In September 2005, Tom DeLonge, known as the lip-ring-wearing singer-guitarist from Blink-182, announced that his new band, Angels & Airwaves, was "preparing the greatest rock and roll revolution for this generation." He said it would be the best album "anybody has heard in 20 years."

On Saturday afternoon, the 34-year-old rocker explained his infamous comments backstage at the Aragon Ballroom (1106 W. Lawrence Ave.) hours before the Angels & Airwaves (aka AVA) show.

"I was on Vicodin," DeLonge said, laughing. "Lots of Vicodin."

DeLonge, one of the few celebs who is much taller in person, was able to poke fun at himself for his bold predictions and admitted, "When you're addicted to drugs, you say stupid (stuff)." He has since recovered from his addiction to painkillers and didn't say anything too off-the-wall during our 20-minute conversation.

DeLonge insisted he has toned things down significantly since his early days with Blink. The guy who went streaking in the "What's My Age Again?" video now is a husband and father of two. He's an entrepreneur who is behind Modlife.com, which connects fans with artists, and is producing a movie, "Love" (the name of AVA's third and most recent album), which he hopes to complete this summer.

But, of course, the project his fans are most looking forward to is the next Blink album, which seemed like it would never happen until last year's reunion after the trio announced its "indefinite hiatus" in February 2005.

"My biggest failure was the breakup of Blink," DeLonge said. "That was a failure of friendships, businesses and communications. In our hearts, we thought that was forever and gone. What's funny is, at the time, I looked at it as a triumph. The fact that I was able to make a decision so detrimental to myself and identity and start fresh was pretty victorious."

The trio began speaking again after drummer Travis Barker survived a plane crash which killed four passengers in 2008. The conversations led to a reunion and then a national tour last summer.

"If that accident hadn't happened, we wouldn't be a band," DeLonge said. "Plain and simple. That was fate."

The reunited band stepped into the studio briefly before its tour and will resume working on the album in June.

LeBron's kind of town: The way LeBron James and some media made it sound, you'd think the reigning NBA MVP was going to lock himself up in his Chicago hotel room during the Cavs' playoff series against the Bulls. But don't think he was going to waste his stay in Chicago.

While at Cuvee Friday night, a club patron bought James a 9-liter bottle of Perrier Jouet champagne and requested the Bulls' famous player introduction music be played as staff brought him the champagne with sparklers. James, who stayed at the club until almost 3 a.m., got a laugh out of the gesture.

Sightings: Director Robert Rodriguez and Blues legend B.B. King checked into Thompson Hotels' Sax Chicago (formerly Hotel Sax) over the weekend. … The Bears' Devin Hester and Israel Idonije dined at Sunda on Thursday. … Vince Vaughn was spotted at the barbershop Truefitt & Hill in The 900 Shops on Tuesday.

For more Luis, go to chicagotribune.com/aboutlastnight

larroyave@tribune.com