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inspired by @Elisa here's a list of tom's announcements. i'll update this post when there's more. i intended for this to be a list only of explict announcements, but i got carried away... some were too much fun. 2/5/2015: "The date is March 1st - I have a lot of music I was working hard on.... Things happen, so I guess we have a change of plans... Either way, I think you guys should hear it. #SongsWithoutAHome" 2/8/2015: "I've always been a hard worker- I don't care about success, PR, fame.... If you don't know now- I just care about creating stuff. I will take a chance to tell my side of the story soon. Just give me a chance to take you on a ride" (note: not really an announcement, but hilarious all the same) 3/14/2015: "It will all make sense in spring of 2017" 4/3/2015: "I am very excited and proud of my first of many comic book series to come" (note: only three comics were released) 4/4/2015: "Filming something great today... #Comingsoon #ToTheStars" (note: no evidence this was ever released) 4/20/2015: "You wouldn't even believe me if I told you. Right now everybody is focused on Poet Anderson, but if I could only tell you a little bit about the weekend I just had, and what will be coming out in a year. Follow me down the rabbit hole" 5/13/2015: "This year I am releasing the first of a series of Novels I am Producing and Presenting called Cathedrals of Glass" (note: the first book was released in 2/2017) 5/20/2015: "I cannot tell you where I got this, and I cannot tell you who I got it from. All I can tell you is, the first quarter of next year To The Stars will release the beginning of something that is the coolest, and one of the most important things I've ever done" 5/24/2015: "have I told you guys about that project I am working on? Oh, yeah- I can't. But maybe you guys aren't even interested in classified aerospace programs and odd aerial phenomena" 5/29/2015: "#DreamWalker#PoetAnderson - a few more new animations coming" (note: this was the only animated short ever released) 6/6/2015: "Been filming for the past two days.... Something cool is coming for next year" (note: no evidence this was ever released) 7/3/2015: "To The Stars has partnered with RatPac Entertainment to produce a Major Motion Picture Franchise. Bringing the unique Science-Fiction Vision of Tom DeLonge to life, RatPac looks to create an ambitious and modern multi-media experience for young adults. More exciting details to follow." 7/21/2015: "I had quite a big day today, a breakthrough in something I've been studying for over 20 years... It will be on the film. You will learn more as we go on...." 8/28/2015: "#newfilmcoming" 9/16/2015: "3:30am.... And still filming. Lord, why do I work so hard.... Because I am still a kid inside that loves a challenge, and ignites when I am inspired by other cool artists. I really love trying new things- read up on Sagittarius, that's me I guess. #eternaloptimism #siiiick" (note: this isn't an announcement, but including this cause holy fuck) 10/17/2015: "Working on another very cool project, you will hear about it soon..." 10/20/2015: "80's inspired... And also a Strange Times announcement coming soon- available on ToTheStars.Media" 11/5/2015: "#PoetAnderson Live Action Short Film Coming... Written and Directed by Tom DeLonge" (note: this was never released) 11/10/2015: "Around Christmas I will be announcing a project that you have all been waiting for. A project that led me into something unbelievable, and something very serious. This is the project that everybody asked me to do... So guess what... I did it and it's ready." (note: nothing was announced around christmas) 11/19/2015: "200 miles from civilization, 30 miles off road into a location where we can film a secret base. Big things coming in January..." (note: nothing was announced in january) 11/20/2015: "In January I will release this project- It will have brand new music, a 600 page Novel, a trilogy NonFiction book Set, and a major film/Television production. I'm excited for you all..." (note: nothing was announced in january) 12/11/2015: "Something big is coming in January #importantfilmonsomethingaboutspace" (note: nothing was announced in january) 12/24/2015: "I am creating worlds. I am bringing massive ideas into existence, and I have some very important work to do... You will find out about that in January." (note: nothing was announced in january) 12/30/2015: "I had some adventures putting out some cool shit over the past 12 months... This year, way more coming-" 1/2/2016: "Announcement coming - #January2016#FromTheImaginationOfTomDelonge" (note: nothing was announced in january) 1/5/2016: "More news coming this year.... @tothestarsofficial" 1/10/2016: "#ComingSoon" 1/12/2016: "In the coming weeks I will announce a big project" 1/13/2016: "#sonypictures meetings today... Lots of projects to talk about with everybody. Exciting things ahead... But, one thing at a time for you all. Stay tuned-" 1/18/2016: "#ComingSoon" 1/26/2016: "Exciting stuff ahead. #announcementcomingsoon" 2/1/2016: "#ComingSoon#AdvanceManuscript #SekretMachines" 2/4/2016: "THE ANNOUNCEMENT IS HERE. SEKRET MACHINES BOOK 1: CHASING SHADOWS, the 704 page hardcover novel. [...] Sekret Machines Book 1: Chasing Shadows and accompanying soundtrack by @angelsandairwaves will be out April 5th" 2/5/2016: "A teaser for the Documentary is coming in the next two weeks." 2/6/2016: "Strange Times#comingsummer2016" 2/7/2016: "2 Novels out #PoetAnderson and #SekretMachines ... And 2 more will drop this year, along with Film and Television announcements. [...] Can anybody here add up what I have been able to release over the last 12 months?" 2/10/2016: "Sekret Machines Documentary coming soon. Sekret Machines 'Chasing Shadows' Novel available for pre-order at ToTheStars.Media" 2/14/2016: "More Sekret Machines Announcements coming." 2/16/2016: "SEKRET MACHINES NOVEL - available for Pre-Order on ToTheStars.Media --- more announcements coming." 2/22/2016: "3 down, more coming this year .... Sekret Machines Chasing Shadows Novel available at ToTheStars.Media" 3/10/2016: "Big news coming on the strange times front-" 3/23/2016: "A lot of great stuff is coming" 4/21/2016: "Something scary is coming.... #👻" 5/16/2016: "There will be a surprise for the 10th anniversary of We Don't Need To Whisper #angelsandairwaves" 5/23/2016: "We Don't Need to Whisper came out 10 years ago today. I'm working on something cool that I've never done before for the anniversary. Stay tuned. @angelsandairwaves" 6/21/2016: "As many questions that there are, this will all make sense very soon. #SekretMachines" 6/22/2016: "Sekret Machines Documentary Coming ...." 7/5/2016: "I have been given a gift, the ability to tell you all our biggest secret. It will come in books, feature films and documentaries" 7/9/2016: "The Sekret Machines Project is just starting. There will be Feature Films, TV Series, Novels, NonFiction Books... Many things coming" 7/23/2016: "We are getting very close to showing you all a piece of the documentary. Been working on this for a long time" 8/29/2016: "Updates will come" 9/22/2016: "#SekretMachines#AWorkInProgress #BigThingsComing" 12/7/2016: "Sekret Machines will be having some announcements after the holidays..." 12/19/2016: "Big Announcements Coming...." 1/9/2017: "A long day of typing... #OnceYouKnowWhyYouWillUnderstand" 1/21/2017: "I have an announcement coming..." 2/3/2017: "ANNOUNCING: STRANGE TIMES THE FEATURE FILM -- NEW ANGELS AND AIRWAVES MUSIC" 2/14/2017: "Big announcements coming within the next 60 Days.... #ToTheStars" 4/2/2017: "Pay attention to the announcement that is still coming, but sit tight- it will take a few more weeks." 4/24/2017: "Big things coming soon. We are running a few weeks behind schedule, but I believe it will be worth it."

What people think Boxcar Racer would be like What it would actually be like

I remember the hype in this place in '93 when Flyswatter dropped. Absolute scenes. Was essentially just me and Davey hanging out in the Free For All section but was still great times.

Alright I'm back to reality, gonna try to make this somewhat short and sweet, and pray I don't lose my progress typing this. Soooo I was able to get my ETGBF VIP transferred and drove 6 hours to see Blink in Pelham, AL Tuesday night. We got there, got checked in and waited for soundcheck. At 4:00 the band was ready, so they lead us down to the stage and Mark was already out there messing around with his bass (He was playing "All Apologies" by Nirvana briefly which was badass). We all file in and he talks with us for a few minutes, talks about his day off that he sat at the hotel and drank water and watched some Netflix show. Then Matt/Trav come out and they play M&Ms, and Anthem Pt2. Matt fucked up on Anthem Pt2 and afterwards said "Sorry guys that was the Matt Skiba Remix"... lol. Then Mark said "Thanks guys!" and they were done... It was super quick, I thought they would do 1 more song, but nope. Still cool though, but if I just had the BTD VIP package I probably would've felt slightly bummed it was so short. So they lead the ETGBF/Feeling This VIP peeps behind the stage where all the tour buses are to this little hut for the pictures. (We saw Mark getting in his tour bus and he pretended to run LOL). ETGBF peeps got to go first, so I shook the dudes hands and got my picture taken, then there was a little trailer that the ETGBF peeps got to go in right after their picture was taken and hang out waiting for the band. (I was immediately surprised by how small this trailer was.) Inside the trailer Landon/Alabama and a security guard were playing Wii, so we (10 of us) just sat around on the couches and some people played Wii. All of a sudden the door opens up and Travis/Matt/Mark walk in... So at first it's of course awkward, and everyone just kinda says "HI!", and Mark/Travis just started looking for stuff to sign immediately. Travis knelt down at our table and signed my buddy's 2 drumheads. I was freaking out trying to pull out my records to sign (I had them well protected in a box). So I bust out my records and started talking to Travis. Blink's photographer took a really cool picture of this moment that I'll post below. As Trav was signing his solo album (I asked for TRAVIS MUTHA FUCKIN BARKER) and he was laughing, I asked if he was working on his 2nd solo album and he said "It's done. I'm just waiting for 1 verse from Kendrick.." I asked if it was going to be named GTDS Pt2 and he said he wasn't sure on the name yet. I then asked about the Antemasque album and he said that it's not coming out until they release their next At The Drive Inn album. He said it's the same situation as the Transplants covers EP, which isn't coming out until Rancid drops their next album. I told him I was stoked for both of them and we talked about how they have both been done for over a year, but since they are "side projects" the label doesn't want them coming out before their respective bands albums. As he was signing my +44 album I told him how hype I used to get during "No, It Isn't" when he would smoke during the slow part and then toss it and go OFF. I asked if that was weed or a cigarette, and he said it was a mixture LOL. He said he was so bummed about his arm and in pain that he would use that as a little smoke break. I also asked about his new tatt from Chuey which he showed me, and then we had a convo about painful spots to which he said none of them really hurt that bad, but he said the throat was pretty uncomfortable. So some other people started talking to Trav, and I noticed Matt sitting off by himself just watching a few people play Wii with Mark. I almost felt bad for him. When they first walked in Mark handed him some records to sign and he said "I'll sign Enema but I'm not signing the +44 album" which was funny. I approach Matt with Crimson/Heavens in my hand and he was so stoked. He said "Wow, you brought the Heavens album!" and I proceeded to tell him how much I love that album, and how when he first joined Blink I went through his whole discography and became a huge fan. He said he listens to that Heavens album often, and went on to tell me about the writing process. He said it's cool because he didn't write any of the music, so when he listens to that album it's as if he is listening as a fan. I then asked how he is balancing Alk3/Blink, how he writes for both, or how that is working out. How he decides what's a Blink song, and what's an Alk3 song? He said when it first started he was writing for both because he didn't know "how long this would last". But now he is only writing for Blink because it is unfair to juggle them as he wants to give 100% to whatever he is working on. I talked about the song "Burn" and how much I love Crimson, and he asked if that was on Crimson and grabbed the album cover from me and started looking through it. He said "Wow I don't know if I've ever looked through this, this is cool!". He was extremely thankful and thanked me several times for the kind words and said how much he appreciates them. At this point we started getting a "5 minute warning" and I was like OH SHIT I haven't even talked to Mark yet. So I go up to Mark and asked him to sign my records, as he was signing my +44 record someone asked him if he thought there would be another +44 album. He said he didn't think so, and that it probably wouldn't be called +44 because Craig is busy and has a family. I then told him I was freaking out over bringing this album and keeping it safe, and busted out Short Bus for him to sign. He was super stoked. He said "Wow I haven't seen one of these in a long time!" I asked how many exist (I've heard 200 and I've heard 500) and he said "I don't remember, but not many!". It was so cool because he opened up the record, and pulled the album out and was just genuinely amused to look through it. He just kept staring at it and saying how cool it was. We got another 5 minute warning, and I knew I had to get some pictures so I quickly asked the dudes for a pic which they were more than willing to do. Matt once again thanked me for the kind words and said it means so much to him. (He is incredibly nice). My buddy asked Travis why they cancelled the Knoxville show, and he said they have obligations in Miami and since he doesn't fly they wouldn't have been able to make it... We shook hands with the dudes 1 more time, and they left. As a group, we all exhaled. It was insanely awesome, I know it is expensive but holy fuck it is worth every penny. Seriously do whatever you need to do to get this package. I'm going to post some pix, and then I'll make another post about the show. since this one is getting huge. Apologies if this is too long, but I know some may enjoy the stories. I posted some videos last night, somebody posted my Family Reunion video above! My buddy's drumheads are so fucking sick:

how many times are they gonna use THE SAME FUCKING GUITAR INTRO TA-DA-DA. fuck this.

Live scenes from the Kansas Crew

"Think of your favorite song from Enema of the State. Now think of your favorite song from California. Now imagine them falling in love and starting a family of their own. That's what this song is."

I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome Matt Skiba to blink-182. Can't help but think he was the driving force behind a song like this. More of this please!

I haven't heard the deluxe yet so I can't comment on thats production, but I think theres a bit of confusion going on here. For a start, a lot of people on the board are heavily involved in music in some way, @Ghost knows his shit, @RAX knows his shit and a bunch of the rest of us are at the very least experienced as a performer and have spent time in a studio. I have also produced for people but I don't put myself at the same knowledge level of someone like RAX. just because we're not all shit hot producers doesn't mean we don't have any idea what we're talking about. The complaints about Feldmann's production isn't "He doesnt know what he's doing" its "his choices don't bring out the best of blink-182". Feldmanns 'factory' style is perfect for pop music. It jumps into the loudness war, and it's meant to be sickly sweet for easy radio use. It makes sense considering a big part of his work has been putting bands like 5 Seconds of Summer in such a way where they're radio friendly enough for the average consumer. Jerry Finn had mastered the 'polishing pop punk' sound, but Feldmann pushes it to a much more thin, loud, compressed direction. Feldmanns style is acceptable by the mainstream standards because mainstream music isn't about quality or dynamics at all, it's "can they bob their head to this while its on the radio or dance to it at a club? can we beat the same melody over their heads so it gets stuck and they buy it?" thats the goal. the goal isn't musicianship, or message, or musical experience - it's marketing. Make the song slick, loud, and repetitive, so we can sell it. That approach does take knowledge and skill - but it isn't actually good for authentic, 'real' listening. the issue is that to most of us noticing it, blink-182 isn't pop music - its real music we want to listen to again and again, so the lack of dynamics, the over compression, all of those issues make it almost painful if you notice and know about these things. I mean, we aren't fighting to look for these issues - at this point for most people who are that obsessive with music, it's obvious. it's unavoidable. its not something you can ignore and just focus on the song because it dominates the songs potential and ruins it. Finn still mastered dynamics despite sleek production, there were still touches and surprises from rock music's hayday in the mix of all the tightened up production. Feldmann just takes it too far. California's production is totally fine for selling records, it's not fine for general enjoyment on a deeper level. There's still good producers out there and well produced rock and punk albums, thats what makes this direction blink has chosen depressing for some of us. We know these songs could have potentially sounded so much better, but they chose marketing over soul and that's just sad. Feldmann was a solid choice of producer for making blink-182 relevant again, for appealing to the masses, for making bank and to 'proving' they could produce hit music without Tom. but the cost of it is audibly awful production and a lack of musical honesty. The difference in the fans is that some care about the trade off, and some don't. thats basically all. I can't comment on Deluxe's production specifically, all of the above is based off of the tracks ive heard from the deluxe and from California itself, just a reminder.

writing for children is different than writing as children.

This is what happens when "things come together really quickly at John's studio". And let me quote Mark again: "The lyrics? There's not a lot of special meaning behind it apart from the idea of starting a wildfire"

I still can't get over how Tom started his defense in 2015 with "we had been discussing kicking Travis out" and then immediately fled to him for help and support of his reputation. What a fucking snake.

I actually have a degree in audio engineering, have worked on albums and so on, so im pretty confident in what im talking about. The songs are peaking and i have proof. Having a song peak and have -5db in dynamic range is unprofessional Professionals can easily ruin albums with mixing and mastering. Metallicas Death Magnetic being one of the most famous example. As i said. I like the songs (most) but hate the sound. And have explained why.

"Arrived this morning"

Mark's bass lines are weak on neighborhoods because he had to spend all his time writing guitar parts haha.

I've had a lot of thoughts catching up on this thread. 1. The appealing to the young lyrics are getting to the point where I wouldn't be too shocked if they had a song that went "Hey kids, I have candy, get in my van!" 2. The reason people are getting more and more complainy despite this song being no different than the rest of California is because each time they release a song, it's more of the same. Yes, it's 'California Deluxe' but when has it ever been acceptable to have a 20+ track album where the entire goddamn record is the same song? seriously tell me how thats acceptable? their supposed to fit cohesively on a record, not just be the same song with different terrible lyrics. each new track that fits the bill exactly is more irritating, because it's more proof that the songs are manufactured and barely cared for, it's more proof that the feldmann factory is in full swing. I understand why people are defending it as "not a seperate record, its an extension" but come on - They allegedly have a contract saying they couldn't release a new one so soon separately, which suggests they'd have happily had this as a seperate album. either that or the record literally is just "lets bash some extra songs on there and milk California for all it's worth" which of those situations comforts you more - the idea that they will only write generic as crap songs about eternal suburban youth with the same damn riff for the rest of their career, or the idea that they spent 5 minutes writing new shit to get you all to buy another half baked record? either way, It's upsetting. 3. I'm starting to notice a pattern with the people who love all of California regardless. It's "what do you expect, blink write catchy pop punk get over it" "so what if they're appealing to kids they've always written like that" "I don't care it's catchy". I will never get in a "what a true fan is" argument, because thats frankly ridiculous, and if people enjoy these songs thats great - but I think it's quite telling that the people here crapping on these songs aren't just crapping on it because they think the song is bad, it's because they expect better from the band they love. We're all here red faced and whining because to us, blink-182 was better than this, and potentially can continue to be better than this. We think their talented, we value their songwriting capabilities of the past, we want to support them but are finding we can't. If anything, we're complaining because we care too much. The fact that people can just switch off and enjoy it because "its catchy whatever who cares" makes me wonder how much you care about their output historically, how their music effects you now vs then, and what you take away from your experience as a fan of blink. This isn't me trying to throw mud or start an "us vs them" thing but I just really struggle to grasp how huge blink-182 fans can just swallow watered-down, lazy and repetitive puppets of their former songs, and call it okay. 4. I love how we can spend 18 pages now having the same argument we've had for the last year.

Yeah, I think they need to ditch the lyrics catering to young teens. It feels really inauthentic now. They could still pull it off in their mid 20s because they were at their peak popularity with the teenage crowd that they gained with Enema of the State, and they still looked and acted extremely youthful and immature all the time back then. Tom got sick of it pretty fast and went off and did Box Car, which I think helped bring a new element of maturity to their music and a welcome evolution to blink-182's sound. After Box Car, Untitled, AVA, +44, Neighborhoods, and Dogs Eating Dogs--all of which were more "grown up" and felt more honest and real--it feels jarring and just... fake, insincere, forced, etc, whatever you want to call it. Even on Dogs Eating Dogs, when they referenced their youth, in was past-tense like in "When I Was Young," and then they would sing about their current adult lives, with Tom singing about his kids growing up in "Pretty Little Girl." It all felt like a natural progression of the band's lyrics over the years. Going from singing youthful, immature, fake shit earlier on ("wish my friends were 21") to singing about more mature themes as the band members moved away from the faux-teenage stage of their lives (which I think pretty much happened because they became dads and realized they needed to stop pretending to be 12). It was charming for blink to write that stuff back in the late '90s and early 2000s, but it's just weird now, and on top of it being way more inauthentic, the music is also just worse all-around. I don't know, it just feels nice to sort of grow up with a band. I got into blink as a teenager, and as I grew up and matured over the years I appreciated that blink-182 did as well. It felt natural, and it felt real. None of this new stuff feels real to me.

Hard to believe this is the same guy that wrote Little Death snd Chapter 13.

I wish it was spoken na na na's.

if mark thinks this is stranger than fighting the gravity, he's crazy lol

Word cloud!

Well yeah but then the whole "Tom will sign every vinyl today" deal would be a scam and their company would be committing fraud. If Tom was that lazy, he wouldn't have agreed to sign them all to begin with lol. I mean what's his "to-do" list today? -Sign 300 records -Email Podesta's secretary -Donut break -Make an Instagram post -Skype Suzanne to see how Poet 2 is going -Delete the Instagram post

Are you joking? Jesus Christ - the dude is 41 and looks unreal. He lives a life where he is constantly touring and promoting and around entertainers and an industry that literally promotes unhealthy living in drugs, alcohol, partying - etc....and hell, he even participates in that stuff (plays a blink 182 gig followed by a club gig). Of course he lives a rather privileged lifestyle, but he also works a TON and he ends up looking like this at 41. You know how someone is able to do that at his age? Good health/diet and routinely working out. He does some great workouts too - primarily cardiovascular exercises + drumming. The dude is in crazy good shape and you say he isn't because he indulged in a rather small portion-sized dessert and doesn't "have abs". Get real lol. A great comparison is looking at how Delonge aged - being the same age as Travis. Completely different spectrum.

"Back in blink's heyday enema and TOYPAJ were novel at the time, glossy pop punk that still had authenticity and bite somehow. Then they throw in Untitled and are somehow able to maintain the catchiness, grow up the aesthetic a bit, and push their sound forward. There was always a combination of catchy/authenticity/innovation which is what I think made blink unique. They were a band that you felt like were no different than you and your buddies in the garage, but their songs were catchier than yours and they still had the chops and the vision to push forward. I think a lot of that authenticity came from Mark and Tom's friendship however, and when that fizzled so did a lot of magic of the band. Look, I am fine with a band who has been around for decades and hit "legend" status to take some victory laps. I would always rather get new music from my favorite bands than not, even if it doesn't hit the same quality as heyday stuff. Neighborhoods and DED actually, IMO, sounded like a band who had settled in to what they were and are now, who weren't gonna do anything groundbreaking but were going to soldier on. I think if they would have recorded a full record properly like they promised, it would have been REALLY solid. But this blink iteration feels different, and I think it's because its not a band comfortable with its legacy just doing what they do, but rather a transparent attempt to say "okay what made us successful, let's do that" led by an outsider (Feldmann, not Skiba). It's not authentic. I think the right tact for incorporating Skiba should have been: you guys write what comes naturally, don't try and be anything, and if the final product doesn't feel "blink" enough we'll tweak. Instead, by all accounts it was this crash course in mimicking blink 182, pushed by Feldmann, which came off as inauthentic. Here's to really hoping that they let Skiba and Mark do their thing instead of forcing them into this box next time. It should feel like blink, sure, but I don't think that result necessitates a whip-cracking "WRITE BLINK SONGS" mentality." This review is so accurate to me. Could not have said it better myself to how I feel right now with the state of Blink.

Saw this in the trio fans Facebook group and laughed a bit.

What a surprise, people that don't like California, don't like more of California. I don't know what these people are expecting at this point.

I got mine yesterday, pretty pleased with all of them, but it's hilarious how inconsistent and sloppy he is: This made me smile, Tom Delonge at his finest. Made himself a fucking pilgrim:

WHAT A SURPRISE. mark just said via twitter 6/8 was one of the original pre feldman songs. oh what could have been

Oh, it's not out yet. Save this for later then.

I want this to go so far as for Oli to film a ridiculous training montage to prove he can out excercise travis. First out guitar Matt, then out excercise Travis and then the ultimate achievement - out dad joke Mark!

lol criticizing their diets. That's our Oliver

Hate to break up the love affair here and I'm not trying to ruin anyone's day or fight. Super rad you all like it. Maybe you're all proof Mark was right to soldier on. It seems he's having fun and there seems to be a much warmer reaction to the deluxe songs over the original Cali. That said, some of you compared this to +44, vintage blink, etc, got me excited for once, and then I hear it and to me this resembles simple plan and FOB. This is AVA bad to me. Like Love Part 2 bad. Stomping the Phantom Brake Pedals bad. Give the Drummer Some bad. I was so excited for Last Train Home and all it did was repeat the same lyric half the time. Woah's at the end of Don't Mean Anything... seriously? I tried my best to not listen to the lyrics, which have been mildly critiqued. But I'm sick of the childish lyrics. One song is called Bottom of the Ocean. I'm listening to another song and I swear I heard something like "deep in the ocean" lyric in there somewhere. I don't think there's much that can be done to fix this band in my eyes. They can experiment all they want but I don't like the ingredients. Sure, Hey I'm Sorry, Left Alone and a few others are good in my eyes but the rest are unacceptable to blink's legacy. I just don't see how this lines up with what's come before. But hey, it's not my band. It is what it is. This is blink now. Mark is making $$$ with the new crew. He just wants to have fun and jam in stadiums. Cool. But it's definitely not the band I grew up with. This feels like a side project to me still. Maybe 50 years from now Tom will be a footnote in the band and future generations will only remember Matt, Mark and Travis Show and I'll be in the minority with all the 90's kids. Who knows? This must be somewhat similar to how Davey felt when Enema came out... Anyways, glad most of the people here like it. Interested to see what time tells about these releases in retrospect.

Hmm. okay. I've listened to it a few times now, these are still very much initial impressions. I imagine my opinion will change over time, it did with some of the first California tracks, but currently this is how I'm viewing them. EDIT - just realised how long it was, so it's in a spoiler now haha.

I've been sitting in my bathtub since midnight waiting for this leak. I'm staring at my poster of Blink taped above my bathtub. My skin is becoming waterlogged and the Skiba face I taped over Tom's on the poster is starting to fall off. Please release the leak already.

I have zero problem with them writing songs for teenagers. I just wish they did that better.

Man ya'all are fucking depressing lol. The song is not a master piece it's sorta generic and feels like a filler track but it's still dam good. It's light years ahead of parking lot. Can't believe how much untitled changed half of blink fans. Take that album off the pedistal for just a moment and enjoy some tunes from the guys my dam...

Fuck me! Find this and before I even get to listening to the song...the first page is that it's crap, worse than parking lot, Matt's shit.... Is this the Ava movement Facebook page? It's a good song..not the best but it's just a blink song ffs ...you lot sound fucking embarrassing! ' hope Matt jumps into a wildfire's ' ' wish Tom delonge was back' ' neighbourhoods had that blink magic' Talking complete bullshit...go back to when neighbourhoods was released you lot bummed it then 2 weeks later completly slaughtered it... Same with California... The fact you all are surprised by the deluxe of California sounding like California is funny as fuck ... This is the only place I can see which hates this song...your about 20 people probably in the whole of the thousands of blink fans

Welp. I guess Tom foresaw this direction and noped the fuck outta there. With every new blink release, I understand Tom's side a little bit more. He's still a shitdick though.

Maybe they saw that many people were disappointed with California and wanted to show people they could do worse.

I honestly wouldn't care if blink stopped releasing music and were pretty much done as a band. I would rather no music over really average music with terrible lyrics.

The Tom Delonge guide to Marketing and Relevancy - - Say something mental to gain enough attention for an interview - talk about how hes too busy for blink because of X big announcement he'll announce soon - then plug as many of his other projects as much as possible - End with some snide comment like "oh blink can do their music thing, I'm happy for them - I'm just more into super creative and important super space stuff because I'm deep and uncovering great mysteries, but whatever".

Feldmann produces glorified pop music, they wanted to be relevant so they went for feldy's factory. when left to his own devices, Mark will write dad joke songs or actually kinda dark songs, and he's been like that since untitled. As much as we can claim Tom pushed them in that new direction, I don't think Mark would magically totally change his songwriting just to fit it - untitled, +44, his work on Neighborhoods, things like In Transit and other such stuff - his writing went naturally darker and less poppy. They clearly needed blink to stand on their own two feet after all the drama and nonsense of the reunion and getting rid of Tom, so the manufactured paint by numbers pop approach makes sense, so going to feldmann totally makes sense, from a boring financial and marketing perspective. From an actual fan of actual music with actual worth to it, it's a low and bullshit move, but from a business perspective it was bang on the right decision. Unfortunately it's worked too well, and Mark's underconfidence has gone from "I can't write anything" to "I'll let Feldmann tell me what to do" and the success of California has solidified that Mark will probably never let his own music speak for itself possibly ever again. I genuinely think Travis couldn't give a toss as long as he's drumming, and skiba is the new dude who can't say jack shit. I am sure and agree that the original material probably would have flopped in the mainstream, but I also think the die hard fans would have preferred the material. Ultimately we'll never know, so it's useless debating. Maybe one day we'll get a random Spotify drop of those songs unfinished and unworked on just as a random money grabbing extra and I will devour it in a heart beat, but those songs will probably never see the light of day, and we'll never know what could have been.

I don't think there is anything this board ISN'T an expert on!

The future of blink has suddenly looked a lot brighter than it has before. I think we were all in agreement that California was a safe record. A 'name back on the map' record. But we (the majority) wanted something different next time around. A tad darker, more progressive. I believe we are well on our way. Sure, Parking Lot wasn't the greatest but it was in no way terrible. Plus they said they only recorded it as the album was too dark and they felt they needed a fast happy song. Joke song doesn't count so let's dismiss that entirely. Now... Misery 6/8 Fuck me. Easily the 2 best songs since Skiba joined. This feels like him taking control, driving the band forward and getting the best out of Mark. My hopes are ridiculously high now, not just for the rest of the album, but for the future of Blink going forward. (Cue me pissing and moaning in 2 weeks when the next song drops).

No lol but I did ask some good questions. I had a great convo with Matt and he was extremely kind and appreciative, he said he's not currently writing any ALK3 material and is focused on Blink only. @Kay he said originally he was writing for both because he didn't know how long this would last, but now it's not fair to try and split the duty as he wants to give 100% on what he's working on. Trav said Antemasque release isn't happening until AtTheDriveIn releases their next album, Transplants covers EP isn't happening until Rancid drops their album. It was so awesome I'll post some pictures Thursday, the ETGBF m&g goes by so fast but wow it was worth every penny. Got some sick stuff signed! Just got back in the venue, stoked for the show!