Angels & Airwaves: Life After Blink 182

After the announcement of Blink 182's indefinite hiatus, lead guitarist Tom Delonge decided to move on and start fresh. He enlisted former Boxcar Racer guitarist David Kennedy, former 30 Seconds to Mars bassist Matt Wachter and former Offspring drummer Atom Willard to form a new band. "Tom and I have known each other for years," Atom tells me before the band's sold-out show at the Commodore last month, "We weren't necessarily close friends or anything, but we knew each other from playing in bands and being from San Diego."

Soon after the formation of Angels and Airwaves (aka AVA), the band began to write their own unique style of rock. "[The writing process] is the most different situation I've ever been a part of," says Atom. "Tom will start with a vocal idea or something, and we'll work kind of backwards from that."

For most of the members, the music of Angels and Airwaves is a change from their previous punk-band roots. "We had the opportunity to start fresh and to do something from the ground up," Atom explains, "As a kid,] all you listen to is punk rock, and as you get older, you have different influences."

In 2006, AVA took those influences and released their first album, We Don't Need to Whisper. The debut effort was a success, reaching #4 on the Billboard 200 and becoming certified gold in Canada.

Building on that success, AVA released their second album, I-Empire this past November, a bit of a departure musically and subject-wise for the band. "This record is lyrically about where you want to go in life and how you want to stake your claim," explains Atom. "That is represented on the album art where there is a motorcycle and the open road – a journey."

Beyond the music, AVA has also journeyed in the film world and recently released their documentary, Start The Machine. "It was originally supposed to be a motion picture," says Atom, "but we decided that it made a perfect documentary." Start the Machine features Tom Delonge talking about the break-up of Blink and the creation of AVA during the recording process for We Don't Need to Whisper. The band is also working on a feature sci-fi film for I-Empire in which the music from the album will serve as the soundtrack.

Two successful albums and one documentary later, AVA is still going strong, having played the full Warped Tour this summer, as well as being a part of an upcoming tour with Weezer and Tokyo Police Club this fall. With thousands of fans lining up to see them every show, screaming their names at the top of their teen-angst-filled lungs, Atom admits, "It makes you realize you're part of something bigger than yourself."

Hopefully moments like will inspire Angels and Airwaves to continue writing music for the rest of their lives.