Tom DeLonge Speaks About Blink-182 Situation
By Ed Biggs in Music / Festivals on 29 January 2015
The American trio has replaced lead singer Tom DeLonge, and he spoke at length for the first time about it via his Facebook page.
More developments in the crisis currently surrounding Blink 182. After bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker made the announcement on Monday evening that lead singer Tom DeLonge had been ousted from the band, the erstwhile frontman gave his reaction, saying that he had “tried everything” but “hadn’t talked in months” with his bandmates.
In an open letter to Blink fans on his official Facebook page, in which elaborated on his initial statement that he “never quit the band”, DeLonge began: “The truth is always a good place. Let’s go there.”
Blink 182: DeLonge (R) has been ousted from the band
He continued: “So what have I been doing behind the scenes? Well, I’ve tried to make things work. I’ve tried to help move this band down 50 different paths using my people, or other people, and people we don’t even know. I tried to put forth ideas about how we can grow and challenge ourselves to become a better band. I’m not sitting around waiting for someone else to do the work. I’m not wired that way.”
More: DeLonge’s Blink departure gets ugly as remaining members brand him “disrespectful and ungrateful”
Blink 182 were scheduled to begin recording their seventh studio album this year, after plans were announced last summer, but on Monday, Hoppus and Barker told Radio.com “We were all set to play this festival and record a new album and Tom kept putting it off without reason.”
“A week before we were scheduled to go in to 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 endeavours. No hard feelings, but the show must go on for our fans.”
Blink 182 formed in 1992, and released five albums between 1995 and 2003, scoring a global smash hit with ‘All The Small Things’ in 2000, before the end of the group’s first iteration. They reformed in 2009 and released one more studio album, Neighborhoods, in 2011.
The group has not split due to DeLonge’s departure, as former Alkaline Trio member Matt Skiba has been drafted in to allow Blink to fulfil their immediate obligations.
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