Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesIsn't this a real he said, he said...and also he said?
Yesterday, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker made a surprise announcement that founding Blink-182 member Tom DeLonge had left the band "indefinitely." Just hours later, DeLonge countered the rockers' press release by insisting on Instagram that he never left Blink-182. He added that he thought Hoppus and Barker's "announcement" was just plain "weird."
Now, Hoppus and Barker are speaking out once again to set the record straight about the group's confusing drama. Hoppus says the trio had been planning to record a new album for months before they hit a bump in the road.
"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...'Tom. Is. Out.' Direct quote," Hoppus tells Rolling Stone. "This is the exact same e-mail we got back in 2004 when Tom went on indefinite hiatus before."
When asked what they thought of DeLonge's Instagram comments that he never left Blink-182, Barker explained, "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."
Barker continued, "It's hard to cover for someone who's disrespectful and ungrateful. You don't even have the balls to call your band-mates 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."
Hoppus and Barker say they'd be extremely hesitant to let DeLonge back in Blink-182 if he asked to rejoin. "Travis and I and the whole Blink-182 organization have bent over backwards for years to accommodate all of the stuff that Tom wanted to try," Hoppus said. "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...I just wish Tom does whatever makes him happy and stops holding Blink-182 back from what we all agree that we're going to do: play shows, record music, continue this legacy and have a good time doing it."