Angels & Airwaves

With the hiatus of pop-punk superstars blink-182 in full effect by the fall of 2005, singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge revealed the formation of his new band — one he'd already been working with for six months — called Angels & Airwaves. Much hype ensued after the announcement. In interviews with outlets like MTV.com, DeLonge proclaimed that his new music would borrow elements from bands like U2 and Pink Floyd and, ultimately, be something of a revolution to change the face of rock & roll forever. Rounding out his lineup were guitarist David Kennedy (Boxcar Racer, Hazen Street), drummer Atom Willard (Rocket from the Crypt, the Offspring), and bassist Ryan Sinn (the Distillers), and the group made its live debut on April 12, 2006, to a sold-out crowd at Pomona, California's Glass House. Those unable to attend the show were given a taste of Angels & Airwaves' shimmering, arena-ready rock later that spring, when We Don't Need to Whisper was released on the Geffen label.

We Don't Need to Whisper was met with mixed reviews but went gold nonetheless, due in large part to a popular pre-sale that ensured the band a healthy first week of sales. Several U.K. festival appearances and a monthlong headlining tour followed, and the group also served as an opening act for Head Automatica and Taking Back Sunday during a tour of American venues. After replacing Sinn with former 30 Seconds to Mars bassist Matt Wachter, Angels & Airwaves returned in 2007 with their second album, the equally dramatic I-Empire. Although deemed by DeLonge to be "as exciting as rock 'n' roll gets!" in an interview with Kerrang!, I-Empire didn't fare nearly as well as the previous album, with sales eventually stalling around 260,000 copies in America. A stateside tour in early 2008 proved to be fairly popular, though, and the group remained on the road by joining the Warped Tour later that year.

At the Grammy Awards on February 8, 2009, DeLonge climbed on-stage with Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus to announce plans for a blink-182 reunion. The band toured that summer and spent significant time in the recording studio, where sessions for a new blink-182 album kept DeLonge busy. He found enough free time to record a third album with Angels & Airwaves, however, and the finished product — simply titled Love — was released free of charge on Valentine's Day 2010. The second part of Love arrived in November of 2011, not long after DeLonge released his reunion album with blink-182, along with a set that combined both parts of the album.

The next stage of Angels & Airwaves began in April of 2014, when DeLonge announced plans for another ambitious multimedia project. During the recording of the album, bassist Wachter left the band and was replaced by ex-Thrice member Eddie Breckenridge. The new album, entitled The Dream Walker, appeared in early December; it debuted at 39 on the Billboard 200. ~ Corey Apar & Andrew Leahey, Rovi