Even though he's hinted he'd be open to a return to the band, DeLonge has revealed his reasons for leaving and says it allowed him to expand his horizons, such as his band Angels & Airwaves and a series of novels based around the Poet Anderson character.

He tells Radio.com: "I hit a very specific part in my life. I'm 39 years old. If I was to continue to stay in the studio for a year to write a record that I need to rehearse for eight weeks to go on tour for another six months, and it's only about those 12 songs, I'm going to be severely limited in what I can achieve artistically.