Interviews » The Herald Sun interviews Tom Delonge
By: Neala Johnson of The Herald Sun ♣ October 19, 2006
Is your new baby son a cool kid?
Of course, he's my boy! He's like a toy. He lights up and does some cool s---. He's awesome.
Does your new band Angels & Airwaves revolve better around family than Blink-182 did?
Oh massively. That's my whole reason for where I'm at today. I'm in a really good position now where I can make every decision necessary to be with my family when I need to be. So, because I need to see my boy, that's why I'm coming to Australia for only a week. Usually I'd come down for at least a couple of weeks.
You've said you want A&A to be the biggest band in the world. Can you be in the biggest band in the world and have time for family?
I think so. I have to, there's no other choice. I'm not the biggest band in the world yet. But I'm betting that I will be there in the future. And I have no other choice. I gotta be a good dad. Isn't that weird? I'm a dad. What am I doing? How did I have . . . ?
In your plans for A&A's world domination, is this only step one?
(Laughs) Yeah, because I started all over here. I didn't really start all over because my first record didn't come out at No.4 on the Billboard chart like this one did. But the cool thing about it is, I'm not making any of the mistakes I made with my first band.
What mistakes did you make with Blink?
Oh, you mean like putting my d--- on TV (laughs)? Or you mean like running around naked? Everyone knew us as the naked band for so long. The funniest thing was, it was a paradox. We sold seven million copies of a record, then everyone wanted us to stay naked forever. And we were like, "But we don't want to".
Are you prepared to give A&A the three or four albums it took the big guys -- U2, say -- to get to that biggest-band-in-the-world stage?
Ah, well, I'll have to do whatever I have to do, but I don't expect it to really take that long, because . . . it better not (laughs). I already did that before with my other band. But I'm doing everything different with this band. My companies are about ready to launch a revolutionary application for the internet that will change the face of music in a really exciting new way. And being that I'll have control of that (laughs), my band will be in front of everybody's face.
So you're revolutionising the technological world . . .
In order to be famous (laughs)! I have to create the next yahoo.com to be famous. But if that's what I gotta do, f--- it, I'll do it.
Was this revolutionary application your idea or some techno boffin?
It's my concept. It's basically because people are burning so many CDs that bands can't make any money off their music. So there's like a paradigm shift happening in music and people have to create new ways to sustain a workable career, and a workable business model. So I have some ideas that will help that out. It'll add a pretty hefty ingredient to the music industry.
What are the fans saying about A&A's album, We Don't Need to Whisper?
They write these letters about how it changed their life in the sense that kids were suicidal, then after hearing The Adventure, people checked themselves into drug clinics and alcoholic rehab centres. I have parents crying, telling me this is the first time they've been able to talk to their kid in years. I have kids crying and grasping the air with their fist, singing every word. It's crazy, it's like religious (laughs). But the difference is, for the first time a band has come out and been sincere with their optimism, and with their excitement about wanting to see the world a different way, and themselves in it.
That's pretty heavy stuff. Will that weigh on your shoulders when you make a new album?
Well I don't think of it that way, because . . . that would make it scary. Thanks a lot (laughs).
After Blink, before A&A, did you have people suggesting other potential projects?
I had a lot of options. I had people calling me from some big bands. But I didn't want to put together some supergroup or anything like that. I didn't want to put together some contrived, big rock-ensemble thing. I needed to do a specific thing. I needed a target -- what was the most sincere and genuine reflection of what I was at that time? And I figured if I hit it correctly it would have a ripple effect.
A&A, Green Day, My Chemical Romance: it seems being just a punk band isn't enough these days, you have to take it to the next level. Would you agree?
The last Blink record, we started a lot of that, we created a record where there were all these transitions between songs, starting to merge electronics with punk rock. It was more of a big rock-outfit thing. I remember when that record came out, people were tripping, particularly that it came from a band like Blink where they weren't expecting it. Then it seemed to continue -- bands such as Muse and Green Day and The Black Parade from My Chemical. They've been diving deeper into a big rock atmosphere, so that's probably the direction things are going right now. Angels is definitely that way, but it's not a concept record -- it's autobiographical, it's just done with metaphor and poetic licence.
Why use metaphor?
I don't do it to shield myself. I do it so other people can grab as much from it as they can. I'm not the most creative wordsmith in the world, but I do OK.
Are you getting better at it?
Oh yeah, I have a pretty good understanding of music. I don't think I'm better than anybody, but I do think I'm the best . . . ha ha ha!
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