Five Years of Skiba

[Champ182]

I just realized it's officially been over 5 years since Skiba first joined the band. That seems kinda crazy haha he still feels like he's brand new to the band in my opinion. How do you guys feel he's fit in overall, and what are your hopes for the future at this point?

[Champ182]

I didn't wanna clutter up the top post with my own opinions so I'll paste my thoughts from another thread (regarding John Feldmann starting to write new Blink material with Mark and Travis). Curious how others feel at the 5 year mark.

5 hours ago, Champ182 said:

But for real, just end the charade at this point. I don't dislike Skiba on a personal level at all, but it's been an awkward fit ever since he became an official member. The high point of his time in the band was the first time he filled in at Musink. But it ESPECIALLY felt hollow as soon as they went in a musical direction that he's never brought to the table in any of his other projects. They come across as coworkers more than friends or even bandmates who are remotely passionate about their musical partnership.

Feldy makes music nowadays that I don't like, and I reallyyy don't appreciate the direction that he has taken Blink's music as a writer/producer, but at least he's passionate about what he does and apparently his sensibilities fit with what Mark and Travis want Blink to be. Just hire Feldy, at the very least we'd have 3 guys who are clearly close friends, who clearly enjoy making music together, and who would help the live show regain a ton of energy too.

It wouldn't be in the same galaxy as it used to be when Blink was actually still Blink, or even up to the level of the music that came out of the Reunion era, but it would at least be the clear collective vision of the people in the band, and something that each of the members truly felt passionate about and enjoyed being a part of. That's a very low bar, but it's something I can't really say about anything that's been put out under the Blink name since Untitled.

Just go all in, fellas. Let Skiba go free to try and reclaim his reputation after this strange experiment, and hire the person you actually want to make music with. You have my permission. I just want you to be happy.

 

[theedge00]

Not the right fit for Blink imo

[_Bagel]

Five years? That's crazy. It's sad really, my interest in the output of the band has diminished greatly. I was excited for Cali, it had some moments but I saw it was just a forced grab at what they thought the 'golden days' of blink were, it wasn't authentic. I know how good a songwriter Matt is, and it's clear to me they have him in some sort of restricted capacity. Lyrically him and Mark are powerhouses of the scene but, it just hasn't worked out that way. Big shoes to fill, all credit to Matt for taking it on. I have nothing but love for the guy. However, I realise what make's blink blink - isn't singing about  summer or California, it was in the dynamic and friendship between Mark and Tom, no matter how damaged it got

[radioactive tomdog]

i still feel bad for him, aside from the fact that he makes 10x more money than he did before. he seemed super excited about joining the band and they spent a long time in the studio recording an album only to have it be scrapped by feldmann.

since then, he's been reduced to an occasional lyricist and a touring musician for the band. skiba has always been one of my favorite songwriters. so, i'm super disappointed by the outcome of this. i hate knowing we'll never hear that original record. 

 

[Theorangemisfit]

56 minutes ago, wannabe corn dog said:

i still feel bad for him, aside from the fact that he makes 10x more money than he did before. he seemed super excited about joining the band and they spent a long time in the studio recording an album only to have it be scrapped by feldmann.

since then, he's been reduced to an occasional lyricist and a touring musician for the band. skiba has always been one of my favorite songwriters. so, i'm super disappointed by the outcome of this. i hate knowing we'll never hear that original record. 

 

He literally brought this on himself. He knew half the fanbase wouldd despise him from the start and he'd never be more than a placeholder. Skiba saw the easy money and fame and jumped on it, but traded it for his autonomy. Can't blame him but certainly can't respect him either.

[boxelder]

it’s been a pretty huge disappontment, for us and for him as far as i can observe. looking back, it seems iffy to begin with that he would be a solid fit... alkIII is such a different band was a specific voice, and tom and skiba are vastly different songwriters. i think some work skiba has done has been worthwhile but most of it’s marred by feldmann. time to move on

[RELEASE SOMETHING]

The relationship with Skiba ended after they scrapped his entire input when bringing in Feldmann. They've just awkwardly dragged it out this far because that's what blink does but the relationship or experiment is done. He has no input, still feels 'new', doesn't care about blink nor should he, is here for the money and it is what it is.

Will go down as one of the worst replacements in a band ever but he had a good stretch in 2014 or whatever when he first started touring.

It's sad to see him like this, because we know he's an artist, but money will do that to you, also can't blame him because he's gotten old and Alk3 was past it's expiration date too.  We'd probably do the same if we were in his shoes but from a fan standpoint it's lame.

[Matt.]

I'd still like to hear what comes out with just the three of them sitting down, writing and recording a record.

[Jigsaw]

Wow has it been 5 years already!? Honestly, it kinda feels like Skiba couldn't be any further away from the band right now. I think it may have been the recent video on NME where he openly just says something along of the lines that he gets told where to show up and that's about it. 

In the beginning, the prospect of Mark and Matt collaborating and writing stuff together was something you could have only fantasized about. It's something that they've openly discussed for years (even on different projects such as writing books), so the way things have turned out is just a complete anomaly. When California first dropped, I almost felt like Skiba was excused from his lack of input on that record as the newest member, because he was the newest member and maybe didn't want to disrepect Mark or Travis. There were small glimpses and snippets so I honestly thought he would have more input on the next record, especially after the release of 'Is This Thing Cursed!?', but it still never arrived on NINE.

I honestly thought 'Heaven' was all Skiba the first time I heard it but the demo release contradicts that theory. I think the closest complete song we may have is 'No Heart To Speak Of'.

I think the closest we will ever see to any kind of Skiba influence or just the the three of them working together will be the Tim Armstrong studio sessions, if they ever see the light of day.

 

 

 

[RELEASE SOMETHING]

34 minutes ago, Speedo said:

I'd still like to hear what comes out with just the three of them sitting down, writing and recording a record.

This isn't going to happen.

[twentytwenty]

I don’t know, it feels like NINE has more of Skibas input imo. Great fucking album

[radioactive tomdog]

i have to imagine the whole situation now is super awkward and they are at a standstill until tom comes back. skiba is never going to quit and they are never going to attempt to bring in someone else. 

[asdf182]

It's sad that Jerry is no longer here, he knew how to work with Alkaline and he certainly knew how to work with blink. Jerry would've know how to mash the best of both bands and make something amazing but we got Feldman instead who is an absolute hack and has a very wrong idea of what blink is supposed to be.

[Ry-Bread]

Perfect replacement.  Literally couldn’t have gone any better, so thankful for him graciously stepping in and helping save my favorite band. (And to also have thick enough skin to deal with the crying TomBots). I also gained another favorite band out of the ordeal, Alkaline Trio.
 

Friendly reminder that with Tom there is no new blink, and I cannot thank any of them enough for the rad times I have had over the past 5 years. Not to mention some of my favorite blink songs that would not exist. (BTD/Left Alone/HISALP/Misery/6.8/LTH/First Time/NHTSO/Heaven/etc.)

[daveyjones]

3 hours ago, _Bagel said:

 Big shoes to fill, all credit to Matt for taking it on. I have nothing but love for the guy. However, I realise what makes blink blink - isn't singing about  summer or California, it was in the dynamic and friendship between Mark and Tom, no matter how damaged it got.

this is exceedingly well-put. which is why when i think of skiba-182 as a separate band, like a side project, i can better appreciate what they are doing. of course they were never going to be a +44 and perform under another name, because money. i get it.

[Maddey]

I don’t have any strong opinions on the case, imo he’s all right, but then again I don’t really follow what’s going on in the band so much, I just listen to the music. I didn’t like Cali or Nine but I don’t blame Skiba for that. I even like his voice better than Mark’s. But I still kinda doubt that the records would have turned out any better with another replacement. 

[Neal]

I like what skiba does musically outside of blink. I don't like what blink did on the last two albums but i also think i'm way to biased to judge that objectively....

+44 playing blink songs sounded way better than blink does right now, but i dont think that's skiba's fault. The whole situation back then felt way more honest and lighthearted to me.

That being said i wish he'd put more effort into learning the classic riffs correctly. Not saying that it would change my perception of blink, but it would change my perception of him

[Cheerios4u98]

I love Matt ❤️

[Kay]

Matt is one of my favourite musicians and songwriters, so him stepping into blink when Tom was being a loon was a dream come true... And then his abilities were completely silenced. There's been very few moments on the two records with him that sound like him and even then they're not him at his best... Or even at his middle. I thought maybe it was him getting older and losing the magic like Mark has but then ITTC came out and he knocked it out of the park. So it just confirmed that he's not being treated as a full writing partner and then with Nine they literally just hired that in, despite having an amazing songwriter in their ranks. It's like getting a mcdonalds while a good chef is literally standing in your kitchen. 

I think we'd have the exact same result regardless of who they put in his position, the only saving grace is his voice - which honestly is much better than Marks at this point, and even then they were mostly pulling him out to yell like a banshee. 

Yes, blink was blink with Tom - but blink without Tom didn't need to be this bad and torturously soulless. They could've actually written songs with Skiba as just the 3 of them alone in a room, who cares if it sounded like Alk 44? It would've been better than this,  and it would've been real.