Music

Tom DeLonge says he's studying aliens with NASA

by Richard Howard

Former Blink-182 co-frontman Tom DeLonge’s obsession with aliens and UFOs is is a well-documented one, from the song “Aliens Exist” on Enema of The State to his recent sci-fi noverl Sekret Machines Book 1: Chasing Shadows, which is based on “true, well-documented events of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon” (“UFOs” are for n00bs, dude).

In most people’s minds, this interest has made him seem charmingly eccentric at worst. In a recent Rolling Stone interview, however, DeLonge made some statements that suggest either he’s an honest-to-God Alpha clearance level extraterrestrial expert or has some serious A Beautiful Mind shit going on.

Discussing Sekret Machines, DeLonge explained that, although fictional, the information therein was provided by “sources within the aerospace industry and the Department of Defense and NASA.” Sure, I could buy that. Then, he mysteriously adds: “That sentence, specifically, was approved for me to say.” Uh, OK…

The interview later turns to Blink-182 and the well-publicized drama of DeLonge’s quitting/being fired from/technically still being a member of the band. It’s when he explains not wanting to commit to the requirements the rest of the band was demanding that things get truly next level weird.

Listen, man. I don’t know the guy, so I can’t definitively rule out that he’s homies with generals and astrophysicists, and I don’t have any proof that aliens don’t exist. But that particular comment could have come straight from Russell Crowe’s mouth in the aforementioned 2001 biopic about schizophrenic mathematician John Nash.

DeLonge is aware that these kinds of statements have resulted in him being perceived as just that, along with delusional, a crackpot conspiracy theorist, and the extremely indelicate but always popular “batshit crazy.” He even understands why, and explains: “It’s very hard to think, ‘How did this guy in a band get access like that?’ It sounds crazy. But it’s because I can speak to a very specific audience. I earned their trust. I knew my material.”

Well, there you have it. I’m going to reserve judgement for the time being, mostly so that when Tom DeLonge pulls an E.T. onto the stage at an Angels & Airwaves show, I’ll at least avoid the embarrassment of being singled out for a personal “I told you so.”

[h/t Rolling Stone]