February 8, 2009 is the day every single Blink-182 fan has been waiting for since early 2005. At Sunday’s 51st Annual Grammy Award Ceremony, all three members of Blink-182 were reunited on stage for the first time in over four years to present the award for Best Rock Album. Coldplay won for "Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends" and that’s all well and good, but the real news came just moments before when the band took the stage.
In response to the performance by the
Jonas Brothers and
Stevie Wonder right before them, co-lead vocalist and bassist
Mark Hoppus joked, "
Isn’t it great to see the Jonas Brothers and Stevie Wonder back together again?" Drummer
Travis Barker then added, "
We used to play music together, and we decided to play music together once again." Excitedly,
Hoppus yelled, "
Blink-182 is back!"
But if that wasn’t proof enough, the band decided to make things a little more official and released the following statement on their website:
"Hi, we're blink-182. This past week there've been a lot of questions about the current status of the band, and we wanted you to hear it straight from us. To put it simply, we're back. We mean, really back. Picking up where we left off and then some. In the studio writing and recording a new album. Preparing to tour the world yet again. Friendships reformed. 17 years deep in our legacy. Summer 2009. Thanks and get ready..."
The last new music we’ve heard from the Blink-182 was 2003’s self-titled album. The last time the band performed together was on December 16, 2004. Since splitting up in 2005, bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker created Plus 44 while guitarist Tom Delonge founded Angels & Airwaves along with former Box Car Racer band mate David Kennedy.
So where does this leave the projects that Mark, Tom, and Travis have been working on since taking a break from Blink-182? Plus 44’s future is still uncertain; however, Mark Hoppus spoke with MTV last month and informed them that both he and Travis Barker are working on their own solo projects. Also, guitarist David Kennedy of Angels & Airwaves reassured fans that while Blink-182 is coming back, Angels & Airwaves will live on and that this "will be a good creative year."
Along with the announcement, the band has updated their website and added new merchandise featuring an updated version of the logo used on their 2003 self-titled album.
Report by David Lowe-Bianco.
