This week marks the anniversary of the premiere of our documentary with Tom DeLonge and one of the films I'm most proud of - The Pursuit of Tone.
I got my first guitar and punk record when I was 15. Mike Harder handed me a CD for his new band Pulley - "Esteemed Driven Engine" and a list of records to buy including The Vandals' "The Quickening," NOFX's "Punk in Drublic," StrungOut's "Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues," and Blink's "Chesire Cat" among others. That list, those bands, those songs changed my life.
A few months later, I saw my first punk rock show at The Palladium. Blink opening for The Vandals opening for NOFX. Fat Mike and team slayed it. Warren and Josh were great. But these three dudes with buzz cuts, super sloppy songs, and dick jokes stole the show. That night I stickered up my Fender Stratocaster and my friends, and I started our first band. Tom, Mark, Scott, and then Travis were our Sex Pistols. They opened up the door to The Descendents, Fugazi, Propagandhi, MXPX, and a roster of bands that defined our adolescence and influenced the following decades of our lives.
Fast forward 20 or so years and a slew of projects with the bands that I looked up to, I called Michael Moses and Kari DeLonge about an idea for a new series I was working on. A concept Tom was perfect for. I had just come off more than 10 seasons of Guitar Center Sessions and was looking for far more immersive and emotive stories to tell. Tom was neck-deep in the middle of leaving Blink 182, and the rumors were rampant. I was dying to tell his story as it had shaped my life.
It took some serious convincing and a few start and stops, but Tom signed on. Haven and I wrote a meticulous storyline. From the studio where Tom recorded Dude Ranch to his childhood home where he started Blink, the record shop that stocked Buddha tapes to the To The Stars HQ in Encinitas where he now makes the music and films that inspire him. We spent more than 30 hours with camera and crew digging into the past 30 years of the fantastic story of a kid from San Diego who was a real-life Bart Simpson, enamored with punk rock, skateboarding, space, family, and farts.
I was severely stressed that I was going to fuck this up. It took so much to get this done, and I wanted it to matter. It wasn't until the film's premiere, where up until 20 mins before we rolled the film, Tom was in the car watching it for the first time with his wife on the phone. "Fuuuuuck. Seriously?" I said to Kari. "He hates watching himself," she said. A room full of press, artists, filmmakers, bandmates, and family.... he was just now watching a 90-minute film about his life. 10 mins before we introduce the film, Tom walks into the lobby. Silence. Hugs. Then the words "Thank you. My wife said she finally understands me".
I could not have made this without the fantastic cast of humans who have joined me on this and many other journeys. The incomparable cinematographer and camera spartan John Belinski. My co-writer and director Haven Lameroux. One of the best music supervisors on the planet, Mason Cooper. Kari DeLonge for controlling the uncontrollable. Lisa Clifford for making sure Tom was there every day. Chad Bamford - the only man and engineer I trust to make the audio sound so sweet. Aaron Rubin for finding the guitars and amps and pedals that shaped Tom's sound. Michael Moses for stoking the fire and helping push open the door. Chris Long and Bart Peters at Directv who have for some reason continued to willingly spend millions of dollars so I can make the things in my head. My lawyers Kate O'Brien and Stephen Sessa... HEROES. A long list of crew too impossible to list.
I ate burritos, talked conspiracy theories and music with the guy that inspired me to play guitar. All while telling the absolute shit out of his story. While the film is still on-demand with Directv, you can watch it here.
From Dickman to spaceman, this is the story of Tom DeLonge.
