had been known for his role in the Blink-182 as "the low-brow prankster" and wanted to restart his career without worrying whether fans would find him funny. The background of Angels & Airwaves was based on DeLonge's endorsement of John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election, travelling the political circuit with the Democratic Party candidate; DeLonge was inspired by Kerry's need for widespread reform and likened his presidential campaign to a drug, remarking later that it "really changed [me]." He rediscovered the epiphany developed during his tour with Kerry and applied it to the philosophy of Angels & Airwaves, while he redefined himself as he learned to play piano and self-produce and formed his own home studio. Recording and production DeLonge had to assemble Angels & Airwaves after recording several demos in his home studio. Following Blink-182's disestablishment, he declined offers from highly prolific musicians to collaborate on their developing material and recruited longtime friend and Box Car Racer guitarist David Kennedy. Atom Willard and Ryan Sinn soon followed, but the latter dropped out and was reluctant to join another band soon after the collapse of his previous group, The Distillers. Kennedy found himself in a similar situation with his band Hazen Street, and found the new environment refreshing. Uncertain on joining the band, DeLonge offered Sinn a job at Macbeth Footwear's warehouse, where he worked until he permanently committed to the band in August. The band members put forth several sayings and rules including "Friends and family first; band second." We Don't Need to Whisper was inspired by a mix of both personal developments and global events. During production, DeLonge studied World War II, which he considered the "last great war clearly a battle between good and evil." He saw America enter a post-war period of prosperity, and perceived it as an analogy for possibilities in his life. The album was encouraged by other personal crises as well, such as DeLonge's father's diagnosis of leukemia and his brother's deployment to Iraq; DeLonge criticized the Iraq War as unnecessary. Although the band deemed the project lightly progressive rock-influenced, the album lacks guitar solos the genre is commonly known for in place of melodies inspired by 1970s rock bands, such as Pink Floyd, Rush and Led Zeppelin. DeLonge was influenced by and listened to Peter Gabriel, U2, The Police and The Cure, all who were artists that achieved massive success and