How are you feeling about the bands return?
[Alkaline Trio frontman Matt Skiba joined in 2015.]
[Our goal] was to write the best blink-182 album we could in 2016.
Credit: Harmony Gerber/Getty Images
[Its about] energy, angst, and wanting to kick the worlds ass with your friends.
Matt, as the newcomer to the group, how involved were you with contributing to the record?
What books were you reading?
HOPPUS:The Revenant, Blood Meridian… really dark [stuff].
You had written songs with DeLonge before he left.
What happened to that material?
HOPPUS:It never got started.
Theres not, like, a lost album of material anywhere.
TRAVIS BARKER:I think it was all of two ideas.
Did his departure affect your writing process?
A lot of the songs deal with youth and rebellion.
Now that you are in your 40s, does it feel natural to put yourself in that youthful headspace?
BARKER:Being in a band means you never have to grow up.
I do the same thing I did when I was 18.
I still play the drums, write songs with my friends, go skateboarding.
There isnt a part of me thats like, You have to mature and conform.
How does Blink-182 fit into that?
I think theyre two separate things.
SKIBA:I just think theres a time and a place and Blink-182 is a fun punk rock band.
It can be dark and moody but its still its own thing.
Any of that outside noise is excluded without effort.
HOPPUS:Its this anthemic fun-time band with a darker edge.
Whats the darker edge?
Youre touring this summer.
Do you still enjoy playing classics like Whats My Age Again?
BARKER:Theres so many songs that have aged well.
Honestly, we still love All the Small Things, but its funny when we play it.
Its like, Oh my God, we didnt hear this song enough?
HOPPUS:[Our concerts have become] this multigenerational thing.
