Travis Barker: Tom wanted us to sound like U2

Travis Barker says estranged Blink-182 singer Tom DeLonge wanted them to sound like U2 and Coldplay on their last couple of albums.

Drummer Barker and bassist Mark Hoppus split with DeLonge last year and brought in Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba. And the sticksman admits that while he and Hoppus never wanted to change Blink-182’s sound, DeLonge had different ideas.

He tells Mr Wavy: “Towards the last couple of albums, Tom was obsessed with U2. He wanted to sound like U2 and wanted to record songs that sounded like Coldplay.

“For us it was always like, ‘Blink is Blink. We want to sound like fucking Blink-182.’ That’s why we’re in this band, or we would go start another band. That’s what side-projects are for. We both love Blink for what it is.”

He recalls that writing 2011 album Neighborhoods was “rough” and hints at the trio’s artistic differences, adding: “We three didn’t agree on a sound. We had a member of the band who wanted to really change the sound of the band.”

Last month Barker said their upcoming album is the best they’ve created in over a decade – and they’re still on track for a 2016 release. DeLonge said in September he was “totally willing and interested” in rejoining Blink.

The band are scheduled to play the Dover Firefly Festival in Delaware, US, which is held from June 16-19.

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.