UPDATE: Shortly after Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker released a press release saying that Tom DeLonge was out of Blink-182, DeLonge posted a confusing photo on Instagram saying it wasn't true. "To all the fans, I never quit the band. I actually was on a phone call about a blink 182 event for New York City at the time all these weird press releases started coming in... Apparently those releases were 'sanctioned' from the band. Are we dysfunctional- yes. But, Christ..... #Awkward #BabyBackRibs," DeLonge wrote in the caption.
Well, Hoppus and Barker insisted in a new interview with Rolling Stone that everything they said in that press release was 100 percent true, and they actually felt relieved to be able to expose how DeLonge has been acting for several years now. "I think he's just in shock that he's finally been exposed. The truth is out. I just don't think he knows how to deal with it, so he says, 'I didn't quit the band. I'm booking Blink shows as we speak.' You're not the booking agent. We all know that's a lie," Barker said.
He continued, "[T]o then say, 'I didn't quit the band,' it's just not true. It's disingenuous. I just wish Tom does whatever makes him happy and stops holding Blink-182 back from what we all agree that we're going to do: play shows, record music, continue this legacy and have a good time doing it."
Without Tom DeLonge.
This post was originally published on January 26:
All the small things must have finally added up. Rolling Stone reports that Tom DeLonge, the guitarist and co-vocalist from Blink-182, has left the group. Yes, the trio of pop punk rockers who rose to prominence in the late '90s was still together. They were even planning to play at Travis Barker's annual Musink Festival in March and record a new album. Well, turn the lights off and carry Tom DeLonge home. He'll be replaced at the festival and possibly on the record by Alkaline Trio guitarist/singer Matt Skiba. DeLonge let the band know he was departing in quite the passive-aggressive way. "A week before we were scheduled to go in to the studio, we got an email from his manager explaining that he didn’t want to participate in any Blink-182 projects indefinitely, but would rather work on his other non-musical endeavors," Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus said in a statement shared by Rolling Stone. They insist there's no hard feelings, though, and Hoppus just tweeted "blink-182 life. For life." Let's all pour one out for our late '90s jams and send DeLonge off into the world of "his other non-musical endeavors" with the most fitting Blink-182 song. (Rolling Stone)
All the small things must have finally added up. Rolling Stone reports that Tom DeLonge, the guitarist and co-vocalist from Blink-182, has left the group. Yes, the trio of pop punk rockers who rose to prominence in the late '90s was still together. They were even planning to play at Travis Barker's annual Musink Festival in March and record a new album. Well, turn the lights off and carry Tom DeLonge home. He'll be replaced at the festival and possibly on the record by Alkaline Trio guitarist/singer Matt Skiba. DeLonge let the band know he was departing in quite the passive-aggressive way. "A week before we were scheduled to go in to the studio, we got an email from his manager explaining that he didn’t want to participate in any Blink-182 projects indefinitely, but would rather work on his other non-musical endeavors," Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus said in a statement shared by Rolling Stone. They insist there's no hard feelings, though, and Hoppus just tweeted "blink-182 life. For life." Let's all pour one out for our late '90s jams and send DeLonge off into the world of "his other non-musical endeavors" with the most fitting Blink-182 song. (Rolling Stone)