Thomas Matthew "Tom" DeLonge, Jr. (born December 13, 1975) is an American rock musician. He is the guitarist and one of the two lead vocalists for the American pop punk band Blink-182 as well as the guitarist and lead vocalist for the alternative band Angels & Airwaves. He was also the guitarist and lead vocalist for the alternative band Box Car Racer.
Raised in Poway, California, DeLonge developed an interest in punk rock during his teens. After being expelled from Poway High School for drinking at a basketball game, he attended Rancho Bernardo High School where he met Anne Hoppus. Anne Hoppus introduced him to her brother, Mark Hoppus, who also shared an interest in music. Tom also introduced Mark to Scott Raynor. The three formed Blink-182 which became one of the most popular rock groups of the 1990s–2000s. Travis Barker replaced Scott in later years. The group underwent an indefinite hiatus in 2005, with DeLonge focusing more on his Angels & Airwaves project. Blink-182 reformed in 2009, and released a new album in September 2011.
DeLonge has also pursued non-musical endeavors; he created a social networking website called Modlife, as well as two clothing companies. In 2001, he started Atticus Clothing and Macbeth Footwear with Mark Hoppus. DeLonge sold his shares in Atticus Clothing, and is currently the sole owner of Macbeth Footwear.
Early life
He was raised by his mother, Connie, and his father, Thomas Sr., in Poway, California. He has an older brother, Shon, and a younger sister, Kari. His first musical instrument was the trumpet, which his parents gave to him for Christmas when he was eleven. DeLonge was an average student in school, saying that "I knew exactly how hard I had to work in school. As long as I got that C, I wouldn't try one minute extra to get a B. I just cared about skateboarding and music." He played the guitar for the first time at his friend's house one afternoon, while listening to Bad Religion records and got his first guitar during his freshman year of high school as a 15th birthday present. DeLonge spent much time trying to learn songs by Descendents. One of DeLonge's first musical endeavors was Big Oily Men, a band of which he was the only constant member.
Despite his early interest in music, becoming a musician was not his first calling. DeLonge originally planned to become a firefighter, and participated in the San Diego Cadet Program. His parents divorced when he was eighteen, which would later become the inspiration for the Blink-182 song "Stay Together for the Kids". DeLonge was kicked out of Poway High School during his junior year (1991) after being caught drunk at a school basketball game. He then attended Rancho Bernardo High School for the remainder of his high school year. The song "Dick Lips" was based on him getting kicked out of school. When he returned to Poway High School during his senior year, the students voted him Homecoming King despite the fact that he was not even on the ballot. DeLonge graduated from high school in 1993.
Music career
Blink-182 (1992–2005; 2009–present)
When he began attending Rancho Bernardo High School in early 1992, he became friends with fellow student Anne Hoppus, who was also interested in punk rock. They became friends over the summer of 1992, when DeLonge expressed desire to be in a band to her. Anne introduced her brother Mark Hoppus to DeLonge in August 1992. To impress DeLonge, Hoppus climbed to the top of a streetlight outside of DeLonge's home – however, he broke both ankles on the way down, resulting in being in crutches for the next few weeks. DeLonge recruited old friend Scott Raynor from his days at Poway to become the drummer for the new band, initially named Duck Tape until DeLonge renamed the band as Blink.Blink released various demos throughout 1993 and caught the attention of local San Diego record label Cargo Music, where they signed and recorded their debut album Cheshire Cat in February 1994. The band quietly gained success in Southern California, touring throughout 1995 and 1996 in their own van. The band was threatened with legal action by an Irish pop band of the same name in 1994, and, to avoid a legal dispute, the band appended "182" to the end of their name, which, according to Mark Hoppus,was actually his desired weight because his doctor said he was slightly overweight at the time.
Hoppus and DeLonge fired Raynor midway through a U.S. tour in 1998 after a drinking problem became far too prevalent. Hoppus and DeLonge asked drummer Travis Barker of Blink-182's support band The Aquabats to fill in for Raynor for the remainder of the tour, and, after being impressed with Barker, asked him to join the band.
After performing with Box Car Racer for much of 2002, DeLonge and Barker rejoined the band to record their eponymous fifth studio album, released in November 2003. The album continued the commercial success that previous albums had endured, as well as being critically acclaimed: Blink-182 represented a more "mature" band than seen in the past, with the band infusing experimentalist elements into their usual punk rock sound, inspired by lifestyle changes (the band members all became fathers before the album was released) and side-projects (Box Car Racer and Transplants).
"My biggest failure was the breakup of Blink. That was a failure of friendships, businesses and communications. In our hearts, we thought that was forever and gone. What's funny is, at the time, I looked at it as a triumph. The fact that I was able to make a decision so detrimental to myself and identify and start fresh was pretty victorious."
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The band announced their reunion in February 2009 at the 51st Grammy Awards ceremony. A well-received reunion tour took place in mid-2009, with a European leg performed in summer 2010. The band's sixth studio album Neighborhoods was released on September 27, 2011 and was promoted on the 2011 Honda Civic Tour..
Blink-182 is recognized as a key pioneer of contemporary pop punk music, influencing various acts over their career. They released their sixth album, Neighborhoods, in September 2011.
Box Car Racer (2002–2003)
Box Car Racer was a side-project from two members of the band Blink-182, featuring guitarist Tom DeLonge and drummer Travis Barker. DeLonge formed Box Car Racer to experiment with and record ideas he felt were not "Blink-friendly", along with Travis Barker. David Kennedy from Hazen Street completed the group and a self-titled album was recorded, which debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200. Although Tom handled bass duties, the band hired Kennedy's friend Anthony Celestino for the corresponding tour. Guests on the album included Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 on the song "Elevator", and Tim Armstrong from Rancid. Tim Armstrong did vocals with Tom in the song "Cat Like Thief". Box Car Racer disbanded in 2003 after DeLonge and Barker went back to the studio with Mark Hoppus to start recording of their new album Blink-182
Angels & Airwaves (2005–present)
Tom DeLonge is the lead vocalist and lead guitarist for Angels & Airwaves, often stylized as AVA (Named after his daughter, Ava). Other members in the band include high school friend, former Hazen Street guitarist, and Box Car Racer guitarist David Kennedy; on drums former Nine Inch Nails drummer and former Lost Prophets drummer Ilan Rubin; and on bass former 30 Seconds to Mars bassist Matt Wachter. AVA is influenced by a number of bands including U2, Pink Floyd, and The Cure. They released their debut album We Don't Need to Whisper on May 20, 2006. On April 23, 2007, it was announced that Ryan Sinn would not be playing at the free Earth Day concert at the M.I.T. campus due to difficulties within the band. He was later replaced with former 30 Seconds to Mars bassist Matt Wachter. The band's second full-length album entitled I-Empire, released November 6, 2007, debuted on the Billboard 200 Chart at No. 9 and sold 66,000 copies in its first week.Love is the third studio album by Angels & Airwaves, which was officially released for free worldwide on February 14, 2010 after being delayed on Christmas 2009. The album was downloaded over 500,000 times in the first 48 hours of its release.
The band produced a full-length film also entitled Love written and directed by William Eubank. The film premiered on February 2, 2011 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, despite previously stating on Modlife that there might be a Fall 2011 release date of the film at The Sundance Film Festival.. DeLonge also revealed that the upcoming fourth studio album and second album in the "Love" Project, titled Love II, would include 48 minutes of extra music
The first single and music video from the expected album, "Anxiety", was released on August 11, 2011. The second single, "Surrender", was released on October 31, 2011. The fourth studio album, Love: Part Two was officially released (via the band's own label, To the Stars Records) alongside the film Love on November 1, 2011. The album is the last featuring drummer Atom Willard, who left the band shortly before its release in October 2011. Along with its predecessor, Love: Part Two is a concept album that explores themes such as "love, God, and hope."
Musical equipment
In 2002, whilst touring with Box Car Racer, Tom began collaborating with Gibson to create a new Signature Model. He started off by using a standard Gibson ES-335, with all but the bridge volume knob removed, and the bridge pick-up replaced with a Seymour Duncan Invader bridge pick-up. This guitar was eventually covered with many different stickers including band stickers and clothing line stickers from Atticus Clothing, Macbeth Footwear and Famous Stars and Straps. This guitar can be seen in Box Car Racer live photos and in the studio videos for the Untitled Album. In one of the videos, a prototype for his signature is seen that included an orange stripe instead of cream with a matching orange headstock and a metal volume knob. In 2003, Gibson released his signature model, the Tom DeLonge Signature ES-333, which has only been available since its release in Brown and Cream, with a Natural neck and headstock. Along with his Gibson signature, Tom also used a Fender Jagmaster baritone with single humbucker live, as seen in AOL live sessions with the song "Obvious". The Tom DeLonge Signature starts with Gibson's classic semi-hollow body design and then extends it into punk rock with an overwound 'Dirty Fingers' humbucking pickup. Its thick, distorted tone is the signature sound of DeLonge's band Blink-182. On Angels & Airwaves albums, We Don't Need to Whisper and I-Empire Tom has used his signature Gibson ES-333 for all of his live shows. However, he has a number of touring guitars, which he has had made in a few different color combinations, including matte black with a black racing stripe, natural with a black racing stripe and white with a black racing stripe. Since the Blink-182 reunion, he has been seen using his original brown and cream guitar (which now has a Blink-182 'smiley logo' spray-painted onto the body), his natural and black guitar (which has now been abused with burns, scrapes, and stickers), and a new black and white guitar(made by Baratto), which is a custom Baritone version of his standard signature guitar, made for playing the song "Obvious" and other down-stepped songs. Epiphone has since come out with a lower cost version of the Tom DeLonge signature guitar, manufactured overseas, but fitted with the same Dirty Fingers humbucker.
From very early on in Blink's career, Tom had used a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier amp head and a Marshall JCM 900 amp head along with Mesa Boogie and Marshall cabs for live shows. As his career progressed, Tom began using an intricate rack system along with three matching 4x12 and three 2x12 Mesa Boogie cabs. The rack system still made use of the Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier amp head, but it also included a Mesa Boogie 2:90 power amp and Triaxis preamp, Marshall EL34 power amp and JMP-1 preamp and a Voodoo Labs GCX Audio Switcher, all controlled via a Custom Audio Electronics midi footswitch (The rack discontinued the use of the Marshall JCM 900 amp head). The rack system also included a Furman power conditioner and Shure wireless unit.
For Angels and Airwaves, Tom made use of the same rack system minus the Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier but also included a TC Electronic G-Force effects unit as well as two Palmer PGA-04 amp simulators (one for the Triaxis preamp and one for the JMP-1 preamp).
For Blink-182, Tom now uses two Fender '65 Twin Reverb Amps for clean and two VOX AC30H2 Amps for distortion.
Tom has started using a synth and oscillator rig for live shows, during the Angels and Airwaves LOVE Tour. His synth rig, along with his guitar effects rig, is now built into a custom tower rack system, which stands by him on stage. Tom also now uses this same system for Blink-182, and plays/samples most of the synths and effects for their songs live.
His vocal setup consists of blue mics – he used the blue kiwi on every album before 'Take Off Your Pants and Jacket'. Now he uses a blue bottle mic running into a Pro Tools set up, where he uses sound toys plugins. His vocals are heavily compressed with a LA-2A compressor, then run through a TC helicon. He runs his sound through Orange amplifiers and records with a snare drum in the room.
Personal life
He currently lives with his wife Jennifer, daughter Ava Elizabeth (born July 15, 2002) and son Jonas Rocket (born on August 16, 2006), German Shepherd Grey, Labrador Retriever Chloe, and he recently got a new puppy as posted on the Angels And Airwaves Facebook page. He currently resides in Rancho Sante Fe, California. In January 2006, his wife launched a line of high-end children's furniture, whose pieces are available at stores such as Barneys New York, Bellini and F.A.O. Schwarz.
Non-musical endeavors
Tom directed the music video for Taking Back Sunday's song "This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know)" in 2004. Tom made a cameo appearance as the Burger Jungle drive thru clerk in the movie Idle Hands. Blink-182 is featured in the music documentaries: Riding in Vans with Boys, The Urethra Chronicles, The Urethra Chronicles II: Harder Faster Faster Harder, and upcoming film The Blinkumentary. Tom also made a cameo appearance in the blockbuster film American Pie with his fellow bandmates in Blink-182, acting in a scene while one of their songs, "Mutt", played in the background. Tom made a cameo appearance in The Simpsons with fellow bandmates, while "All The Small Things" played in the background.Tom has created his own website called Modlife; the site allows bands and their fans to meet up and interact with each other. The artists can also choose whether to have paid subscriptions for certain items. In 2001, DeLonge started Atticus Clothing and Macbeth Footwear with fellow Blink-182 band member Mark Hoppus. However, after Hoppus sold his shares in both companies after the hiatus of Blink-182, Tom sold his shares in Atticus Clothing and is currently the sole owner of Macbeth Footwear. Macbeth Footwear has a separate line with vegan shoes.
In 2011, DeLonge helped launch two new entities. The first was called "Strange Times"—a website dedicated to highlighting reports of UFO activity and the latest news in theories. Also in 2011, and after being diagnosed and receiving treatment for his own cancer, DeLonge formed a breast cancer awareness foundation called "Boomer Loves Boobies" that helps raise funds for the Keep A Breast Foundation. The title of this foundation was derived from the character he played in Blink-182's "First Date" music video
