Music Blink 182 are back!

Anderson's Cat

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Looks like they're splitting up again..

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tom-delonge-leaves-blink-182-20150126

Tom Delonge said:
LETTER TO THE FANS

Where to begin?

The truth is always a good place. Let’s go there.

I love Blink and am incredibly grateful for having it in my life. It has given me everything. EVERYTHING. I started this band, it was in my garage where I dreamed up the mischief.

So what have I been doing behind the scenes? Well, I’ve tried to make things work. I’ve tried to help move this band down 50 different paths using my people, or other people, and people we don’t even know. I tried to put forth ideas about how we can grow and challenge ourselves to become a better band. I’m not sitting around waiting for someone else to do the work. I’m not wired that way.

The big reset was when I tried to put together a band summit in Utah where we’d talk and work things out. It quickly was narrowed down to three hours in someone’s dressing room in a shitty casino. What I hoped would be a positive get-together away from everything turned into an awkward meeting in a smelly convention hall dressing room. But it was there that I told Mark and Travis that as long as we talked, and things were good between us as real friends, that I would be engaged and work passionately. I'd mirror our personal relationship. Exact words.

Then, the EP was the test. Months later, we’re recording those songs. I was in the studio for two months and they came in for around 11 days. I didn’t mind leading the charge, but we had all agreed to give it 100%. And this time- no baggage.

Despite that, we still somehow managed to self-sabotage.

At one point, squabbling and politics forced me to pull the EP down at a time when 60,000 fans were trying to purchase it. And that blew my mind. I’d been trying so hard but that moment ultimately broke my spirit. I then realized that this band couldn't lose the years of ill will.

It was after that episode that I promised myself I would never be in that position again – to rely on the words we said to each other.

I remember asking one of them on the phone, “did you try your best? Like we all agreed to?” He was silent.

Are they at fault?

Am I? Of course. I'm nuts.

But there’s three of us – we’re all accountable. At the end of the day, we’ve always been dysfunctional, which is why we haven’t talked in months. But we never did. In the 8 years we have been together it has always been that way.

Over the past two and a half years, while a recording partner was being sought for a new Blink record, I launched a media company. I just put out a new Angels & Airwaves record and as some of you know, there’s a lot more coming – comics, books, a film, etc. The books will all come with music. This is a wheel that’s already in motion. So you can imagine my frustration when I was handed a 60-page Blink contract saying I couldn’t release an Angels album for 9 months and that the Blink album had to be recorded in 6 months, which was impossible for me. Doing so would force me to breach several artist contracts. Authors, Concept Artists, Animators... Many people.

They did eventually drop the Angels provision, but the part about having to finish a Blink album in 6 months remained. All of these other projects are being worked, exist in contract form– I can’t just slam the brakes and drop years of development, partnerships and commitments at the snap of a finger.

I told my manager that I will do Blink 182 as long as it was fun and worked with the other commitments in my life, including my family.

But Mark and Travis know all of this.

I wrote this same letter to them a year ago. But it created a massive argument, the biggest one yet actually. I just wanted us to do things we all agreed on. But that was their moment to dig in. From their view I was controlling everything. In reality, I was scared to put myself out there again. To repeat the EP experience.

I also wrote all of this to their managers this past December (who told me my bandmates weren’t angry and agreed with some of my ideas of how to grow the band).

So you can imagine my surprise when a press release went out yesterday—without my knowledge—about the band’s future. This is new to me. It’s not in my nature to fuel negativity about the legacy of the band on something as trashy as the Internet world.

But I guess that’s another example of how I differ from most. I follow the light... I follow passion and I make art. I hang with my son, my daughter and my wife.

At the end of the day, all of this makes me really sad.

Sad for us.

Sad for you- that you’re witnessing this immaturity.

I know them very well, and their current actions are defensive and divisive.

I suppose they’re doing this as a way to protect themselves from being hurt.

Like we all do.

And even as I watch them act so different to what I know of them to be, I still care deeply for them. Like brothers, and like old friends. But our relationship got poisoned yesterday.

Never planned on quitting, just find it hard as hell to commit.
-
Tom
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Acole9

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Matt Skiba seems to be his replacement. Good choice if they are to continue. I'm just glad I got to see them last summer.
 

Raptori

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AvA is still a thing? I remember them supporting Foo Fighters at Old Trafford years ago, most people pretty much ignored them and a good number booed them. They were fecking awful. Even worse than Blink.
 

Acole9

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Raptori said:
AvA is still a thing? I remember them supporting Foo Fighters at Old Trafford years ago, most people pretty much ignored them and a good number booed them. They were fecking awful. Even worse than Blink.
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Yes they've just brought out a new album. Hence why he has most likely been kicked out/left Blink.
 

Olly Gunnar Solskjær

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Are Alkaline Trio going to carry on? I'm not particularly fussed about them them these days, but I'd prefer them to keep making new stuff to Blink.
 

Acole9

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Olly said:
Are Alkaline Trio going to carry on? I'm not particularly fussed about them them these days, but I'd prefer them to keep making new stuff to Blink.
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Yes I believe so, I'm sure he can find a way of splitting his time between the two. Other musicians have managed to do it successfully. The appeal of Blink 182 was probably too strong for him to resist, he's a big fan of theirs apparently.
 

Acole9

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I've only heard one song and it's alright so I can't really judge them as a band. The new album hasn't got particularly good reviews however.
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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Skiba seems like an odd replacement, unless they're just going to play Mark's songs from now on. Skiba himself says he can't hit the high notes anymore, and Tom's vocals have always sounded like a bollockless teenagers.

I like the odd song, but I've never been a huge fan. There are much better pop punk bands than Blink 182.
 

17 Van der Gouw

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Anderson's Cat said:
New album is by far the worst. Early stuff, like most bands, was excellent.
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For me they came good for their last album before they split up the first time - the self titled 'pink' album. It was different to earlier stuff, more mature and grounded. Although I guess that wasn't what drew most of their fans to them in the first place, songs like 'Down' and 'Violence' are great.
 

okLaptop1

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however good a songwriter or singer the new guy is, you can't really replace Tom's voice, which is a big part of the band's identity.
 

Castia

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Yeah it's a waste of time without Tom (although he's one of the worst live performers ever). Shame I loved Blink when I was younger, it seems the 3 of them just can't get along anymore.
 

okLaptop1

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Tom was shit live, but really only Travis was good live.
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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Yeah, Tom is abysmal live. He's just a bad player. I saw them at Leeds fest many years ago and Tom was saying how difficult "What's My Age Again" was to play. He was crouched over his guitar to get a close up of his strings, and it the whole song sounded like when you make mistakes on Guitar Hero.

I'm surprised they don't have a session guitarist in the background so Tom can flail around and thrust his crotch at the audience without having to worry about any of that musicianship nonsense, which is what he does anyway. Green Day did it. Now Billie Joe can sling his signature guitar round his back whilst running around and yelling "Everybody say weyooooo" over a 5 minute long Longview bass interlude.
 

LS17

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Love Blink, so think it's a proper shame to see how they're falling out and it's all in the public eye, really turned ugly. Anyway as much as I do love them, I'd rather they just end the band and Mark, Travis and Matt Skiba should go under a different name and make some new music. Just doesn't seem right to carry on without Tom.
 

Mockney

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Anything that sounds like it could be played during a night out scene in an 00s teen sex comedy or Buffy the Vampire Slayer is bilge by definition.
 

Snowjoe

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Actually pleasantly surprised by the new album, definite vibes from their untitled album
 

Acole9

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Snowle Gunnar Solskjær said:
Actually pleasantly surprised by the new album, definite vibes from their untitled album
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Like wise, after hearing some of the songs in the build up I thought it could well be a stinker. It's good but when Blink fans are putting the best/favourite albums in order, this will be bottom or close to it for most people.
 

SteveJ

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The thread title reminds me of...
Milhouse said:
"Remember ALF? He's back – in pog form!”
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Olly Gunnar Solskjær

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Some of the songs on the new album are alright. Darkside could not sound any more like an Alkaline Trio featuring Mark Hoppus song (not a bad thing).

Not sure I see myself going back to listen to the album at all though. I definitely prefer Angels and Airwaves latest two songs, so think I'll probably prefer their new album.
 

SteveJ

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No offence to Blink 182, but I'd have preferred an ALF comeback.
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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I've never been a big fan of them but the new album is surprisingly decent.

It's certainly much better than Neighbourhoods and California IMO. I couldn't even listen to those all the way through in one go.
 
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