boomermang

Howdy, I'm Stephen. My friend Freddy and I have a nameless instrumental band. This is our first full demo Rhinoctopus.

if today's tom developed amnesia, went broke and started a pre-enemaesque emo solo project

and the next part The following day, we met up with the band at the photo shoot for this story. As songs by Silversun Pickups, Radiohead and Death Cab for Cutie play in the background from someone’s laptop, all three members pose together and make small talk about everything from drum machine BPMs to the upcoming Transformers movie sequel. On the small-talk awkwardness scale, this falls somewhere between hanging out with distant cousins at a family reunion and meeting your college roommate for the first time. Delonge air-strums along to Modest Mouse’s “Float On†as Barker lifts up the lower half of his shirt to scratch his back, revealing discolored skin-possibly from one of many skin grafts he underwent following the plane crash. Delonge takes advantage of a break in the shoot to explain the potential for a “stimulus package†joke he’s been working on. The room groans. Later, as the shoot moves outside, he begins gushing to no one in particular about rising Philadelphia band Good Old War. A disinterested Hoppus cuts him off: “Dude, what happened to your car? It’s covered in dents!†Deloge spins around, confused. “Just kidding,†Hoppus says, walking away. The 33-year-old Delonge is still the band’s eternal younger brother, easily excitable with a seemingly bottomless reservoir of energy and imagination. Awake since 5 a.m. and clad in a black Macbeth tee and dark grey jeans, he finally shows signs of slowing after the photo shoot, and settles his lanky frame into a brown suede couch on the second floor of the photo studio with an Essential Orange VitaminWater within reach. Whereas Hoppus and Barker’s post-Blink endeavors were largely music-related (both men have gotten involved with music production and remixes), Delonge’s become more of a multi-format mogul. Angels & Airwaves, he explains, are still very much an active band who will release their third album, along with the long-gestating AVA motion picture, digitally on Christmas Day-all for free. (“Were going to try and really change the way the industry works.â€) Delonge’s also heavily involved with ModLife, a pay-per-view website bands use to communicate with their fans (though he claims the site will soon be working with a variety of non-music related celebrities, authors and directors), as well as continually working on new opportunities for Macbeth. One has to wonder how much time he can really devote to this reunion. “At any given moment, what ever I am doing is the top priority of that minute,†he says. “Right now, getting ready for the tour with Blink is the top priority. I have to make sure it’s the best it can be. “I want to be able to experience art at a that level again,†he continues. “It’s a lot of fun to communicate on that large of a stage. We were a great band. I think the three of us together sort of have that spark.†It’s amazing how quickly tragedy can change a person’s mind. As recently as last June, Delonge said in an interview with AldPress.com that a Blink reunion didn’t interest him, and that “there’s still bitterness and fear… and not from my side of the fence.†All of that changed the night of Barker’s plane crash. “I was boarding a plane with Angels & Airwaves,†he remembers. “We just got done shooting this thing for One Tree Hill in North Carolina. Everyone’s boarding the plane, then on the TV hanging from the ceiling, it says {Barker was in a plane crash}. That’s literally how it happened. I remember crying for a two-hour plane ride. Everyone on the plane knew who I was, so all the flight attendants were coming up, like, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. Do you need anything?’ Everyone on the plane was staring at me-they knew who I was, too, and they knew what just happened. It was a crazy ride.†Over the next few days, Delonge sent a card and multiple text messages to Barker in the hospital, and placed a call to Hoppus to reconnect. Accordging to the guitarist, after the crash, “everything went right out the window. Instantly, it didn’t matter at all. Any of the arguments, any of the beef, it was all so insignificant and stupid. It was great to overcome all that.†Barker and Hoppus pull up chairs as Delonge continues to talk. Immediately, the band’s unique sense of humor emerges. The conversation quickly turns into an ongoing game of trying to make the other laugh: What was the first thing you played together since reuniting? Hoppus: I think the first song we played together was “Always.†Delonge: We wanted the osng to represent what it was like: “I wanna touch you, feel you…†Hoppus: [Laughs.] There was one time at the last rehersal that I was absolutely sure Tom had totally ruined the first chorus of “I Miss You.†Delonge: Just by singing on it. Hoppus: Because he sang on it, and I was like , “Oh, my God, this song’s dead to me now.†[Laughs.] After the song, I was like, “Dude, you were supposed to sing in the first chorus.†And he was like, “No, there’s no vocals there,†and we were pretty standoffish about it. Like, “No, you’re wrong,†“No, you’re wrong.†And it turns out I was wrong. There are no lead vocals in the first chorus. Who do you compare yourselves to? Delonge: Humbly I say it, but to me it’s like we’re the Police of this generation. I love that band. I’ll say it†I think Travis is a better drummer than Stewart Copeland. Barker: [shaking head.] I don’t think that at all! [All laugh.] At times, it feels like they’re putting on a show for the tape recorder with a “Look, we’re totally best buds again!†attitude. However, they can’t fake the happy memories they revisit while looking at copies of their past AP covers, teasing eachother about old haircuts, “serious†poses and memorable quotes. “Ha! Look at this,†Hoppus says pointing to an editor’s note from their cover story in AP 155. “It says. ‘According to Travis, Mark’s blossoming belly is a “brand-new thing.â€â€™â€ The group burst into more laughter. Even when a more serious topic is brought up-the fact that it takes a host of behind-the-scenes workers to assemble the band for something as simple as a practice session-Hoppus and Delonge cant help but joke: Hoppus: We have four managers, four publicists… Delonge: Four testicles… Hoppus: … between the three of us. And I have three of ‘em! They laugh, but the stark reality of the situation is that a once-multimillion-dollar business venture is being rebuilt, and there are a lot of people outside of the band who stand to benefit from its success. “It’s a very important time for a lot of people involved in this, so everyone wants to nurture it and make sure everyone takes it seriously. It does seem massive,†Delonge admits. “Our band melted down in an acrimonious, strange way,†Hoppous offers. “Not that we don’t trust one another, but we already have our support systems in place. Just as much as the three of us work together, our support system hast to work together, as well. It’s more work, for sure, because there’s not one manager. That’s just the way that things are. I think everybody needs their support group. As much as we’re trying to work out our dynamic, our managers are trying to work out their dynamic. “Getting Blink-182 back up and running was no small decision on anyone’s point,†he continues. “It was a commitment to one another. It was a commitment to our families, to our managers and agents and everything else. It’s really on us to do the work, but we knew what we were signing up for.†With initial projections of a new album coming out in 2010-at the very earliest-it’s still unknown how well the trio will work together on new material, or what creative direction they will take. There is the question of who will take the producer roll: Jerry Finn, the man behind every Blink record since Enema Of the State, as well as Box Car Racer and (+44) albums, unexpectedly passed away last August, leaving a void the band aren’t sure how to fill. “What he brought to music is something that can’t even be described, and its awful to not have him here,†says Hoppus. “I still feel like he’s here with us now, because the way that we approach recording and everything is the way that he taught us. I wish that he were her to be a part of this.†Even though all three members have dipped their toes into production, none of them would consider going behind the boards for the new album. “We’ve had talks about that,†Hoppus continues. “Do we want to get a producer? If we got a producer, who would it be? Do we want to produce this ourselves? We’re still fairly early on in the process, so I think we just need our space to not only find ourselves musically, but to get back into that headspace as a band where we actually communicate with one another and really get to that point where we can say, ‘That absolutely sucks.’ I mean, we never say that, but, you know, everyone’s still a little bit polite right now, and we need to get past that politeness and get to the point where we can be like, “Hey, I really don’t like that’: get to that point where you’re arguing about something but it doesn’t feel like the band are going to fall apart. As for now, Blink have at least one new song in the can, a post-hardcore tune titled The Night the Moon Was Gone. (Hoppus' alternate title: The Day the Sun Said Suck it), co-written by DeLonge and Hoppus, who both sing on it. "It sounds like it was the lost track of the Untitled record," says DeLonge. "Lyrically, it's all about how everybody has the same wants, fears, and desires. No matter who you are, no matter what vantage point. At the end of the day, everyone just wants to get by." With a four-month arena tour from August to October that features both Weezer and Fall Out Boy in opening slots on different legs, the pressure is starting to mount as quickly as the anticipation. It's uncertain whether all the old wounds have healed, but it's easy to see that Hoppus, DeLonge, and Barker have grown apart during the past few years. ("We all agree on only one thing, and that's the Descendents," jokes DeLonge.) For example, they've yet to set up something as basic as a playdate for all their children to get to know one another. It's unclear if Hoppus, DeLonge, and Barker are even capable of hanging out without it being meticulously scheduled a week in advance. The trio may never be best friends again, but it's clear they are at least all on the same page in terms of successfully relaunching the vehicle that made them household names a decade prior. "I don't think any of us wanted to tiptoe back into Blink," says Hoppus. "We wanna take the biggest shot we possibly can. We don't have any endgame. We do this because we love it, and because it's fun for us." "There's only three of us, and that's all it takes," adds DeLonge. "When we get together, all we need are these three instruments. A power trio is a hard thing to be, but when you're good at it, you can be unstoppable."

for those of you who cant see it, i typed it up because i have no life here ya go Cover Story Blink -182: These legendary SoCal pop-punk miscreants influenced a generation to pick up guitars and drums to make soundtracks to their own poop jokes. Just don’t call it a “reunionâ€. Back Together For the Kids When it comes to having inestimable influence, Blink-182 might well be contemporary punk’s version of the Beatles. Now, after a four-year hiatus, Travis Barker, Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus are taking care of some unfinished business-gearing up for a late-summer tour, as well as a new record. The only thing they need to work on? Their friendship. Nestled along Chandler Boulevard in North Hollywood, a nondescript building partially covered by tall shrubbery sites across from the Los Angeles Soccer Club. With no outside signage, it’s easy to drive by without realizing its Opera Music, the recording studio co-owned by Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, two-thirds of newly reconstituted pop-punk royalty Blink-182. However, today is a bit different: The building is surrounded with luxury SUVs, a silver Mercedes and a vintage, white ragtop Cadillac with rims, a tricked-out interior and a Miami Vice-referencing vanity license plate. So much for being inconspicuous. After AP rings the buzzer, studio engineer Chris Holms ushers us inside, past Barker’s all-black drumkit set up in the corner, and into a lounge. Clad in a black T-shirt emblazoned with a ubiquitous blue and red “F†on it (the logo of Barker’s Famous Stars & Straps clothing company), 37-year-old Hoppus sits on a black couch, eager to discuss the return of his band. “We honestly think of it as a continuation, not a reunion,†he begins, “because ‘reunion’ just has such a weird vibe to it, and that’s not how we feel about what were doing, you know? It is a continuation. We definitely had a band meltdown and took some time to figure things out and come back together in a positive way.†Less than a year ago, the idea of a Blink-182 reunion seemed impossible. After a 13-year career, the trio-bassist/vocalist Hoppus, drummer Barker and guitarist/vocalist Tom Delonge –abruptly and acrimoniously dissolved on February 22, 2005, as a result of constant infighting and distrust, as well as seemingly never-ending touring and promotional schedule. Within months , both Delonge and the team of Hoppus and Barker had new projects, Angels & Airwaves and (+44) respectively. All three members will assert there was no competition between the two new groups, but others aren’t so sure. “It was interesting to us to find out how bummed out Travis and Mark were about Tom splitting off,†says Shawn Harris, whose band, the Matches, recorded three songs with Hoppus in 2006 and opened for (+44)’s first tour later that year. “They were really hurt at that time, and I think a lot of that went into the (+44) album. There might’ve been a tablespoon of vengeance in (+44).†That’s to be expected considering Hoppus and Delonge were not only bandmates but best friends for close to 15 years. Imagine your worst breakup with a significant other, factor in fractured business relationships (HOppus and Delonge were co-owners in Atticus Clothing and Macbeth Footwear; now, neither are involved in the former and only Delonge in the latter) and then multiply it until the calculator breaks. It’s no surprise that (+44) released their first song, “No, It Isn’tâ€-with a chorus of, “This isn’t just goodbye/This is I cant stand youâ€-on Delonge’s birthday; or that in one of the first pieces of press on Angels & Airwaves, Delonge was quoted as saying “I wouldn’t want to be Mark and Travis when this record comes out.†?Delonge claims he was both misquoted and “hyped up on pills†during that interview.) “[Tom} cutting everything off a quitting the band through our manager was just really, really hard to swallow, personally, just because we’d been friends for so long,†Hoppus says. “That really didn’t sit right with me for a long time.†His thoughts on AVA are similar in nature. “I think, in all honesty, that the Angels & Airwaves stuff lacked something,†he says, tugging on his faux-hawk with both hands, revealing small black tattoos of his wife and child’s names, one on each wrist. “As creative and ambitions as Tom is, I feel like, as a fan of both our songwriting [styles], Angels & Airwaves lacked what Travis and I bring to the table. And I feel like, in a lot of ways, (+44) lacked what Tom would bring to the table.†At least Hoppus has listened to Angels & Airwaves; Barker says he has yet to listen to either of AVA’s full-lengths. (I’ve heard the singles, [but] I wasn’t really listening to that type of music, so it wasn’t really run past me,†the drummer admits later in the day.) As time passed, the bad blood thinned out to the point when In mid-September 2008, Hoppus was planning on cold-calling Delonge out of the blue. “I was talking to [my] label: They wanted me to do a solo record. I was getting ready to do that and getting songs and everything together,†Hoppus says. “I wanted to call up Tom and invite him to play guitar on one of the tracks and just say, ‘Dude, let’s do like Beverly Hilles. 90210 and squash it. I’m going to do this record. I want you to come and play guitar on it.’†That phone cal never came to fruition. Instead, a week later, on September 19, 2008, Barker was involved in a horrific Learjet crash in South Carolina that killed four of the six people on board. Only Barker and musical partner Adam DJ AM†Goldstein managed to escape the wreckage, each covered in second- and third-degree burns. Barker was hospitalized for nearly a month at a burn center in Augusta, Georgia. A government investigation as to the cause of the crash is still ongoing, but the leading theory, based on cockpit recordings, is a tire blowout caused by the runway accident. Due to a pending lawsuit against the private jet’s owners, Goodyear and an airplane maintenance company, Barker is largely unable to comment on the events that happened that night (at multiple points during the conversation Barker’s manager, sitting on the floor of the lounge, cuts off questions deemed too legally sensitive). What he can say is he got himself through his hospitalization with “positive thinking.†And that despite myriad surgeries, including one on his left wrist, he still plays “exactly the way I used to.†Sitting in the same spot on the studio couch were Hoppus sat earlier, Barker’s slight frame is draped in an oversized grey-and-blue shirt, with a skullcap mashing down his hair. He is incredibly soft-spoken and reflective on his life’s recent events, and above all resonates sherr happiness at the idea of being alive. As a result, the 33-year-old drummer doesn’t seem to dwell on the past. “I was never sitting around going, ‘Yo, I want Blink-182 to get back together†Barker says. “You have to be friends in order to be in a band together, and at that point we weren’t friends. I was so content with everything I was doing [during the hiatus].†He gestures to the studio’s outdoor patio, indicating the location where Hoppus first brought up the idea of reuniting Blink to him and Delonge in late 2008. “I was just kind of cruising at that point,†Barker says. “ I was still really, really, really recovering, and it was just cool to talk to my friends again.†His attitude toward the impending tour-and, in theory, new album-seems to be one of the cautious optimism. When asked if he would have any issue with Hoppus and Delonge reuniting without him, he casually replies, “If it was a decision they wanted to do, I would totally do that. If they felt like touring and I didn’t feel like touring, or they wanted someone else, of course. “We’ll see how it is,†he continues. “If [the reunion is] the funnest thing in the world, then I’ll continue doing it.†And if its not? He begins to smirk. “I never do anything that’s not fun†An hour earlier, Hoppus expressed his enthusiasm for what Blink’s immediate future holds. “We’re doing something [for upcoming tour] that no band have ever been able to do before,†he begins. “When you buy a ticket, $20 will get you a seat. Twenty dollars. No ticketing charge, no parking charge, no service fees, nothing. Like, a $20 bill will get you into the Blink show.†His eyes widen with excitement, drawing attention to the crow’s feet developing around them-a sign that, while Hoppus’ energy level about Blink’s future might match (or even exceed) that of his fanbase, he is no longer the teen who wrote “M+M’s†“We met with the production designer the other day who did Kanye [West]’s tour, Daft Punk’s tour and has worked with Nine Inch Nails. We really want to walk out onstage and blow peoples minds.†Clearly, Hoppus is expecting big things out of this reunion. When questioned about the possibility of completing the tour and not having the energy (or desire) to continue with a new album, he quickly shoots down the doubt. “I don’t think so-I mean, I don’t feel like that now, [but] talk to me in six months,†he says. “I really feel like during the tour, we’re going to be doing soundchecks and playing instruments backstage and shooting ideas off of one another and we’re going to come out of the tour on the other side, ready to get back into the studio and record the next album. “I don’t feel like there is a time schedule on [a new album],†he continues. “If it takes us a year to write the next record, it will take a year to write the next record. I don’t feel pressure to have it out by any certain time. We just want it to be great, no matter what it is or how long it takes us.†While Blink’ fanbase remained strong during the hiatus years and their musical influence is massively widespread (turn to p.85 to read Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low’s testimonial), many people seem to forget that the band went out on 2003’s untitled album, an incredibly ambitious disc that flipped the script on what Blink-182 could sound like. At any given moment, there are probably dozens of bands worldwide running through covers of “Dammit†or “All The Small Thingsâ€; it’s far more rare to find a group attempting “Stockholm Syndrome†or “obvious.†Granted, the untitled album went platinum, but 1999’s Enema Of The State sold five times as many copies. Add in an increased level of digital piracy, relatively new bands like Fall Out Boy and the All-American Rejects claiming the mainstream pop-punk mantle, and one as to wonder if Blink must have lost their pop-culture mojo-and question how they will regain it. “I definitely want to push where the last album went and go further with that,†says Hoppus. “[That] is kind of why we decided to do a tour first and the record the record, because I feel like people want to go out and see the Blink that they remember. They want to hear ‘The Rock Show.’ They want to hear ‘Stay Together For The Kids.’ They want to hear the songs that they know. “Relevancy, I think, is in our own minds,†he continues. “If we record this album and people like it, then that’s a success. If it sells 100,000 copies, that’s fine. If a young band come up and blow us away, they’ve probably earned it. We’ve got to stay on our toes, and we’ve got to get the chops out for this tour, We’ve got to get out there and show everybody what we’re all about. It’s on us.â€

wait... does that mean avawins is fuckin tom? or am i a dumbass?

just wanna say thanks to hahahaha for posting,

here it comes...

The Early November - Decoration

pwnd.. does anybody have this video? i've never seen it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b6eZuB7hW8&feature=related ive never seen this and i thought, share. my bad if somebody already posted or if everyones already heard it.

Its gonna be called Res(erection)