The Reason Tom DeLonge Left Blink-182 Will Leave You Confused

Last year, guitarist Tom DeLonge left Blink-182, and the group we were obsessed with in the '90s was forever changed. But don't worry — he had a good reason for shattering our hopes. Apparently, he was busy with a book, music, and documentary series called Sekret Machines that's aimed at saving the world from outer-space invaders — which he refuses to call aliens. "In pop culture, that's a term people throw out there, and rightfully so because the government spends a lot of time and a lot of money throwing that term out there. But it's much more complex than that," he explained in an interview with Mic. This is an issue he's felt strongly about since junior high, he said. And it was just too important to him to keep putting aside for Blink-182. "When you’re an individual like me, dealing with something that’s a national-security issue, and you’re being gifted with the opportunity to communicate something you’ve been passionate about your whole life — something that has the opportunity to change the world over time — being a small part of that is enormously important for my life path," he said. When DeLonge quit Blink-182, his bandmate Travis Barker said, "I just wish Tom does whatever makes him happy." It sounds like he's found that, even if it leaves the rest of us confused as hell.