AltPress.com Exclusive: A conversation with Blink-182's Mark Hoppus

In case you’ve been living under the world’s biggest boulder for the past few weeks, we have some great news to share with you: After a four-year hiatus, pop-punk kings BLINK-182 have reconvened, with plans for a new album and a summer tour. Alternative Press music editor Scott Heisel recently had the chance to chat with Blink bassist/vocalist MARK HOPPUS about Blink-182’s future, what really went on backstage at the Grammys, the status of (+44) and much more.

What was running through your head the second before you guys walked out onstage at the Grammys?
That I wanted a piece of gum. Good thing Travis [Barker, drums] had some because my breath was just rotten. I didn’t want to go out onstage in front of a bunch of people with bad breath, you know? You don’t want that.

Was the reaction there what you expected?
To be honest, it was really gratifying that the reception has been so strong since we announced that we were gonna continue with Blink-182. It’s really made me super happy.

But at the actual ceremony, did you feel like the people in the audience responded the way you wanted them to, or was it awkward?
[Laughs.] The most awkward thing is that they sent us out onto the stage and we didn’t know where we were supposed to go. There wasn’t, like, a podium or anything. I was the first one walking out there, and if you watch the tape, I’m kind of walking around aimlessly for about five seconds. There was a microphone that came up out of the floor and then I realized that’s where we were supposed to go. But I walked out and looked at the camera people and I looked all around the stage and had no idea where I was supposed to go, and I knew it was on live TV, so good thing I eventually saw the microphone.

Obviously this was in the works more than a few days before the Grammys, but it began to leak out that you guys would be presenting an award at the ceremony about three or four days beforehand. Were you disappointed that the news snuck out?
No. To be honest, I was really surprised that the secret kept as long as it did. There were so many people that had to know what was going on for us to be there that for it to come out two or three days beforehand, it was pretty cool, actually. Because then people watching didn’t know exactly what we were gonna say or if we were gonna perform live or what the deal was, so it was good to have everyone watching when we finally announced it.

Was there anyone backstage saying, “No dick jokes. No fart jokes”?
[Laughs.] No, but we were backstage and they wanted us to rehearse our lines, and we had like three sentences that we said. They kept telling us, “Please, please just say what’s on the screen.” They didn’t want us to go rogue.

So when did talk of a reunion first commence?
Probably a couple weeks after we first started talking. I dunno, maybe it was longer than that. But I remember sitting in our studio–me, Travis and Tom [DeLonge, guitar]–and we were just talking and hanging out. Tom had just kind of come out to L.A. for the day, and I remember he said, “So, what do you guys think? Where are your heads at” And I said, “I think we should continue with what we’ve been doing for the past 17 years. I think we should get back on the road and back in the studio and do what we love doing.”

Was that verbatim?
I don’t know if that’s exactly what I said. But it was something like that.

Was that feeling mutual or was there some trepidation?
There wasn’t any trepidation. I think all of us had come to the point that we wanted to continue with what we started. It was just a natural thing. It’s been, knock wood, a really positive experience so far. Everybody’s in a really good place, everybody is really supportive of each other and it’s probably the most supportive we’ve been as a band in a really, really long time.

What was the first song that you guys played once you got back together in one room?
We still haven’t. We haven’t been in the same room playing instruments together at the same time. The way that we’re writing songs now is coming up with different ideas. We’re still in the beginning stages of writing the album. We have a handful of songs that we have in many stages. I have probably 10 different song ideas that I’ve brought to the table, and Tom has a bunch of ideas, and Travis has ideas. So we kind of start off with something that maybe I’ll work on in the studio for a while and I’ll show it to Tom and he’ll jump on that. Same with Travis. But we haven’t sat down as a band together and been three people in a room playing the songs together.

Is that strange for you?
No, it’s just kind of the way that recording works now, and the way that we work as artists. It was like that on the last Blink record, too. We had played some of the songs together live, some of the songs we wrote parts of and kind of built songs and played as a unit afterwards. And I’m sure that we will continue to write songs. It’s really cool to have both tools at hand, where you can get in a room and everybody works together on things or you can go and just basically sketch out a song and build it from there. There’s a lot of tools that we can use creatively. I guess that’s a long answer.

Producer Jerry Finn, who passed away last year, was obviously a huge part of your band over the past decade. How have you guys broached the idea of recording a new record without him?
To be honest, we were just in the studio right now going through old Blink songs and just remembering Jerry being in the studio with us. I honestly still feel like he’s in the studio with us, because for me, personally, everything that was about recording and being in a studio, I learned from Jerry. He was such an amazing producer and friend and collaborator and he was so open with his knowledge and his love of music and the way that things worked. He wasn’t a producer who sat in the background and did his thing or whatever. He was always just right in the mix with everything. He really was generous with his knowledge, and I feel like we learned everything from working with him. So I still feel like he’s with us.

A huge part of why you guys reconnected was Travis’ plane crash, but was there any initial conversations after Jerry passed?
Not really. We’ve talked at great lengths, obviously, about Jerry’s passing. When Jerry’s service was, Travis was still in the hospital and not able to go, so I was the only one that was actually able to be there.

Looking at the music that both you and Tom have made since Blink went on hiatus, is there a specific song that Tom wrote that jumped out at you as a really good song?
I thought that “The Adventure” was a really cool song. I thought that was a cool jam.

How long did it take for you to listen to Angels & Airwaves objectively after it came out?
The first time I heard it I feel like I listened to it objectively. With all the other stuff aside, as a fan of music and as a fan of Tom’s music, I hope I was able to listen to it objectively.

Are the new Blink-182 songs you’re working just general song ideas, or did you think of them specifically for Blink?
The songs that I’m bringing to the table are song ideas that I’ve been working on for the past couple of years. I think that it’s the same with Tom and Travis as well. And that’s kind of how we’ve always worked-everyone brings their initial ideas to the table, but the magic happens when the other two people get their hands on an idea and change it into something better than it was. That’s something I’ve always loved about Blink: I can have an idea and the final result is so different from where I thought the song was going. The way that Travis deals with arrangements and rhythms and different ideas that he brings to the table is something that I would never think of. It takes all of our ideas to a higher level. Same with Tom. He’ll come up with an idea for a song and for me, personally, if I write something, I love handing it to Tom and Travis and seeing what they do with it. That’s the strength. There’s this battle within Blink-182 with these ideas and what everyone brings to the table, and there’s this tension–not in a negative way–but this pulling of ideas between the three of us that’s exciting to me.

Is there a previous Blink-182 album that you’re guiding this album toward?
I think we’re all in the mind space of anything is possible with this record. It’s just like we felt with the last Blink record. If we want to write a song that’s inspired by electronic stuff, we’ll go that way. We still love playing straightforward rock songs on drums, bass and guitar, so there’ll always be a lot of that. We’re not really feeling really restricted in any way, and that’s what felt really great about the last Blink record. I think this will be a continuation of that.

When do you think the first performance will be?
I don’t know yet. We’re talking about touring this summer. We’re still working on that. I don’t know when the exact first date will be. We’re actually just this week starting to get into the phone calls and conversations about where our first show will be and how that’s all gonna come together. It’s really exciting for the three of us to be back in this world and doing what we love and doing what we’ve been doing for so long.

Back in December, Forever The Sickest Kids announced at one of their shows that they’ll be back next year with Blink-182. FTSK singer Jonathan Cook later announced that it was just a joke. Was he in the know, or was that just a complete coincidence?
That was just a complete coincidence.

Have you heard that band?
I have not. I’ve heard a lot about that comment and whether we were going to be touring with them, but I have not been able to listen to the band yet. It seems like I don’t listen to a lot of new music lately, and I’m kind of ashamed of that. I kind of stick with a few CDs that I love and I end up listening to those over and over again.

Are you still a CD man or have you gone over to digital?
I’m totally digital. I haven’t bought an actual, hard CD in a couple of years. I buy everything through iTunes pretty much.

Have you made an official decision on what the future of (+44) will be?
I don’t consider it done. We’ll never say never with anything. As soon as you say, “I’m not gonna do that anymore,” you find yourself in a situation where you wanna do that. Shane [Gallagher] and Craig [Fairbaugh] are awesome guitarists and great fun to play in a band with, so we definitely won’t say that the band is done. But obviously, for the foreseeable future, all of our energy is going into Blink-182. This isn’t a temporary thing. We aren’t even calling it a reunion. It’s more of a continuation. When I hear a band are doing a reunion, it just sounds fake to me, and that’s not how we are with this. Everybody’s putting 100 percent of their effort into continuing what we’ve always done. It’s not like we’re just gonna do a tour and then call it for a while and then do another tour and then call it for a while. We’re just continuing Blink-182 as we always have.

Ideally, when would you like to have the new record out?
Hopefully in 2009. That’s what we’re talking about and everything is moving so much faster than I ever even imagined that it could possibly happen. A couple months ago we were barely talking and now we’re six songs into a new album and planning a tour and things seem to be falling into place. So I don’t know when the record will actually be out. We’re still discovering. It’s been very comfortable to be back working as our band–as Blink-182. It’s gonna be a process, but it’s been a very positive process. We don’t feel pressured to have an album out by a certain date. We’re just gonna record on our own terms until we have album that we absolutely love.

Is there any goal from the first incarnation of Blink-182 that you really want to get to the second time around?
That’s a difficult question because everything we achieved with Blink-182 is a thousand times more than any of us thought was possible. We really always feel lucky to be able to do what we do on our own terms and that we’ve always been able to handle our band that way. We just want to continue writing great music and touring and playing fun shows and doing what we’re doing and have a great time as friends. That’s the highest goal that any of us have ever had for the band. alt

Check out a brief history of Blink-182 here.

Find out what your favorite new bands have to say about Blink's reunion here.