With [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Blink-182[/lastfm]‘s long-awaited 6th studio album, Neighborhoods, finally hitting stores, Stryker met up with the SoCal punk heroes at a stop on the Honda Civic Tour. It’s been eight long years since Blink fans have had a taste of new music.

“When we first reformed Blink, we went straight into the studio to start recording and we were very precious about this little spark. We wanted to we to protect this little spark that was Blink-182 and we were very polite with each other. We were a little too respectful of one another and a little too afraid to say like ‘What if we did this instead?’ And, you need to have that as a band. There’s a tension in Blink-182 between Travis, Tom and myself that somehow works. There’s a dynamic, a push and a pull between the three of us trying to take songs in different directions and that’s what makes a blink-182 song.” - Mark Hoppus

Stryker dug in and asked the questions that Blink fans wanted answered, namely ‘the breakup.’

[pullquote quote="We all hated each other's guts for no reason. We don't even know what we were fighting about." credit="Tom DeLonge"]“I was very open about it. I was like, I was never going to do this again. I really thought, never… I was totally fine and happy where I was. But then that plane crash happened, then you realize how stupid you’re acting and how petty things are and then I started thinking ‘Oh my God.’ I like the idea of choosing not to do it but I didn’t like the idea of God and nature choosing for me. [...] After that I was kinda open to whatever. And no one wants a heavy heart with old friends. We all hated each other’s guts for no reason. We don’t even know what we were fighting about. That’s how stupid it was.” - Tom DeLonge

In the following interview, Mark and Tom open up about life, then and now, and the excitement of their new album.

Buy Neighborhoods via iTunes.

RELATED STORIES

[World Premiere] Blink-182 ‘Neighborhoods’ Full Album Review

[Watch] Blink-182 Pays Tribute To DJ AM

[First Listen] Blink-182-s New Track “After Midnight”

[Watch] Children Who Can Play Drums Better Than Adults – Stunning Video

[photogallerylink id=67335 align=left]