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Blink-182 in 2015: A Timeline [help contribute!]


Cheerios4u98

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In light of all the chaos that's been happening over the past few days I thought it would be nice to organize everything into a timeline to make it easier for everyone to see how the recent events have transpired. I don't know everything that happened in order so I would like some help from you guys to get this timeline at least mostly accurate. With some of the things like Instagram posts that don't have specific time-stamps I'm not completely sure what order they should be in. Those who have the power to, please feel free to edit this post with whatever other information you have. Let's start:

Monday, January 26th:
 

  • Instagram announcement that blink-182 will be playing at this year's Musink festival "w/ Matt Skiba."blinkskibamusink.jpg

 

  • blink-182 releases a statement to radio.com, leading many to believe Tom had quit the band:
    http://radio.com/2015/01/26/blink-182-tom-delonge-quits-band/

    “We were all set to play this festival and record a new album and Tom kept putting it off without reason,†they wrote. “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 indefinitely, but would rather work on his other non-musical endeavors.â€
    There are “no hard feelings,†they added, “but the show must go on for our fans.â€

     

    Their publicist also said:

    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.

 

  • Mark Tweets "blink-182 life. For life."
    2Markblinklife.png

 

  • Tom posts on Instagram saying he never quit and that the press releases were "weird."
    delongedidntquit.jpg

 

  • Jason Tate of absolutepunk.net posts the following:
    http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=3716813&page=41

    I talked to someone at KROQ, they got their quotes from Mark and Travis, their original headline saying "quit" was wrong and they updated it. As even Tom says those quotes were sanctioned ... and based upon everything I know the show with Skiba is happening. Very bad communication. Very mixed messages. Any way you spin this, it's not good.

  • Property of Zack posts a statement from Tom's publicist:
    http://propertyofzack.com/post/109240406308/tom-delonge-on-not-quitting-blink-i-have

    Tom DeLonge has released a statement via his publicist that he has indeed not left blink-182, but that he has commitments that limit my availability this year,†which would suggest why Matt Skiba is replacing him for Musink Festival in March. It is however unclear how Mark and Travis will respond to the back and forth.

  • Tom posts the following on Twitter:
    VAAiq3o.png
  • Word begins to leak that Mark will make an appearance on KROQ with Stryker. Two hours later the interview is cancelled ten minutes in advance.
    I'll be getting the Blink-182 scoop from @MarkHoppus at 4:10pm.
    Sorry everyone...out of my control, i cannot talk to Mark now. It's my fault. not @MarkHoppus fault.
  • Mark Tweets the following:
    MarkBlinkSkiba.png
  • "Tom DeLonge" trends as the top trend on Twitter worldwide for much of the entire day, and partially the next day. "Matt Skiba" also trends for an hour or so​

Tuesday, January 27th:
 

  • In the early morning hours, Tom posts this to Twitter, and deletes it within minutes:
    TomTravisKickedout.png

    ​
  • Much of the day goes by without much progress on the situation.
    ​
  • Tom posts his letter to the fans:

    LETTER TO THE FANS

    Where to begin?

    The truth is always a good place. Let’s go there.

    I love Blink and am incredibly grateful for having it in my life. It has given me everything. EVERYTHING. I started this band, it was in my garage where I dreamed up the mischief.

    So what have I been doing behind the scenes? Well, I’ve tried to make things work. I’ve tried to help move this band down 50 different paths using my people, or other people, and people we don’t even know. I tried to put forth ideas about how we can grow and challenge ourselves to become a better band. I’m not sitting around waiting for someone else to do the work. I’m not wired that way.

    The big reset was when I tried to put together a band summit in Utah where we’d talk and work things out. It quickly was narrowed down to three hours in someone’s dressing room in a shitty casino. What I hoped would be a positive get-together away from everything turned into an awkward meeting in a smelly convention hall dressing room. But it was there that I told Mark and Travis that as long as we talked, and things were good between us as real friends, that I would be engaged and work passionately. I'd mirror our personal relationship. Exact words.

    Then, the EP was the test. Months later, we’re recording those songs. I was in the studio for two months and they came in for around 11 days. I didn’t mind leading the charge, but we had all agreed to give it 100%. And this time- no baggage.

    Despite that, we still somehow managed to self-sabotage.

    At one point, squabbling and politics forced me to pull the EP down at a time when 60,000 fans were trying to purchase it. And that blew my mind. I’d been trying so hard but that moment ultimately broke my spirit. I then realized that this band couldn't lose the years of ill will.

    It was after that episode that I promised myself I would never be in that position again – to rely on the words we said to each other.

    I remember asking one of them on the phone, “did you try your best? Like we all agreed to?†He was silent.

    Are they at fault?

    Am I? Of course. I'm nuts.

    But there’s three of us – we’re all accountable. At the end of the day, we’ve always been dysfunctional, which is why we haven’t talked in months. But we never did. In the 8 years we have been together it has always been that way.

    Over the past two and a half years, while a recording partner was being sought for a new Blink record, I launched a media company. I just put out a new Angels & Airwaves record and as some of you know, there’s a lot more coming – comics, books, a film, etc. The books will all come with music. This is a wheel that’s already in motion. So you can imagine my frustration when I was handed a 60-page Blink contract saying I couldn’t release an Angels album for 9 months and that the Blink album had to be recorded in 6 months, which was impossible for me. Doing so would force me to breach several artist contracts. Authors, Concept Artists, Animators... Many people.

    They did eventually drop the Angels provision, but the part about having to finish a Blink album in 6 months remained. All of these other projects are being worked, exist in contract form– I can’t just slam the brakes and drop years of development, partnerships and commitments at the snap of a finger.

    I told my manager that I will do Blink 182 as long as it was fun and worked with the other commitments in my life, including my family.

    But Mark and Travis know all of this.

    I wrote this same letter to them a year ago. But it created a massive argument, the biggest one yet actually. I just wanted us to do things we all agreed on. But that was their moment to dig in. From their view I was controlling everything. In reality, I was scared to put myself out there again. To repeat the EP experience.

    I also wrote all of this to their managers this past December (who told me my bandmates weren’t angry and agreed with some of my ideas of how to grow the band).

    So you can imagine my surprise when a press release went out yesterday—without my knowledge—about the band’s future. This is new to me. It’s not in my nature to fuel negativity about the legacy of the band on something as trashy as the Internet world.

    But I guess that’s another example of how I differ from most. I follow the light... I follow passion and I make art. I hang with my son, my daughter and my wife.

    At the end of the day, all of this makes me really sad.

    Sad for us.

    Sad for you- that you’re witnessing this immaturity.

    I know them very well, and their current actions are defensive and divisive.

    I suppose they’re doing this as a way to protect themselves from being hurt.

    Like we all do.

    And even as I watch them act so different to what I know of them to be, I still care deeply for them. Like brothers, and like old friends. But our relationship got poisoned yesterday.

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

    Tom

     

  • Minutes later, Alternative Press posts the second major interview with Mark, in which he responds to Tom's tweet and reiterates the story.

​
 

Wednesday, January 28th:
 

  • Tom posts the following on Instagram:
    TomTodayGood.png

 

 

Thursday, January 29th:
 

  • Mark posts on Instagram showing that the band is rehearsing with Skiba:
    markblinkrehearsals.png

     

Friday, January 30th:
 

 

 

Saturday, January 31st:

 

  • Rick DeVoe posts on Instagram with the hastag #blink182RIP
    RickRIPblink.png

​

 

Sunday, February 1st:

 

  • Tom posts two clips of song demos to Instagram, with the hashtags #SongsWithoutAHome and #March1st. He later confirms they were meant for blink-182 in the comments.

    Clip #1

    Clip #2
    post-14468-0-34869900-1422810542.jpg

​

Thursday, February 5th:

 

  • Tom posts on Instagram that he has "a lot of music I was working hard on" that he plans to release on March 1st.

    Image.

 

Help me out by telling me what I'm missing and what comes next so I (or a moderator) can edit it all in later!

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No this is a good idea. Easier for guests and such to see what's going on without trudging through 20 pages of the other topic.


 


Make sure to add a screenshot of Tom's post on instagram about kicking Travis out.  And then the Mark Hoppus interview from today.


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excellent idea! 

  • Tom apparently attempts to diffuse the situation by confirming once more to fans, via Twitter, that everything's okay. VAAiq3o.png
  • Word begins to leak that Mark will make an appearance on KROQ with Stryker. Two hours later the interview is cancelled ten minutes in advance
  • "Tom DeLonge" trends as the top trend on Twitter worldwide for much of the entire day, and partially the next day. "Matt Skiba" also trends for an hour or so
  • Rolling Stone publishes the tell-all: Blink-182's Hoppus, Barker Blast 'Ungrateful, Disingenuous' Tom DeLonge
  • Oliver subsequently drinks himself to oblivion in celebration, board lines up for blow-jobs

Tuesday, January 26:

  • In the early morning hours, Tom posts this tweet (deleted within minutes).6Zca40t.jpg?1
  • Much of the day goes by without much progress on the situation
  • Tom posts his letter to the fans:
  •  

    LETTER TO THE FANS

    Where to begin?

    The truth is always a good place. Let’s go there.

    I love Blink and am incredibly grateful for having it in my life. It has given me everything. EVERYTHING. I started this band, it was in my garage where I dreamed up the mischief.

    So what have I been doing behind the scenes? Well, I’ve tried to make things work. I’ve tried to help move this band down 50 different paths using my people, or other people, and people we don’t even know. I tried to put forth ideas about how we can grow and challenge ourselves to become a better band. I’m not sitting around waiting for someone else to do the work. I’m not wired that way.

    The big reset was when I tried to put together a band summit in Utah where we’d talk and work things out. It quickly was narrowed down to three hours in someone’s dressing room in a shitty casino. What I hoped would be a positive get-together away from everything turned into an awkward meeting in a smelly convention hall dressing room. But it was there that I told Mark and Travis that as long as we talked, and things were good between us as real friends, that I would be engaged and work passionately. I'd mirror our personal relationship. Exact words.

    Then, the EP was the test. Months later, we’re recording those songs. I was in the studio for two months and they came in for around 11 days. I didn’t mind leading the charge, but we had all agreed to give it 100%. And this time- no baggage.

    Despite that, we still somehow managed to self-sabotage.

    At one point, squabbling and politics forced me to pull the EP down at a time when 60,000 fans were trying to purchase it. And that blew my mind. I’d been trying so hard but that moment ultimately broke my spirit. I then realized that this band couldn't lose the years of ill will.

    It was after that episode that I promised myself I would never be in that position again – to rely on the words we said to each other.

    I remember asking one of them on the phone, “did you try your best? Like we all agreed to?†He was silent.

    Are they at fault?

    Am I? Of course. I'm nuts.

    But there’s three of us – we’re all accountable. At the end of the day, we’ve always been dysfunctional, which is why we haven’t talked in months. But we never did. In the 8 years we have been together it has always been that way.

    Over the past two and a half years, while a recording partner was being sought for a new Blink record, I launched a media company. I just put out a new Angels & Airwaves record and as some of you know, there’s a lot more coming – comics, books, a film, etc. The books will all come with music. This is a wheel that’s already in motion. So you can imagine my frustration when I was handed a 60-page Blink contract saying I couldn’t release an Angels album for 9 months and that the Blink album had to be recorded in 6 months, which was impossible for me. Doing so would force me to breach several artist contracts. Authors, Concept Artists, Animators... Many people.

    They did eventually drop the Angels provision, but the part about having to finish a Blink album in 6 months remained. All of these other projects are being worked, exist in contract form– I can’t just slam the brakes and drop years of development, partnerships and commitments at the snap of a finger.

    I told my manager that I will do Blink 182 as long as it was fun and worked with the other commitments in my life, including my family.

    But Mark and Travis know all of this.

    I wrote this same letter to them a year ago. But it created a massive argument, the biggest one yet actually. I just wanted us to do things we all agreed on. But that was their moment to dig in. From their view I was controlling everything. In reality, I was scared to put myself out there again. To repeat the EP experience.

    I also wrote all of this to their managers this past December (who told me my bandmates weren’t angry and agreed with some of my ideas of how to grow the band).

    So you can imagine my surprise when a press release went out yesterday—without my knowledge—about the band’s future. This is new to me. It’s not in my nature to fuel negativity about the legacy of the band on something as trashy as the Internet world.

    But I guess that’s another example of how I differ from most. I follow the light... I follow passion and I make art. I hang with my son, my daughter and my wife.

    At the end of the day, all of this makes me really sad.

    Sad for us.

    Sad for you- that you’re witnessing this immaturity.

    I know them very well, and their current actions are defensive and divisive.

    I suppose they’re doing this as a way to protect themselves from being hurt.

    Like we all do.

    And even as I watch them act so different to what I know of them to be, I still care deeply for them. Like brothers, and like old friends. But our relationship got poisoned yesterday.

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

  • Minutes later, Alternative Press posts the second major interview with Mark, in which he responds to Tom's tweet and reiterates the story
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Hahahahaha.

And thanks for doing all that! I think what you added pretty much covers the rest of it. For now at least. Unless anybody remembers anything else that either boxelder or I missed.

I'll edit what you contributed into the first post.

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Update: Tom instagrams a picture of a poster saying today was a good day. Fans continue to comment " #StayTogetherForTheKids "

 

I don't know why people want someone who's that much of a poisin to this band to still be there. The last 2 years have been complete and utter shit all because of Tom. Hell Travis even said at one point if it were up to him we'd have 5 albums by now.

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Because we may be smart enough to read the statements and see most things pretty clearly in front of us. But for some, unless it's literally said by all 3 of them "Tom is literally holding us back from going and making more music" people will assume it's all some big misunderstanding. 

 

I get it i mean i would of been the same way probably 2-3 years ago but over the last 2 years of delays and greatest hits tours shit gets old..

 

Intersting though to see people.com post the story on there facebook and most the comments are "Oh Blink is still a thing" i mean clearly it's only people who probably only ever heard all the small things but still.

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This is all very disappointing as a long time fan for me, but I would say the fighting and the tarnishing of the legacy and continuing as a different blink-182 is the worst part for me, not that it's over. I think most people will agree that blink 182 has been a weird kind of zombie for the reunion, so it's not quite so shocking and terrible that blink as Mark Tom and Travis are over, but just shocking the way it happened, and the way it will continue.


 


I understand that Mark and Travis wants to continue the legacy, but I don't understand how you can continue something that was predicated on the three of them. That's like saying to your spouse "I want to divorce you, but I want to continue the legacy of our marriage with my next partner". It doesn't make sense to me. The whole point is the people involved, if you ask me. 


 


What people have said about them going at it the wrong way to reveal this news is spot on. I'm not exactly sure how ruining the image of neighbourhoods, DED, or any of the shows they played helps the legacy at all. I loved those albums, and those shows; why do we have to be exposed to this crap? And now the way they broke up tarnishes the legacy, and the entire image we had of them completely. I say that calls for regret and remorse more than it does excitement or vindication. I don't want to hoot and holler at this show like I'm watching Jerry Springer; these aren't trashy strangers to me, these were my idols growing up. I don't get any satisfaction out of having "more news" to talk about - I'll take no news over this shit, I'll find other things to talk about. And sure it's nice to see blink finally be active again.. but I wanna see Mark Tom and Travis be active again.. if not, then I'll just go follow other bands that I like. So even though blink was inactive, I was doing just fine as a fan - when the album comes, it comes, if it doesn't it doesn't.


 


To me, blink were the shows and the albums and to a smaller extent the press they did together, which always lived up to what I wanted out of them as a band. The rest, in my opinion, is what duped the rest of the fans; the twitter, the instagram, the websites, the deadlines, the promises, whatever - that wasn't on my radar as much as I got busier with my life, and I'm glad for that, otherwise I probably would have gone insane. 


 


I think the "new" blink, whatever it is, has great potential to make great music. But it doesn't really make it blink if you ask me. It's kind of like if I love the new Kanye West album, then yeah, I love it as what it is, but it's not like I'm going to get more joy out of it if you call it the new blink-182 album. It only makes it more confusing and awkward. And as for live shows of old blink songs, to me that's like plus 44 playing blink songs.. if I went to a plus 44 show and they played a song that's supposed to have Tom, like feeling this, I'm not going to get any more satisfaction or make it feel more "blink-like" if you scratched out the name on the ticket and wrote blink instead of +44. At best it'll just be a really great cover of a blink 182 song.


 


So in total, I don't exactly get what is exactly "continuing" about the band. Is it the members? Nope, that's different. The music? No, it's going to be different, both voices, and live shows, and banter. Is it the history? No, the history isn't moving forward, the history actually moved down into the toilet, with all of the old times having new shitty back stories. Is it the friendship and dynamic between Mark and Tom and Travis, one of the main reasons that we loved this band? Nope. Some of you might argue that that's been over anyway - yeah, I would agree - but then make it over. Don't change it and call it the same thing. Bunch of hand waving if you ask me. The confusing thing is that I love Matt Skiba, but I don't care to see Matt Skiba pictures with a blink banner over him and blink hashtags. Just like how I like Kanye West, but I don't need to see him be called "the new blink-182". It's like liking sushi and liking pizza, and then switching combining them together and still calling it sushi. The only thing I have to say to that is just... "why?"


 


I think comparing it to a bad divorce is the best analogy I can find. Again, go your separate ways, but don't drag it out and then burn the house down in the process. And it's never just 1 side. And yeah, get new partners, who can also be awesome, but don't try telling me that it's the same thing, and it's continuing the legacy of the old family. It's nice that now they can go on and be vindicated with the truth, all 3 of them, but if you ask me, that gives no satisfaction to the fans. It's like living in a chaotic household with two parents fighting for the better part of 8 years before divorcing; well, that's nice for you, but you fucked up the kids nice and good in the time you dragged that out. Tom lied to us about his intentions and interest in blink, but also as far as I'm concerned, Mark and Travis were lying too - sure they may have brought truth to the light now, but then what the hell were they on about in the press for all of the years before it? It's lying just the same, isn't it? It's like, yeah, thanks for finally telling us the truth this time, but you lose points for the 100 times before it where you weren't. Isn't that "disingenuous" too? Both camps are giving us half truths, just of a different variety. Tom is obviously easier to hate, but in my opinion, it doesn't absolve anybody else either. It's just one big trainwreck, and from where I'm standing, it leaves me with a lot less than I had before when it comes to blink182. 


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I understand that Mark and Travis wants to continue the legacy, but I don't understand how you can continue something that was predicated on the three of them. That's like saying to your spouse "I want to divorce you, but I want to continue the legacy of our marriage with my next partner". It doesn't make sense to me. The whole point is the people involved, if you ask me. 

 

I agree

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i don't think the marriage/divorce metaphor would be good for this situation.


 


bands are like pets, blink-182 can be a rabbit with 3 owners. one of them barely cared about it, so the others decided to find a new guy who will help them feeding and cleaning it.


tom started his letter with "i formed the band in my garage". like: "i bought this bunny, i hate it now, or i don't even think about it, but it will always be mine."


the worst part is that he don't give a fuck about who keeps it alive. if you don't want a pet to be tortured, you should find a better owner.


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This is all very disappointing as a long time fan for me, but I would say the fighting and the tarnishing of the legacy and continuing as a different blink-182 is the worst part for me, not that it's over.

I pretty much agree. I am interested to see what the band will be like and sound like now, but it will never really be blink-182 to me. Heck, I'll probably even enjoy it, but it still won't be the same band. I'll never think of "blink-182 w/ Matt Skiba" or "blink-182 w/ whoever" as the blink-182. At best I'll see it as another side-project that's just more willing to celebrate its blink-182 past than +44 or AVA were ever willing to. To me, the real blink-182 has been sick over the past few years, and officially died on Monday.

The fighting and tarnishing of the legacy is absolutely the worst part. Mark, Tom, and Travis all look like immature children right now and it's honestly a massive disgrace. It's really sad too.

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Added the Travis KROQ interview to this. News has obviously slowed but I'm not really sure what still constitutes as important enough to add to this. Yeah, there have been Instagram posts about the band rehearsing with Skiba. I could add those, but I'm not sure if it's really that important to.


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