Angels & Airwaves
Photo: Geffen Records

Over the past two years, Tom DeLonge has been the go-to guy for head-scratching, "Wait, what?!?" statements about the importance of his band (well, either him or Brandon Flowers).

To wit: In September 2005, he declared his new band, Angels & Airwaves, to be "the greatest rock and roll revolution for this generation." Then, in October of that year, he proclaimed A&As' debut album, We Don't Need to Whisper, would "compete with the greatest rock records of all time." That December, he predicted that the album would usher in an "entire new culture of the youth." And finally, in May '06, he foresaw its success leading him to "conquering the globe."

Of course, whether any of those things actually happened is up for debate. Whisper sold well (more than 509,000 copies), and the band did embark on a fairly lengthy tour. But we're still waiting for much of the promised revolution to happen. And now, with the second A&A album, I-Empire, due to hit stores November 6, you'd think DeLonge would perhaps want to temper all that bold-faced bluster.

But you'd be wrong. Seems the reason we haven't noticed the revolution is because we're currently living in it. And there's more to come.

"Before We Don't Need to Whisper, I came out and said that it was going to change the face of rock and roll," DeLonge said. "What I meant was over a 30-year period. It's been one year — wait 29 more and you'll see how different your life is. Because it's still happening. What happens over the next six months to a year with I-Empire is going to continue that thought of what I really wanted the last record to do. It's a lot harder and a lot more ambitious than what I ever believed it to be, but what we're going to continue to try to do is to change a lot of things about music.

"We were trying to [deal with] an industry that was in crisis," he continued. "Records aren't selling anymore; people are burning music. So what we wanted to do was try to communicate our records across different formats. We were willing to put ourselves out there and try to make movies ... to make short films and do live events. It was very difficult. It took a lot of money, it took a lot of ambition, and it took a lot of risk. And it's very easy to tear a band down for trying."

Fair enough. But for a guy who's constantly touting the powers of his band's music, you'd think DeLonge would be willing to can the chitchat and let that music speak for itself. Apparently, that's not the way things are done in the A&A camp. After all, there was much talk of a CGI-heavy World War II film that was supposedly going to accompany the release of Whisper, and the plan seems to be the same for Empire.

"When we created We Don't Need to Whisper, the priority [was] to be the tip of the spear of what was changing in music, not only technologically, but what was going to happen with the industry as a whole," he said. "The film we made, we wanted to lump it into the documentary side of things, because there's so much of a story to tell with us as human beings, and how we made the record and what we wanted to do with people. That documentary has been in production for two years. We have filmed most of it. It has live performance, it has documentary, and it has these epic visuals of war. And that's almost finished. But when we started I-Empire, our grand vision of being able to communicate music with cinema started to materialize. And that has started to be filmed. We've released a trailer for the movie, and it's in production through the beginning of next year, so we expect it to hit theaters — to what degree, we don't know — in the fall."

Despite all the talk of ongoing revolution and theatrical releases, there's very little we actually know about Empire. DeLonge described it as "the second part of a two-album story." What does that mean?

It should come as no surprise that DeLonge is more than willing to tell you: "The first record was about an idea that if you can see yourself differently in the world, you might actually change the world around you, if not the world itself. The new record is about that idea taking place, and the personification of that philosophical statement, that you can actually change the world by seeing it differently.

"There are lots of things happening in the world right now," he continued. "When you watch the news, it's really negative. When you listen to music, it consistently seems [like] bands are angry, or they're covering themselves in makeup and crying and being weird about it. But with us, we like the idea of being optimistic, and to be optimistic and to believe in something greater than yourself seems to be the most uncool thing in the world, which makes it the coolest thing, since we're the only ones doing it."

• Angels & Airwaves
• Tom Delonge

Angels & Airwaves' Tom DeLonge
Photo: Jo Hale/Getty Images

Perhaps you're familiar with Tom DeLonge ... tall guy, pierced lip, played guitar in this band called Blink-182? Yeah, that dude. Anyway, you might have heard that he's started a new band, a little something called Angels & Airwaves. It's the one he said will change the face of rock and roll forever.

After months of promising a great rock revolution, DeLonge finally posted the first Angels' song, "The Adventure," on his band's Web site in late February (see "Tom DeLonge Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is — New Song Hits The Web"). Just a few weeks later, he announced that the band's album will be called We Don't Need to Whisper, and it'll be in stores on May 23.

All that's left to announce are some Angels & Airwaves tour dates, which should be surfacing sometime — oh, bro! Here they are.

According to A&A's management, the band will make its live debut on April 12 at the Glass House in Pomona, California, and play the Ventura Theater in, um, Ventura, California, two days later before heading to the U.K. to play the Give It a Name Festival on April 29 and 30. They'll be back in the U.S. on May 5, performing at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

Don't worry, DeLonge and company are also playing shows outside of California: They'll make stops in cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., before wrapping the tour on May 25 in Chicago. Management confirmed that the run of North American dates is just the precursor to a much larger tour — certainly something more becoming of the saviors of rock and roll — tentatively slated for June.

Angels & Airwaves tour dates, according to management:

• 4/12 - Pomona, CA @ The Glass House
• 4/14 - Ventura, CA @ Ventura Theatre
• 5/5 - San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
• 5/6 - San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
• 5/8- West Hollywood, CA @ The Troubadour
• 5/9 - West Hollywood, CA @ The Troubadour
• 5/15 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
• 5/16 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
• 5/18 - Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of the Living Arts
• 5/20 - Boston, MA @ Avalon Ballroom
• 5/21 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
• 5/24 - Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
• 5/25 - Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre

• Tom Delonge

Tom DeLonge
Photo: Getty Images

This isn't going to be another one of those Angels & Airwaves stories where Tom DeLonge makes jaw-dropping statements about the greatness of his new band's music without actually providing audible proof of said music's greatness.

No, this one is actually about the music.

That's because finally, after months of calling A&A everything short of "the New Beatles" (see "Blink's Tom DeLonge Promises 'The Greatest Rock And Roll Revolution' ") — and almost a year to the day that his former band, Blink-182, went on "indefinite hiatus" (see "Blink-182 Announce 'Indefinite Hiatus' As Breakup Rumors Swirl") — DeLonge has posted an actual song on the band's Web site, AngelsAndAirwaves.com.

It's called "The Adventure," a tune that DeLonge first told MTV News about back in December (see "Tom DeLonge Spills More About Angels & Airwaves' Plans For World Domination"). And it's accompanied by an arty, black-and-white video directed by Mark Eaton (a guy who worked on Blink's 2003 tour doc "Riding in Vans With Boys," and not the bearded, 7'4" behemoth who played for the Utah Jazz from 1982-1993 — though that would've been awesome).

The "Adventure" video is chock-full of female nudity and blurry visuals of street lights and late-night subway trains — a pretty far cry from Blink's heady, poop-joke past — and according to Angels' label, Geffen Records, there are no plans to release it (or the song) to the nation's, er, airwaves. At the moment, there's also no firm release date for the band's debut album, though according to DeLonge, it'll hit stores "sometime in the spring."

Things are similarly murky when it comes to the Angels & Airwaves movie, which DeLonge said is still in the works (as evidenced by a trailer on the band's site), but has no set completion date.

"We're still filming, we've already shot all the documentary stuff, we're working on the CGI stuff and we'll shoot the love-story stuff soon," he said. "We all agreed that we wanted it to come out a little bit after the album is done. It'll be a theatrical release, though to what extent I'm not sure. If I can sit people down, give them 5.1 sound and give them 30-foot visuals, then it'll help me present my music to them. The CGI sequences are epic, and like the music, when it's action and violence, it'll be violent, and when there's love and romance it will give you chills."

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• blink-182

Tom DeLonge
Photo: Getty Images

On Tom DeLonge's agenda for 2006: a) complete the debut album from his new band, Angels & Airwaves; b) finish the feature film that accompanies that album; c) completely change the face of rock and roll; and d) create an entirely new generation of music fans out of the lumpy, unmotivated masses.

He also plans on directing a few videos, doing some charity work, launching an Angels & Airwaves world tour and taking up interpretive dance.

(Just kidding about that last thing.)

Regardless, it's shaping up to be quite a year for DeLonge, who's made no bones about making Angels the biggest band in the world by the end of '06 (see "Blink's Tom DeLonge Promises 'The Greatest Rock And Roll Revolution' "). So it's no surprise that he's getting an early start on things, launching an Angels & Airwaves podcast on Tuesday that will serve as the band's formal introduction to the planet.

"It's going to be a really big day for us, and for music," DeLonge said. "We're going to be introducing the band, playing some snippets from the movie and just kicking the whole thing off in general. I've been working on this project for 12 months now, so yeah, I'm pretty excited by the whole thing."

The podcast will debut at MacbethFootwear.com — the Web site of DeLonge's shoe company — and on AngelsAndAirwaves.com, and it's just the first step in a very long and elaborate rollout for the band's new album, which DeLonge said will hit stores in April. And though he's still playing coy with some details, his hardline no-info stance does appear to be dissipating just a bit, and he let MTV News in on a few nuggets about the record.

"It's 10 songs long, and the total running time will be a little bit over an hour. Some of the song titles are 'Start the Machine,' 'It Hurts' and 'The Adventure,' " DeLonge said. "Everyone who's heard it says it's the best thing I've ever done, and I'm inclined to believe them. We haven't picked the first single yet because all 10 songs are absolute singles. That's been the hardest thing of all, trying to determine the first single."

Though it most certainly won't be the first single, DeLonge said that one track fans will be hearing sooner rather than later is "Valkyrie Missile," which he originally planned to release on December 13 but has since decided to hold until the new year.

"It's a great calling card for the band. It's the first song on the album and it's this massive soundscape," DeLonge explained. "It's named after the Valkyrie missile, which was built to carry nuclear warheads across the Atlantic. It's based on the idea of a missile headed your way, getting ready to annihilate life as we know it — but something great and special will come out of the aftermath. I kind of liken that to the last year of my life. When I was getting ready to leave the Blink world and thinking of starting the Angels & Airwaves world, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I didn't know how amazing it would be."

While DeLonge is anxious to get the song out there, he's even more excited about just how fans will react to it. And in typical fashion, he's not exactly shy about expressing that excitement.

"In January the single and video will drop and you'll see a whole new generation of Mods appearing everywhere, based on the kids in the '60s on their Vespas that were interested in modern living and modern fashion," he laughed. "I'm going to usher in this entire new culture of the youth, obsessed with the future. Because we're not going to be one of those rock bands that take photos sitting on dirty curbs, pretending to be like every other rock band of the past 10 years. Angels & Airwaves will be all about the future."

For more on Tom DeLonge, check out the feature "No More Compromises."

• Tom Delonge

Tom DeLonge
Photo: Appio

Good things come to those who wait, the cliché goes. And Blink-182 fans must have something good coming, because they're going to have to wait a bit longer to hear anything new from the band's erstwhile members.

Just a few weeks ago, former Blink guitarist Tom DeLonge had the Internet atwitter with news that on December 13, he'd be releasing the first song from his new project, Angels & Airwaves, on iTunes and the band's official site, AngelsandAirwaves.com. The song, called "Valkerie Missile," was to be accompanied by a trailer from the upcoming Angels & Airwaves movie, which DeLonge intends as a companion to the album (see "Tom DeLonge Breaking Silence On Blink With Autobiographical LP, Movie").

The December 13 date was eventually pushed back a week, and now, according to Geffen Records, it looks like there's not going to be anything released on the A&A front at least until the new year. In the meantime, DeLonge continues to put the finishing touches on the album/film project, in addition to his promotional efforts for the soon-to-be-launched merch section of the band's site.

"Part of our Web site will have limited-edition merchandise, extra songs, a preview of the record, streaming concerts, free music, exclusive T-shirts, etc.," DeLonge wrote in his blog on MacbethFootwear.com. "It will cost a yearly subscription of about 20 bucks, but you will get a free T-shirt and a poster designed by the artist from 'Star Wars.' Unless you are a p---y and too scared to join the future."

But DeLonge hasn't just been using his blog at the Macbeth site to make grandiose claims and call out unsuspecting fans. He's also started posting lyrics, too. The first are for a song apparently called "Crush," which is loaded with lines like, "I'll light up a path far from here/ I'll make your fear melt away/ And the world that we know disappear," and seems to fall in line with DeLonge's claims that the A&A album will be about love and loss.

There is still no firm release date for Angels & Airwaves' debut album, but a Geffen representative said it will definitely not be coming out this year and is slated to hit stores in the spring of 2006 — before adding cryptically, "But you never know!"

For more on Tom DeLonge, check out the feature "No More Compromises."

• Tom Delonge