The members of Blink-182 are reflecting on the life of their band. On Monday, Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker announced their forthcoming album, One More Time, the first record the trio has put out since 2011.
In honor of the announcement, Blink-182 released a four-minute-long retrospective that included snippets of their upcoming interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.
“What you need to understand about Blink-182 is that we didn’t come out of joyous homes,” DeLonge said. “We came from a lot of heartbreak, broken families, fist fights, so Blink was always a way to force the happiness in the room.”
The group doesn’t shy away from their past in the clip, including Barker’s 2008 plane crash and DeLonge’s Blink-182 exit in 2015.
“There was a lot of bad blood, there was a lot of stuff in the press, and feelings and all this stuff,” Hoppus admitted. “I got an email that was like, ‘Tom has stopped all recording and work with Blink-182, effective immediately. Don’t call him.’ All this stuff. I’m like, ‘Jesus Christ’… We’re like, ‘F**k Tom DeLonge. If he doesn’t like Blink, then f**k it.'”
As for why he left, DeLonge said, “I found myself in these weird oceans that I didn’t really know how to navigate. I definitely didn’t want to hold these guys back in any kind of way.”
Upon his departure, DeLonge recalled thinking, “I don’t think I’m ever going to play music again. I don’t think I’m ever going to tour again.”
That all changed in 2021 when Hoppus revealed he’d been diagnosed with cancer, and making music and going on tour became “the only thing” DeLonge wanted to do.
“When I found out I got sick, I was really s**tty, weak, brain eaten with the chemotherapy, pain and everything else, just a hollow shell,” Hoppus recalled, with DeLonge noting, “When he told me he was sick, that’s the gnarliest. Nothing matters, really.”
The following year, the band announced that they were reuniting.
“It wasn’t about fame or money or how big Blink was or anything, it was like, you’re going to get through this s**t and we’re going to go dominate,” DeLonge said, with Hoppus quipping, “I got so sick of hearing Tom’s positive s**t. I really did.”
It wasn’t easy to get back together, though, as Hoppus noted that “chemotherapy wrecked” his vocal cords.
“I had to go work with a vocal coach to get to the point where we could go walk on stage at Coachella,” Hoppus said of the band’s April performance. “When it’s the three of us on stage, I feel unstoppable. We f**king, we crush.”
Barker agreed, stating, “I always knew that the brotherhood wouldn’t ever deteriorate or it wouldn’t be there. I really feel like Blink is us three, and as soon as we accept that and we don’t settle for anything less than that, I just think that’s the future.”
“For me, it was always heavy on my heart that our friendship wasn’t mended,” DeLonge added. “All of us have lived through tragedies now, things that really tear apart pieces of your heart, and you’ve got to mend them back together and figure out how to be a better version of yourself.”
The group explores all of those emotions on the title track of their forthcoming album, which, Barker said, “is kind of written about why does it take these catastrophes like me being in a plane crash or Mark being sick for our band to get back together?”
“Being in a band with my brothers, being healthy, we’re having fun and playing some of the best shows we’ve ever played, and we’re making some of the best songs we’ve ever made,” Barker said, with Hoppus adding, “It’s one of the best albums we’ve ever made. The thing is, it’s all through the healing of this band. This music and this record, I literally just cry on stage every night.”
One More Time is due out Oct. 20.
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