When you’re fronted by one third of the trio responsible for the dumbest punk band on the planet, it will be very hard to shake that reputation but, as Planet Loud found out when they spoke to David from Angels And Airwaves, they are now shaking off that label.
Planet Loud – Do you think you guys are losing that Blink 182 cross that you’ve had to carry around with you?
AVA – “On the last US tour I was a bit nervous going out because I think people were wanting to know if it was Boxcar or if it was Blink. On the second record it feels like people are actually investing time in it because it is AVA.”
Planet Loud – How do things work in AVA?
AVA – “It’s all very democratic as we are all in in it for one goal and it doesn’t matter where the idea comes from, whether it is a visual or sonic idea, it is down to what is best for the band. The band is democratic, it isn’t about any one individual ego. It has worked out that Tom [Delonge] is the creative initiation which, for me, works in the band – if you have too many people inputting their vision and it isn’t unified then you’re going to get a lot of fighting as it becomes about egos.”
Planet Loud – Did you guys set out to have a conceptual twist to the songs?
AVA – “The idea when we started the band was to create feelings through the music. Me and Tom would talk about things like ‘what would it sound like to go super fast’ or ‘what would it sound like to wake up in the morning’. In that sense we were trying to depict a story through the sound and how we would come up with those sounds. Lyrically, the idea was to come up with a message. an actual goal and to try and uplift rather than just write about love and relationships. The idea was to represent where we are in our lives and Tom has a very good way of delivering that message.”
Planet Loud – And what about the sci-fi obsession?
AVA – “Well, we are boys..”
Planet Loud – Are all of the band into the genre?
AVA – “Well, we grew up watching sci-fi films and these films always depicted the future. As a kid you sit there wondering what the future would be like. As a band you can kind of create your own future and, while people still want to know about our past and we don’t want to distance ourselves from it, we want to see what is going to happen in the future and be part of that.”
Planet Loud – So you’ve got a very optimistic view?
AVA – “Yeah, the idea is to be like space, space is infinite, and so there is an infinite amount of hope and possibilities for you to follow. The future is what you make of it. It’s your choice to be in a good mood or not and whether to affect people positively or not. As a band we are hoping to be involved in people’s lives and affect them positively. That’s the best thing we can do.”
Planet Loud – People are always looking to music for inspiration and hope..
AVA – “Growing up, music to me has always been the only form of art you can really connect to. Like you can be a fan of books or movies or paintings but music defines people of all ages, of all generations. If you told me what five movies you liked I’m not really going to be able to tell what kind of person you are as movies appeal to a wide demographic but, if you said a list of five bands you liked, I think I could tell what sort of person you are and that applies to pretty much everyone. I think music is the truest form of expression. Also, if I hear a song, it takes me back to a particular place. It can be high school or when I was in the car driving fast with my friends. It’s like I know automatically what it smells like and even felt like. I don’t get that off a painting with a dolphin. You attach yourself to music heavily, it’s how you identify yourself, it’s your badge, it’s the colours you wear. It’s the flag you fly. You don’t get that from any other form of art.”
Planet Loud – Do you miss all your old bands?
AVA – “There are things I do miss but, on the whole, not at all. I can speak for the rest of the band as well when I say that it is because every band we’ve every been in has had some wierd thing that has been wrong or that you weren’t happy about. There has always been compromise even if the music felt right but, in AVA, and it may be because we are all a bit older, but I really like everybody that is in the band. These days we can tell how we are going to interact with someone in the first five minutes of meeting them. I think it feels right because Tom and I took time to find the right people for the band. We didn’t want to play in a band with any wierdness. Above all we wanted to play with like-minded individuals and, at the same time, people I want to go to the movies and hang out with. I’ve never had that in any of my previous bands. I can back up every single dude in my band as, right or wrong, I know that they are good people.”
Interview by Kim Allen
