It has been eight years since blink-182 recorded their last self-titled record. Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker went their separate ways and worked on individual projects. DeLonge pursued his Angels & Airwaves band while Hoppus became a host for a music television show and got into producing bands. Barker guested on a lot different people’s albums and almost tragically was killed in a plane crash. But everybody survived and now the band are back together and about to release a new album due in late July/early August. They are about to go out on tour with My Chemical Romance and there is much to talk about. Here in a teleconference, Hoppus and DeLonge talked about where the band has been and where they’re going.
With all the side projects, Travis has you know his solo stuff, Mark has a TV show and now he’s moving to London and Tom has Angels & Airwaves, would it be safe to say that Blink is a side project now? Or is it still considered a priority?
Mark Hoppus: It’s not a side project at all. Blink is our priority as a band as people – it’s what we’ve done since day 1 for almost 20 years at this point. The other projects that we have in our lives allow us to kind of break away and do something creative and bring that knowledge and those skills back to Blink as a band. But Blink is no side project by any means.
Tom DeLonge: And I think we’ve had an incredible time bringing all of our skill sets that we do in our off time to this and I think it’s been a lot of fun for every person to contribute things that they’ve learned in different places. And it’s one of the things that has made this band so strong; I mean even way back in the day when Travis first started in drum loops. You know that was years and years ago, but it was just – it was something that he was doing on his own that he brought you know in to our punk rock world and that’s as simple as something like that you know so. But yes, Blink definitely is not a side project.
Can you give us some more detail about being in the studio, the tone of it all? I mean it’s always fascinating to me when people get back together, especially when it’s all original members and pick up where they might have left off and the influences and the changes in life and all those things that happen in the years between. Can you tell us specifically – from what I’ve read it sounds like these sessions in the studio for the album and the tour are taking longer because you’re more productive not less productive. Tell me about daylight in the studio and getting this record done.
Tom DeLonge: Well, I think that you know for people that don’t understand the recording process, usually traditionally you know you have a band and everyone’s in the room and you write your – you come up with these ideas and everyone kind of agrees on kind of the parts and then you go in and record them, but only one guy can record at a time.
So the other guys are usually sitting around kind of waiting for their chance to do what their part requires. One of the great things about this situation is that there are two different studios, so were able to work on this record off and on for a year, but in two studios which really is almost like being able to work on a record for 2 years because you’re working simultaneously, getting a lot done.
So a lot of the times I would be in constant communication with Mark and being able – he just did something and I just did something and then we can listen instantly to each other over the Web or drive up a couple of hours and see each other and have the sit down. And it worked to get a lot of things done really quickly, but mentioning on the idea of you know where – not only the recording process.
But I mean our creative process I think was really exciting too because kind of speaking to the last question and turning to this question where we’ve been and what we’ve done in our personal lives and getting together and having new skill sets much more advanced I think than where we were on the last record, but also doing that last tour we did as we got back together and remembering who we were and how we got started, it’s been a real joy to modernize what we do, but also to feel really free and creative and be able to create with the technology too.
And that’s the different thing, we don’t just have to – you know we grew up having to write it all out in a garage or our bedroom and then going and record it as quick as we can, but now that we own our own studios, we’re really able to dig in deep and do stuff that’s avant-garde and do stuff that is very classic at the same time.
Mark Hoppus: The challenge I think for us on this record has been taking that freedom to take the time to do whatever we want individually and also trying to keep the energy and the immediacy of three guys playing music in a room and so that’s what we have been trying to balance this whole time.
What is the status of the record? I mean are you guys done with it? I heard that Geffen gave you a July 31st deadline.
Mark Hoppus: Yes. We have a July 31st deadline. We have a July 3rd deadline for the first single. Travis is tracking drums right now. Tom is finishing up guitars and vocals on some stuff. I’m finishing up guitars, bass and vocals on some things today and we will be working probably through July 31st. We’ll probably hand it in just at the very deadline and I’m really happy with the way it’s coming together.
Tom DeLonge: We’ll probably actually drive it to the president’s house at 2:00 in the morning and hand deliver it through his bedroom window at the very last second possible, but …
Mark Hoppus: That’s the president of our label, not the country.
Tom DeLonge: Yes, that’s the president of our label because that would be a long drive. But we – yes, the record. You know it’s funny, too, I was stressing because we start rehearsals here in just a week or two and I thought we were going to be running around from rehearsal ((inaudible)), but we’re done. I mean we really are done and – but the things that are left on – to do are like Mark said, just these little parts, all take an hour or two to kind of fix something or to – your last finishing touches on it and then it goes to get mixed.
So the last part of July up to the 31st is really it going to be being mixed and mastered and so yes, we’re there and it’s – and the cool thing is it’s going to be everything our fans want it to be. It’s going to be exactly kind of stepping off where the last record was with sensibilities of all three of us individually and sensibilities of the three of us coming together and it was really cool because we separated the record kind of into thirds, like Mark was saying, where each guy can work on stuff on their own and then – and spending another huge portion of it doing it all together.
So it’s very diverse and then that’s what’s taken so long, that’s why I think it’s – you know people are always like you know why do they have to give you deadlines or this was supposed to be done a while ago. Well, because we were having a lot of fun and doing really good things and that’s the answer.
What are we going to be hearing during the summer tour? You know from the album? Are you going to be – I guess it’s not road testing if it’s done, but are you going to be bringing – you know playing some of the stuff out?
Mark Hoppus: Oh, definitely. I think that – I think it will be a good mix of the new stuff and the music that we’ve been playing for the past couple of decades. I think that all of us know that when people come to a Blink show, they’re going to want to hear “All of the Small Things” and “Rock Show” and “Stay Together For the Kids” and the singles that we’ve had over the year and we will put some of the new songs into the set list as well, just working to figure out what those songs are going to be.
Can you still relate to those older blink songs?
Tom DeLonge: I do. I – you know that’s a really good question and that’s something that I even personally wondered about when we were getting back together. I was like – I started how to wrap my head around like because it wasn’t in my mind so much. But I remember the very first time we played the songs together when we got back together and it made me feel exactly the same way I feel the hour before we go on stage.
And before I go on stage with whatever I do, any of my bands or whatever, but I always have this very specific hour where I blast music and I listen to old punk rock music that I listened to in junior high and high school. And when I listen to those old punk bands, it gets me so excited because the whole idea is that it makes me feel the way I felt when I started playing guitar and my whole reason for wanting to break out of suburbia and go do something bigger.
When we start playing the Blink songs or when we play these – I totally feel that same way, it’s like it’s that’s the most exciting thing about it. It’s – it transports you back to a time when you just had so much angst and you need to change things up in your young adult life or teenage life and that the best thing about this band, it’s like eternal youth and we play so loud and so fast it’s like it’s just – it’s captivating to be a part of it.
I was just wondering if you could talk a little bit about how your creative process has evolved from back in the day to now. You’ve talked about everybody working differently in these various studios, but what does that mean for the actual writing of songs and the creation of an album?
Mark Hoppus: For me personally, it hasn’t changed the basic way in which songs of ours get created. Before (Pro Tools), we would all sit together in a studio in San Diego and we would throw ideas back and forth at one another and we would add parts and Tom would up with an idea on something that I had or Travis had and vice versa.
Now we do the exact same thing, we just do it in a different manner. I still bring a song idea to the table that Tom takes into his studio and works on and comes up with the things that he does that make songs great and likewise with Travis and same thing with Tom bringing songs to the table and same thing with Travis bringing songs to the table. We let each other take a turn at changing the song into what we hear in our own heads and somehow that’s what makes Blink sound like Blink.
Tom DeLonge: The difference is it’s not just sitting with an acoustic guitar, even though that does still totally happen. That happened quite a lot on this record, but having the option to really work through an early idea and play it you know and that’s the difference. You know really going to be able to play it on a stereo system and go, “Now, listen to this. This is kind of something” you know and people did that back in the day you know they had their little eight track recorders and those types of things, but …
Mark Hoppus: We were just never savvy enough to work an eight track.
Tom DeLonge: That was – that’s the biggest issue is we can’t even spell the word.
You know when you guys broke up, one of the real issues that was there was involved you know scheduling of recording; how you were going to do that kind of stuff you know certainly Tom was trying to find ways. I know you were trying to find ways to spend more time with your family and that created all sorts of issues about who was dictating schedules and you know for recording and touring.
And you know you’ve talked about the separate you know studios and you know like you say (Pro Tools) and things like that and I am curious how things worked out in terms of working together, finding the time you need for family and other stuff and time for Blink and all the creative stuff. And how you’ve compensated for you know the way it used to be where you’d get together in a room and work on material.
Mark Hoppus: Having two separate studios I think has been a really great way for all of us to be able to both work intensely and also be able to spend time with our families. The thing that’s changed as far as our recording schedule is that when we were younger, we used to start in the studio at like noon or 2 o’clock in the afternoon and go until midnight or 2:00 in the morning.
And now, for me personally, I’m in the studio at 9 o’clock in the morning and I’m usually done by 5 and I can go home and be with my family and I still get the same amount of work done in a day as you know starting at noon. And because we have two studios, like Tom was saying before, we don’t have to sit around the studio while another person is writing their part or tracking their part you know? Tom’s doing his work in San Diego. We’re doing our work in Los Angeles and it just frees up a lot of time that way.
Tom DeLonge: The other thing too I think that really adds to sanity that’s a little bit different than before is everybody has built their respective lives during the break ups and we came back together everybody needs to be able to cater to those and it was very mutually understood and enforced.
So the control mechanisms on our schedules and what we do and how we do it come from then band now, not so much the institution that surrounds the band, which is good. I mean it’s almost like we went away and came back and we kind of got our power back as the three of us and so it’s – it makes it much easier to say, “Hey, we can’t do something on this day because someone has a birthday or something” or you know like I’ll be, “I can’t go there because I have more dancing lessons” and that was a joke, but I can’t hear you guys laugh because you guys are all muted. But the point is is everyone respects each other.
You just mentioned that sort of moment where you got your power back. After working apart for so many years, how did you go about sort of getting that grove back? And was there a specific moment during the writing or the recording process for this stuff where you realized that that had occurred and it was like, “Aha, that’s us again. We’re back.”?
Mark Hoppus: I think it took a while to get to that point. I think it took, first of all, reconnecting as friends after not having spoken for about 5 years and then it took getting back into the studio, as well as getting back out on the road. I mean it all felt really naturally right at the beginning it felt like home because I think we all feel like Blink-182 is our real home, but at the same time, after not really having worked together or even been friends for a few years, it took a couple of months to kind of find that, “Oh, yes. This is how it all works.”
Tom DeLonge: I think – yes and I think you know there were so many – a band is an odd entity because you are a business and you are friends, but you’re also supposedly in this – in a constant state of not really – of no responsibility in many ways you know because you’re in a band. You know we joined a band to not have to do things.
So it’s a weird mix, so it definitely took time for us to kind of put all of these different pieces back together to run the business appropriately, but to also feel the freedom of accomplishment to where we got where we were you know and be able – but be able to just move forward like a band should at this level of our career. But yes, I – the aha moment for me I think is after we – you know we were – we did our touring in Europe specifically because some of the biggest things that have ever happened to our band ever was on the European tour that we just did where is was 100,000 people a night on some of these places and it’s just insane.
You know and that – at that point, you kind of feel like, “Okay, now we’re at the biggest part of our career ever and we haven’t even – we feel like we haven’t even started yet.” So that was a big moment for myself.
You said earlier that as far as the upcoming album is concerned there was some picking up from where you guys left off before, from where Blink-182 left off before and I’m wondering with that said, might there also be some newer elements that you guys might be bringing to the table with the new album.
Tom DeLonge: Yes, I – there’s a lot of new elements I think. You know we have you know – I was just listening to last night Mark did this electronic piece that’s really avant-garde you know and it will work part as a segue, it will work part as its own song, but it’s dramatically different. So and it made me start to think about all of the different elements we have in our band, so I started going through all the different songs that I obsess over before we finish a record and you know we have these songs that are total throwbacks.
I mean exactly what people would know of what Blink is you know but then we have these songs like the one I just described that are madly different and experimental. And then we have songs that are like Prague rock Blink music where it’s taking a Blink song, but has stadium rock qualities to it you know.
So I really think that we have a tremendous diverse palette on this. It’s – and what’s really cool too is because of the way it was recorded, all the songs sound so different from each other just not only in the sense of its approach of arrangements and whatever, but it’s tonalities and because there’s multiple engineers and doing different type – I mean even having Mark doing guitars up in L.A., he would be getting different sounds than I would normally get and I really encourage that because it’s just a whole different angle. And it made it really exciting.
You mentioned earlier breaking out of suburbia and you know tapping into that teenage angst. You kind of tapped into a generation with some of those big ((inaudible)) songs and a lot of the artists, a lot of the young musicians I’m talking to now, guys in their 20s that I’ve talked to mention you and like near top of their influences. Do you kind of think of yourselves as like a band that launched like 1000 ships?
Mark Hoppus: I don’t personally ever think in those kinds of terms. I’m very grateful that a lot of bands that are having a lot of success right now cite us as an influence. That’s a huge honor. But I – you know we’ve always just kind of done our own thing and kept our head down and it’s strange for us because for some reason now it seems like it’s cool to like blink-182.
And before it was always like we were the joke band that was largely written off except by the people that understood what we were all about. And we had a lot of success, but we were always kind of like thrown away as this joke band and now it seems like a lot of those kids who got us back in the day are coming up and making great music now and now somehow it feels like it’s cool to like Blink and I don’t get it.
Tom DeLonge: Yes. It’s weird. And maybe that just happens to bands that have been around – I mean we’re approaching 20 years and maybe at some point people just say, “Fuck. Okay. Fine. It’s not going away, I’ll love it.” You know I don’t know like, but I also think there’s something that’s really honorable in a band that can preserve and push forward a legacy you know and continue to take risks and you know I – someone had a quote somewhere I saw it’s like I really like it when artists take massive risks because it’s more fun for the rest of us.
And I think that any band that’s been around long enough to do those types of things I think is exciting and if we are influences, I still – you know it’s so funny to be so influenced and – by so many things and to be considered an influence is – it’s an odd paradox for me because I just feel like I’m still trying to be as good as some of the great ones that are out there and trying to learn and then you have someone going, “Hey, I really like what you do” and I’m going oh I haven’t figured it out yet you know?
Mark Hoppus: It’s strange to be cited as an influence when we still feel like we’re trying to figure out what we’re all about in the first place.
Even though you guys have reunited, do you think blink will last that much longer?
Mark Hoppus: I think that Blink will last as long – we’ve said this since day one, blink will last as long as we enjoy doing what we’re doing and recording this album has been a lot of fun, it’s been a challenge. We’re about to go on this big tour, that’s going to be a lot of fun, as well as a great challenge and I think that we enjoy working together.
I think that there’s something in the madness and in the creative process between the three of us that’s so very different from one another that it can be frustrating at times, it can be a massive joy at times. And somewhere in that tension I think is where the good work from blink-182 gets done. So I can see us lasting for many years.
Tom DeLonge: We used to say – there was hidden alphabet letters on our covers for a long time and kids were finding them and it was always like this saying we’re going to finish the alphabet. But what would be at now? What letter, Mark, would we be at? You still know the alphabet. I don’t remember the alphabet anymore. But yes, we – I think there was a lot …
Mark Hoppus: This would be J.
Tom DeLonge: All right. So we’re on J, we’ve got a lot of work to do.
You know over the last two decades you’ve one of the most important rock bands to come out of southern California and the tour is going to end at the Hollywood Bowl in October and you’ve been recording in L.A. and San Diego for the new record. You know you guys touched on how the different flavors have become part of your music over the years, do you still think of southern California as being a part of the band’s sonic identity?
Mark Hoppus: Well, definitely. All three of us are born and raised in southern California. We grew up in this culture. We’ve embraced this culture. We were the – we were all the ones in high school that were being made fun of because we were skaters and punk rockers and heavy metalers and losers and it’s just part of our identity.
Tom DeLonge: We actually built the missions in California.
Mark Hoppus: I hand built the adobe missions back in the day.
Tom DeLonge: You can’t really take the southern California out of somebody that’s been here their whole life you know especially for me because I was born and raised in San Diego and no matter where I go on the planet, I still use certain terms from California and no matter I wear, I still want to wear just t-shirts and sandals every once in a while you know, so …
Mark Hoppus: Sandals?
Tom DeLonge: Well, Birkenstocks, I just didn’t want to say that. No, I don’t wear Birkenstocks.
Mark Hoppus: Crocs everywhere.
Tom DeLonge: But I wear flip-flops and you can wear flip-flops at any bar here and that’s what’s great. You don’t have to dress up and pretend that you’re all sophisticated. You can go to a nice restaurant here in a t-shirt and with flip-flops; it doesn’t even matter where it is.
Mark Hoppus: I can’t believe we’re playing the Hollywood Bowl. Every – like hearing you say that, that trips me out. We’re playing the Hollywood Bowl, what an iconic major institution the Hollywood Bowl is and …
Tom DeLonge: I thought it was a – I thought it was like a giant bong in L.A. That was the dumbest joke ever, sorry.
I read on your Twitter account that you said that when you when you play Hershey, Pennsylvania that you have a five-pound Hershey bar in your room. Is that true?
Mark Hoppus: That’s true. Every time we play Hershey, they – as part of their welcome to Hershey gift pack I guess, in our dressing rooms, they put 5 pound Hershey’s bar.
Tom DeLonge: And they come and they melt it all over our chests and bodies.
Mark Hoppus: Sometimes.
Could you give some details about the first single? You know if there’s a title for it, what it is? What it sounds like? And everything.
Tom DeLonge: That’s a good question. We don’t have that yet.
Mark Hoppus: Well the interesting thing on that is that the new single is due in less than 2 weeks and we have yet to decide which one it is. I think that as a band, we agree that there is what? Three or four major contenders for first singles and as Travis is still tracking he drums on those and we get those songs mixed, I think that it will determine which of those songs become the first single because a lot can happen when you add drums into something and a song that you know you thought was the one might have been the one or a song that you weren’t sure about really comes up. So we have a lot of work to do in the next 10 days.
How you would describe the evolution of the music industry over the past 20 years and what advice would you give to young bands trying to make it big now days?
Mark Hoppus: Don’t try. No hope – no. It’s very difficult. It’s gotten – I used to think that it was really hard back in the day for small bands to break because of this big huge major label institution that you had to become part of. And looking back … I think it’s actually harder now because labels have so little money to invest in new bands that they really only point their money at huge acts and I think that it’s a lot more difficult now because there’s not as many indie labels as – despite the fact that there is – Christ.
Tom DeLonge: I think one of the biggest differences now is that the middlemen are now going to be gone. And I think that’s a huge victory, but like Mark said, the resources to build a brand aren’t quite there, but then again it doesn’t take as many resources to build a great product because you have these places like Facebook where these systems that can really pass around information really quickly and amongst people that like certain things.
So I think that the entertainment industry as a whole, starting with music, it’s always going to happen first that the music then to movies and whatever I think people are going to be able to use technology to do all the things they want to do without middlemen involved and embracing some – the central nervous system that connects the whole world, the Internet, you can build your own little legacy without having to rely on somebody in a suit if they like you or not.
Mark Hoppus: You’ve never seen anybody in a suit.
Tom DeLonge: No, they – I – well, a jacket and no pants for sure, but at least a nice jacket.
Operator: And we’ll take our next question from Steven Rosen. Please go ahead.
Steven Rosen: Hey, guys, how are you?
Tom DeLonge: Hi.
Guys, I’m going to cheat here and do a little two-pronger, but they’re sort of connected. I know both of you guys are equipment nerds. I mean I know you guys both have sort of signature guitars and stuff. Could you talk a little bit about the guitars that you brought into the studio?
And you know since you did the last record, I mean have you guys sort of been searching for new guitar sounds? You know more modern things? I mean does that intrigue you at all? And part B, your producer, Jerry Finn, passed away recently. Just was wondering how you felt about that and who might be producing the new record?
Mark Hoppus: Those are all – that’s great questions.
Steven Rosen: Thank you.
Tom DeLonge: As far as the – the way – what people don’t understand about guitars is a lot of people look at guitars as you know these incredible heirlooms that you can pass down you know like this my guitar from like the ‘60s and some people look at guitars as just like they want one guitar that does that. The reality is guitars are a tool, just like in any toolbox and when you record a song you know just like you might need a Phillips head screwdriver or a flat head you know sometimes you’ll need a guitar with a single coil pickup or a guitar with a humbucker.
And the difference for the people that don’t know what that means is some guitars sound really big distorted great sound, some other guitars are perfect for little clean guitar parts that are chimey and whatever.
But my point being is that on our record and like the records we’ve done before and this is something we learned from Jerry Finn very specifically is each song can sometimes have two, three, four different guitars on it because depending on the part, you need a very specific kind of sounding guitar for that part and all these guitars are built.
That’s why people that jazz in jazz bands won’t play the same kind of guitar that someone in a heavy metal – like Metallica, they’ll play different guitars. But when you record in a band like Blink, we have so many different types of sounds and arrangements that we do play parts that would be played on a jazz guitar and parts that would be played on the same kind of guitar that Metallica would use and all that …
Mark Hoppus: What guitars, Tom?
Tom DeLonge: Well, for example the Gibson Explorer is a famous heavy metal guitar. It’s one – it’s all black and it looks like – it looks as gothic as or as metal as can be. Or just a Fender Stratocaster, which is you know the famous first guitar ever made, Eric Clapton’s guitar. Both of those get – on the Blink record on over 75 percent of the songs, I use both of those two guitars on the same song. So – and but you learn, we learned those things from Jerry Finn. Jerry Finn had – how many guitars did Jerry have, Mark?
Mark Hoppus: Oh my God. He had like – one of the most extensive guitar collections I’ve ever seen.
Tom DeLonge: And he taught us all about it. He – well, because Jerry – when Jerry first started producing, he came in and then the guitar player had to lay down his guitar tracks and he goes, “Okay, so what should I do?” And Jerry goes, “Oh fuck. I don’t know anything about guitars.” So he went home and read the biggest book he could find on guitars and he got them in to guitars.
So he taught us everything about guitars and producing as well as much we – you know that’s really where Mark and I think learned the majority of what we learned and the question is who is producing this record, it’s blink-182 you know? But we have great engineers and help, but a lot of that is discovery for us is to make sure that you know no one person takes that all upon you know themselves because the magic of Blink is the fact that the three of us are so radically different, not only musically, but lifestyle in many ways.
So we really bring those different cultures and parts together and we have to sort through it and communicate through it. So Mark did say it was a challenge at times, but I think it’s really for the best you know.
Mark Hoppus: For me, the parts that I’ve recorded on this I’ve used the same signature model bass on the past three records and I think I’ve pretty much used that exclusively for the bass parts on this record. For the guitar parts that I’ve recorded on this, I used a Stratocaster, I used a Fender (Tele) Junior, I have a 1957 I think Les Paul Junior that I used on a bunch of stuff, sorry, 1958 Les Paul Junior. Oh sorry, 1959 Les Paul Junior, my mistake. I used a 1957 Fender Esquire for some of the prettier stuff. Those are the main guitars I think for me on the stuff that I’ve played.
There was an interview you guys did probably a year ago or so I think it was with MTV where you talked about the writing at that stage for this next album being very ambitious and probably the most ambitious stuff you’d written. And I don’t know if that carried through, all the way through or how you look at the – kind of the finished product at this point, but I’m curious you know just the level of writing, how you feel it’s different from where blink left off before.
Tom DeLonge: I think the main difference is you know really utilizing – we just barely on the last record start utilizing technology to do our demoing off of and the – and for people that don’t know how that works, I mean like I said before usually you say, “Hey, here’s a song. Here’s how it goes and here’s the parts, what do you think? And let’s learn it together.” But if you can put it into a computer system, it’s very easily – you can rearrange things and move them around and hear things in different tempos and hear them you know very quickly you can hear it if it sounds better big and distorted or clean and (trancy) or whatever.
So that’s a major, major difference and that’s something that wasn’t available to us or not necessarily on the last record before, but we just started doing it on the last record, but now we get it. It was so new to us then. So that’s a huge, huge fundamental difference is being able to attack songwriting from so many different angles, not just all sitting together with a guitar and playing drums on your knees you know? Which is pretty much how we grew up doing it in many ways.
But the ambitiousness not only utilizing the technology, but I also think all of us really having so many years to think about what we would want Blink to sound like and so it’s kind of like you know you have a lifetime to write your first record. You know you start playing an instrument and you spend years and years and years and years and years you know waiting to get a band and go, “These are my best rips ever.”
But the big deal about the sophomore jinx is that the second record you’ve got to – you don’t have years and years to write rips. You have like another year or two to put together your second record. But with the breakup of blink, we had – Mark, how many years has it been, Mark? Is it six or something or?
Mark Hoppus: Since what?
Tom DeLonge: Since the last – since we recorded the last record.
Mark Hoppus: Eight years.
Tom DeLonge: It’s been 8 years. Yes. So it’s like you know we have plenty of time to think about what we would want it to be like having that chance and I think that’s what’s really was ambitious with this record is we’ve all grown so much not only musically, but as individuals.
So our approach and what we want to do and how we want to do it I think is so much more accelerated, anything is possible, anything because we understand the fundamentals of recording. I mean Mark’s been producing lots of other band’s records. I’ve been producing all my (Angels and Airwaves) stuff. Travis has been producing and playing on – with major artists ever since. So it’s like – I guess our wealth of knowledge has grown tenfold.
I’ve read in a previous interview there’s a song tentatively titled, “Ghosts on the Dancefloor” and that’s rumored to be about the deaths of Jerry Finn and DJ M. Can you elaborate further on that song? And some of the other reoccurring themes that – of the album?
Tom DeLonge: That song – we don’t – you know I once heard that Bob Dylan never talks about what his songs mean because that kind of takes away the experience from the listener you know but I can tell you that that song was not written about that. But I do know that that song has struck some of those chords. There is a song called, “Ghosts on the Dancefloor.” It has a couple of different meanings from a couple of different perspectives at least in my opinion, but one of the things that I really like is the fact that it did strike some of those emotional chords in some people.
And that’s what music is supposed to do. You know that’s what art is supposed to do. You create a piece of art and that’s only half of the equation. And the person that experiences the art should have – they should apply it to their own life in some meaningful way and I think if you get too literal and say, “Hey, I wrote this about my next door neighbor.” You know then so nobody can apply it to their own life. No one can – you know it becomes much more difficult sometimes that way. Not all the time, but sometimes in my opinion.
Is the Blinkumentary film still going to come out?
Mark Hoppus: Yes. Yes, we – I think I don’t know if – Tom, did you turn in your notes?
Tom DeLonge: Yes, I didn’t have any. It’s – Haven did a wonderful job on that and that is finished actually. So that was coming out I think – Mark ((inaudible)) I think this fall. I think during the tour or something is …
Mark Hoppus: Yes. I think it’s somehow in conjunction with the record. I – we just got the final cut and made notes on that. So I assume that Haven will go back and re-edit those notes and we’ll come up with a plan for releasing it.
Does the album have a title yet? And if it does, where did it come from?
Mark Hoppus: We actually are struggling with that. We can’t decide if we want it to be something funny or we want it to just be something meaningful or if we would just want – or if we just don’t care. So we are – Tom and I were talking about that a couple of days ago and just like every other album, I assume that we will wait until the last possible second and whatever we think is funny or appropriate at that point, that’s what it will be.
Tom DeLonge: We heard – yes. We heard Thriller was already taken.
Mark Hoppus: We heard Thriller was taken. We heard the White Album was taken and Pet Sounds apparently is taken as well. Who would have thought that?
Tom DeLonge: And then there’s that hip-hop guy that just named his record, I’m Gay, which was at the top of my list, but did you hear about that? Well, I’ll talk to you about that later. That is a true story though, if you guys are reporting.
Operator: And we’ll take our next question from Steven Rosen. Please go ahead.
Steven Rosen: Hey, guys. I’m the one that asked you about the guitars earlier.
Mark Hoppus: Cool.
I think what is really interesting is the fact that I mean we’re still talking about Blink you know 8 years after your last record you know 20 years after you guys first started recording. Do you sense that there are modern bands that will have that kind of staying power?
Mark Hoppus: I don’t know. It’s hard for me to say things like that. I don’t know how Blink has lasted so long. I mean I feel like what has allowed Blink to last so long is that we’ve always written music from the heart and we’ve never really thought of ourselves in any specific genre or category.
I think what happens is that a lot of bands try and continue to fit into whatever they think that people want them to be, are afraid to grow or afraid to try different things and with Blink, we started off just wanting to play fast and loud, but we also enjoy doing different things as well. And then when Travis joined the band, he brought a whole different creative side to it and I don’t think that there’s anything that any of us would write that we would say, “Oh, that’s not Blink” because if it comes from our brains, then it’s Blink.
Mark Hoppus: And I think that you know we’re very fortunate to be able to have had and continue to have a career as long as this one and I think that as long as bands are willing to take chances and try and grow and not continue to do what they’ve always, I think that those bands will be the ones that people like to listen to. I mean if you – you know for me personally, I idolized the Beatles and they never sounded like themselves from one record to the next and same with Kanye, you never know what Kanye West is going to come out with next. You know I think the successful artists are the ones that always continue to surprise themselves and other people.
Tom DeLonge: And I’ve had a really bad history of you know of picking the bands that last and picking bands that would even have a huge moment in their career. Like there’s some bands I go, “Wow, okay. Well, they’re not going anywhere.”
Next thing you know it’s like the biggest thing ever, but yes, trying to – I don’t know. I think that every – I think the bands – my – a serious take that I have on that is that it is – there is – in entertainment, you’ve got movies and you have bands and that is – it is the genuine job of the musician to convey what’s in their heart and to be real and to – so as a young – as a kid or a young adult, you can identify with that musician and say, “Man, I understand that person. I can relate to that person.”
And you don’t get that movies and with actors, they’re always acting. You know you don’t know who they are you know? You might get touched by the story or whatever, but so I think that bands that really figure out a way to communicate the way they see the world and they do it – do so with their heart and they have – and they’re a good song writer, I think those – that’s stuff that you know it’s very important and that’s really what separates us from the movie industry.
And it’s so important, but it’s also like Mark said, there’s a lot of young bands that are – you know it’s just – no fault of their own, it’s just when you’re young you know you want to really be a part of the scene or you really want to be cool more than you want to really do something from your heart because it takes a lot to kind of put yourself out there and – but the bands that have really stood the test of time have put themselves out there and they’re very, very honest.
I was wondering about the current tour and do you guys just sit down and decide we’re going to tour with these bands? I know you guys were always big fans of Rancid back in the day, but could you just elaborate on how the full tour and all the opening acts came to be?
Tom DeLonge: Yes. We talk – My Chemical Romance was something we talked about even a few years ago and so it kind of worked out that would be perfect timing. I went down and I met with them and watched their show and just, “Hey, hey, let’s do this.” You know and it turned out to be something they were interested in doing. It worked out perfect for us and I think it’s a super great mix because they have – they’re a punk band with huge aspirations and huge – a lot of vision.
But they’re from the next generation from ours and a band like Rancid is – I mean that’s an easy choice for us. We all – like that’s like one of our favorite bands of all time. (Matt) and (Kim) is an incredible band that’s just a guy and a girl that are doing – they’re exactly like Blink. They’re super funny and happy, but they’re doing it with electronic music, but they’re – and they’re barely getting by and that’s the most charming thing and amazing thing about them.
They’re not like – they never went to some crazy Berkelee School of Music or something you know like they really are what you want a band to be, just – and that’s exactly what we were. And when I look at them I see so much of ourselves and then I think they’re going to have an incredible career ahead of them and Manchester Orchestra and – they’re all – yes, we – and we also send out – we also get lists. You know we kind of go to see who is available and – but this one, this is going to be a great – I mean the last tour we did was great too.
We’ve really been fortunate to have such great bands want to be a part. Like Mark said, like you know we’re en vogue kind of.
I know that I’m thinking probably way too far in advance, but have you guys – what’s the status of your guy’s side projects now? Angels & Airwaves? I mean what’s the status of it? And will you record with them again?
Tom DeLonge: Yes. Absolutely. I mean we all are going to continue to do our things in our spare time. I mean (Angels) has its movie coming out. It will be out late summer I believe, we’re working on that now. So we’ll have the movie in theaters then and we’ll put out the second half of our – it’s a double album that comes with the movie, so the second half of that will be out around Christmas time. And yes, so that will go.
The biggest gamble at least for the (Angels and Airwaves) thing is just like I said you know Blink is the priority so we’ve got to fit into these pockets and make it happen. But I think that’s you know it’s one of those things that creates a juggle, but also it’s a lot of fun, so it keeps us all happy.
Operator: Okay. We’ll take our last question from Gary Graff. Please go ahead.
Looking ahead, again, once you have the Honda Civic tour and then once the album is out, what’s on the horizon? What kind of touring are you going to be doing following the release?
Mark Hoppus: We are touring Europe and the U.K., which we were forced to postpone. We were supposed to be there actually I think right now. But the record wasn’t finished yet. So we postponed until next summer and so we will do that tour then. We’re adding dates throughout the U.S. in between and we’ll just have to see what develops between this summer and next summer.
Tom, Mark, do you have any further comments?
Mark Hoppus: Thanks, everybody, for your time. I hope you enjoy the record when it comes out.
Tom DeLonge: Yes. I think I want to put out there that I’m – this is a long time coming for us and one of the hardest things about – we were putting the tour up on sale and we know that we didn’t have the single out and all that. That’s just based on logistics, but here in a couple of short weeks, we will have music out and we will have the album that I think is really modern and relevant to where we are in our career and it’s going to be everything that fans want.
And it’s going to be really, really exciting and I personally am – I’m ecstatic for this album and so if anything, I really want the people to know that I know it’s taken us a little bit of time and we’re running on these deadlines or whatever, but it will be everything that people expect us to deliver. And it’s going to be – prepare for an exciting summer.
Ultimate-Guitar.Com © 2011
They're one of the most famous bands in the world - an unknown tv show and band aren't gonna push Blink into being a side project! Not some random solo stuff from Travis either. 