Ex-Blink-182 singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge liked a meme on Instagram that showed Angels and Airwaves’ new acoustic EP and Blink-182’s California album. Thanks to the Blink-182 Reddit, who correctly predicted this would be an Alternative Nation article, for tracking this down.
Tom DeLonge’s Angels & Airwaves project will celebrate their 2006 debut We Don’t Need to Whisper with an EP featuring acoustic reworkings of four songs from that album.
“It’s been about a year since we put out new music and I wanted to give the fans something while the band works on the soundtrack to the upcoming Strange Times film,” DeLonge said in a statement. “Being in the studio brought back memories of AVA’s first album and I thought it’d be fun to reimagine those tracks and play around with the arrangements a bit. It’s the first time we’ve ever put out an all-acoustic release and it’s great to be able to do it with these songs, which are all pretty special to me.”
The EP is also dedicated to the memory of producer Jeff “Critter” Newell, who worked with Angels & Airwaves as well as Blink-182’s 2011 LP Neighborhoods. Newell died in 2012.
“Critter was everything to us. We considered him a member of the band,” DeLonge said. “He had the most artistic and beautiful soul and was such a big part of our lives. He always spoke with such poetry. He was my companion during the making of the first years of AVA. He would drink and dance in the studio parking lot to these songs till 4am. When we started recording these new versions, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I miss him. His spirit was definitely with us in the studio.”
