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Alkaline Trio on messing with the great unknown, "Is This Thing Cursed?"

The legendary Alkaline Trio are poised to release their long-awaited record “Is This Thing Cursed?” and caught up with APTV while on tour to discuss wild Tarot readings, literary influences and literally gouging eyeballs.
Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano also discussed the importance of loving what you do in life, the influence of David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick on Alkaline Trio lyrics and the similarities between the band’s latest record and their first–the searing punk opus “Goddamnit.” Skiba also explained the high demand for fan-favorite “Radio” and how their current tour has cemented the song onto every setlist for the rest of Trio’s career.
Read more: Matt Skiba talks Alkaline Trio’s early years, heartbreak and joining blink-182

Matt Skiba recently shared some insight about the role of heartbreak in his art.

Plus, the musician talks early years of Alkaline Trio and how joining blink-182 changed his life.

“I’m lucky to have found my calling in life. It’s definitely a blessing,” Skiba tells Kerrang! in a recent interview.

Explaining how he would rather lose the girl and still have songs, the musician explains that, even though he’s not religious “music is for me what I’m guessing God is to a religious person.”

“I’ve heard the word ‘divorce” all throughout my life and as I was growing up, but until it happens to you, until you go through it, that word looks, sounds and means something completely different,” he continues. “Breakups are a motherfucker. People kill themselves over them and there’s a reason why it can be really painful, but the good news is we have songs to write about that!”

Skiba also shares that every track he writes is personal and real in some form. “The songs are all based on the truth—or on something that really happened—but I’m turning them into a more interesting metaphor,” he says.

The vocalist/guitarist also talked about how it took him “10 seconds” to decide to join Blink-182, as well as how it affects his life and Alkaline Trio.

“I think the one thing that Blink does that Alkaline Trio didn’t is… my parents have always been very supportive, but now that I play in Blink, all of my parents’ friends are so jazzed that it makes my folks excited,” Skiba explains. “From the outside looking in, it is a huge new step—it’s definitely a point in my life that will always stand out.”

However, joining a new band hasn’t affected his relationship with Alkaline Trio’s bandmates Dan Andriano and Derek Grant, even if it has put the band on hold.

“Derek and Danny are my brothers. That’s my family right there. Doing Blink has put Trio on pause for now, but nothing more,” he shares. “It didn’t pause our friendship—Danny would come out to blink shows and I would go to his solo shows. It’s weird to have that put on pause, but we’ve been so transparent with each other.”

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