The build-up to Angels & Airwaves debut LP, We Don’t Need To Whisper, was a contentious combination of hurt feelings (due to the sudden break up of Blink-182), excessive hype (mostly from Tom DeLonge about this new band he was starting), and mystery. The record was produced by Tom DeLonge in his home studio in San Diego, California, and the hype train surrounding the spacey rock found on We Don’t Need To Whisper made almost everyone curious about this new band. The band was rounded out by Box Car Racer guitarist David Kennedy, drummer Atom Willard, and bassist Ryan Sinn. I can vividly remember my anticipation of wanting to wrap my ears around this LP for the first time at midnight of May 23rd, 2006, and be transported into a world that DeLonge was describing as “life-changing.” With the lights out in my room, I started the process of listening to this album from front to back, the way it was intended, but I couldn’t help but think that as good as the album was, my expectations of hearing something life-altering were way overblown. We Don’t Need To Whisper still holds up to this day as a solid album, it features some truly incredible songs, and yet I can also see why most critics didn’t quite “get” what DeLonge was going for here.