Travis Barker Says Blink-182 Have Recorded Five New Songs With Matt Skiba

Following on from news earlier this month that Blink-182 are currently working on a new album with assumed-permanent replacement Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio, drummer Travis Barker has revealed that the band have already recorded a handful of new songs. 

Speaking in an interview with NME to promote his new autobiography, Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums, the 39-year-old musician said of their new guitarist, "Matt's killing it."

"He’s fun to play with and write with. We’re just getting started but I think we’ve got like four or five songs right now that I’m really, really happy with."

Barker also went on to reveal his favourite of the new tracks, which already has a title. 

"There’s a song called Punk Rock Cliché which I love the most right now. It's about friends of ours and their relationships."

Blink bassist Mark Hoppus recently described the new music as "early Blink meets early Alkaline Trio", to which Barker agreed. 

"They sound different but still the same," Barker said of the new material. 

"Obviously, it’s Matt Skiba singing so there’s hints of Alkaline Trio, or at least Matt’s contributions to Alkaline Trio, mixed with my drumming and Mark’s voice and stuff. It’s really cool and I really love what we’ve done so far."

As for the trio's future plans, Barker said that while there are no strict deadlines, they are ultimately working towards releasing a new album and touring. 

"The goal here is to come up with an album and just write," he explained.

"We don’t put a limit on how many songs we’re gonna write. Write a bunch of songs and when we feel like there’s an album ready, there’s an album ready. You know, no pressure, no deadlines."

The album will be the first Blink record to not feature founding member Tom Delonge who quit the band earlier this year for a second time. 

Delonge expressed a desire to work on other projects as the reason behind his departure, though he has admitted that he would like to reunite with Hoppus and Barker in the future.

Meanwhile, Barker's new autobiography is set to cover the rise of Blink-182, as well as his drug addiction and near-fatal plane crash in 2008. 

In the book, he recalls his daughter, who was three at the time, predicted the plane crash would happen when she repeatedly told her father prior to him boarding, "The roof’s gonna come off, Dad, the roof’s gonna come off."

Barker's autobiography is out today in bookstores everywhere.