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Blink-182 Cancel Dates After Travis Barker Medical Emergency

10 May 2012 08:32:11 EDT

Band's drummer is recovering following a tonsillectomy.
By Gil Kaufman

The Blink-182 reunion tour has hit a snag. On Wednesday, the group announced that it was cancelling a string of live dates this month due to a medical emergency involving drummer Travis Barker.

"Blink-182's drummer, Travis Barker, required an urgent tonsillectomy with a recovery period expected to extend beyond the scheduled tour dates," read a note on their official site. "The band apologizes for any inconvenience as a result of these cancellations and thanks their fans for their ongoing support. "

Though two upcoming dates at the Winstar Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma, have been rescheduled for September 13 and 14, the other six dates on their itinerary will not be rescheduled. Those dates include:

» 5/15 -- Rochester, NY @ Blue Cross Arena
» 5/17 -- Manchester, NH @ Verizon Wireless Arena
» 5/18 -- Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun
» 5/19 -- Asbury Park, NJ @ The Bamboozle
» 5/20 -- Bethlehem, PA @ Sands Bethlehem Event Center
» 5/22 -- Quebec City, CA @ Colisee Pepsi Arena

Refunds will be available for each show at the point of purchase, except for the Bamboozle gig, where no refunds are being offered. New Jersey natives My Chemical Romance have stepped into the breach and will take over Blink's headlining slot at the May 19 Bamboozle gig.

"Blink-182 will be greatly missed, and all of us here wish Travis a speedy recovery," the show's promoters said in a statement about what would have been Blink's debut Bamboozle appearance. Other acts on this year's three-day Bamboozle roster include: Foo Fighters, Skrillex, Bon Jovi, Gaslight Anthem, Mac Miller, Incubus and DJ Pauly D.

The band is slated to kick-off a two-month European tour in June and at press time Blink's Facebook page said those shows have not been affected.

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Blink-182 On The Brink In Musical March Madness

23 Mar 2012 13:00:10 EDT

Evanescence, Paramore and Green Day are flexing their MMM muscles and preparing for the Sweet 16... second-round voting closes Sunday at midnight ET.
By James Montgomery

If round one of MTV's Musical March Madness was marked by shocking upsets— we bid adieu to #1 seeds the Foo Fighters, Mumford & Sons and the Black Keys, not to mention U2, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Maroon 5, Foster the People and Fun. — well, then, round two is shaping up to be a return to normalcy (shout out to Warren G. Harding!)

That's because, with polls in all second-round matchups set to close Sunday at midnight ET, it's looking very much like the favorites will flex their collective muscles and advance to the Sweet 16, as Evanescence, Paramore, My Chemical Romance and Green Day all hold commanding leads over lesser-seeded opponents.

Vote for your favorite band, discuss and share on Facebook and Twitter in the MTV Musical March Madness interactive bracket!

Then again, as history has proven time and time again, anything can happen in MMM ... and there are plenty of potential upsets still brewing. (Blink-182, we're looking at you.) So as we prepare to close the books on the second round — and make arrangements for the Sweet 16 — here's an updated look at the action!

In the Midwest, where the highest remaining seed is #5 MCR (currently blasting #13 Modest Mouse), the battle between #9 Rise Against! and #16 AWOLNATION looks like it's headed down to the wire, with RA! currently holding a slim lead. The same can also be said about the #11 Chevelle/#15 Five Finger Death Punch tilt (it's Chevelle plus 4,000 at the moment) and the #7 Metallica/#15 Sum 41 matchup, where the Canadian crushers appear poised to once again advance to the round of 16.

In the West, #16 James Durbin, fresh off his scalping of #1 Foo Fighters, holds a commanding lead over #8 Best Coast, defending MMM champs Green Day are crushing #13 Lana Del Rey and #15 Panic! at the Disco currently lead #10 No Doubt, though the gap is closing by the minute. But far and away, the tightest matchup is #3 Blink-182 vs. #11 Adam Lambert, where, thanks to the undying support of his Glambert Nation, it's Adam by a bushel, which could mean that Blink are headed for their earliest MMM exit ever. Like we said, there's still time to mount a comeback, but the hour is growing late.

Over in the East, #10 Coheed and Cambria and #12 Tokio Hotel appear headed for a showdown in the Elite Eight, as they're both blasting their second-round opponents, and, judging by the way things are shaping up, neither would face much of a challenge in the Sweet 16. As it stands right now, Coheed would draw #11 Semi Precious Weapons, who, thanks to the efforts of frontman Justin Tranter's mom, are pulling away from #3 Florence and the Machine, and Tokio would face off against #8 Radiohead ... though the erudite rockers are getting all they can handle from upset-minded F---ed Up, in what's shaping up to be the closest second-round contest.

And finally, in the South, lone-remaining #1 Evanescence are living up to the advanced billing, throttling #9 Dave Matthews Band. Meanwhile, #2 Paramore are locked in a tight battle with #10 Ke$ha, who's been hitting the Twitter-sphere hard in an attempt to close the gap. Both #5 Linkin Park and #6 30 Seconds to Mars hold sizeable leads over their second-round opponents too, which means that, if things hold, we're gonna get a pair of Sweet 16 barn-burners: Evanescence vs. Linkin Park and Paramore vs. 30 STM. Things are about to get heated down South.

Is your beloved band on the ropes? There's still time to help them advance! Voting in all second-round MMM matchups closes Sunday at midnight ET, at which point, we'll move on the Sweet 16. Get cracking, folks!

Vote for your favorite band, discuss and share on Facebook and Twitter in the MTV Musical March Madness interactive bracket!

MTV's 2012 Musical March Madness tournament has reached the second round. Voting runs until midnight ET on Sunday, March 25, and winners are determined by fan votes, so if your favorite act is still alive, it'll be up to you to guide them to glory. You can rally the troops on Twitter using the hashtag #MMM or by downloading one of our custom badges — but get ready, it only gets more difficult from here on out.

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Foo Fighters, Blink-182 Battle In Musical March Madness' West Region

14 Mar 2012 06:53:08 EDT

The wild West is full of close contests. Vote now to make sure your band makes it to round two!
By James Montgomery

MTV's Musical March Madness tipped off Monday, and already things are heating up. We've got potential upsets brewing (James Durbin over the Foo Fighters), ungodly massacres unfolding (Tokio Hotel up 133,000 votes on Arcade Fire) and a whole bunch of contests that are just too close to call (the Radiohead/Bruce Springsteen and Metallica/Guns N' Roses battles are most definitely going to come down to the wire).

Vote for your favorite band, discuss and share on Facebook and Twitter in the MTV Musical March Madness interactive bracket!

With first-round voting open until Sunday at midnight ET, there's still plenty of time for things to change — and it's up to you to determine who advances to round two. We realize that with 64 bands battling it out, sometimes, you need a little help to make your decisions. Which is why we're breaking down each MMM region, beginning with Tuesday's in-depth examination of the mighty Midwest, and continuing today with a look at the wild, wild West.

It's a bracket topped by the aforementioned Foos, and features a host of other big-name talent like Blink-182, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, defending champs Green Day and No Doubt. There's also potential dark-horse favorites like Skrillex, Panic! at the Disco and Maroon 5. But, just who will survive to round two? Read on for our picks in each opening-round matchup.

#1 Foo Fighters vs. #16 James Durbin: On paper, this one should've been a cakewalk for the Foos, who have more Grammy nominations (25) than Durbin has years on earth (23). But, as MMM history tells us, nothing is assured in the tournament, and right now, thanks to a full-court social blitz from the "American Idol" fave, this one is too close to call. The Foos hold a slight edge, but given their lack of social involvement, can they withstand the hard-charging underdog? We're going with Durbin for the upset.

#2 Red Hot Chili Peppers vs. #15 Panic! at the Disco: Welcome to the West, where favorites go to die. In one of the most hotly debated opening-round contests (at least in our comment section), it's Panic! who hold a commanding lead over the higher-seeded Peppers. We don't see RHCP mounting a comeback, which means that once again, Panic! advance onward, proving they're an MMM force to be reckoned with.

#3 Blink-182 vs. #14 Korn: Another potential first-round upset brewing here: MMM faves Blink leapt to an early lead, but with a little Facebook bump, it's now Korn who hold a slight edge. If Blink want to avoid an early exit, they better start rallying the troops (we're looking at you, Mark Hoppus). We'd like to believe at least one top seed advances to round two, and we believe in Blink-182. They stem the tide and move on.

#4 Maroon 5 vs. #13 Lana Del Rey: OK, this is more like it. Rewarded for their tremendous year with a #4 seed, Maroon 5 are holding serve, trouncing Lana by a large margin. Still plenty of time for Del Rey to rally, though we think the title of her major-label debut is oddly prescient when it comes to MMM: She's Born To Die. In the first round.

Vote for your favorite band, discuss and share on Facebook and Twitter in the MTV Musical March Madness interactive bracket!

#5 Green Day vs. #12 The Decemberists: They won it all last year, and after early voting, Green Day look like they may very well be the band to beat this year, too. They hold a commanding lead over the overmatched Decemberists, and given the way the rest of this bracket is shaping up, they may very well waltz all the way to the Final Four. Can anyone stop them?

#6 Foster The People vs. #11 Adam Lambert: Never underestimate the power of Glambert Nation. Right now, the "Idol" icon is up big on heavily favored Foster (and his People). Can they pump up their kicks (sorry) and rally? Not looking so good. We're taking Lambert to move on.

#7 Van Halen vs. #10 No Doubt: Burned in last year's tournament by eventual runners-up Paramore, No Doubt are making the most of their opportunity in MMM '12, keeping the reunited Van Halen at bay. Can Diamond Dave summon some of his samurai skills and help guide his squad to victory? We wouldn't bet on it; No Doubt will advance.

#8 Best Coast vs. #9 Skrillex: Note to Bethany Cosentino: It's OK to acknowledge MMM's presence (as opposed to tweeting Drake lyrics); in fact, it might actually help Best Coast advance. As this one stands right now, it's Skrillex who holds the huge lead, and if early fan support is any indication, he might be poised for a deep tournament run.

MTV's 2012 Musical March Madness Tournament is underway! Voting in the first round runs until midnight ET on Sunday, March 18, and winners are determined by fan votes, so if your favorite act made the cut, it'll be up to you to guide them to glory. You can rally the troops on Twitter using the hashtag #MMM or by downloading one of our custom badges — but get ready, it's gonna be a war.

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Blink-182's 'After Midnight' An 'Homage' To 'I Miss You'

07 Dec 2011 17:46:00 EST

Tom DeLonge jokes that his and Mark Hoppus' lyrics are about 'me and him kissing and making love to each other.'
By James Montgomery

Blink-182's Neighborhoods album was rather famously recorded in fits and starts, so it's sort of odd to learn the story behind "After Midnight," the latest single from the disc, because, unlike pretty much everything else, this one was easy.

" 'After Midnight' was one of the last songs that we actually wrote for the album, and it originated from a beat that Travis [Barker] made up one day when he was working in the studio," Mark Hoppus told MTV News on the set of the "Midnight" video in California. "We went in, listened to the beat, [and] it grabbed us immediately. It was one of those moments on the album where everybody just had a bunch of ideas all at once, and it came together pretty quickly. I think like in two or three hours, we had the basics of the song all written out."

"Midnight" is like most older Blink songs in its speedy creation, and its similarities with the band's back catalog don't end there: Much like "I Miss You," a single from Blink's 2003 self-titled album, the lyrics were handled by both Hoppus and DeLonge.

"Tom and I divided the responsibility of writing the lyrics — Tom did the verses and I did the chorus — and we didn't necessarily know what the other was writing about, but it fit together pretty well," Hoppus explained.

And DeLonge took things one step further by including lyrical nods to "I Miss You" in his verses on "Midnight."

Of course, he explained, that was only mostly intentional. And it's not that he's running out of ideas, he said.

"Well, maybe a little bit, but not totally," DeLonge said. "I threw in a little homage to 'I Miss You,' because, specifically on this song, I remember Travis saying that we should have something in the category of 'I Miss You' [on this album], and that's when he showed us the beat. So when we wrote that, I remember that was in my mind."

Then again, DeLonge said he had ulterior motives for co-writing the song with Hoppus — ones that bordered (of course) on the sexual.

"What's cool about this song and 'I Miss You,' when Mark and I both write lyrics in different places, they come together and they're both about the same thing, usually me and him kissing and making love to each other," he laughed. "We end up writing super romantic songs. And I think it worked out really good on this one."

What do you think of "After Midnight"? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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On The Set Of 'After Midnight' With Blink-182

07 Dec 2011 16:19:59 EST

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Blink-182's 'After Midnight' Video 'A Little Darker'

06 Dec 2011 06:53:13 EST

'The song itself is about troubled love,' Mark Hoppus explains, though Tom DeLonge promises new video is mostly 'about sex.'
By James Montgomery

Blink-182's "Up All Night" video was a rather-raucous vision of the teen-pocalypse, with fans running roughshod over (and partying hard on) a deserted suburban landscape.

So when it came time to shoot the video for "After Midnight," the second proper single from their Neighborhoods album, the guys wanted to go a different route — think less wanton destruction, a general lack of exploding cars and waaay less partying. Of course, they ended up going with the same guy who directed "Up All Night," but that's sort of beside the point.

"We went through probably 30 different treatments for this video, and a lot of them were great, and a lot of them weren't so great but [director] Isaac [Rentz's] stuck out as a really cool idea," Mark Hoppus told MTV News on the set of the "Midnight" video, in Tustin, California. "We wanted it to be something different than just a bunch of people having fun and having a party; we wanted it to be a little darker, a little more troubled, and Isaac's treatment did that."

So while they're once again working with Rentz, Blink's "After Midnight" clip is shaping up to be a far cry from "Up All Night," mostly because, as Hoppus explained, the song is about dark things — while still remaining true to the band's roots, of course.

"The song itself is about troubled love, it's about damaged people who fall in love," he said, "and the video takes place in a psychiatric ward, and this guy and this girl escape from their rooms and have a night of romance and passion and fun and wild existence ..."

"It's about sex," Tom DeLonge jokingly added.

"It's not, it's not that tawdry," Hoppus replied, laughing. "Why would you make it that cheap?"

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Blink-182's Mark Hoppus Recalls Roof Diving, On 'When I Was 17'

28 Oct 2011 15:59:23 EDT

'It's a miracle that we're still here,' he says on latest episode, airing Saturday at 11 a.m. ET/PT on MTV.
By Lauren Kearney

On the next episode of "When I Was 17," Mark Hoppus, bassist for blink-182 and host of Fuse's "Hoppus on Music," sheds light on what his life was like before he was asking "What's my age again?"

Surprisingly (except not at all), he was as out of control back then as he is now, as he reveals on the episode, airing Saturday at 11 a.m. ET/PT.

"We were really smart as high-schoolers. We had a friend, his name was Dave, he had a two-story house, and in the backyard of his house was a pool. And his parents would leave for days at a time, so of course, Dave's a responsible guy, he wouldn't let anything bad happen. So we would jump off a second-story roof into the pool," admitted Hoppus, who just finished up on the Honda Civic Tour alongside My Chemical Romance. "We called it Acapulco cliff diving."

"It was definitely high enough so that if you jumped in, you had to turn your body as soon as possible so that you didn't eat your knees," he added.

While at first it started off safe — well, sort of — Acapulco cliff diving soon became more and more competitive as time went on.

"At first I think it was cannonballs and feet first, and then we'd one-up each other and by the end, people were doing flips. I definitely dove headfirst into this pool. It's a miracle that we're still here."

And a miracle it is, Mark. Because we can't imagine what life would have been like without some Blink-182.

Don't miss this week's episode of "When I Was 17," featuring Mark Hoppus, Sean Kingston and Tiffani Thiessen, at 11 a.m. Saturday on MTV.

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Blink-182 Talk The Best (And Worst) Parts Of Touring

26 Oct 2011 16:22:49 EDT

It's all about curling up with 'a really good UFO book,' Tom DeLonge reveals to MTV News in an exclusive backstage clip.
By James Montgomery

Blink-182 just wrapped the 10th annual Honda Civic Tour, a thoroughly epic trek with My Chemical Romance that crisscrossed the continent and featured plenty of rather amazing drum solos and, yes, even a few lasers.

It was the first time Blink had toured in the States since their raucous reunion tour in 2009, and though they had plenty of downtime in-between (you know, when they weren't working on their Neighborhoods album), anyone who made it out to the Honda Civic shows can attest to the fact that Mark, Tom and Travis didn't lose a single step.

Sure, they've been at it for a while now, but just how do the guys in Blink maintain that edge on the road? Well, as they explain in a series of exclusive backstage vignettes, their secret lies in having some really interesting reading material on hand.

"The best thing about being on tour is the end of the evening, when you know that you've performed [a] great show, you're exhausted, you take a shower, you have some kind of hot food waiting for you," Tom DeLonge said, "and you crawl into your bunk with a really, really good, cerebral UFO book, and you read about UFOs as you fall asleep."

Of course the dude reads about UFOs. And while they had a blast on the road with MCR, touring does have its share of downsides too. But what, exactly, is the biggest bummer? Watch the first of our exclusive behind-the-scenes clips to find out!

Did you check out Blink on the Honda Civic Tour? Share your reviews in the comments!

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Blink-182's Neighborhoods Had 'Long Road' To Release

27 Sep 2011 13:52:43 EDT

As band's first album in nearly eight years hits stores on Tuesday, Mark Hoppus tells MTV News that Blink is back from the brink.
By James Montgomery

It's been almost eight years since Blink-182 released their last album but, in a lot of ways, it feels much, much longer.

There's been no shortage of drama in that period, starting with the band's '05 breakup and continuing right on through the deaths of close friends Jerry Finn and Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein, and the plane crash that left drummer Travis Barker seriously injured.

There was the gradual cooling of tensions and the triumphant reunion, the raucous tour kickoff and finally, the two-year process of recording a new album.

And after all that, Blink are finally back with Neighborhoods, a record that crams all those highs and lows into just 36 minutes. It hit stores Tuesday (September 27), bringing one (very dark) chapter of the band's career to a close, while simultaneously jump-starting another. And on the day of its release, MTV News emailed Blink's Mark Hoppus to get his take on the long road he and his bandmates took, and just what lies ahead. Echoing the sentiments of many long-suffering Blink fans, he's having a hard time wrapping his head around all of this too.

"[It's been] eight years since the last Blink-182 album was released. I can't believe it. It seems like just last year, and yet so much has happened since then," he wrote to us. "And now, finally, the new album that we've been talking about and working on for the past two years is out. This is the best part, the part where it turns from ideas in our head and abstract descriptions of what it might or will sound like, into a being unto itself. A CD. An mp3. A thing ... that people can listen to for themselves."

And while Hoppus is thankful to begin moving forward, he can't help but look back too. It's sort of inevitable, given everything that's happened in the eight years between Blink albums. But, in a lot of ways, those trials and tribulations have not only made the band stronger, but helped create an album they are all endlessly proud of. And now, it's all yours.

"It has been a long trip to get here ... five years of pain and animosity, the passing of some of our dearest friends, the rebuilding of our band. And now the new album is here," Hoppus continued. "Initial reaction to the songs and record has been overwhelmingly positive, and for that I'm truly grateful and excited. Thanks to everyone who has stuck with us through thick and thin. This record is for all of you. I hope the album means as much to you as it does to us."

Share your reviews of the latest Blink album in the comments below!

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Blink-182's Neighborhoods: Death And All His Friends

15 Sep 2011 15:07:34 EDT

We review Blink's long-awaited, decidedly dark comeback album, in Bigger Than the Sound.
By James Montgomery

Sometime around 2003, Blink-182 decided it was time to tack their dirty joke doctorates to the wall (presumably in their respective offices, which is where everyone's degree eventually ends up) and press on as a more serious-minded outfit. The reasons behind that decision were many — the new perspective that comes with fatherhood, a decade spent on the road, recording with Robert Smith — though, truth be told, their somber new suits never seemed to fit, mostly because, at that point, they were best known for putting porn stars in their videos and giving their albums titles like Take off Your Pants and Jacket and Enema of the State.

Of course, in the eight years since their last album, a whole lot has changed. Blink-182 splintered in 2005, subsequently sparred in the press, attempted to conquer the world with non-Blink projects, endured the deaths of longtime producer Jerry Finn and close friend Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein, and in late 2008, drummer Travis Barker was seriously injured in a plane crash that killed four, including two of his associates.

Needless to say, they've earned the right to be serious. And on their long-awaited Neighborhoods album (due September 27), they take full advantage, cramming the past 96 months of doubt, darkness and death into just 49 minutes — that's the running time of the deluxe edition — and doing so quite convincingly. For the first time in their career, Blink seem comfortable in those somber suits. Sadly, it's because they've worn them to so many funerals.

Lyrically, Neighborhoods is the bleakest thing Blink have ever done, haunted by specters both real — depression, addiction, loss — and imagined. Death is a near constant, showing up in songs like the thundering "Natives" ("Maybe I'm better off dead"), the crunching "After Midnight" ("Standing close to death"), and the snarling "Hearts All Gone" ("Let's drink ourselves to death"). Shoot, even first single "Up All Night" is highlighted by a corker of a chorus: "All these demons/they keep me up at night." There's a reason the first song on the album is called "Ghost on the Dancefloor": Neighborhoods feels less like a rock record than it does an exorcism.

Sonically, it's practically nocturnal, melding the electronic flourishes of Mark Hoppus and Barker's +44 project and the laser-light grandeur of Tom DeLonge's Angels & Airwaves into a sound that recalls nothing so much as dark streets and black expanses, mostly of the suburban variety (the field behind the 7-Eleven, the cul-de-sac illuminated by the single streetlight, etc.). Even the chords — and there are a lot of them — are dark, as if DeLonge has dipped his Epiphone in ink. Hoppus' bass booms ominously and Barker's backbeats are skittering, scraping and downright scary in parts.

That said, it's not all doom and gloom. Blink still know how to write a walloping chorus, and, much like the chords, there are a lot of them on Neighborhoods. In most instances, they provide brief respites from the general bleakness: "Wishing Well" has DeLonge going "la-da-da-da-da," the hook to "Love Is Dangerous" is practically buoyant, and, of course, there's the aforementioned "Up All Night," which booms and crunches like the Blink of old.

And speaking of the old Blink, well, they're largely gone here (the synthy, star-smattered opening of "Ghost on the Dancefloor" serves notice of that fact). But given everything that went into Neighborhoods lengthy gestation — it's the rare album that took so long to come out that it actually contains a song, "Kaleidoscope," about how long it took to come out — you can certainly understand that transformation. Blink have grown up, mostly because life forced them to, and willing or not, that maturity fits.

Neighborhoods is a deep, dark, downright auto-biographical effort, and when Hoppus sings "Hold on, the worst is yet to come" (on the bopping "MH 4.18.2011"), you don't really believe him. The worst is over. It's all good from here on out.

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