It's shaping up to be a very busy week for former Blink-182 frontman Tom DeLonge. On the upside, he just celebrated the debut of a documentary DVD chronicling his transition from the seminal teen punk act Blink-182 to his current band, Angels & Airwaves [ tickets ].Released earlier this week, the film, entitled "Start the Machine," focuses on the process of producing Angels & Airwaves' first project, "We Don't Need to Whisper." Delonge is also on the cusp of heading out for a summerlong jaunt headlining Van's Warped Tour, which commences June 20 in Pomona, CA.On the down side, DeLonge has reaffirmed news that all Blink fans hated to hear--there will be no reunion. And he's made a few headlines in the UK defending his cohorts in My Chemical Romance after a flurry in the press about a 13-year-old British girl, who was a devotee of MCR and other Emo acts, committed suicide in 2007.In a widely circulated statement in the UK press, the singer is quoted as saying that although band members may tend to blame themselves in situations like this high profile suicide, it's wrong to do so when there is no direct fan-to-band connection."You have no idea who these people are," DeLonge said. "And My Chemical Romance, they spend a lot of time singing about coming together. There's ingredients of rebellion and angst, but what band doesn't have that when they're young?"Switching to his recent comment about a rumored Blink reunion, DeLonge states: "I really cannot see any possible way that Blink would get back together, nor do I have any desire for it. It was a really amazing, magical time for me when I was young, but now I'm older, I'm doing things that reflect my life now. It would be a lie to myself to go and sing about first dates and girls at the rock show."Clearly these are separate but similar sentiments from a man who is fully in touch with not only where he has gone, but where he is going. In advance of his Warped Tour duties, DeLonge sat down with LiveDaily to talk about his own demons; the process behind Angels & Airwaves' second offering, "I, Empire"; and his other entrepreneurial activities, including ModLife.LiveDaily: Your newer material seems to come from a really progressive standpoint. Your Angels & Airwaves material has been compared with Queen, Rush and Yes, and I hope you don't take offense to this, but I hear shades of Flock of Seagulls mixed in there as well. Tom DeLonge: No offense at all, I love Flock of Seagulls. You know, I grew up in the alternative rock scene. I was a little punk rocker listening to new wave and classic rock bands like the ones you mentioned. These were all the great bands we grew up with. As we were putting together the new project we were saying, "Wouldn't it be great if we could get the conceptual depth of a Pink Floyd, or the epic landscapes of U2?" It's funny, every time we crank up the guitar, we end up sounding like we borrowed something from "Tom Sawyer" or some other Rush song. We really wanted Angels & Airwaves to showcase 30 or 40 years of the bands we thought were great. We try and derive our influences from all those bands we liked, and then we put a modern take on it.When it came to writing and producing for the new band, were you consciously drawing from deeper or more classic influences, or was the writing and production process purely organic?When we start the recording of a song, a lot of time we will do it with a muse--a movie, a book, an image or a song. And, more often than not, once it gets rolling, it is a very organic thing that takes shape. We've learned that no matter how you go in to record the song, it will never end up as good as if you let it go in the direction it needs to go. Like, if you go in with the idea that it will have this gigantic roaring guitar sound, but then, once you lay down the track you realize that it's not the best thing for the song. So we end up in a very organic place. Once we start laying down the song, we don't reference the muse anymore. We always want to do songs that will create an appeal, where it can be a foundation of a larger message--the way the band wants to bring people together, with a positive outlook on life.Besides being a bit older, and coming to the project with a totally secure concept of what the band was capable of, what was different about the process of creating "I-Empire" than "We Don't Need to Whisper?"The imagery of the first project was the juxtaposition of war and space. The space was reflecting this infinite realm with infinite possibilities. The war was reflective of the war within one's own life--metaphorically speaking. For me, it was the breakup of my last band, losing my closest friends and starting out on this new life. Largely, the first record was an autobiographical experience. Making the new album was a little more grounded and happy. We still had a few of those ethereal moments, like when the music lifted you off the ground and made you soar. But, we know who we are now, and we're excited to be where we are at instead of searching it out anymore.So you're rooted in reality instead of altered reality?That's totally right.The new album reflects significantly more adventure and diversity in the instrumentation, especially in the rhythms. Was "I-Empire" a lot more fun to do, and did Atom, Dave and Matt play greater roles in what we hear as the finished product?It really was a lot more fun. I know a lot of people out there think this is a Tom DeLonge project, and that I call all the shots. But when I put the band together, it was very much knowing that I wanted this to be one of the greatest bands of all time. I don't write all the drum parts, and I don't write all the bass parts, I don't pick all the album artwork. I consider myself an amateur captain of sorts. I can get the boat to the dock, but there's no way I'm pushing it out in the water myself. These guys are great--they work all the time. The cool thing was when I was getting off painkillers, there were, like, three weeks when I couldn't do anything at all. Well, they were still in the studio doing all the drums and arrangements--they didn't miss a beat. So, when it says all the songs are written and performed by the band--you know it's not my thing anymore.Where does ModLife come into play? This dual life you have between the music business and your entrepreneurial pursuits is pretty intriguing.Before I ever started selling records, right when online stuff was taking off, I pretty much decided to start this thing called LoserKids.com, because I never thought we were going to make it in the music business. Well, we started selling records, and since we were one of the first places to start selling skate fashions, it started taking off, too. Then we came up with a concept called ModLife, which is an operating system that allows people to make money off themselves digitally. It's a series of tools that work cohesively together that allows a band or a person to broadcast themselves in movies or videos, to sell their music through broadcasts, webcams or podcasts. It really helped us spearhead Angels & Airwaves as more of a fine-arts project than a band--doing films, documentaries, coffee table books, and other licensed products. It also helps us get real connectivity with our fans--it helps keep the business alive while pushing it forward, changing expectations about the ways people can showcase their art.You and the band really seem to have set out to make a difference in 2008, and I have to believe one way you can literally help save lives is talking about your experiences related to pain-killer addiction. You know, it's one thing to hear about it from your parents, or teachers, but coming from someone like you, I know any words of warning will actually fall on receptive ears.You know, when you have your life together as a teenager, you never see yourself as a drug addict. You never think you're that guy. You're fine--you hang with your friends, you play your sport. But the one thing that was really enlightening to me was learning no matter how strong you are, and how well your life is put together, these painkillers are a chemical that is exactly like super glue. No matter how strong you are, you can't not glue your fingers together. The chemical has nothing to do with how smart you are, or how happy you are, or how many friends you have. No matter what, once you take it, it starts super gluing your system. It's a massively dangerous drug because it will connect to you in a way that makes it ruin everything it touches. And the saddest thing when I was taking the stuff, is it was clouding my inhibition. You start making really horrible decisions, and you start doing things that bring parts of you out you didn't even know existed. You feel so good all the time, and before you know it, you're in so deep you can't function. It scares me to know there are kids out there that are into it--because once you start taking it, you bump up really quickly. Once you're taking that Oxycontin and stuff, you need some serious, serious help getting off. I mean, it's as strong as any drug that exists on earth. So I think you really need to learn to be happy with yourself and the world around you. I remember being scared that I would never feel as good once I stopped taking the stuff. But that's a total lie--a complete and total lie.
