It seems history is repeating itself.
Similar weirdness happened 10 years ago when Blink-182 broke up the first time. There was a flurry of posts from band members on Monday saying both that members had quit the band and that they had not.
So what’s going on in the world of our beloved punk rock heartthrobs?
OK, let’s unravel this for a second.
First, Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus released statements saying Tom DeLonge has “indefinitely left the band.”
Sad times, for sure. But then things took a strange turn when DeLonge posted on his Instagram, “I never quit the band.” He also included the hashtag #awkward.
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Yeah, I’d say so. Since then, the rest of the band came back out and basically said, “Umm… Yeah, you did, and we’ve already got a replacement for the show you bailed on.”
Hoppus and Barker have named Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba as the fill-in singer-guitarist for their upcoming show at the Musink Festival, of which Barker is co-owner.
OK… still confused.
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Well, we finally got the lowdown, from the mouth of Hoppus himself in the form of an interview with Rolling Stone.
He said, “I’ll walk you through the past two years of Blink-182 history: For the past two years, we’ve been working with a bunch of different labels to try and get a record deal because the three of us collectively decided that we wanted to make a record with a partner.
“A few months ago, Travis has this festival that he is co-owner of and presenting, and he asked Tom and I if we would play and we said, ‘No problem.’ At the end of December, we were finalizing our record deal and on Christmas Eve, all three of us signed the deal.
“We had been talking about where we wanted to record, what producers we want to use, what day we want to start. This is all through e-mail [sic]. I don’t think either of us have spoken to Tom in person in months, but everything’s been moving positively.”
They were, according to Hoppus, ready to go into the studio in early January when a flurry of emails again ended with this message from DeLonge’s manager: “Tom. Is. Out.” Hoppus said that’s a direct quote.
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He also said it is the same exact message they got back in 2004, when the band broke up the first time.
As far as Hoppus and Barker see it, there is no ambiguity, DeLonge is out, Skiba is in, and they aren’t losing any sleep over it.
“To be honest, I wasn’t that surprised because his attitude leading up to that had been not excited and not interested,” Hoppus said. He continued, “It’s hard to cover for someone who’s disrespectful and ungrateful. You don’t even have the balls to call your bandmates and tell them you’re not going to record or do anything Blink-related. You have your manager do it. Everyone should know what the story is with him and it’s been years with it.”
Looks like they are on the outs and not getting back together again. “Why Blink even got back together in the first place is questionable,” he said.
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Well, I for one, am glad they did, because I got to see Barker play suspended upside down above the stage and scream my brains out like I was 15 again, but you know, I digress.
So, our teenage selves are devastated.
But there is still hope that we can continue to hear those beloved Blink anthems.
When asked what the future looks like for Blink-182, Hoppus said, “I just want to go out and play Blink songs. I want to go out and play the songs that we’ve been spending the last 20 years of our lives writing. That’s what Travis and I want to do.”
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