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Q&A With Tom DeLonge

Written by vladale

Tuesday, 01 July 2008

We don't know anyone who doesn't love blink-182 and who wasn't totally bummed when the band went on an "indefinite hiatus" in 2005. Sure, we got to see different sides of the Blink guys -- with Tom DeLonge starting Angels and Airwaves and Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker re-teaming up in +44. But seriously, what happened there? Find out in new AVA documentary, Start The Machine, which chronicles the collapse of blink-182 and the creation of AVA. We got to chat with Tom about the documentary, Blink's glory days, Barack Obama, and of course, skating. Click on Read More to read whole interview. So what made you decide to put together an AVA documentary? It was just a documentary on the making of the first album. It was supposed to be, at least -- and then lots of fun things like crazy statements and weird stuff got thrown in the mix, and it ended up being much more of a story then just the making of the record. It was really the making of the new Tom DeLonge.  Being able to look back at the creation of the band must be weird for you. It's weird. It's weird when you watch it, number one, because it's like it takes you right back there, and it's weird when you watch it in front of people because you realize how much you're putting yourself out there. But the craziest thing about that time in my life is whenever I hear that music, it makes me feel like somebody who's scared and so amazingly passionate, but ambitious and driven. It's weird. I've never had an encounter with art before that it was so true to what I was feeling and so true to my heart at the time. When I hear that music, it makes me feel what it's like to be an artist that's changing for the first time in his life because of the art that he's making. It's a lot of emotions when I encounter that stuff.  Was there always a plan to release this movie? At the time, we wanted to be ambitious with our art, so we were always about wanting to make a motion picture. We thought at first it would be a cross between a motion picture and a documentary, so it would kind of blur the lines between the two. We thought that would be the most artistic and ambitious thing we could do at that point. But what happened was that the story of just the band was one that needed to be told 'cause it's so controversial coming out of Blink. No one really knew the reasons why, then I came out and said all these things the wrong way, then all the hype and the growth of how fast the band grew, and it seemed like the story was there. We didn't have the goal of having some VH1 story, but we definitely had the goal to portray our art in a visual manner and that's something that we wanted to do from day one. Although we might not have totally knew how we were gonna do it, we were always searching for a way to do that. I'm just glad the documentary got to be something like that. It's very artistic, but it's a true story.  How were you involved with the making and editing of the movie? I had nothing to do with it: I didn't edit it; I didn't OK it. Mark Eaton is one of my closest friends. David and I grew up with him since he was a teenager. We work for the same crew of people; we'd go skateboarding every single day. We love the dude, and he hung out everyday 'cause he's our friend. So we trusted him and just told him to make it real, make it good, and make it true.  Did you have any sort of veto power? I could if I wanted to, I guess, yeah. But it was interesting because we were working on it for such a long period of time, the next thing I know all these people in LA are calling me to get it into Sundance, and I hadn't even seen it yet. So now I have the head of documentaries of Sundance calling me, telling me get it in by 8 AM two days later. So I called up Mark, and I go, "Mark, you have to finish it," and he goes, "But, you haven't seen it." Well, that's when I said, "Just make it good and make it real." And he goes, "OK, well what about all the heavy weighted material?" And I just go, "Put it in there. Just whatever." He said, "Are you sure?" I said, "OK just do it." "Well do you wanna see it?" "No, I don't wanna see it." And I sent it off to the film festivals, and that's how it got finished. I had no veto in it whatsoever. I could have, but I chose to forgo it.  Have Mark and Travis seen it? I don't know. I don't think so.  You didn't send them a copy? No, no, no. I mean, we don't talk. So I think that would probably come off in a really weird way if I sent something, "Oh, watch this." The weird thing is all the stuff in there and my reasons for leaving were said, but they never believed it. So I think what's good about this is that kids will know what happened to a degree because there's other stuff on there too that goes into the story which I haven't seen at all actually -- the bonus features on the DVD.  What do you miss most about your days in Blink? When we were clicking, it was pretty magical. We were a band that really was the first to embody and symbolize a suburban movement in America where all these kids' lives aren't that great, but they're not that bad either. It's like they're kind of hovering in the middle of this grey area, where they just feel like they're more and they don't wanna identify or they can't identify with their parents. And they identify with their friends, which, they tend to be rebellious, but they don't wanna go off and murder anybody. So I think when Blink came out, it was like, "Finally -- this is something for us." We were true to the punk rock ethos, but we weren't walking around like we were really pissed at the world and anarchy. We were skateboarders, we were growing up in Southern California, we were just reflective of what a large audience in America was going through at the time. I miss that connection. I miss when we were clicking, how fun it was to be at the top of the pyramid in that way. But as far as music and the joy of playing and the joy of being an artist and all that, nothing compares to where I'm at now. Angels and Airwaves is the best people, the best music, the best art, the best loyalty and lifting each other up and anything goes, and it's awesome.  Back then, you called Blink's breakup an indefinite hiatus. Why not just call it a breakup back then? I don't know. I think it's our way of coping with the fact that it was coming to an end, probably. At least my way, because I was the one that did it, it was easier to say that than just to call it completely quits.  Knowing what you know now, would you go back and change anything in your career? Probably not. All the stupid stuff we did ended up becoming the stuff that really propelled us towards more success. Whether we got naked or wore Speedos or whatever, we'd just get more and more popular. We thought it was funny and the music industry was so mad, and we'd be cool and getting all popular. But we really were those guys. The funny thing is, Blink started when nobody was watching us, and we were saying the same jokes, doing the same stuff. Like, we didn't try harder when we got popular -- it was actually quite the opposite. Once we got popular, we were trying to tone it down, thinking that we had to be cool or something, when reality was people really wanted to come for an escape and be energized.  What do you want kids to come away from the documentary knowing? The biggest thing is, if you can see yourself differently in the world around you, then you'll start to see the world differently, and you can change your own life experience. That's what this band was all about. I really believed it, but I needed to enact it on myself. That's what the great irony of it and the epiphany in the film was -- learning that I had to practice what I was preaching. And what a great thing because I've actually experienced it. A lot of people go up to a president that takes us to war that's never really been in war. It's nice to know that if someone's telling you something they've actually had to go through it themselves completely. I like that about this band. I have radio stations calling up and magazines calling up, doing articles on the fact that kids' lives are changed. They're like, "We gotta see this band that's changing people's lives." I don't think that it's all us. You have to be willing to yourself and we'll just supply a conduit where you can come with a bunch of other people that are thinking the same way. Who knows, maybe we're just a little bit of fuel on the fire that's already burning. That's what I love about this band. It's an amazing thing and there are still dumb jokes in there every once in a while too, so it's good.  What's it like having your music played at Barack Obama's rallies? It's amazing. Any time they use "The Adventure," which is the one they play a lot when Obama finishes a speech or starts the big climax. That song has had more legs on it than anything I've ever done in my career. It just keeps going and going and going, and I love it. That's the flagship Angels and Airways song. Life is waiting to begin today. Today, everyone loves that message. Everyone loves that thought. A song like that, it's supposed to live in that environment. So I'm excited that people are embracing it.  What's the status of the I-Empire film? Yeah, we just finished filming. There actually is a couple more things to film but we're largely in the editing process right now. It actually is gonna happen. It should be finished by fall. So, depending on what happens in the fall, it will be finished around that time frame.  Do you still have time to skate? No, but I own a couple skateboard companies. We started one called Edmond. Edmond is a toy skateboard company, and we make these toys, like dinosaurs, that come with the clothes and with the products and you piece 'em together like Japanese toys. We also just signed Matt Hensley to Macbeth Footwear, which is my shoe company. And we're getting ready potentially to start another really big skate shoe company with the best riders in the world. But I can't talk about who they are specifically. I don't have time to do it, but I have time to be a part of the scene, that's for sure.  Do you miss it? Oh yeah. I love it. Every time it's nighttime and I drive by a shopping center that's lit up, I just remember my entire youth being there until 1, 2 in the morning throwing stuff at cars, breaking things, and skateboarding 'til we were so tired and sweaty, we just had to go to sleep.  Start the Machine is in stores now! http://www.ccs.com/connect/feature/delong.asp

 

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