006) for "The Adventure"
  • Nominated: Best Special Effects in a Video (2006) for "The Adventure"
  • Nominated: Best Editing in a Video (2006) for "The Adventure"
  • Nominated: Best Band of 2006 (2006) for "We Don't Need To Whisper"
  • Won: Best Animation Toronto Short Film Festival (2014) for Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker

Notes

1. Adam Willard performs on Love: Part Two although he had left the band by the time of its release.

References

1. ^ Ableson, Jon (June 6, 2014). "ATP! Feature: Tom DeLonge talks To The Stars, Angels & Airwaves and becoming a Children's Author". Alter The Press!. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
2. "Angels & Airwaves". musicOMH. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
3. "Exclusive: Tom DeLonge Talks About Blink-182 And Being 'Spun Out' While Building An 'Empire'". Buzzworthy.mtv.com. November 15, 2007. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
4. "Angels & Airwaves "Anxiety" Official Music Video". YouTube. August 11, 2011. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
5. Stevens, Match. "Interview: Atom Willard". ShaveMagazine.com. Retrieved July 8, 2011.
6. "Chat: Kevin Lyman". Absolutepunk.net. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
7. Weezer Announce Tour With Angels & Airwaves, Tokyo Police Club
9. "Angels & Airwaves' DeLonge Talks 'Love' Tour, Movie". Billboard.com. September 14, 2009. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
10. "NME". NME. April 8, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
11. "Theresnosolution.com". Theresnosolution.com. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
12. "Angels & Airwaves "Anxiety" Official Music Video". YouTube. August 11, 2011. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
13. Common, Tyler (August 14, 2011). "Angels & Airwaves working on two more movies". Alternative Press. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
14. "Angels & Airwaves Announce New Album". Female First. October 20, 2011. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
15. "AVA". angelsandairwaves.com.
16. "First Reading & Leeds Announcements Made". Hevypetal. March 12, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
17. "Timeline Photos - Angels and Airwaves - Facebook". facebook.com.
18. "Tom DeLonge - Timeline Photos - Facebook". facebook.com.
19. "Timeline Photos - Angels & Airwaves". Facebook. July 9, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
20. "Angels & Airwaves Bring The Heat With New Single "Paralyzed"". Blast Out Your Stereo.
21. "Tom DeLonge Reveals Angels and Airwaves' Explosive 'Paralyzed'". Rolling Stone. October 7, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
22. "Jeff Misener Soundcloud account".
23. "Log in — Instagram". iconosquare.com.
24. "Tom DeLonge: "This Has Never Been Done In The History Of Rock 'N' Roll."". Rock Sound Magazine.
25. "Angels and Airwaves premieres half-animated video for 'Tunnels'". Entertainment Weekly's EW.com.
26. Steve Forstneger (August 1, 2011). "Cover Story: Blink-182 - Everything Hits At Once". Illinois Entertainer: In Print and Online. Illinois Entertainer. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
27. George Varga (August 8, 2011). "Tom DeLonge discusses Angels & Airwaves' debut film". The San Diego Union-Tribune. The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved August 10, 2011. I always thought that when a band creates a concept record, it seems to live and die in a period of a year. We decided to make the theme and energy of what we're doing stronger, and to dive in deeper and try and keep these things living for years to come. To do that we have to create a multi-media company: a band, a record label a merchandising company and a film studio.
28. "Start the Machine". Amazon.com. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
29. "Start the Machine". Loserkids.com. June 17, 2008. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
30. Franich, Darren (February 10, 2010). "Music-mix.ew.com". Music-mix.ew.com. Archived from the original on July 10, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
31. "Angels and Airwaves Think They are Pink Floyd". HollywoodGrind. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
32. "Angels and Airwaves LOVE Deluxe Gold Bundle". Avashop.com. Retrieved March 3, 2012.

• International Index to Music Periodicals – Teitelman, Bram. “Reviews: Albums – Rock: Angels & Airwaves – ‘We Don’t Need to Whisper.’” Billboard – The International Newsweekly of Music, Video, and Home Entertainment May 27, 2006: 49. Print.
• Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians – Encyclopedia of Popular Music – “Angels and Airwaves.” Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Copyright Muze, Inc. Last Updated November 9, 2006. Web. Last Accessed October 10, 2011.
• International Index to Music Periodicals – Carpenter, Ellen. “My Look: Rock & Style .” Rolling Stone November 29, 2007: 38. Print.

External links

• Official website

• Musical groups from San Diego, California
• Musical quartets
• Supergroups (music)
• Musical groups established in 2005
• Space rock musical groups