That headline is a wild ride, right? A lot to unpack there. The important information is all up there. Rock stars are getting together and showing each other pictures of dead aliens.
As you might already be aware, Blink-182 member Tom DeLonge is a big alien guy. During his time away from Blink, DeLonge became an important figure in the field of UFO research. In 2015, he claimed that he’d actually been in contact with aliens. He won a UFO Researcher Of The Year award in 2017. As more and more evidence of alien visits emerged in recent years, he’s been at least partially vindicated. Fellow rock stars who meet DeLonge at weddings might get to see some of his findings.
The latest Tom DeLonge alien story comes from Ilan Rubin, currently employed as the drummer for the Foo Fighters. Last year, Foo Fighters fired drummer Josh Freese and hired Rubin, who was in Nine Inch Nails at the time. In turn, Freese joined NIN, thus completing the great 2025 drummer swap. A few days ago, Rubin appeared on the podcast Go With Elmo Lovano, and he talked a bit about the drummer-swap story, making it sound as businesslike and low-drama as possible — a matter of contracts ending and opportunities presenting themselves. He also told his Tom DeLonge/Trent Reznor story.
Ilan Rubin got married a few years ago, when he was still in Nine Inch Nails. Rubin has been in DeLonge’s side project Angels & Airwaves since 2011, so both DeLonge and Reznor were at his wedding. Here’s what he has to say:
We finally get down to the reception, and the first two people I see are Tom and Trent. And Tom’s a really tall guy, and he’s just hovering over Trent. His phone’s out, and I know how this goes. “Hey, check this out!” And I’m thinking, what is he possibly showing him right now? I go straight up to them, and I’m like, “Hey guys, how’s it going?” Tom’s like, “Dude! Congratulations! I’ll seeya, I’m gonna get a drink!” I was like, “Trent, what’s going on?” He’s like, “That dude just showed me a dead alien.”
That’s it! That’s the whole story! I know this happened a few years ago, but I’m even more excited for the Nine Inch Noize record now that there’s at least some chance it was partially inspired by looking at a dead alien on Tom DeLonge’s phone. Here’s the full episode.