Blink-182 confirm exit of 'disrespectful, disingenuous & ungrateful' Tom DeLonge
Things get ugly in the Blink camp
Last updated 28th Jul 2022
Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker have reiterated that Tom DeLonge is definitely no longer a member of the band.
The remaining members released a statement yesterday saying Tom had quit and he’s being replaced by Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba their upcoming touring commitments.
Confusing Blink’s legion of fans, Tom then denied the news on Instagram saying “I never quit the band” and hit out at the “weird press releases” circulating.
Now, in a fresh interview with Rolling Stone magazine, a clearly vexed Mark and Travis stood by their statement saying that an email from Tom's manager confirmed “he has no interest in recording and that he wants to do his other, non-musical stuff and that he's out indefinitely.”
Mark said: "There's a flurry of e-mails going back and forth for clarification about the recording and the show and his manager sends (an e-mail) back saying, ‘Tom. Is. Out.’ Direct quote.
"This is the exact same e-mail we got back in 2004 when Tom went on indefinite hiatus before.
"To be honest, I wasn't that surprised because his attitude leading up to that had been not excited and not interested."
Travis added: “I think he's just bummed because Mark and I were finally honest. We always covered up for him before. It was always, ‘We're going to record an album,’ then ‘Tom refuses to get into the studio without a record deal.’
“So everyone does hella amounts of work to get a record deal and now Tom isn't part of Blink-182. It's hard to cover for someone who's disrespectful and ungrateful.
“You don't even have the balls to call your bandmates and tell them you're not going to record or do anything Blink-related. You have your manager do it.
“Everyone should know what the story is with him and it's been years with it. When we did get back together after my plane crash, we only got back together, I don't know, maybe because I almost died.
“But he didn't even listen to mixes or masterings from that record. He didn't even care about it. Why Blink even got back together in the first place is questionable.”
Ouch.
Mark continued: “We've done everything that we could to give Tom what he says he needs. It's been years of pushing back and I have to tell you: It feels humiliating to be in a band where you have to be apologizing for one person all the time. That's how it's felt for a long time.
“When Tom finally said, ‘I'm not going to go into the studio or play this show,’ it was kind of a gigantic relief because at least he finally said it. But to then say, "I didn't quit the band," it's just not true. It's disingenuous.”
You can read the full Blink-182 interview with Rolling Stone here