Angels and Airwaves Music

When a group of musicians from different rock bands get together to form a new group, expect to get real good music. Their diverse backgrounds taken from being with different music acts would surely come to play in coming up with new music.

This is what Angels & Airwaves (AVA) just did. Fronted by Tom DeLonge (Blink 182 and Box Car Racer), this San Diego alternative rock band is composed of guitarist David Kennedy (Over My Dead Body, Hazen Street and Box Car Racer), Atom Willard (Rocket From the Crypt, The Offspring), and Matt Wachter (30 Seconds to Mars), who replaced former The Distillers bassist Ryan Sinn in May 2007.

Their first album, We Don’t Need to Whisper, was released in 2006. The Adventure, its first single, was leaked to radio stations after someone hacked into DeLonge’s email account, stealing 5 demos from the album. Because of this, the band decided to officially release the single on May 18, 2006. They then released We Don’t Need to Whisper the album five days later.

The album eventually turned gold and landed at the number 4 spot of the Billboard 200. It also did well in Canada, reaching gold status, and the UK where it turned silver.

One track in the album, Start the Machine, is said to be about the split up of Blink 182.
Aside from their debut album, AVA also worked on a movie that involves their music. They utilized CGI for the World War II movie, which is apparently, based on DeLonge’s life. The single Valkyrie Missile was originally set for release through iTunes on December 13, 2005 but after some discussions with Geffen, their label, the band decided to push back the release date.

After the success of their first album, bassist Sinn announced that due to problems within the band, he would not be playing at the Free Earth Day concert at the M.I.T. campus. On May 15, he made an official statement that he would no longer be a part of AVA on a message board. The band then recruited former 30 Seconds to Mars bassist, Matt Wachter.

Their next album called I-Empire was releases under Universal/Island Records. The album, as DeLonge said in a magazine interview, would be a departure from their previous sound. This one would be stripped down. It debuted at the number 9 spot of the Billboard 200 chart during its first week—selling 66,000 copies. It topped the iTunes Top Album chart. Among the 12 tracks included in the record was Star of Bethlehem.

The next single was called Everything’s Magic and was released in 2007. The first single was leaked on the Internet and became the most requested song in a certain California radio station. It was made available on iTunes and became the third top rock song in its chart—before it was even made available for nationwide airplay!

The success of the album and the previous singles prompted the release of another single called Breathe. Discussions about releasing a fourth single were also made.

The band started recording their third studio album in January 2009. And despite the reunion of DeLonge’s former band, Blink 182, he assured fans that AVA will not split up.