Tom DeLonge may be singing "I Miss You" to his seemingly former Blink-182 bandmates. The '90s rock group has been undergone some bizarre drama this week after DeLonge and the other two members, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, released conflicting statements about the band's current lineup.
It all began on Monday, Jan. 26, when drummer Barker, 39, and bass player Hoppus, 42, announced they would be playing an upcoming music festival with Alkaline Trio rocker Matt Skiba on the guitar, instead of DeLonge, 39. As rumors of a shake-up spread, Blink-182 released a statement confirming that DeLonge was no longer a part of the group.
"We were all set to play this festival and record a new album and Tom kept putting it off without reason," Barker and Hoppus said in a statement to various outlets. "A week before we were scheduled to go into 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… No hard feelings, but the show must go on for our fans."
DeLonge apparently learned of the news at the same time as the general public, taking to Twitter and Instagram to comment.
Me and the band #hugging pic.twitter.com/wbKrfguhhX
— Tom DeLonge (@tomdelonge) January 26, 2015
"To all the fans, I never quit the band," he wrote in the caption of an Instagram photo. "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."
Following DeLonge's words, Barker and Hoppus stood by their original stance, saying in an interview with Rolling Stone that their third bandmate is, in fact, out of the group and they are moving forward with Skiba, 38.
Hoppus acknowledged the conflicting accounts and explained: "For the past two years, we've been working with a bunch of different labels to try and get a record deal," he began. "At the end of December, we were finalizing our record deal and on Christmas Eve, all three of us signed the deal. We had been talking about where we wanted to record, what producers we want to use, what day we want to start… everything's been moving positively."
"We booked January 5th to go into the studio," Hoppus continued. "On December 30th, we get an e-mail from Tom's manager saying that he has no interest in recording and that he wants to do his other, non-musical stuff and that he's out indefinitely. 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."
Said hiatus took place in the mid-2000s. DeLonge took himself out of the mix following the release of 2003's self-titled Blink-182 album and the band did not release another record until 2011's Neighborhoods. Blink formed in 1992 with Hoppus, DeLonge, and founding member Scott Raynor, releasing the debut studio album Cheshire Cat in 1995.
"This is exactly the same sequence of events that happened when Blink broke up 10 years ago," Hoppus added. "I wasn't that surprised because his attitude leading up to that had been not excited and not interested."
"I think he's just bummed because Mark and I were finally honest," Barker chimed in about DeLonge. "We always covered up for him before… 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… Why Blink even got back together in the first place is questionable."
