Blink-182, one of the biggest pop-punk bands in the world, have been in turmoil this week. The future of the band has been thrown into question with the announcement that singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge has left the band – or has he been fired?
Blink took a four-year hiatus from 2005 and 2009, which many fans thought may have been the end for the band. But the trio reformed and recorded the 2011 album Neighborhoods – for all intents and purposes an underwhelming album, stemming from the fact the band recorded the album without actually being in the studio together. There was also the Dogs Eating Dogs EP in December 2012, which showed promise of a band getting back on its feet. But now we are here…
A press release came through Monday morning from the remaining members of Blink-182 announcing that longtime guitarist and co-vocalist Tom DeLonge had left the group, citing that he would rather work on his “other non-music endeavors”. Hoppus and Barker also said in the release that there was “no hard feelings, but the show must go on for our fans”. They announced that Alkaline Trio guitarist/singer Matt Skiba would be filling in for their appearance at the Musink Festival in March.
Things picked up when DeLonge took to Instagram to announce his confusion about the situation to the world. Saying in his post “I was actually on a phone call about a Blink 182 event for New York City at the time all these weird press releases started coming in”. This, unfortunately, didn’t make things any clearer for fans. Did Tom DeLonge quit? Was he fired? No-one was sure.
Hoppus is quoted as saying: “We booked January 5th to go into the studio. On December 30th, we get an e-mail from Tom’s manager saying that he has no interest in recording and that he wants to do his other, non-musical stuff and that he’s out indefinitely.
“There’s a flurry of e-mails going back and forth for clarification about the recording and the show and his manager sends [an e-mail] back saying, ‘Tom. Is. Out.’ Direct quote. This is the exact same e-mail we got back in 2004 when Tom went on indefinite hiatus before.”
The interview is harsh to say the least, with DeLonge being called “ungrateful” and “disingenuous” and Barker saying, “Why Blink even got back together in the first place is questionable”.
Now, DeLonge has offered up a reply, taking to his official Facebook page to reveal his side of the story. In a lengthy post he says: “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.
“At the end of the day, all of this makes me really sad… 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.”
DeLonge finishes the post with, “Never planned on quitting, just find it hard as hell to commit.”
The future of the band is without a doubt uncertain. At this point in time it seems that DeLonge is still out of the group, and Matt Skiba is still filling in for the Blink-182 show at Musink Festival. Only time will tell if this new album will ever be recorded, or if DeLonge will still be in the band at all. We can at least cross our fingers for a +44 reunion.
