The Truth About Tom DeLonge's Alien Obsession
When the news of Blink-182's second falling apart, due to Tom DeLonge's lack of interest, started to spread in 2015, people nodded in an understanding manner. After all, as he wrote in a letter to his fans, published by Alternative Press, being in the band was getting in the way: "I told my manager that I will do Blink-182 as long as it was fun and worked with the other commitments in my life, including my family."
However, in 2016, he told Mic that he primarily broke from Blink-182 to form a new company that would focus on UFOs. "My goal is to have a conversation within reality, that's very grounded," DeLonge explained. "Novels and films and documentaries — it's a very good way to get people to understand how it could really exist and what the ramifications are. The whole UFO phenomenon is different than what people think it is."
His project eventually became the company To The Stars... Academy of Arts & Sciences, which, according to its jargon-heavy website, uses documents and materials to develop "the transformative technologies behind it to wider applications of public benefit" and "exciting stories that inspire a new understanding and appreciation for the profound mysteries of our universe." In other words, it's a California startup company, with a tech division and an entertainment branding division, as well as an added extraterrestrial flair, courtesy of the Pentagon scientists on the board. Still, Tom DeLonge does seem to genuinely believe in the subjects he evangelizes.
Enema of the State
Pretty much everyone was unsure how to take this turn from singing about the existence of alien life, to stating with eyes wide, "No, aliens exist." Still, DeLonge's impact in UFO culture cannot be denied. In April 2020, Global News pivoted from explaining how the Pentagon's choice to declassify three videos, to explaining how this was further vindication for DeLonge, who had released these very videos to The New York Times in 2017. So, DeLonge does seem to put some money where his mouth is. However, what he says doesn't always inspire confidence, as seen in an emblematic sentence Eric Berger quotes from the book co-written by DeLonge — titled Sekret Machines: Gods — in a piece for Ars Technica: "If we posit an alien abduction taking place in ancient Israel, for instance, it would have been recorded much the same way that Genesis recorded angels mating with humans and creating monsters."
Berger's response? "Indeed."
Other issues with the company arose in 2018 with the Securities and Exchange Commission's announcement that "Currently, the company does not have any commitments or assurances for additional capital, other than disclosed above, nor can the company provide assurance that such sources of funds will be available to it on favorable terms, or at all." Basically, they couldn't pay the $37,432,000 they owed. With such details in mind, it's hard to see DeLonge's company as anything other than either a crackpot passion project, or yet another future-looking California business. Both, perhaps.