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Thomas Matthew DeLonge, Jr. (born December 13 1975), is an American musician, best known as one of the founding members of, and guitarist/singer in, bands blink-182 and Angels and Airwaves and Box Car Racer. He lives with his wife Jennifer, daughter Ava Elizabeth (born July 15, 2002), son Jonas Rocket (born on August 16, 2006 ) in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. Tom DeLonge was raised by his mother and father in Encinitas, California. He has an older brother, Shon (now serving in Iraq) , and a younger sister, Kari. In 1990, on Tom's fifteenth birthday, he received his very first guitar from a friend who had found it lying in a dumpster. Tom was expelled from Poway High School during junior year after being caught drunk at a school basketball game. As Tom went to another school, he met Anne Hoppus, Mark Hoppus' sister, which led to the beginning of blink-182. When he returned to Poway High School during his senior year, the students voted him Prom King at his senior prom.
Blink-182
Main article: blink-182Tom's first band, Big Oily Men, was just for fun. After getting expelled from his old high school on accounts of teenage drinking at a basketball game during his junior year, Tom met Anne Hoppus at his new high school. She had overheard him making a prank phone call to a dentist's office, and found him hilarious. They soon became friends. Tom constantly expressed his desire to form a serious band, so Anne introduced him to her brother, Mark Hoppus, who had recently moved to Poway, California. The night they met Tom was skateboarding with a bunch of friends in front of Mark's house and to impress Tom, Mark climbed a street light and jumped from the top, cracking both heels. They soon transformed into Blink. In need of a drummer, Tom tapped 14-year-old Scott Raynor, whom he had seen in a heavy metal band in a Battle of the Bands contest. In 1992, the trio created a demo tape entitled Flyswatter in which they distributed by hand in their schools and at shows.
Their first concert took place at a bar names "Soma" in San Diego, CA. Since they were underage, they were only allowed to enter when it was time for their set. They bought 50 tickets to sell but no one came to see them. After only one song Blink was kicked out. After the show, the bar manager came up to Tom, bought him a Snapple and said, "You deserve it." Blink eventually got more popular, and on their first real tour, Tom DeLonge was arrested for underage drinking. As they reached newer heights of popularity, they were forced to add a "182" to the end of their name due to threat of legal action by an Irish band already operating under the name Blink, there is no reason for the numbers "182" just several rumors. They were later signed to MCA records in which they released "Dude Ranch", "Enema of the State" and "Take off your pants and Jackets" and the live album "The Mark, Tom and Travis Show". Their first single Dammit made "Dude Ranch" a gold record, but their first major hit "What's my age again made "Enema of the state" and Platinum Record in several different countries.
In an interview with Mark Hoppus, it is stated that the reason for blink-182's indefinite hiatus is that Tom DeLonge quit the band.
Religious Views
While Tom has never explicitly stated his religious views, based on lyrics it is safe to assume that he holds to a Christian viewpoint. Lyrics such as "The trees were the first sign and Jesus blew the clearest sky. The silence came with the brightest eyes and turned water into wine, The children ran to see ,the parents stood in disbelief, And those who knew braced for the ride Revived its self and came alive to say 'I, I can do any thing if you want me here, And I can fix anything if you let me near. What are those secrets now the church is scared to tell? I whisper them aloud so you can hear your self" Angels and Airwaves - A Little's Enough
Political activities and views
During 2004, Tom played an active part in the campaign to elect John Kerry as President of the United States. He was involved in many rallies and spoke to different groups asking them to support John Kerry's election bid. In some cases, Tom and also fellow members of blink 182 aligned themselves with Punk Voter and had various political links on their websites.
On May 10, 2004, DeLonge told Rolling Stone and said if President George W. Bush won the election, he would move to Canada (echoing similar comments by many other celebrities). Bush won the election but Delonge remained in America.
In 2006, DeLonge implied the United States government was partially responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks. DeLonge interviewed James H. Fetzer of Scholars for 9/11 Truth during a stint as guest DJ on San Diego, California, radio station 91X. During the interview, DeLonge said "The came down in a fashion similar to a controlled demolition ... and the expertise that is needed to fly those gigantic planes into that exact location could never have been achieved by someone who just learned how to fly a small plane."
He actively supports breast cancer research, and has sponsored events like "Keep A Breast" with his company Macbeth Shoes.
Signature Model Guitars
- From the beginning of his musical career. Tom used a Fender Stratocaster. Fender released Tom Delonge signature model guitar for retail for a few years until he ended his deal with Fender for Gibson. The Tom Delonge Fender Stratocaster model comes with one volume knob, one Seymour Duncan Invader pickup in the bridge, and a neck plate with his name engraved in it. These guitars came in sea foam green , daphane blue, black, and graffiti yellow. Squire versions of Tom signature model were relesed also in sea foam green(no pearl pickguard), black( black pickguard), and white. These are out of production due to Tom's deal ending with Fender. These guitars can be found on ebay at an average price of $600.
- In 2002/2003, Tom made a deal with Gibson guitars and had a signature model made up. The Tom Delonge Gibson is a Gibson ES-335 semi hollow body in brown with cream stripes. This guitar also came with one volume knob and instead of the Tom's Invader pickup, a Gibson Dirty Fingers pickup was put in. The Dirty Finger pickup was chosen for the high output quality. The brown and creme signature was used in the Untitled period (post 2002) and is the only model comercially avaliable. After the breakup of blink 182, Tom began using the same Signature model but in other colors- Black with a black stripe and white with a black stripe. These are not avaiblable for purchase at this time but Gibson has hinted at them being sold in the future. The Tom Delonge Signature Gibson runs for a price of $2000
Equipment
He has had two signature models: a Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson ES-335, both featuring one humbucking bridge pickup. For his distortion sounds he has a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier running out of two 4x12 Mesa/Boogie Cabinets and two 2x12 Mesa/Boogie cabinets. For his clean sound he has a Marshall JCM900 running out of one Mesa/Boogie 4x12 cabinet and one 2x12 Mesa/Boogie cabinet. He also uses a Mesa/Boogie TriAxis Preamp, a Mesa/Boogie Simul-Class 2:Ninety Power Amp, a Marshall JMP-1 Preamp and a Marshall EL34 100/100 Power Amp.
Discography
blink-182
- blink-182 — Flyswatter (1992), vocals and guitar on the entire album.
- blink-182 — Buddha (1994), vocals and guitar on the entire album.
- blink-182 — Cheshire Cat (1994), vocals and guitar on the entire album.
- blink-182 — Dude Ranch (1997), vocals and guitar on the entire album.
- blink-182 — Enema of the State (1999), vocals and guitar on the entire album.
- blink-182 — The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back (2000), vocals and guitar on the entire album.
- blink-182 — Take off Your Pants and Jacket (2001), vocals and guitar on the entire album.
- blink-182 — Untitled (2003), vocals and guitar on the entire album.
- blink-182 — Greatest Hits (2005), vocals and guitar on the entire album.
Angels & Airwaves
- Angels and Airwaves — We Don't Need To Whisper (2006), vocals and guitar on the entire album.
Box Car Racer
- Box Car Racer — Box Car Racer (2002) vocals, guitar, and bass (on this album he's is known as Thomas Delonge)
External Links
TomDelonge.com Angels and Airwaves B182.com
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References
- Boddie, Neil. "BLINK 9/11. Former blink-182 singer questions Bush's honesty about the World Trade Center Attacks" Blender July 2006: 28., prisonplanet.com