Mark Hoppus Refutes Rumors That Tom DeLonge has Rejoined Blink-182
After Tom DeLonge shared a photograph of his former band Blink-182 on Instagram earlier this week, bassist/singer Mark Hoppus cleared up any confusion on whether the band’s original line-up was back together.
“There is no news to share,” Hoppus confirmed yesterday on his Dischord page after several news outlets teased a Blink-182 reunion. “There is no announcement. Today is thirty years of blink-182!”
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Hoppus added, “If and when blink has any announcement about anything, you will hear it here or from the official blink-182 outlets. Not teased on a radio station like ‘tune in for a major announcement…Tom tagged Mark in a photo from two decades ago.’”
The musician also noted that while Blink-182 doesn’t currently have any tour dates scheduled, the band “will tour again and when it’s booked and confirmed we’ll announce it.”
DeLonge, who co-founded Blink-182 with Hoppus in 1992, departed the group in 2015 saying he wanted to “change the world for my kids and everybody else’s.” Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba replaced DeLonge as lead guitarist shortly after and toured with the band since. DeLonge has released music and performed as part of Angels and Airwaves, whose last LP, Lifeforms, dropped in 2021.
In 2019, DeLonge told Rolling Stone that there is still “a lot of love and respect” between him and former bandmates, adding “I think there will be a time, absolutely, that we play together.”
“We all love each other and care about each other,” he said. “We don’t always see eye to eye. I think people see the differences in our art. I love seeing how they’ve evolved and what they’re doing. I think when people look at Angels and Airwaves and what I’m doing, they can tell the differences. And sometimes it’s hard when you’re all trying to paint the same painting. And every once in a while, I like to see what the painting will be if I do it a different way. Off to the side. I think there’s a healthy respect for everyone to be able to paint their own paintings.”
