Nosferatu

Yeah, I like that song too. Not a fan of that band but that song is pretty great IMO. A lot of Mark moments in the lyrics like "Somehow it feels so familiar, somehow it seems so familiar". The way he repeats the same sentence but changes a couple of words. I like hearing that in blink too.

The mixing on that is really bad, so I feel like I can't judge the guitars or whatever on that. The mixing on here is pretty good, but I do think his guitar needs more balls to it. It's ok but the bass and the drums have way more power than his guitar from 2009 and onwards.

Not sure why, just terrible mixing haha. It's at its worst on I'm Lost Without You. His voice is so different to what it was back then. That's the song I also hear that AVA voice from WDNTW. Never heard such a contrast in a voice from the same singer. Billie Joe from Green Day has often sounded the same throughout his whole career I'm sure. Yeah, the backing tracks started off with the very first tour. Think I first noticed it in Stockholm Syndrome after the first verse, could hear the pianos. Back in 03-04, the only synths, pianos or electronics they ever had on a live show was if the song had interlude intros or whatever, like Stockholm or Asthenia. Once the actual songs kicked in, they'd just play fast as hell. Their live shows was literally stripped down to just guitar, bass and drums. Literally sounded like a hardcore punk band from the 80's at times. Saying that, the show at that teen choice awards in 2004 had backing tracks for Down and it sounded great.

The mixing for this show is terrible, it's like they made some muffled EQ sound, added some fuzz effect on the guitar and made it really low in the mix or something. It's like this often on the live videos with Skiba too.

I feel like Tom DeLonge is more of an accidental genius than a proper one. I mean this is the guy who made a career out of writing some idiotic songs, then he started being more serious and it some how clicked, especially with BCR and the smiley face album. Then he just tried way too hard with AVA as well as somehow had some kind of personality transplant. He kinda reminds me of when Butters in South Park became a famous author for writing two books (although the first book he didn't write, but took credit for it). Obviously an exaggeration but his rise to fame is more accidental. The guy wasn't even trying. Just like Butters in South Park. There's some kind of genius in that IMO, but anything he's done recently, is borderline crazy (although I still enjoy some of his recent work, especially Dream Walker & Chasing Shadows). But I agree with the poster above. If Tom DeLonge is genius, then Billie Joe is the smartest man alive, possibly even the next coming of Jesus Christ.

Back in 2004, I had the option of seeing blink-182 live or going to watch some WWE SmackDown show. I was 11 and although I loved blink, at the time I loved WWE. Went to see one of the WWE shows in 2005, and although blink had split up by then, I would've seen them in late 2004 when they were in UK. Kind of regret not seeing blink around then, but then again I'm glad to have seen Eddie Guerrero before his death later on that year. Eventually saw blink for the first time in 2012 though!

Yeah, agreed. I loved the sloppy factor of blink back then though, worked well with the punk rock sound. One of the benefits of not using backing tracks. I hate that they use backing tracks now.

I'm actually looking forward to hearing some new AVA. Enjoyed Dream Walker & Chasing Shadows. Hope there's gonna be more songs like Mercenaries. That's one of my favourite songs tbh despite the lyrics. Love the way it's structured, the rawness of it. Sounds like what I was expecting modern blink to sound like if Tom was still in the band. That said, the album is probably gonna be released 2-3 years from now. So gonna be a long wait.

I remember first seeing that Jay Leno performance and thinking wtf? I look back on it now, and it's actually decent compared to Reading + Leeds in 2014. That's how bad Tom had got. His guitar tone during 2009 was still pretty good I thought, needed more balls to it though. I'd probably also take Tom over Matt but that's because no matter how bad Tom can be, he still suits a lot of the songs like Feeling This IMO. I'd also take that 2009 live version of Tom over anything today too. Just wish he'd have the commitment of Skiba. Would also really help if the mixing for some of the live songs wasn't so bad. Haven't really seen any videos with decent mixes of blink whilst with Skiba.

I do agree that he does sound way better with Alkaline Trio. But some of the mixing for the blink live shows in recent years have been down right horrendous. Wasn't a fan of Tom's guitar tones but the sound quality for Reading + Leeds in 2014 is terrible compared to the Red Bull one they did in 2013. Thought the mixing for this Lolapalooza show was awful too.

I'd give the slight edge to Tom although his guitar tone became unbearable in the last two years. I thought the tone was decent enough around 2011 though, especially on that Vegas show. He improves, has his riffs or solos, and although has a shitty voice live, it works on songs like Feeling This, Violence, Stockholm Syndrome IMO. I really can't stand Skiba's voice on the shouting/talking songs like the three I just mentioned. Skiba's guitar tone is way more bearable than Tom's tone from his last 2 years. Although, it doesn't help when the live mixes for some of blink's performances has been downright horrid. The mixing sounded awful for Reading + Leeds, as well as that game awards thing or whatever that blink performed on. Funnily enough, the mixing was way better for that Red Bull Sound Space performance. Skiba's clean guitar tone however is fucking awful. Almost sounds like a damn xylophone or something. Tom's guitar tone works for the clean stuff. Skiba on songs like Always sounds great though. That song is kind of his style anyway. Punk rock and new wave. Blink should do more of that in their future albums. Tom has the presence, showmanship even when he's half assing it whereas Skiba to me doesn't have too much stage presence. Ideally, I'd rather see blink in person whilst Skiba is in the band, because I have a feeling that blink actually sound much better than they did with Tom. I say I'd give the slight edge to Tom, but it's kind of 50/50. My heart says Tom, the head says Skiba.

The fly episode was great I thought. Was laughing for almost the entire thing.

Maybe try push yourself to watch more seasons. There's episodes that do have all the crazy battle shit going on. I usually don't like them kind of movies/series though. Fantasy stuff I've never been interested in, like swords, dragons, medieval times or whatever. I grew up loving all the gun shoot outs, bomb explosions and all. But as I got into my late teens I started appreciating other genres way more. I was surprised I liked LOTR when I was forced to watch it. As for GOT, I just had my dad recommend it to me, as well as a couple of mates, telling me "if you like LOTR, you'll definitely like this". I thought it was a little bit different than LOTR. All the politic stuff going on, but I started to love it 3-4 episodes into it haha.

Bloody hell, asking for a smack aren't you? Haha, nah I agree with Oliver. There's some films or shows that people just can't get into. Acquired taste types or whatever. I used to hate LOTR until I was forced to watch the whole trilogy, the 4 hour undeleted versions as well. First half an hour, I was just complaining, then shit just got good. Now it's one of my all time favourite movie series. Can't stand the Hobbit though. Breaking Bad is another series that some people struggle to get through and I can understand why although I love it. I guess I just have patience when it comes to movies or tv series though.

Who's insulting Game of Thrones? I've just pulled my damn sleeves up ready to knock someone out.