Tom DeLonge Writes Op-Ed Piece On UFOs: "It’s Naïve To Think That They Don’t Exist"

To coincide with the release of the new six-part TV series Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation, Angels & Airwaves frontman Tom DeLonge has written an op-ed piece about how he first became interested in the subject, and why the study of UFOs is so important.

"About 25 years ago, I read a non-fiction book about UFOs while on tour with blink-182 that blew my mind," the vocalist and guitarist writes in Newsweek. "This was a time before smartphones, so being on a tour bus for weeks on end meant we were forced to keep ourselves occupied if we were bored. I chose to read. Timothy Good’s Above Top Secret detailed a historical chronology of UFO events in conjunction with domestic and foreign space programs and militaries. It wasn't just a solitary event, but a chain of occurrences. I remember repeating as I was reading, 'Oh my god, this is massive.' I probably annoyed the hell out of my bandmates."

Tom then goes on to explain his journey into this fascinating passion "led me to believe it’s naïve to think that UAPs don’t exist. In my quest for knowledge, there have been detractors and naysayers aplenty. But the more I’ve been able to share my ideas with people I respected, the more sense of community I felt. And I want other people to feel that way, too."

Read the full thing at Newsweek now.

Tom recently spoke to Kerrang! about this very subject, and how it all ties in with his other work in music and a new AVA album.

“Music is my life and who I am, but I’m a lot more than that as well, and I got sidetracked starting my company because I had an opportunity,” he says. “I actually created To The Stars as an entertainment company to create the multimedia parts of the Angels & Airwaves albums – it was to bill these movie projects that could be coupled with an album, so we could do these big art projects. One of those stories was about UFOs, and I was going to put out there some stuff that I knew had never been out there, and it would probably ruffle some feathers in a bad way in the U.S. government. I spent the greater part of a year working my way into those places within the U.S. government that manage that subject, making relationships and getting them to understand what I was doing so I wouldn’t get in their way. It’s not some big conspiracy, but it’s just a very difficult subject that they have to deal with, so I didn’t want to come out and create a bunch of uproar by putting out a hundred-million-dollar movie and scare a bunch of people that have hard jobs to do!

“When that happened and I started these conversations, this movie and album combo came up when all that stuff started spiralling into something really big that wasn’t even a part of my initial plan. Yet it all tied up so perfectly, and it was so ambitious, that it just made sense. I said, ‘Holy shit, if I don’t jump in and do the music right now, I’ll be missing a massive opportunity to really tie everything that I’m passionate about together in one year.’ (Laughs) So that’s what pushed me to go, ‘Fuck, this is the time and this is the moment.’”

Read this next:

• Tom DeLonge’s 11 best moments
• Every blink-182 album ranked from worst to best
• 11 great songs about aliens and UFOs that are out of this world