Blink-182‘s Mark Hoppus has said the band are going through a “friendly divorce” with guitarist Tom DeLonge.
The threepiece, currently fronted by stand-in vocalist Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio, cast doubt over their future in January when Hoppus and Travis Barker claimed DeLonge had cancelled planned studio sessions. DeLonge denied that he had left the band.
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Speaking in a recent interview, Hoppus said: “We are right now going through what so far has been a friendly divorce with our former guitarist. Hopefully things clear up and it doesn’t get all managery and lawyery and all that and we can move forward.”
Speaking about their personal relationship, Hoppus said that “the love is still there”, adding to the Das Process podcast: “Tom was my best friend for years and years and the thing is if you think about the people that you were friends with at the end of high school and the beginning of college. How many of those people are you still friends with? We’ve been in the same van and bus and aeroplane and backstage room and stage for twenty something years.”
Meanwhile, stand-in singer Matt Skiba recently said that he is keen to record with the Blink-182 bandmates he is currently playing live with.
Speaking in a recent interview with Alternative Nation, Alkaline Trio frontman and solo star in his own right Skiba hinted for the first time that he would be interested in recording with Hoppus and Barker when the possibility was mentioned to him.
“I think that’s a great idea and it’s something we have discussed,” he said of a potential new album. “It’s something I would be very excited to do and I’ve known the Blink guys for about 15 years, and we’ve become good friends. Playing songs I haven’t written with Mark and Travis is a blast, so to go in and create music with them would be amazing.”
However, Skiba went on to say that he does not yet consider himself a permanent member of the group. He revealed: “I think it’s too soon to know. I’m about to go on an Alkaline Trio tour for a couple months. There’s some time and some things that those guys need to figure out before we can start saying I’m a permanent member. But that is a hope of mine. If we’re discussing recording an album, I think that seals the deal.”