Angels & Airwaves

In 2005, pop-punk superstars blink-182 entered an indefinite hiatus that fractured the group into separate ventures, one of which was Angels & Airwaves. Frontman Tom DeLonge steered this outfit toward a synth-driven arena-rock sound, and the project surfaced in 2006 with its first full-length effort, We Don't Need to Whisper. By the close of the 2010s, DeLonge had severed ties with blink entirely, leaving Angels & Airwaves as a standalone act whose catalog already encompassed six releases, among them the two-volume Love and the 2014 album The Dream Walker. After a brief pause, DeLonge revived the band in 2019, culminating in the arrival of its sixth studio album, Lifeforms, in 2021.

With blink-182’s hiatus firmly established by autumn 2005, singer-guitarist DeLonge disclosed that he had spent the previous six months shaping a new ensemble named Angels & Airwaves. He stated that the material would incorporate expansive, stadium-scale qualities reminiscent of U2 and Pink Floyd and would ultimately ignite a revolution capable of reshaping rock & roll. The initial roster featured guitarist David Kennedy (Boxcar Racer, Hazen Street), drummer Atom Willard (Rocket from the Crypt, the Offspring), and bassist Ryan Sinn (the Distillers). The group performed its first concert on April 12, 2006, before a sold-out audience at the Glass House in Pomona, California. Listeners who missed the event encountered the band’s expansive, arena-oriented rock later that spring via the Geffen-issued We Don't Need to Whisper.

Although reviews were divided, the album achieved gold status largely because of an aggressive presale campaign that guaranteed robust opening-week numbers. Subsequent U.K. festival slots and a month-long headlining run followed, and the band also supported Head Automatica and Taking Back Sunday on American dates. After Sinn departed and former 30 Seconds to Mars bassist Matt Wachter took his place, Angels & Airwaves delivered their sophomore release, the similarly cinematic I-Empire, in 2007. DeLonge described the record to Kerrang! as “as exciting as rock 'n' roll gets!,” yet domestic sales plateaued near 260,000 copies. A spring 2008 U.S. tour drew solid crowds, and the band extended its road work by joining that year’s Warped Tour.

During the February 8, 2009, Grammy Awards, DeLonge joined Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus onstage to confirm a blink-182 reunion. While the trio toured that summer and tracked a new blink-182 album, DeLonge still found time to complete a third Angels & Airwaves effort. Released gratis on Valentine’s Day 2010, the album titled Love was followed in November 2011 by its second installment, issued shortly after the blink-182 reunion record and accompanied by a combined edition of both volumes.

A fresh chapter opened in April 2014 when DeLonge outlined another expansive multimedia undertaking. During those sessions, Wachter exited and was succeeded by ex-Thrice bassist Eddie Breckenridge. The resulting album, The Dream Walker, surfaced in early December and entered the Billboard 200 at No. 39. That same year, blink-182 appeared poised to begin another record; however, in 2015, Hoppus and Barker informed Rolling Stone that DeLonge had been replaced by Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba. DeLonge countered on social media that any decision to proceed had been made without his consent.

After parting from blink-182, DeLonge announced intentions to issue two Angels & Airwaves albums and two solo projects throughout 2015. He ultimately delivered the ...Of Nightmares EP in September along with the solo collection To the Stars: Demos, Odds and Ends, which contained material originally developed for both blink-182 and Angels & Airwaves. The second promised Angels & Airwaves release, the Chasing Shadows EP, arrived in April 2016, debuted at No. 109 on the Billboard 200, and was paired with a novel of the same name co-authored by DeLonge and A.J. Hartley.

Three years later the band resurfaced with a revised lineup—DeLonge and Kennedy alongside drummer Ilan Rubin (NIN, Paramore) and bassist Matt Rubano—and a new home at Rise Records. The synth-laden single “Rebel Girl” surfaced that year, followed by “All That’s Left Is Love” in 2020; both tracks appeared on the sixth album, Lifeforms, released in 2021. Produced by the band and Aaron Rubin, the record also featured the singles “Euphoria” and “Spellbound.”