Blink-182 have confirmed their split from “disrespectful and ungrateful” Tom DeLonge after the singer denied leaving the band.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker clarified the details of their disagreement with DeLonge after he backed out of Blink-182’s upcoming commitments, including the recording of a new album and an upcoming festival appearance at Barker’s Musink Tattoo Convention and Music Festival.
“We booked January 5th to go into the studio. 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,” Hoppus 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.”
Addressing DeLonge’s denial that he had quit the band, Barker added: “I think he’s just bummed because Mark and I were finally honest. We always covered up for him before… 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.”
Yesterday, Blink-182 released a statement saying the co-frontman of the pop punk trio had apparently left the band ‘indefinitely’. DeLonge later took to Instagram to deny the reports. “To all the fans, I never quit the band,” he wrote. “I was actually on a phone call about a Blink-182 event for New York City when all these weird press releases started coming in. Apparently those reports were ‘sanctioned’ from the band. Are we dysfunctional – yes. But, Christ. #Awkward”.
DeLonge is set to be replaced by Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio, who will play with Hoppus and Barker at Blink-182’s next booked show at the Musink Tattoo Convention and Music Festival on March 22 in Orange County, California.
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