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Origins and formation: 2004-2005
Tom DeLonge began working on new material during Blink-182's final tour in 2004 and shortly after they began their hiatus in February 2005. For half a year he worked alone in his home studio before gathering musicians to form the band. Upon fiddling randomly for several weeks with the band's logo, Tom realized that if he were to invert the middle "A" of the band's acronym into what appeared to be a "V", he would have the name of his daughter, Ava. As rumors were floating around about the band's "break-up", DeLonge chose to abstain for half a year from any interviews surrounding the issue (Tom Merod) and his future plans; instead he concentrated on writing and recording in his home-based studio. In September 2005, he finally spoke publicly in Kerrang! magazine, where he unveiled the name of his new band, "Angels & Airwaves". The band included former Hazen Street guitarist and high-school friend David Kennedy, former Rocket from the Crypt drummer Atom Willard and former The Distillers bassist Ryan Sinn. Atom Willard told Shave Magazine that the experience of all the members of the band made the band formation very easy. "There’s nobody trying to figure out what is and what isn’t going to work, not just for themselves but for music and for a band, what life’s going to be like on the road and all that kind of stuff. Everybody had enough experience to just buckle down and do the work. It really has made it easier than anything else."We Don't Need to Whisper: 2005-2007
Soon after forming the band began recording their debut album in Tom's home studio in California. The band recorded from mid 2005 to early 2006. Angels & Airwaves had no other choice but to release "The Adventure" as their first single, after a fan hacked into Tom's email account and stole four demos from the album. "The Adventure" was leaked onto radio stations, causing the band to release it on May 18, 2006. They released their first album, We Don't Need to Whisper, a few days later, on May 23, 2006. The album reached 4th on the Billboard 200, and went gold. Later that year the song The War became another single. The band toured for most of 2006 and early 2007 and then retreated to the studio at the start of the year to work on the follow-up.Download
I-Empire: 2007–2009
On April 23, 2007, AVA announced that Ryan Sinn would not play at the Free Earth Day concert at the M.I.T. campus due to difficulties within the band. Following this incident, on May 15, Sinn posted on the Army of Angels fan club message board stating that he was "no longer a part of Angels & Airwaves," and had received a call on the evening of April 19 concluding his relationship with the band. Matt Wachter (former bassist of 30 Seconds to Mars), filled in for the show and was later confirmed as a permanent member.The new album, titled I-Empire and the first song "Everything's Magic" leaked to the internet, and on August 25, 2007 it was the most requested song on California radio station KROQ. Angels & Airwaves began streaming the song on their MySpace profile on August 28, 2007. It also became available on iTunes, and reached number three on the iTunes Rock Chart on September 11, 2007, before the song was even made available for nationwide airplay. The band shot the video for the single on January 20 and 21, and it premiered on MTV2 Unleashed on February 25, 2008 The band came out with a third single, "Breathe", that was released onto the internet June, 20.
Angels & Airwaves performed at every location on Warped Tour 2008.
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Love: 2009–2011
The band took a break from performing in 2009 while Tom Delonge reunited with Blink-182 for a summer tour. During their time off, Atom Willard joined Social Distortion as their touring drummer, while Matt Wachter and David Kennedy began work on the upcoming film. When Delonge and Willard returned in the fall, the band resumed production of their next album. Love is the third studio album by Angels & Airwaves, which was officially released worldwide on February 14, 2010 after being delayed from Christmas 2009. Fuel TV also released it two days earlier for Modlife members, along with Mark Hoppus' remix of Hallucinations available to those who donated when downloading the album. The album was released free of charge due to "corporate underwriting". They began producing it in January 2009 but progress was slow due to Blink-182 reuniting and going on tour. The band finished the album in time for its release on Valentine's Day 2010. Love was downloaded nearly 500,000 times during the first 48 hours after its release day making it the most downloaded album in history. The first single from the album, "Hallucinations," was made available for free through the band's Modlife on December 23, 2009. The band have also released the video via Modlife on March 7, 2010.The band toured North America, starting March 27 in Anaheim, CA. The tour wrapped up on May 30 in Ventura, California, and Delonge returned to Blink-182 to prepare for their upcoming album and European tour. Delonge originally revealed that there will be another tour rumored to have UK dates after the release of the Love film in the autumn, but plans were changed due to Delonge's commitments with Blink-182. It was announced via Modlife that there will be a European tour in 2011, with several shows announced in the UK.
"Epic Holiday" is on the soundtrack to the German film Kokowääh with Til Schweiger.
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Current members
- Tom DeLonge – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (2005–present)
- David Kennedy – lead guitar, synthesizers (2005–present)
- Atom Willard – drums, percussion (2005–present)
- Matt Wachter – bass, backing vocals (2007–present)
Former members
- Ryan Sinn – bass guitar, backing vocals (2005–2007)
