Travis Barker On Tom Delonge: 'He Wanted Blink-182 To Sound Like Coldplay'

Most Blink-182 fans will be familiar with guitarist Tom Delonge's departure in January last year due to suggestions that he had become disinterested in the band and in a new interview, drummer Travis Barker has claimed that the founding member of the group had attempted to change the direction of their music to sound more like acts such as U2 and Coldplay. 

In an interview with Mr Wavvy, Barker claimed that an interest in changing Blink's style of music was something that he and bassist Mark Hoppus were never invested in, saying, "Mark and I personally never wanted to change, you know?

"Towards the last couple of albums, Tom was obsessed with U2 and wanted to sound like U2 and basically record songs that sounded like Coldplay. For us, it was always like, Blink is Blink, man. We want to sound like fucking Blink-182. That’s why we’re in this band."

The 40-year-old went on to say that the decision to carry on with the band was discussed in depth between himself and Hoppus. 

"You’ve got two of the three band members and one has basically tapped out and is just being extremely difficult and just won’t compromise," Barker said of Delonge.

"That was the point where Mark and I had to sit down and go like, ‘Hey are we going to tap out? Are we going to call it quits? Or do we want to move forward with this band…’"

After recruiting Alkaline Trio frontman Matt Skiba following Delonge's exit, the new-look trio are currently working on a new album alongside renowned producer John Feldmann, set for a release mid-year.

"The new album, old Blink fans will obviously get what they expect from Blink and then with the addition of Matt Skiba in the band there’s also room for like a new sound and for the band to grow," Barker said. 

He described the last few years of Blink-182 as inconsistent in regards to their 2011 album Neighbourhoods, the band's first since returning from a hiatus in 2005 which they recorded in separate studios, as well as an EP follow up in 2012, Dogs Eating Dogs.

Barker believes that the upcoming album is the band's best work since their 2003 untitled album.

"We play a tour and we go do a massive run in Europe and promise an album that would never happen and it was just out of Mark and myself's hands. We couldn't do anything," he said of the band's later years.

"So with me, its like, I have this urgency to show people like, we’re fucking back. Things are great now and this is a great fucking album."

Delonge has devoted much of his time in the last year into releasing novels, comic books and is currently working on a feature film.

However, the Angels & Airwaves singer revealed in an interview last year that he still hopes to reunite with Barker and Hoppus at some point in the future. 

"I haven't forgotten anything and I'm grateful for that band and for those guys in my life. And I think about that band every single day of my life — sometimes multiple times a day," Delonge said. 

"I love those guys and I love the band and, yeah, in the future let's play together and figure it out or whatever. We just need time apart because we all want different things at this time."

Listen to Barker's full interview below.