On Tuesday, pop-punk band Blink-182 announced they were reuniting with Tom DeLonge along with releasing new music, and embarking on a world tour.
Blink-182, who markets themselves as “crappy punk rock,” announced the reunion with founding guitarist and vocalist DeLonge across social media platforms. Along with the reunion, the band also announced the Friday release of a new single titled “Edging” with a subsequent full album of new material to follow featuring DeLonge, who has not appeared with Blink-182 since 2012’s Dogs Eating Dogs EP.
The announcement video features a string of casual people reciting a cheeky double-entendre reminiscent of the band’s adolescent-spirit with the announcement “Blink-182 is coming,” towards the end of the video.
We’re coming. Tour’s coming. Album’s coming. Tom’s coming. Tickets on sale Monday. New song “Edging” out Friday. https://t.co/lJmgXqI4ab pic.twitter.com/7y0ZoYTcQc
— blink-182 (@blink182) October 11, 2022
Formed in 1992, Blink-182 released five studio albums and pioneered radio-friendly pop-punk before announcing an indefinite hiatus in February 2005. Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker formed +44, a supergroup with fellow punk guitarist Shane Gallagher, releasing When Your Heart Stops Beating in late 2006. DeLonge, who similarly formed Box Car Racer in 2002 with Barker, started another solo project, Angels & Airwaves, or AVA, shortly after.
Barker survived a plane crash in September 2008 which killed four others. Following the accident, Blink-182 announced their first reunion during the 2009 Grammy Awards.
“We used to play music together, and we decided we’re going to play music together again,” said Barker. Hoppus replied yelling, “Blink-182 is back!”
The band released Neighborhoods in 2011, the first album to feature the trio since their self-titled Blink-182 in 2003. Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba was enlisted to continue in DeLonge’s place after his 2015 departure surrounding creative differences between band members. DeLonge said he “never planned on quitting, just find it hard as hell to commit.”
During the summer of 2021, Hoppus revealed he was undergoing chemotherapy after being diagnosed with stage 4 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. By late September he reported he was cancer-free, though required cancer-screening every six months.
Fans have speculated over another Blink-182 reunion following the lack of activity from the band since their summer 2020 pandemic-themed single “Quarantine.”
The band has not publicly addressed their split with Skiba though their Instagram page appears to have been scrubbed of all posts besides their Tuesday announcement video.
In July, one Instagram user commented on the absence of Skiba in recent social media posts from the band noting the singer had also appeared to distance himself from the band. Skiba replied to the user, “your guess is as good as mine. Regardless, I am very proud of and thankful for my time w @blink182. We [shall] see… ❤️.”
The Alkaline Trio vocalist likewise has not publicly addressed the band’s announcement though his Twitter account is currently locked as of Tuesday afternoon. Skiba released two albums with the band, 2016’s California and 2019’s Nine, during his tenure in Blink-182.
While tickets for Blink-182’s tour are on sale starting Monday, no release date has been announced for the band’s new album.
