It may be fitting that Tom DeLonge, a man whose musical career has been helped time and time again by sophomoric jokes about male genitalia, is now the leader of a band that has been nominated for mtvU's Woodie of the Year award.
If you don't recognize him by name, he may be more familiar if you just picture a tall skinny white guy wearing nothing but socks and running shoes in blink-182's video for "What's My Age Again?" Or perhaps in a blonde wig and a blue halter-top playing with a ball a la Britney Spears, in the video for "All the Small Things."
Whatever the bizarre mental image DeLonge brings to mind, the general theme is that it was always hilariously immature and yet thoroughly entertaining when the guitarist and vocalist from blink-182 did something.
However, DeLonge, now of Angels and Airwaves, has grown up.
His wife recently gave birth to the couple's second child, and DeLonge has taken his music to a level most would consider more classy than, say, songs about unusual bedroom behavior.
Q: How does it feel to be nominated for a Woodie Award?
A: Because I'm nominated, I think it's one of the most important awards in the history of music. It's validation of something I really believed in.
Q: Your band has often been compared to U2 in the short time you've been around. What do you think of the comparisons?
A: I could never possibly in a million years willfully myself compare us to U2. I have so much respect and admiration for that band it's hard to seriously relate us.
I have heard that comparison many times, because our sound is more sophisticated than most bands in America. It's a very European sound.
Q: You and your wife recently had your second child. What's it like being a father in addition to being a musician?
A: I love it. It makes me a better person, I guess.
Q: How do you measure your success with Angels and Airwaves?
A: When we started Blink, success just meant living off the band. With Boxcar Racer, my meter of success was artistically. With Angels and Airwaves, I really just wanted to do something to better the life of my family and to better the world around me. If I can truly use music to change people's lives and affect people around the world, I'll see it as a success.
Q: When you tell a story in one of your songs, how much of that is based on your own personal experience?
A: It really depends on what's happening. Almost 90 percent of my songs that are about relationships or love are real. It's something that I can draw on real-life experience for. With Angels and Airwaves, a lot of times there's so much hope, so much that's inspired; it's more of a cinematic feeling, but what's happening is visual. You start to get the chills up your arms. Sometimes it's not about the story, but it's about the feeling.
