UPDATED: Tom DeLonge Has Left blink-182

This is shocking.

In a statement released this morning from blink-182‘s publicist, the band has announced that founding member Tom DeLonge has quit the group to pursue other, non-musical endeavors. The band will be performing with Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio at Travis Barker’s upcoming Musink Festival.

To all fans of the band, this news is sure to leave some uncomfortable feelings. DeLonge previously set the band’s hiatus in motion in 2005, in order to work more closely with his new band, Angels and Airwaves. Since the band reunited in 2009, DeLonge has stayed focused on AVA as well as his other projects, including the LOVE film released in 2011. Many fans have speculated that DeLonge’s work with other projects has kept him distracted from working on blink-182’s full-length follow-up to 2011’s Neighborhoods – blink’s statement seems to confirm those rumors.

Read a full statement from the band below. We’ll update this post when Delonge releases a statement.

Matt Skiba of the Alkaline Trio will join Blink-182 in replacement of Tom DeLonge at the 8th annual Music and Tattoo festival. “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 indefinetly, but would rather work on his other non-musical endeavors.” Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus plan to honor all Blink-182 commitments including the Musink Festival and are excited to have singer/guitarist Matt Skiba join them for this project. “No hard feelings, but the show must go on for our fans.” Additionally, Skiba will continue to make new music and tour with the Alkaline Trio.

UPDATE: 3:15 p.m. CST

Tom has made a statement regarding the recent news that he has left the band.

To all the fans, I never quit the band. I actually was on a phone call about a blink 182 event for New York City at the time all these weird press releases started coming in… Apparently those releases were ‘sanctioned’ from the band. Are we dysfunctional- yes. But, Christ….. #Awkward #BabyBackRibs

Also, Mark tweeted about an hour ago. It’s a bit cryptic, but take it how you will.


UPDATE 2: 9:32 p.m. CST

Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker spoke with Rolling Stone to clarify the confusion that has been swirling throughout the day. Hoppus states that neither he nor Barker have spoken to Tom in person in months, and that DeLonge dropped out of the band via an email from his manager just a week before the trio were set to enter the studio.

For the past two years, we’ve been working with a bunch of different labels to try and get a record deal because the three of us collectively decided that we wanted to make a record with a partner. A few months ago, Travis has this festival that he is co-owner of and presenting and he asked Tom and I if we would play and we said, “No problem.” At the end of December, we were finalizing our record deal and on Christmas Eve, all three of us signed the deal. We had been talking about where we wanted to record, what producers we want to use, what day we want to start. This is all through e-mail. I don’t think either of us have spoken to Tom in person in months, but everything’s been moving positively.

We booked January 5th to go into the studio. 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. There’s a flurry of e-mails going back and forth for clarification about the recording and the show and his manager sends [an e-mail] back saying, “Tom. Is. Out.” Direct quote. This is the exact same e-mail we got back in 2004 when Tom went on indefinite hiatus before.

I’ve spent the day scouring Twitter and researching every statement released by the members and the collective band, and it appears to me that blink-182 will not exist in its current state by year’s end. This is the picture of an unorganized group of people that cannot function in the same room together, let alone create a decent record. If Mark and Travis are on board to create a new record without Tom, I’m excited to hear what they come up with.

Read the full interview with Mark and Travis here.

UPDATE: Jan. 27, 5:15 p.m. CST, 

Two new statements have come to light regarding this mess of a situation.

Mark Hoppus spoke with Alt Press in an exclusive interview earlier today, clarifying some of the statements made in the Rolling Stone article last night. Mark sheds light on where Matt Skiba falls into the equation, the history of Tom’s involvement according to Mark, and where he currently lies on the future of the band.

I think that Tom doesn’t want to do Blink. I don’t think he has fun doing it. I think he has a good time when he’s onstage, but I think that other than that, he just doesn’t enjoy it.

Tom has also issued a statement via his Facebook that contradicts nearly everything Travis and Mark told Rolling Stone. In his typically offbeat voice, Tom goes into detail about a contract that he refused to sign that would have prevented him from working on Angels and Airwaves content for at least nine months while blink was recording, and the band’s tendency to “self-sabotage.” One quote in particular stuck out to me:

Never planned on quitting, just find it hard as hell to commit.

UTG will keep you updated in this post with any more news regarding blink-182 and the band’s lineup. Stay tuned.

John Bazley
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3 Responses to “UPDATED: Tom DeLonge Has Left blink-182”

  1. John Bazley says:

    Blink-182 was huge for me, and many others, growing up. Even if I haven’t listened to the band in a long time, this feels very shocking.

  2. K. Bennett says:

    I am usually of the opinion of “get a new member and move on” and normally mock people that say one member makes a band… but wow. Blink 182 doesn’t seem like Blink 182 without the combination of all 3.

  3. avid_adrienne says:

    I’m almost 30, but this is SUCH depressing news. Blink was a huge part of my teenage youth. Very very sad.