ANGELS & AIRWAVES
Overload
I haven't listened to a Tom DeLonge song on purpose in a decade or more.
When I was in college a few of my roommates were Blink 182 diehards, but I sort of missed the boat because when I lived in California it wasn't cool to like Blink because other people outside of California now liked Blink and California has to be FIRST and the ONLY people to like something or it becomes stale. It goes from WOOOOO! to EWWWWW! faster than you can say "Isla Vista is about to crumble into the ocean bro".
So I didn't hate on the music, I was just never around it and when I was around it I was drinking Natty Light and hearing about all the finger banging all of my disease riddled roommates were doing.
But my bro Moses sent over this link for Angels & Airwaves and I hit play because I trust him, even though he's American, and dude, I HAVE LISTENED TO NOTHING ELSE SINCE IT SHOWED UP ALL UP IN MY BOX HOLE.
Speaking only for the track I've had on repeat, "Overload", this shit sounds like I'm 17 years old, bouncing on my bed, playing the most gorgeous air guitar I can afford on my salary of gum wrappers and discount cigarettes. It's so fucking rare that I immediately flip any work I was supposed to do off my desk, pick up a pair of mismatched pens, and just start BEATING THE EVER LOVING SHIT OUT OF MY WORKSPACE. I'm serious when I tell you this song has completely fucking kicked my ass.
Not knowing much about Angels & Airwaves, other than that I know Tom DeLonge and I own a guitar with an SH-8 Seymour Duncan pickup, I would consider this song written especially for me. It's not often that everything you were supposed to get done today takes a backseat to playing imaginary drums at a desk in full view of the public.
The more I read into the email that came with the track, I discovered that the track is on an EP titled Chasing Shadows, which pairs with a novel that Tom co-wrote. Peep this:
"The EP’s arrival coincides with today’s release of the 704-page hardcover novel, SEKRET MACHINES BOOK 1: CHASING SHADOWS (To The Stars/Simon & Schuster), the first in a three-volume series of fiction novels co-written by Tom DeLonge and New York Times bestselling author A.J. Hartley (The Darwen Arkwright series). Praised as "an exhilarating thrill ride" that may never have you looking at the night sky the same way again, Chasing Shadows will reveal fascinating secrets surrounding the true, well-documented events of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon. "
I don't know what any of that means, but holy fucking shitballs on a triscuit made of human flesh this track fucking murders.