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Angels & Airwaves
Tats and Tunes
By Lisa Sharer 
Photos by Brett Mayfield and courtesy of A&A
From the
December 2008 issue of PRICK Magazine |
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A mix mesh of some amazing musicians is equal to one
golden idea. Angels & Airwaves, with their all star cast
and album gone gold, is one serious craze for all music
lovers across the globe. The logo of which was formed after
lead singer Tom DeLonge’s daughter, became AVA, when he realized
that an upside downside down A in the abbreviated version
of Angels & Airwaves would make Ava. These four fame worthy
names gained such an honor with their amazing track record:
Tom DeLonge— lead vocals, guitar (Blink-182, Box Car Racer);
David Kennedy — guitar (Box Car Racer, Hazen Street); Matt
Wachter — bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (30 Seconds
to Mars); "Atom" Willard — drums, percussion (Rocket from
the Crypt, The Special Goodness, The Offspring). We were fortunate
enough to steal a few minutes away from Kennedy while
on tour this fall, where we found out about the past, present,
and future of A&A.
There were many devastated fans when the
announcement came that Blink-182 would no
longer be. The pop/punk trio was held in high
regards to all sorts of fans, from metal heads to
hippies. But soon after was born from the
minds of DeLonge and Kennedy, A&A. They had
worked together previously on Box Car Racer,
and were actually long time friends (having
grown up in the same area). After bringing on
original bassist Ryan Sinn (The Distillers) and
Willard, the foursome was destined to shine.
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Their first album, We Don’t Need to Whisper, was
released in May of 2005 and within a week it had
gone gold in Canada and Silver in the U.K., and
not too long after that, the album went gold in
the U.S. After some troubles amongst the band,
Sinn separated from A&A in April of 2007.
Wachter filled in for Sinn, and was later made a
permanent member of the band.
Situated in their new found brotherhood,
A&A play music with a garage/basement/
local dive bar mentality. Kennedy told
us that the music goes stale when it gets
caught up in “egos and other people’s agendas,”
and that A&A are playing for “the same
reason we had when we were fifteen years
old. We just want to feel a connection to
the music.” This connection is inspiring to
the band; which seeps out into their thousands
of fans and has become more apparent
with their most recent release, I-Empire,
which sold over 86,000 copies in two
weeks.
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It’s pretty obvious that A&A has a spot
in their hearts for body art, with their
extensive work on display. There was so
much work, in fact, that we could only fit
pictures of two band members here.
Kennedy and Wachter show off their skin,
while Kennedy tells us a few of his personal
views on tattoos. “As far as style, when I
was younger what really seemed to speak to me was sort of an Asian style just because
the way everything flowed, everything moved with the body.” In opposition,Kennedy says,
“And then there’s Atom [Willard], who likes a real old school style, everything’s black and
gray, and he just looks like an old sailor. Where I’m at in my head now, I really think that
style is badass too.” One of Kennedy’s most memorable tattoos is of his gorilla. The first
tattoo he ever sat down to endure was a replication of the cover art of The Gorilla
Biscuits self titled 7-inch album. “It represents everything that got me into playing music
and being so involved in a tattoo lifestyle.”
As far as artists go, Kennedy was never one for searching out the most popular name,
just the most individual talent. “The guys I work
with are my buddies. They’re all very talented, but
they’re all just dudes. I don’t think anybody else
knew about them.” Maybe not then, but now he
might find that names like Juan Puente, Fip Buchanan,
and Aaron Della Vedova are a common chatter
amongst the tattoo circuit. Wachter is also sporting
ink from names like Bill Funk and Josh Hoffman. The
talent they found is nothing to scoff at.
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Considering your first tattoo? “Just get it,” is
Kennedy’s advice. “Sometimes people spend a lot of
time over-thinking that dolphin on the wall ‘Should I
really get that?,’ honestly you shouldn’t [laughs]. But
sometimes the answer is right in front of you.” He
also advises to save those special places for the real pieces of art. “Don’t put the
first one on your forearm or the middle of your back. They’re amazing places to
put something when you really know what you want, something timeless.” As far as
the current state of tattooing, he leaves that to the experts. He says he’s not one
for watching the tattoo shows, and if a tattoo artist can make a quick buck sending
his art to a shirt company, then so be it. As long as Kennedy can continue to get a
good piece of art from a good guy, he seems to be set.
A&A are planning on getting back into the recording studio in January, so if
you’ve been pining for some new stuff it will be here soon. Miss seeing their faces?
That, too, can be assuaged with their documentary, Start the Machine, that focuses
on the break-up of Blink, the beginning of A&A, and the recording of their first
album. A&A have only started to wreak their musical havoc upon fans; there will be
much more of them and their tattoo splendor to come.
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