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Interview with Tom Delonge of A & A and Blink 182
Author: Tracks Magazine
Tracksmag.com caught up with Tom got a quick Q and A.
Tracks: Taylor Steele's use of M & M's So Long Ago was the first a lot of us heard of you guys. How much can you claim that surfing was an integral part of your early success?
Tom: Well back in the day, M & M's was a song for Blink that got a spot on a lot of surf videos, mostly Taylor Steele's surf videos, where he was putting our band along with the biggest surfer's in the world and back then Action Sports wasn't really called action sports but that lifestyle was very connected to punk rock music so we had our first really big chance to win over any kind of fans within the surfing and skate boarding community.
How did the relationship with Taylor Steele come about?
We knew Taylor from the area that we grew up in, San Diego. He was literally just down the street from us, as the band and our management and we all hung out with the same people and we kind of started traveling the world together on these big surf tours. It was a lot of fun.
Being from the San Diego area, did any of you guys spend much time surfing?
I did. I spent quite a lot of time surfing, I mean skate boarding was kind of my thing when I was growing up but surfing, it's like getting into a bit later but It's so hard for me to do, I have a really bad back so it's a painful sport for a guy like me.
Blink 182, Neighborhoods LP (L), and Angels and Airwaves, Love Album Parts one & Two... Both out now.
There was a public break up and even not nice words said back and forth. How good was it to mend that bridge and get back together?
It was great. You never want to have enemies in your life, especially guys that use to be your friends so that's one of the most important things that's happened to me is just to be able to get through that.
These side projects that you guys have done in the time apart, have allowed you guys to spread your wings individually. Is this helping the new Blink sound?
Absolutely. I think that that band profits from all three of us coming and celebrating our differences and celebrating our individual projects and when I say profit, I don't mean monetarily, I just mean artistically and they're really good things for that band.
Being in Blink, could I ask you guys to act like idiots and basically be kids, do you realise what a luxury that is?
It's a huge luxury and that's why it's still in my life.
What's the best song on the new album to psych up for a surf, skate or a snow board?
I think our song called Natives, that's probably the best one to go out and jump in the water with or good to go skateboarding to, absolutely.
You have another interesting side gig with Macbeth Footwear, you've even got your own signature range called Studio Project? Any particular inspiration there?
Not much inspiration other than we like all of our shoes to look like they've been around for a while, so the shoes that I choose to wear tend to look like they've been around for about 30, 40 years. Old school shoes, that's my look, so that would be my inspiration.
Angels and Airwaves have a new album, Love part Two, and a movie entitled Love, how does this album compare sonically?
A lot of people think that this Love Two is a great continuation of the atmospherics on Love One. The inspiration came from the film, versus the pure song writing. We kind of painted from a different vantage point but I think tonally and phonically, some of the differences are in the textures and orchestrations of the songs because they were meant to go along with pieces of the film. So they sound more like a movie score in certain areas.
The Angel and Airwaves movie also titled Love, was a pretty massive undertaking, far removed from the type of movie normally released by musicians. Can you give us a bit of a run down on the plot and what it's all about?
Well the movie is about an astronaut that gets trapped on a space station, the International Space Station, for seven years and misses contact with earth and all he can see is that the earth is crumbling outside his window. So the film's idea is you have to lose all communication, all connection with other human beings to really learn what it meant to have it in the first place, to know the value of your interactions with other human beings.
How do you balance a shoe company, a family and then singing and song writing and performing in two bands?
Well you surround yourself with good people and good people you believe in and good people that believe in you and you're able to do a lot more than anything just by yourself and that's the key.
Thanks Tom and have fun playing the Soundwave shows round Australia.
Alright, will do. Thank you.
To win a copy of Blink's Neighborhoods album (we have five to giveaway) email us in 20 words or less why your Neighborhood sucks competitions@tracksmag.com.au
For all things Soundwave like tickets and line ups visit: Soundwave