For longtime blink-182 fans, seeing the classic lineup of the punk trio play “Aliens Exist” across two weekends of Coachella earlier this year was enough to add gallons of tears to already-drenched eyes.
Read more: Every blink-182 album ranked
No doubt aware of the gravity of the moment, returning co-founder Tom DeLonge marked the occasion by amending the end of the classic Enema of the State track’s first verse during Weekend 1 of the festival to walk back its original conspiratorial concession:
“You used to read me stories/ As if my dreams were boring/ We all know conspiracies are dumb/ (No they’re not).”
While DeLonge often made this same lyrical tweak with his acoustic renditions of the track on the most recent Angels & Airwaves tours, it packed a more palpable punch in Indio thanks to his choice of attire: A logo-emblazoned t-shirt from his company To the Stars, which you may have heard about in connection with its work in the UAP (f.k.a. UFO) space in recent years.
With Tom, Mark, and Travis now in the middle of a global arena tour—not to mention at a moment where blink is arguably as massive as they were before their first disbandment—it’s a decidedly appropriate time to take a look back at how one of the founding fathers of pop-punk’s second wave grew an interest in potentially extraterrestrial encounters into a legacy all its own.
blink-182
Angels & Airwaves
In the official video for AVA’s arrival single “The Adventure,” DeLonge and company —including Box Car Racer’s David Kennedy, Rocket From the Crypt’s Atom Willard, and The Distillers’ Ryan Sinn—were quite literally seen performing in space.
And while space was a central theme across the supergroup’s debut album We Don’t Need to Whisper, its influence on DeLonge’s songwriting—as well as his extracurricular interests—wasn’t made a fully front-facing aspect of the band until a bit deeper into its catalog and subsequent lineup changes.
The eventual double album Love, for example, was accompanied by the 2011 release of a well-received film of the same name directed by William Eubank. DeLonge and company produced and scored the film, the story of which expanded on the stranded astronaut tale at the heart of blink’s “Asthenia.” (It was a story DeLonge would return to once again with his children’s book The Lonely Astronaut on Christmas Eve in 2015).
As for the possibility of life elsewhere, the official video for 2007’s I-Empire single “Everything’s Magic”—which also got some tongue-in-cheek stage time during blink’s first reunion tour—saw a group of young first-contact hopefuls gathering in a football field for a sighting they ultimately miss thanks to slumber-inducing partying.
This period of AVA also sprouted the beginnings of DeLonge’s relationship with NASA; looking ahead at the band’s 2008 plans in a Billboard interview, he mentioned “incorporating” the agency’s tech into the band’s presentation in the future. More recently, DeLonge extended his NASA relationship with the launch of a full-fledged collab collection under the To the Stars umbrella.
To the Stars
The genesis of the To the Stars name is entwined with the coverage surrounding a series of public back-and-forths among the members of the classic blink lineup during their second split eight years ago. To the Stars, as a record label, released AVA’s 2014 album The Dream Walker (its first with present-day drummer and former Travis Barker student Ilan Rubin) and Tom DeLonge’s lone solo project, also titled To the Stars (full title To the Stars… Demos, Odds and Ends) one year later.
By 2017, the TTS name—which at that point was also publishing books, several of which were co-authored by DeLonge—had also become publicly synonymous with a full-fledged public benefit corporation with its sights on everything from aerospace concerns to a sneak-in-the-message multimedia approach that was already in progress.
It’s important to note that all of this was playing out in the public eye in the long, headlines-spurring shadow of WikiLeaks’ dumping of a slew of Hillary Clinton emails. Among them were several between DeLonge and John Podesta, who previously served as Clinton’s campaign chair and is widely regarded as an outspoken advocate (to this day) for governmental UFO disclosure.
This all led to DeLonge embarking on an escalating vindication tour focused on ideas he had nearly twenty years earlier proposed under the guise of Enema’s deceptively goofball presentation.
[Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty]
Seriously, he was everywhere—and understandably so. DeLonge spoke with The New York Times in 2019, for example, and was clearly aware of the gravity of his extended moment in a very different kind of spotlight than the one to which he had grown accustomed since blink’s initial infiltration of the mainstream.
“This situation that just happened is literally something I and many other people have been waiting for for not years, but decades,” DeLonge told the Times in an interview alongside Luis Elizondo, an ex-TTS collaborator whose former governmental experience in the UAP field was vouched for by the late senator and disclosure advocate Harry Reid. Elizondo, notably, also appeared alongside DeLonge in the two-season UAP series Unidentified on The History Channel.
The “situation” DeLonge was referring to at the time was the TTS-enabled release of footage showing legitimate examples of unidentified aerial phenomena. The three videos—nicknamed “Gimbal,” “FLIR1,” and “Go Fast”—had been released thanks to TTS starting in late 2017 in tandem with a still-fascinating (and separate from the above) Times piece. Also in 2017, DeLonge was presented with the UFO Researcher of the Year award from Open Minds.
While the footage wasn’t proof of extraterrestrial life, it was a clear sign that something could indeed be out there. In the years since these videos were initially circulated, the momentum spurred by their release has continued.
In September 2019, the U.S. Navy confirmed the legitimacy of the footage. This was followed in April 2020 by the Department of Defense’s authorization of their own official release of the videos, with the agency saying this was done to “clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real.” As for what was seen in the footage, the DOD noted that the aerial phenomena witnessed being operated in unexplainable ways indeed remained “unidentified” at the time.
Speaking with To The Stars co-founder and current VP of Operations Jim Semivan, we were fortunate enough to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at not only the former Senior Operations Officer for the CIA’s own history with the company, but also his ongoing relationship with “born leader” DeLonge.
When did you first become aware of Tom DeLonge’s interest in this area? When did you first meet in person?
I first became aware of Tom and his interest in UAPs in early June 2016 when a few scientists and researchers with strong ties to the Pentagon and Intelligence Community contacted me and asked if I was aware of Tom and his work investigating the UAP phenomenon. I had never heard of Tom before nor his band, blink-182. I was asked by the scientists and researchers to read the recently published Sekret Machines: Book 1 – Chasing Shadows and to listen to Tom’s Coast to Coast interview with George Knapp on 27 March 2016. Tom had mentioned in the Coast to Coast interview that he had written Sekret Machines based on conversations with and input from unnamed military and Intelligence Community “advisors.” Based on what Tom had said during the Coast to Coast interview and his insistence that he had a set of former and then current senior US Government advisors, a few of us decided that meeting Tom was probably a good idea. I can’t discuss the specifics about our interest in meeting with Tom except to say Sekret Machines was a rather intriguing read based on some aspects of its content. So in late August 2016 a few of us had the pleasure of meeting with Tom in San Diego. During our discussions, I found Tom to be very well read on UAPs and the Phenomenon. His perspectives on the topic in some ways were both thoughtful and sophisticated. It was during these meetings that Tom asked me and others (whom I cannot name because they wish to maintain their privacy in this matter) if we would like to work with him and form a company that would focus on the various aspects of UAPs and the Phenomenon. I agreed to work with Tom that afternoon and we sketched out the structure of the company on a paper napkin.
Interestingly, I asked but Tom never did tell me or any of us at the meeting the names of his “Advisors” that worked with him on Sekret Machines. The Russian breach of Hillary Clinton’s emails exposed a few of their names and I guessed a couple of others but Tom has never confirmed the names for me and will never do so.
[Photo by Ollie Millington/Redferns / Getty Images]
Given your own history, be it with the CIA or beyond, what made the larger To the Stars mission appealing to you?
For the past 50 years I have been (and continue to be) an avid student of the Phenomenon and other esoteric subjects. My interest began with Western mysticism, Greek Mystery Schools, psychic phenomena, etc., and eventually progressed to the study of UAPs. My interest was always mostly a hobby and I do not consider myself a serious researcher. My work with the CIA was in Operations, the National Clandestine Service or the Directorate of Operations as they call it now. Basic spy work. I was not involved in any work with UAPs or the Phenomenon during my career at CIA. When Tom first asked me to join him in creating a company focused on UAPs and the Phenomenon I was initially reluctant to do so. I was happy working on my own and occasionally with a few members of the Invisible College and I thought that working with a rock star would be a distraction. I was also doing some unofficial consulting with Lue Elizondo at the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program (AATIP) at the time so my plate was full. Tom convinced me that TTS was a great opportunity to get the message out about UAPs and the Phenomenon and that I would be able to make contributions through our intellectual property (books, movies, documentaries, podcasts, etc.). He was right and I am indeed fortunate to have accepted his kind offer. Tom has been great to work with…a born leader.
Thus far, what—in your opinion—has been TTS’ greatest accomplishment?
I think our role in putting together a highly credible dream team…Tom, Lue, Hal Puthoff, Chris Mellon, Steve Justice and our talented Board of Directors… that was able to catch the attention of the worldwide press, particularly the New York Times, was a great accomplishment. I think we can honestly say that the 16 December 2017 New York Times front page article on the AATIP program changed the game for everyone in the UAP community. Lue and Chris then pushed the agenda, and continue to do so today, to where we now have a complete, detailed section on UAPs in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). So TTS played an important role in all of this. Though Lue and Chris have moved on, TTS has a first-rate Board of Directors and Board of Advisors, and a truly impressive operations staff and we have a lot of new projects in development. We are excited about our association with Legendary Pictures and the prospect of the Sekret Machines franchise coming to the screen.
With the UAP issue now firmly implanted into the mainstream discourse, and with a seemingly continuous stream of updates making headlines, what most excites you about what’s ahead?
The 2023 NDAA is a huge leap forward and I think Congress finally got the message that UAPs are indeed real. And while they may not admit it publicly, Congress, the Pentagon and the Intelligence Community also know that these UAPs are decidedly not Russian nor Chinese nor from the US arsenal. I think worldwide leadership now knows that we are not alone and that non-human intelligences exist with us. Of course, I think the USG has always known this as did many other world governments. Eventually, I expect more information will come out though national security concerns and classification protocols must be respected. Another exciting development is the number of scientists and researchers who are actively pursuing this topic. And more researchers will most certainly enter this field in the future. We are on the right path.
[Photo by Chiaki Nozu / Getty]
A big talking point, especially from Tom’s perspective, has been the utilization of storytelling—be it books, films, series, etc.,—to further the educational aspect of the TTS mission. Can you speak on the processes behind this approach at all?
Tom has always been adamant, and I agree with him completely, that one of our primary missions should be advancing education about the Phenomenon. As a public benefit corporation, TTS, through entertainment and scientific research projects, will expand the public’s knowledge of the Phenomenon. That is our goal in a nutshell along with getting a decent return on investment for our investors. TTS does possess a unique perspective on the Phenomenon given the government and defense sector backgrounds of many of the people on our team and we want to elevate the conversation based on what we know. Sekret Machines, for example, is a case where we were able to guide the narrative, without revealing classified information.
At TTS, we believe that our Universe is a very, very strange and remarkable place. TTS wants to try to explain this weirdness and this strangeness in a manner that allows people to expand their understanding about our environment and our own somewhat restricted view of reality. Our consensus reality, how we all view our own world, is restricted by our senses and our brains; a necessary survival mechanism to a large extent. In the end, however, we remain blinkered because our senses and our brain simply cannot allow every bit of the “greater reality” in or we would be instantly overwhelmed. I hope that makes sense. As to the storytelling process itself, Tom or one of us will come up with an idea and we will all collaborate to see how we can mold the story to fit what we know. We will take some dramatic license for sure but the goal is to have a strong element of truth in the stories that we tell.
Just this month, a whistleblower (and ex-intelligence official) was reported to have come forward with allegations of the US having already, to quote The Debrief article directly, “Retrieve intact and partially intact craft of non-human origin.” What are the possible implications of this, and how does TTS fit into this latest development?
Let’s assume that this whistleblower is correct. I certainly do [think so] though I won’t comment on that further. Of course, the implications of this, once it is accepted by the public and the media, are very far reaching. Once a president or a government admits this fact, then endless questions will be asked…Who are they? Where are they from? What do they want? When did they arrive? Are they more powerful than us? Should we fear them? And as important, how should the government and the world writ large respond? Does the government have the answers to any of these questions and if not, how will the public react to our lack of knowledge? I think this is one of the many reasons why the USG has not openly admitted that we have intact craft and that we are aware of a non-human presence on earth. I think the USG and other governments have no answers, at least answers that would satisfy the people. What if we are no longer at the top of the food chain? If we are not, where do we fit in? The questions are endless…and for many people, extremely unnerving. We should all hang onto our hats.
I should add, that while TTS was not involved with this particular whistleblower, it has always been TTS’ position that UAPs and non-human intelligences are here and have been for millennia.
To young readers, or even just blink fans of any age who may not be privy to developments in the UAP space, what do you hope they take away from the work of TTS? Any core messages you hope are gleaned from everyone who may be reading?
As I mentioned earlier, TTS hopes to be an educational forum that can help explain or at least illuminate this topic. I don’t think anyone, TTS included, has any real answers as to what UAPs are or where they are from. For the moment, they appear to be an enigma. They leave no real calling card and as far as we know, they have never formally introduced themselves. So, this is a real conundrum, what sociologists would call a wicked problem. Should we be afraid or should we be accepting of a presence of which we know little? How do we go about explaining UAP or the Phenomenon if we do not possess the scientific knowledge to do so? What TTS wants to do is attempt to explain what we do know and what we don’t know in terms we can all understand. Present the truth as it is presented to us. I don’t think we should be afraid of UAPs but we do need to be cautious and do our due diligence. What worries me a bit is that so far this has been a one way street with UAPs. They show up but they don’t introduce themselves. Why is that? Should it be a cause for alarm or perhaps should we see it as their peculiar way of introducing themselves? In any event, TTS wants to present the case for UAPs and the Phenomenon as honestly and rationally as we can.
