If you were alive Monday, you probably heard about the scandal involving Tom DeLonge quitting Blink-182.
It started when a press release from the band’s publicist was shared, and it was reported that Matt Skiba of the Alkaline Trio would replace DeLonge at the band’s performance at the Musink Music and Tattoo Festival.
Barker and Hoppus opened up in a recent Rolling Stones article about the tension between the band and DeLonge:
I think he’s just bummed because Mark and I were finally honest. We always covered up for him before. It was always, “We’re going to record an album,” then “Tom refuses to get into the studio without a record deal.” So everyone does hella amounts of work to get a record deal and now Tom isn’t part of Blink-182. 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. When we did get back together after my plane crash, we only got back together, I don’t know, maybe because I almost died. But he didn’t even listen to mixes or masterings from that record. He didn’t even care about it. Why Blink even got back together in the first place is questionable.
According to the rest of Blink- 182, DeLonge was “disrespectful and ungrateful” and kept holding projects off. Both Hoppus and Barker approved the press release that was sent out Monday and in the end just want to continue the legacy of Blink- 182.
Hardcore fans of the band won’t be able to ignore that this feels a little like déjà vu from the last time the band went on indefinite hiatus almost exactly 10 years ago. Hopefully, the band will get everything worked out for the best, but in the meantime…rock on, I guess.
