Former Blink 182 frontman Tom DeLonge has said travelling and reading sparked his interest in unexplained phenomena.

The musician is fronting Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation, a new series airing on Blaze.

He said: “I really got interested in this when I started travelling with my band in my early 20s.

“Frankly, we were in a van with no smartphone so I was reading a lot of books at the time. But I also grew up in a religious household and once we started travelling around it became very apparent to me that there are a lot of belief systems around the world that are thousands of years older than the one my mom wanted me to believe which was one particular normal, Christian American family.

“I really got interested because of those two reasons – travelling and reading – and finding patterns within evidence that was coming out from credible sources and it captivated me.

“There are so many possibilities that come along with the subject, it really just galvanised my thinking and passions to try and crack the code on it as much as I can, in my lifetime at least…”

The 44-year-old is joined by Luis Elizondo, who previously worked for the American government.

Tom DeLonge and Luis Elizondo
Tom DeLonge and Luis Elizondo in Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation (Matt Thompson)

The series, which is airing as part of the channel’s UFO Week, says it “exposes the incredible secrets of the American government’s secret UFO programme, shedding new light on unidentified flying phenomena in the USA and around the world”.

The series also features Chris Mellon, a former United States deputy assistant secretary of defence for intelligence, as well as CIA researcher and quantum physicist Hal Puthoff.

DeLonge said: “I think when we put this together, I think people were wondering if this was going to be just another typical, UFO hunting show. People were wondering if we were going to have anything of value out there.

“But there was also a lot of intrigue about the company (To The Stars Academy) and the way we put this company together, it had a lot of momentum and it had a lot of buzz and interest so people definitely wanted to see the story about the origins of the company and who we are and what we’re trying to achieve and what we did achieve.”

Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation airs on weeknights at 9pm until July 4 as part of UFO Week on Blaze, which is on Freeview 63, Freesat 162, Sky 164 and Virgin Media 216, with all episodes available on catch up on the Blaze website and on the free Blaze app.