Angels and Airwaves’ album “We Don’t Need to Whisper” turns 14 years old today. The influence of that album in my life is immeasurable.
Lead singer, Tom DeLonge is many things. Nowadays he’s the CEO of To The Stars Media and works hand in hand with former military officials to bring world citizens the UFO news. That’s crazy to even type. But, it’s true. The other side of Delonge is his musician side. He still makes an album once in a while and has glimmers of Tom of old, but nowhere near his hey day of 2006 and Angels and Airwaves debut album ‘We Don’t Need To Whisper.’
When Tom left, he broke blink 182 into two-thirds. The story goes DeLonge wanted to grow as a musician. Which was a very odd claim if you listened to blink’s most recent album up to that point. It was very experimental and easily Delonge’s most mature music to date. But that didn’t stop him from leaving blink-182 and starting an unnamed music project.
Enter me.
I grew up mostly with rap, hip-hop and 80’s music. I know that’s a weird blend, but that’s just what happened. My cousin Mickey really got me into blink-182 during the recording of their final album (Self-Titled). So I was on the front lines following Tom and his adventure when the band broke up. It didn’t take long for rumors to swirl that Tom was working on a solo project and that’s all anyone really knew for a long time. Blink-182 broke up in 2004. Angels and Airwaves first album wouldn’t be released until 2006. In hindsight it’s obvious Tom was working on AVA material before blink broke up, but waiting to hear any news from Tom or an update felt like an eternity.
My fascination with blink came at an interesting time in my life. Blink was known as an immature band, coincidentally I was maturing. I found blink’s music to be honest, upfront and transparent. I was moving on from the stage in my life of trying to impress people with possessions and ego and really clung to the honesty blink was singing about. They weren’t singing about how great they were or how they lifted them selves up against anyone. Quite the opposite. The later blink stuff was about feelings that you wouldn’t necessarily be proud of. Shame, fragility, depression, humility and hurt.
When I heard about Tom and his new project I was immediately excited. I don’t have a musician’s ear, so it was hard to pick out what members of blink were responsible for what aspects of music. But I had a hunch that DeLonge’s style was way more aligned to my likings than anyone else in the band.
The first step of Tom breaking his silence was a few interviews he did with Rolling Stone magazine. This was interesting because Tom was talking about growing his sound and moving to more of a Pink Floyd / U2 style of music. Regardless if Tom would make good on his claims, it was exciting to see the him officially working again. In those times, Tom had a way of creating anticipation unlike anyone I’d ever experienced.
I think it’s important to remember back then we didn’t have Instagram or really Twitter to the extent it’s at now, so getting leaks and accessibility to DeLonge was really difficult. But it also made the news much more worthwhile and exciting when we actually got some updates. Thinking back it felt like a personal relationship with the artist; something more intimate and special. Nowadays it’s sort of feels like you’re sharing the artist with millions of other people and their opinions on the internet.
The first official information we received about Angels & Airwaves was the band members. All unknowns for the most part, the band was built with Dave Kennedy as secondary guitarist, Ryan Sinn, the bassist and Atom Willard who was a known drummer from many bands in the punk rock scene. I remember getting excited about learning about these people and wanting to dive deeper into each of their lives but the internet wasn’t built that way back then. So I kind of had to take all of them for face value. Except David Kennedy, he played with Tom in Boxcar Racer so I was familiar with him.
The first real music we heard was a complete, seemingly accidental, leak of the song ‘The Adventure’. The story goes that a fan hacked into Tom’s personal email and then ripped this unfinished version of the song (gasps and all) and uploaded to the masses.
I’ll never forget the emotions I felt when I heard ‘The Adventure’ initially. I was alone in my room late at night. My laptop at the time was a Dell XPS. It had a really bright neon blue strip of light in front of the mouse pad, which seemed fitting – a mood setter. I must’ve listened to that leak of ‘The Adventure’ over 100 times that night. That’s not an exaggeration.
It was the first time I ever felt like I was flying listening to music. Also a reflection on Tom himself, like a man who went into exile and then finally made good on his promise of truly creating one of the best songs that ever existed. There were soaring guitars, melodic overtures, uplifting tones and beautiful lyrics that really painted Tom’s journey perfectly. This wasn’t your blink 182 Tom Delonge. This was a redeemed Tom Delonge: in many ways, a vindicated Tom Delonge.
I also remember feeling if The Adventure was this good, how much better could the rest of the album be? The internet was abuzz and taking notice. Rightfully so.
Unfortunately, Delonge let a lot of stuff go to his head and his claims started getting more and more outrageous by comparing WDNTW to ‘The Joshua Tree‘ or ‘Darkside of the Moon‘. Anyone on level ground could probably tell you he wasn’t going to make good on these claims, but I promise after The Adventure leak, a small loyal following was holding out hope. Later, in a documentary titled ‘Start the Machine’ (excellent watch by the way), Tom admitted that a lot of the claims he made were due to his addiction to pain medication and his reality distortion field was out of whack. I believe some of that, but I honestly think Delonge is the type of person who believes in what he does and at the time felt extremely strong about the work he was putting out.
A few months later, Angels & Airwaves starting going on tour. The album subsequently got slowly leaked and we went from static versions to somewhat OK quality of songs to very finalized versions of the songs. It really was a journey. Looking back, I can’t remember anything else in life that I was so closely glued to for updates and leaks because the end result was so positive and purposeful. Every little leak was a celebration. Every tiny song clip would be analyzed and commented on endlessly.
What made things even more special for me was this album in so many ways brought me closer to my two cousins, Mike and Mickey. They are huge music fans and both musicians, respectfully. My background is mostly a film person. In that sense I always felt alone because no one shared the love of that craft with me, or at least to the extent that I admired it. But being invited into the music world with my cousins was really special for me. I got to learn aspects of their lives that I truly cherished and we became so much closer as friends just because of a music album we all collectively admired.
Another unforeseen benefit of ‘We Don’t Need To Whisper’ was a growing relationship with my friend Jeremy. At the time, Jeremy and I had a met a few years prior. We both came from very different upbringings and backgrounds. We connected initially over cutting hair, but I really believe Angels and Airwaves solidified our pact as genuine friends. We traveled together listening to AVA, we trained listening to AVA. I mean, we experienced life together listening to WDNTW. Agreeing on Angels and Airwaves and experiencing their music together really bridged two very different people. Again, just from a music album, a true friendship grew stronger and deeper.
Speaking from a broader perspective, I don’t care who you are or what you’re interested in. If you like rock music or you don’t. Looking into Angels and Airwaves initial album, anyone could be inspired. Each and every person has lived Tom’s story in one way or another. We’ve all had the decision to make – to feel stuck and content just cruising along in our realm of comfort or take the risk in uncertaintiny. Tom’s journey was an age old quest: see what you’re capable of. Just once in your life, challenge yourself to the change the world.
The truth is Tom Delonge and the Angels and Airwaves origin story propelled me and gave myself the confidence to make one of the biggest decisions in my life: believing in myself enough to make my own movie from scratch. It’s hard to estimate how much inspiration was driven from Delonge, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I started writing the script for my film six months after ‘We Don’t Need to Whisper’ was released.
From visiting Tom’sAngels.com, to checking for leaks, to actually going to shows with my best friend Jeremy and my cousins Mike and Mickey, to actually getting to meet Tom and Angels and Airwaves in Times Square, there are so many amazing events that happened revolving around this album. I’m shocked it took me this long to write about it. I still listen to WDNTW on a regular basis and it never ceases to amaze me how these notes of music bring me back to a direct time and moment in my life.
Angels and Airwaves shaped me a lot as a person, and I don’t mean I wanted to become a rockstar. Tom and AVA’s movement really put me in touch with a feeling and emotion that I’ve always had, always felt and never really knew how to get in touch with. From the lyrics of the songs to the melody of the music, the inspiring messages, or just the plain artistry of the obvious hard work that went into making the album, experiencing We Don’t Need to Whisper really put me in touch with a part of myself that still holds true to this day. It’s a genuine voice I feel inside. A voice of hope, inspiration, and love.
I’m so thankful to have been able to experience Angels and Airwaves and the process of WDNTW coming to life. I guess everyone has things in their life that shape or influence them greatly. ‘We Don’t Need to Whisper’ is at the very top of my “influential works of art” list that helped me grow and see the true potential of myself in the world.
*ddileo 