Angels and Airwaves "Lifeforms" Tour and Interview with Ilan Rubin
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Photo by: Jonathan Weiner
October 3, 2021
Angels and Airwaves embarked on the Lifeforms tour this past week promoting the bands sixth album, Lifeforms, which was released September 24th and the first since 2014’s Dreamwalker. This album marks some changes for the band. Their previous album was recorded completely by Tom Delonge and Ilan Rubin but this one sees the return of guitarist Dave Kennedy and the addition of Bassist Matt Rubano. The album also marks a change of sound from Dreamwalker, with lots of people saying it has more of a punk vibe and sound to it and being compared to Tom’s work with Blink 182 in the past. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Angels and Airwaves drummer Ilan Rubin. You can read the interview below and see their upcoming tour dates also.
Paul Tefertiller: Hello Ilan. Thanks for taking time out of your day to talk with me.
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Ilan Rubin: Thank you for taking time out of your day.
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Paul Tefertiller: So, we have a new album out from you all, Lifeforms, I just want to ask how the creative process, recording the album differed this time compared to the last one.
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Ilan Rubin: The biggest difference has been with me not being in LA now and not being able to just go into the studio. Tom and Aaron will do their thing and send it over to me after they are finished, and I will go through it and adjust what needs to be adjusted and add in electronic and then send it back over to them.
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Paul Tefertiller: I understand that when you first joined the band you had told Tom you were fine just being the drummer and that he had said he wanted you to be more that he brought you on to have a collaborative experience and he wanted you to be more than just the drummer.
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Ilan Rubin: When I first came on, I had said to Tom, just because I do my own thing and do everything it doesn’t mean that I’m going to come on here and try to change things around. I’m fine just being the drummer I let him know. He told me that he wanted me to come on and wanted it to be different that I wasn’t going to be just a drummer. On the last album I did things differently but not just for the sake of being different. I would tell Tom let’s try something different if there was a chord or piece that we had already used, and we would try something else. Don’t get me wrong he loves my drumming though.
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Paul Tefertiller: Of course, he does. Everyone loves it. I mean you were just recently inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame last year becoming the youngest person ever inducted in. Congratulations on that by the way. I also read that you got married as well earlier this year again congratulations.
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Ilan Rubin: I did. I got married and got into the hall of fame.
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Paul Tefertiller: It’s been a busy year for you. Besides that, what else have you been up to during the down time? I saw you had been reading a lot and had a list of books you read.
Ilan Rubin: I did read quite a bit. Id sit and read but I kept thinking after reading for 2 or 3 hours maybe I should be doing something else. Maybe I should be working on something. Maybe I should be spending time on music instead of sitting around reading. I bought a clarinet because I had never done a wind instrument before. So, I started playing with it and then I realized this wasn’t going to be just a 2-week shutdown, it wasn’t going to be 3 weeks, so I thought I had better do something more productive, so it’s been sitting collecting dust. I got into orchestration and film scoring.
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Paul Tefertiller: I read that. I read that you were going to score the movie that Tom is working on. How is that?
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Ilan Rubin: I just wrapped up my first movie scoring and now I’m ready to get my hands dirty with Tom’s movie.
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Paul Tefertiller: When did you first find out that scoring was something you wanted to do? Is it something you had been interested in from a young age?
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Ilan Rubin: I wouldn’t say that it’s something that I was interested in at a young age but certainly in the past years. I loved Star Wars and Indiana Jones and a big part of that was the score. With this downtime I had the chance to really dig into it, so I bought books on it and learned as much as I could, and I really dug in. I didn’t want to half ass it, I don’t half ass anything, so I really learned it.
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Paul Tefertiller: Well, I don’t want to take up too much of your time so again thank you for taking the time to talk with me today. I look forward to seeing you all in Salt Lake City next week.
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Ilan Rubin: No thank you for taking time out of your day and we will see you all in Salt Lake.
You can see Angels and Airwaves on the road on the Lifeforms tour now
10/05/21 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Union
10/06/21 – Denver, CO @ Fillmore
10/08/21 – Minneapolis, MN @ Skyway
10/10/21 – Detroit, MI @ Fillmore
10/12/21 – Cincinnati, OH @ Ovation
10/13/21 – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
10/15/21 – Oxon Hill, DC @ MGM National Harbor
10/16/21 – Columbus, OH @ Express Live
10/17/21 – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
10/19/21 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
10/20/21 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues
10/22/21 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
10/23/21 – New York, NY @ Hammerstein
10/24/21 – Norfolk, VA @ NorVA
10/26/21 – St. Petersburg, FL @ Janus Live
10/27/21 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
10/28/21 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
10/30/21 – Dallas, TX @ South Side
10/31/21 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live
11/01/21 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues
11/03/21 – Phoenix, AZ @ Van Buren
11/05/21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Palladium
11/07/21 – San Diego, CA @ Soma