Angels and Airwaves

Angels And Airwaves A.K.A. "AVA" are an alternative / Progressive Rock Supergroup formed by Blink-182 singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge. They currently have four albums out, We Don't Need to Whisper (2006), I-Empire (2007) Love (2010), and Love Part 2 (2011). The album Love was released for free by the band, similar to what Radiohead did with In Rainbows or what Nine Inch Nails did with The Slip. The two Love albums are part of what Tom considers a more far-reaching art project which also includes the feature-length Love movie directed by William Eubank. The film, after several years of delays premiered at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in February 2011, received a limited one-night-only release on August 10th, and eventually was released on DVD in November alongside Love Part 2.

Related Acts:
 * Blink-182 (Tom De Longe)
 * Over My Dead Body (David Kennedy)
 * Hazen Street (Kennedy)
 * Box Car Racer (Kennedy)
 * The Offspring (Atom Willard)
 * Rocket from the Crypt (Atom)
 * Social Distortion(Atom)
 * 30 Seconds to Mars (Matt Wachter)
 * The Distillers (Ryan Sinn)


 * Break Up Song: "It Hurts"
 * Also "Start the Machine", which is about Blink-182's breakup.
 * Christmas Songs: "Star of Bethlehem". In the album's final release, it was split into two songs: "Star of Bethlehem" and "True Love".
 * Darker and Edgier/Lighter and Softer: Compared to Blink-182, both labels arguably apply. Darker and Edgier, in that their music frequently deals with more mature subject matter (war, depression, social justice, etc.) than blink is known for, and generally treats subjects with more gravity than blink ever did. Lighter and Softer, in that their music generally has a much more optimistic tone than blink's, and is often about overcoming adversity through The Power of Love and/or The Power of Friendship.
 * Doing It for the Art: Because each of the band's member was already successful in his own right, they're given freedom to do more elaborate and artsy work that wouldn't have worked with their other acts.
 * Double Meaning Title: The band's abbreviated name, "AVA" counts as one. It was ostensibly chosen because it looks like "AAA" (for Angels And Airwaves) with the second "A" turned upside down, but it's also a tribute to Tom's daughter, Ava DeLonge. And when said aloud, the name also sounds similar to the word "aviation". Considering the band's heavy use of space and aviation motifs in their lyrics and album artwork, this was probably intentional.
 * Epic Instrumental Opener: The beginning of "Valkyrie Missile", "Star of Bethlehem" and "Et Ducit Mundum Per Luce".
 * Lighter and Softer: I-Empire
 * Loudness War: I-Empire
 * Lyrical Dissonance: "Sirens" from "I-Empire". It has the same upbeat, uplifting sound of all of their music...but it's about a Stalker with a Crush.
 * The Movie: Love (originally titled I-Empire) was scored by the band, and its plot is based on recurring themes in their music.
 * Precision F-Strike: At least on one song per album (It Hurts on WDNTW, Rite of Spring on I-Empire, Flight of Apollo on LOVE, though it happens on four songs in LOVE: Part II)
 * Protest Song: "War" is the most obvious one. "Distraction", to a lesser extent Understandable, since both were written when Tom's brother was pulling active duty in Iraq.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: An entire band example. AvA is very much the blue to blink's red.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Way on the idealist end. They're one of the most shamelessly optimistic bands on the alternative rock scene today.
 * Spiritual Successor: to Box Car Racer.
 * Supergroup: Each of the members and their respective other bands are listed above.
 * Trailers Always Lie: They released a trailer for a movie based on their music shortly before We Don't Need To Whisper first came out. The trailer gave the impression that it would be a feature film like Yellow Submarine or The Wall, but it eventually turned out to be a documentary about the band's formation. Granted, they did eventually come out with a feature film called Love in 2011.