During his days in blink-182, bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus reigned as king of pop-punk world by blending melody, energy, and a heavy dose of humor into his songs. When blink parted ways because of personal conflict, Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker found a new creative source in +44, a band that started off as an entirely electronica-oriented project. While the two musicians composed most of their CD When Your Heart Stops Beating on a keyboard or MPC, the finished product coming out on Nov. 14 reveals a return to straightforward rock sound aided by guitarists Shane Gallagher and Craig Fairbaugh.
Hoppus and
Barker have publicly acknowledged how problems with blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge ultimately caused the demise of the multi-platinum band. While Hoppus has not been in contact with DeLonge for 2 years, he is not looking to the past. Although there was a brief setback in the upcoming tour when Barker endured a stress fracture in his arm,
+44 is looking to set out on the road again this month. Hoppus recently talked with Ultimate Guitar writer
Amy Kelly about how his latest band allowed him the chance to open up both lyrically and musically.
UG: During the final days of blink-182, were you already hoping to change your musical direction?
Mark: It wasn’t really like a musical creative differences kind of thing. It was more Tom’s thing. I don’t think any of us felt like we were restricted musically from anything that we wanted to do in blink-182.
Can you pinpoint a particular reason why you parted ways?
Tom wanted to have control over everything and he should be in a band where he can call all the shots. That wasn’t the way that blink worked. We definitely would always look out for one another and give each other the space that we needed and the things that we needed, but toward the end of blink it became really one-sided. So I think Tom needed to do something where he was in complete control.
How did you and Travis first begin to get interested in possibly doing a more electonic-based type of music?
We never really even talked about where we thought it was going to go. We just got in the studio and started demoing ideas for songs. We didn’t even really think twice about what it was going to sound like or how we were going to approach it. We just went in and started putting ideas down and kind of said, “Let’s see where this takes us.” It went that way and then grew organically. Some songs started off electronic and ended up being very rock-driven, and some songs started off where we thought it was going to be a rock song and it ended up kind of quiet and minimal-sounding. I don’t really know what we’re trying to achieve with each song that we start writing. We kind of just keep writing and recording until one day we’re at the point where we go, “Wow! That song is done.” And that’s what the song ends up being.
Were most of the songs on the new album composed electronically at the start?
At the beginning everything was electronic, just by necessity. We were recording in Travis’ basement and in my dining room. So it was either Travis’ programming drums on his keyboards or on an MPC or playing his electronic drums. When we recorded the melodies, we were using a guitar plugged into a computer or a keyboard or something like that. So everything at the beginning was completely electronic because we were just demoing. But what ended up starting off as demos electronically, we kind of embraced those sounds and that aesthetic of those song structures. We ended up using a lot of electronic stuff on the record.
I saw you recently posted the electronic version of “When Your Heart Stops Beating” on MySpace. Your fans will probably appreciate hearing how a lot of the songs started out electronically.
I like electronic stuff. There’s so much stuff you can do now with technology that’s available to musicians that it seems a shame to just do everything on electric guitar. Obviously that’s what we base the majority of our music around, things played on electric guitar. But there’s so much else out there that you can use. We want to get inspired by all different kinds of instruments.
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| "I don't really know what we're trying to achieve with each song that we start writing." |
There is often a stigma attached in the rock world when bands go the electronic route. Did you encounter that reaction from anyone?
Oh, definitely. The thing was when we first started off, like we had been demoing for a few weeks and we were doing some interviews. People were always asking, “So what’s +44 sound like? Where are you guys’ heads at right now?” We were being honest and we said, “Well, right now it’s very electronic.” The people at the label freaked when they heard us say that it was electronic! People tend to write off electronic bands. I mean, we weren’t trying to make a electronic band by any means, but everything at that point, we were demoing using strictly synthetic instruments and nothing real organic. So that was the truth. But everyone was like, “You can’t say you’re an electronic band!”
I definitely think that for some reason in error people tend to write off electronic-based musicians as somehow less real than people who play electric guitar. You get into programming and you get into keyboard playing and you get into things like that, it’s almost more difficult because there are so many different things you can do and so many different options. On electric guitar, you can either play clean or distorted, and there’s always different effects you can put on the guitar. There’s a little palette of instruments you can use electric guitar-wise, but at the same time when you start getting into keyboards and programming drums and things like that, it’s tenfold.
How long have you dabbled in keyboards, sampling and programming drums?
We kind of got into a little bit on the last blink record and we really embraced it on the +44 record.
Was it just the convenience of location that made you decide to do the original demos in your dining room?
Yeah, in the beginning we started off in Travis’ basement and in my dining room. About 6 months into the process, Travis and I actually bought a studio in North Hollywood and we moved all of our recording equipment in there. Then we could actually put in the electronic guitars and the live drums and everything else. At that point, the record changed to a lot more of a rock orientation. We moved into a lot more of the rock direction.
Did the acoustics of the studio inspire the change in sound?
Actually we were able to make loud noise in the studio, being able to play Travis’ live drums and being able to plug in a guitar and turn it up all the way. Also, it was just the time that it allowed us really because there wasn’t a clock ticking every minute that we were in the studio. There wasn’t a sense that, “This is going to cost us money. If we try out this idea for a song and it ends up taking 2 or 3 days, it’s going to cost us a bunch of money. What if we don’t end up using it?” There was none of that. If we had an idea or a thought, we were going to pursue it to its end. So it really allowed us an opportunity to explore what we wanted to do musically.
What are some of the differences between the studio you own and other studios that you’ve recorded at in the past?
This one’s ours. Being able to not worry about how much time we had in the studio. Also, it’s all of our stuff there. Everything is set up. There’s not a sense of anything not being ours. When you rent a studio and you stay there for like 6 weeks, it’s still somebody else’s soundboard or somebody else’s compressors or microphones. It’s like when you’re staying at a friend’s house. No matter how much a friend invites you to stay at their house for a while and is kind and everything else, it’s still their house. You never feel like it’s your home. The studio is definitely our home.
How did you first meet Carol (Heller, who originally sang lead vocals for +44)?
When we very first started working with Carol was when we recorded a song that ended up on the record called “Make You Smile.” We had an idea for a song and we had been writing it. Travis said, “What if we had a female voice on there?” So he knew Carol from growing up together and we called her. She came down and sang on it - she has such an amazing voice. The song really went to a completely different level with her on there and we really liked that a lot.
She was in the studio with us and we kept writing songs for a couple more months. When we actually moved into the studio and the rock guitars started coming back into the picture, I was taking over a lot more of the vocals. It just kind of organically started swinging that way. We left her voice on that song and the stuff she contributed, too. And she wanted to start a family with her husband at the same time, so we kind of just went separate ways.
There’s been a lot of the discussion about how the lyrics on the new album chronicle the last days of blink-182, particularly the song “No It Isn’t.” What were some of the emotions going through your mind when you wrote that track?
We had been recording demos for a while. It was the first song that we actually finished when we bought our studio. We had recorded the music and I kind of had a rough idea for some of the vocal melodies and things. One day I went to the studio, and it was just me and the engineer there that day. I went out into the courtyard of the studio and started writing the lyrics to the song. It was kind of about the end of blink-182 and the ugly matter that went down. I never really spoke about anything in the press or even to a lot of people that I knew about the end of blink, and it all came out in that one song.
Was it a relief to get it all out there in the open?
Yeah. It was definitely very cathartic to finally like say my peace and to let it out. I couldn’t hold it inside forever. So when I sat down to write that song, the lyrics I think were written probably 15 or 20 minutes, which is very fast for me writing-wise. I really agonize over lyrics a lot of the time and go back and change things and readdress stuff. In that song, the lyrics just came out in a big hurry. I felt great to just finally speak my mind on it and have it come out in the song.
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| "I haven't spoken with Tom in the past 2 years and that's pretty much where it's at right now." |
What is the status of your relationship with Tom DeLonge?
I haven’t spoken with Tom in the past 2 years and that’s pretty much where it’s at right now.
Were you worried that touring might be halted indefinitely after Travis injured his arm?
We were filming the video for “When Your Heart Stops Beating” and it’s a performance-based video, so we played the song over and over and over all day. Afterwards Travis was saying his arm hurt him. We had a few days of press, and then we flew to Europe and we started the tour over there. Travis’ arm started bothering him again on that tour. When we got back from the European tour, Travis went and saw a doctor. The doctor said he had a bunch of stress fractures on his bone and he couldn’t do anything. He had to take 8 weeks off. He couldn’t lift anything. He couldn’t play his drums - nothing.
We had to postpone the tour and we were really bummed about that. Travis was trying to figure out if he could play with one arm. So he set up a drum kit with some triggers and things like that, and Travis went down by himself one day to kind of see how that felt. He sent me an email afterward saying, “I think I can do this.” For some reason, when I got that email from Travis, I knew that we were going to be cool because once he says that he can do something, you pretty much can count on it.
Many of Travis’ peers do talk about how dedicated he is. Has he been that way for as long as you can remember?
Yeah, definitely. Travis has always been the foundation for everything musically that we’ve done. The drums that he plays lay the foundation for everything, and he’s always really solid in the studio and especially live. You couldn’t ask for a better drummer.
With Travis’ family problems (he filed for divorce from Shanna Moakler in August), did it seem like making the +44 album was cathartic for him?
Travis has always been really positive through everything. Through the entire time that I’ve known him, he has a very unique ability to persevere through things and take a positive attitude towards things a lot of times and concentrate on the things that are important to him, his kids, his music. It’s very inspiring to me, that’s for sure. He definitely puts it all into his drums. He’s a great drummer to watch. He’s always been amazing technically, but it’s so much fun to watch him play.
Your performance at The Roxy back in September was your first one in two years. Were you nervous at all?
Oh, yeah, definitely. I’m always nervous! The first night of any tour, I’m always really nervous, especially for not being on stage for a couple years. I was very nervous before getting on stage at The Roxy. We were all just really excited to play and I kept asking our tour manager, “How much longer?” He’d say, “Twenty minutes.” Then we’d say, “Okay, how much longer now?” He’d say, “Fifteen minutes.” Finally we were just like, “Okay, we’re going on stage right now!” We couldn’t wait to get out there and do our thing.
How did the crowds react to the new music?
It was great. It was really cool, especially because nobody had heard any music before that. I mean a song or 2 had been leaked online, but for the most part nobody had heard any of the music at all. The show was sold out in a matter of minutes. Everyone there was really positive and the energy was good. A lot of times when you see a band for the first band and they’re playing songs you’ve never heard before, people stand there and just watch the show. But the energy in that show was really good.
How did guitarists Craig Fairbaugh (The Mercy Killers, The Transplants) and Shane Gallagher (The Nervous Return) come to join +44?
Travis and Shane grew up together in Riverside, and I’ve known Shane for probably 4 years now. He plays with a band called The Nervous Return and Travis had signed them to his label. They came on tour with blink a whole lot so Shane and I became friends out on the road. Craig played guitar in The Transplants when they toured, so Travis knew him from that. That’s how I met him as well.
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| "There's a little palette of instruments you can use electric guitar-wise." |
Are 2 guitarists elemental to +44’s sound? Could it work with only 1 guitar player?
Not live for sure. As a band, all of us are contributing and writing songs. So it takes everything from all of us to create a +44 song, especially live. Having 2 guitarists makes all the difference in the world. When we were in blink, I would say there were multiple layers of guitars throughout the blink-182 songs. When it came time to play our songs live, we’d have to sit down and say, “Okay, which part are we actually going to play? Well, the lead part has a hook in it, but the rhythm part makes it edgy and pushes the song forward. Which part are we actually going to play live?” Now we don’t have to make those decisions because everybody can play their parts. Although there are a lot of double-bass parts on the +44 record, so I’m having to make those decisions now.
When you were writing the songs, had you always felt that 2 bass lines were needed?
It was just something that organically grew through the process. I’ve always loved bands that have 2 basses in it like Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. They were one of the hugest influences on me growing up. I loved the combination of using the higher strings on the bass in conjunction with a different pattern on the low strings. So I kind of branched out on this record and did a bunch of double-bass parts.
What basses and amps are you using these days?
I’m using my Signature bass, the Fender and an Ampeg SVT Classic head and an Ampeg 810 cabinet. You can’t really ask for a more solid setup than that.
Is this pretty much the same equipment that you were using during blink-182?
Yeah. I actually use the same bass that I had used throughout the blink recordings. I have a lime-green bass that I used on the last couple blink albums.
Which bass is the one you named “Petey”?
Petey is the Precision bass. I did use that on this record as well. But the first bass that I always pick up for each time that I go into record a bass track is this lime-green one called Lettuce. God smiled when he made that bass that somehow. It just sounds amazing. When I want a really, really aggressive sound, then I go for Petey.
Would you consider yourself a gearhead who enjoys experimenting with a little bit of everything?
Oh, definitely. I love buying equipment. I’m always in the studio, searching online for different effects pedals or different basses. I collect vintage Fender instruments, and throughout the recording of this album I bought a 1960 Jazzmaster, a 1958 Esquire, and I think a ’65 Fender. I’m always buying gear. That’s basically what ended up making me and Travis buy a studio. It’s just that we had bought so much equipment over the years that we need a place to store it all.
Travis has a 16-channel board just sitting in storage for 5 years because when he bought it we didn’t have a place to store it. And I have racks and racks of compressors and EQs and cases of microphones and everything else. We just bought them over the course of recording and we were like, “Why the hell don’t we have a studio? We have all the equipment for a studio. We have enough recoding equipment between the 2 of us to have 2 full studios going, but we don’t have a room to do this in. This is stupid.” So we went to North Hollywood and looked around till we found a studio.
Do you consider yourself just as much of a producer (Mark produced Motion City Soundtrack’s Commit This To Memory) as you are a musician?
I feel like I’m getting there. I still feel like I have a lot to learn about being a producer. I love it and I think that I have a solid foundation - knock wood. I love doing it, so I want to keep doing it. But I feel like I’m still learning all the time. I still feel like I’m learning as a musician as well.
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| "I think that as a creator of music, you kind of have to keep your eyes open and use everything you can for inspiration." |
Are there any bands out today that inspire you musically?
I’m into all kinds of stuff. I love listening to old classic rock and like old goth, things like The Cure and things that I’d listen to when I was growing up. I also draw inspiration from up-and-coming bands, bands I’ve worked with The Matches or Idiot Pilot. I listen to Frank Sinatra or The Beach Boys. There’s so much inspiration in the world. Or I can be reading a book and find something in a book that I think sounds cool and it will inspire me in some way. I think that as a creator of music, you kind of have to keep your eyes open and use everything you can for inspiration.
When I was growing up in high school, I think I was a lot more close-minded to music than I am now. When I was in high school, I used to listen to just punk rock and goth or whatever. I would not listen to anything else. There would be like a heavy metal song playing at one of my friend’s houses and I’d be like, “Why the hell are you listening to a heavy metal song? I can’t believe that!” Then I grew up and actually started opening my mind to other music. I’ve always liked rock music and I’ve always like Pink Floyd and things like that, but for me to cross over and listen to a pop song on the radio and think, “Wow, there are some really good elements in that pop song” or listen to anything I was uncomfortable with before, it took me a minute. Now I’m like, “I can’t believe that I didn’t listen to every single style on the face of the planet.” There is so much great music out there and so many good ideas out there. You can listen to any style of music, be it country, be it dance music, pop song, whatever, but if it has good ideas then it’s good music. I really don’t have any boundaries.
On your Podcast Hi My Name Is Mark, do you get an opportunity to play all different genre of music?
The thing that’s difficult about the Podcast is we don’t really generate money from the Podcast itself. To play songs on it, you have to get publishing clearance. A lot of the stuff that we would like to play, like if we were to try and play a Frank Sinatra song on it, obviously the publishing company would want to get paid for the publishing royalty on that. So the bands that we want to play, we have to like talk to their managers, talk to the publishing companies and get waivers on it. So we’re trying to figure out if we can get sponsored by a company that will allow us to pay the artists that we’re actually playing on the Podcast. Then we can be like a radio station and play anything we want and make sure that the artists are getting paid as well.
Do you have any particular favorite moment of your days in blink?
There are so many. blink was such a great opportunity. I loved every second that I was in that band. Everything. Every moment of it. Every moment of +44. All of it is such a blessing. It’s so fun and I would be hard-pressed to pick one favorite moment out of any of it. Right now is my favorite moment.
Does it bother you that When Your Heart Stops Beating was leaked on the internet?
Yeah, it definitely does. But there’s no way that you can stop it. The whole downloading thing and the file-sharing thing, there’s really no stopping it. Obviously there’s nothing that you can do about it and so you just have to accept it. I trust that people know in their hearts when they’re sharing songs with people and when they’re stealing music, and there’s definitely a difference.
For the future of +44, do you see this as enduring as long as blink-182 did?
Yeah, definitely. That’s what we’re planning. We’re planning on releasing this record, touring as much as we can, then going back into the studio and recording the next record. We’re all dedicated to it. It’s our main priority in all of our lives. It’s something that we love and want to continue doing for a long time.
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| While +44's album "When Your Heart Stops Beating" hits stores 11/14, you can stream it in its entirety on the band's MySpace page here.
Also, check out a live video of "Chapter 13" filmed at The Roxy in LA at Yahoo! Music.
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I hope you enjoy the article otherwise!
(it's Doug btw)
