Mike Gunzelman
Videos by OutKick
Get out the long Dickies shorts and bust out the Vans, we’ve got a punk rock show to goto.
The Internet BUZZING today as pop-punk legends Blink-182 have announced that they are back along with their original frontman Tom Delonge.
Emo’s like myself are VERY emotional over this news.
Blink single-handedly defied a generation of music, propelling guitar riffs, humor and sad lyrics to mainstream status that has seen them sell nearly 50 million albums worldwide. Personally, they are my favorite band and got me into playing guitar and becoming a die-hard music fan.
The band also announcing that they will be doing a worldwide tour next year, as well as a new album. Their new single, “Edging,” will also be out on October 14th.
POP PUNK KINGS REUNITE
Blink-182 famously parted ways in 2015 after inner turmoil amongst the group.
It was evident from fans of the group that it seemed that they were pretty much tired of each other, The band toured together for years, had extreme success and were a staple during MTV’s TRL days. But the truth is that growing older, having families and also trying to figure out how to write songs that don’t alienate your original audience can be stressful.
This led to the main reason of the break-up, which was creative differences.
Delonge – the group’s guitarist and co-founder, wanted to pursue sounds like the band he would go on to create Angels and Airwaves.
He also wanted to seriously pursue investigating UFOs. Yes, really. (Despite being viewed by some as a joke at first, Delonge has been actively involved and a big factor in why the Department of Defense recently released more UFO files.)
The band’s bass player and other co-founder Mark Hoppus would continue Blink, along with drummer and Kourtney Kardsahian’s husband Travis Barker. (They added Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio to replace Delonge).
NEW BLINK-182 ALBUM AND TOUR DATES
I don’t know if Delonge’s return to the band means that we’ve finally found the aliens, but I don’t care. Myself and millions of other emos that grew up in middle school and high school are flipping out on social media.
Honestly this had to happen, especially after Hoppus’s cancer diagnosis last year which he eventually beat.
In an August 2022 interview with People, Hoppus talked about the trio being in the same room together. “It was the first time that all three of us were in the same room in like five years,” Hoppus said. “It’s actually better than it used to be. There was no agenda. There were no lingering grudges. It felt very back to what it should be: three friends sitting in a room.… Everybody’s in a really great place right now.”
I am legit so excited for this. Although Skiba did an adequate job filling in for Delonge during his absence, there’s something off about someone else singing lyrics that he didn’t write.
Now fans will be able to not only hear new Blink music when “Edging” comes out this Friday, but also an entire new album of new material AND a full U.S. Tour with dates available here
They’re legit good people, too. When I was working for the San Diego office of the Boy Scouts, we had a charity auction to help underwrite our camps. I reached out to DeLonge through some contacts I’d made as a local newspaper reporter – and his mom replied. They donated a whole basket of signed merch from blink and Angels & Airwaves – which brought in a nice bit of cash for our camps. (The day I went to pick up the donation, I was given an address in a nondescript industrial park in San Diego’s North County area. No markings on the building; just the street address. I rang the bell – and when they opened, it was like walking into Warehouse 13 – only instead of historic artifacts, it was full of rock ‘n’ roll merchandise to be sold on tour! It was bigger than a Sam’s Club or Costco, with literally acres of posters, hats, t-shirts, blankets, guitars, mouse pads, jackets, etc., from probably 40 different top bands, maybe more. I was rubbernecking like a tourist from Des Moines seeing Times Square at night for the first time …)