Mark Hoppus
Photo: Andrew Ross Rowe/ MTV News

Blink-182's reunion tour has been a runaway success, and not just because they've proven that they haven't lost a step.

No, it's the reaction they've gotten from fans, who have flocked to the shows en masse, selling out arenas across North America and snapping up merchandise with reckless abandon. To be honest, Blink are a little blown away by it all. See, when they first announced they were hitting the road again, they had no idea how fans would react — or even if they still had fans.

"When we booked this tour, we had no expectation of anything. We didn't know if people were going to come to the shows, if they weren't, if anybody still cared about Blink, for that matter," bassist Mark Hoppus laughed. "We knew some people were still excited about it. We were definitely excited about it, but, um, our booking agent was just, like, losing his mind for three months straight, booking this tour, and then tickets went on sale, and all these shows sold out in an hour, two hours, a day, and everyone's jaw dropped."

It's not much of a stretch to say Blink are having the time of their lives on tour — Hoppus described it as "a really great summer-camp celebration, with all your friends and really good vibes" — which is why they're in no hurry to end it. They've just added another show to the schedule (a massive October 4 gig at New York's legendary Madison Square Garden with Fall Out Boy), and they've already got their next move planned out too.

For the first time in nearly six years, they'll be touring Europe, Hoppus revealed to MTV News on Tuesday (August 11). Dates are still being hammered out, but Blink are most definitely heading back across the Atlantic in 2010.

"The rest of the year, with Blink-182? We will go and continue the recording the process, [and] something I can tell you that nobody else knows is that we are working out details of a European tour at some point, coming up," he said. "All three of us have agreed to go over to Europe in the next year, so we're going to start planning that out. ... It's going to be a busy rest of the year, for sure"

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Mark Hoppus
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

Throughout the week, we've been posting segments of our interview with Mark Hoppus. In part one, he spoke about reconnecting with his estranged bandmate, Tom DeLonge, and the possibilities of a full-blown Blink-182 reunion. In part two, he revealed plans for a solo album and said his other band, +44, is pretty much finished.

And while Hoppus has done most of the talking, we've also been hearing plenty from you too. Seems you've had plenty to say — not just about a reunited Blink, but about the end of +44 and the prospects of a Hoppus solo album. So we've decided to collect some of your best comments here.

It seems that pretty much everyone is in agreement that a Blink reunion would be a good thing, but some aren't so positive that it's really a sure thing.

"Tom [DeLonge] has made it very clear that a Blink reunion will not be happening ... in a recent interview from The Electric New Paper, [he said,] 'I can understand if people in the audience want Blink-182 songs ... but I don't think we need to play any of them. [Angels & Airwaves] is already an established band,' " MTV.com user Skalor wrote. "I am very happy to see Tom become friends with Mark and Travis, but please give the Blink talk a rest."

Others maintained that if the money were right, then it would top any longstanding beefs, and a Blink reunion is a near certainty.

"If the money is there — and it will be — they'll tour again. They don't have to get along on an artistic level to tour. In fact, they don't even have to write any new music," MCarpo wrote. "Although it would be nice if they did. Blink's music really evolved over time, and based on their post-Blink bands, Mark and Tom really need to challenge each other. By the way, +44's record was really good. Not sure why Mark didn't do more with those guys."

Oh yeah, and about +44. Judging from the comments we got, perhaps Hoppus should think twice before putting the project to bed and focusing on his solo record.

"This is so sad! +44 was my favorite band. I can't believe it," Alfred44 wrote. "And what about [+44 members] Craig and Shane??? That's unfair. This ruined my day!"

"Wow, I just cried," Theconster17 added.

Still, others are optimistic. After all, any music from Hoppus would be a good thing. And, who knows: With +44 out of the way, anything could happen.

"I don't think a solo album is a good idea, not because it wouldn't be good, but because it would probably take forever to come out. I don't know if he's just not motivated, or if he's just not a prolific songwriter (which is fine, considering that the ones he does write are really good), but three years after +44, he has nothing else ready to go," MCarpo wrote. "Mark wants to dabble in too many areas to focus on music right now. That's cool, I wish him luck. BTW, can't wait to hear the record he produced for New Found Glory."

"That's only so Blink can get back together," Chaser182 added about +44's demise.

What do you think about Hoppus' interview? Get in the discussion below.

• Blink-182's Biggest Hits

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Mark Hoppus
Photo: Theo Wargo/ Getty Images

Earlier this week, Mark Hoppus piqued the interest of Blink-182 fans everywhere when he told MTV News that he had been talking to former bandmate Tom DeLonge "several times a day," and when it came to the possibility of a reunion, "the future is wide open."

Of course, those answers only led to more questions.

Because while a Blink reunion would be amazing, it still sounds like a long shot. And while fans wait for the pieces to fall into place, they're still clamoring for new music from Hoppus and Travis Barker's other band, +44, who haven't made a peep since releasing their debut, When Your Heart Stops Beating, in late 2006.

So what's the deal with +44? When MTV News spoke with Hoppus backstage at the Woodie Awards in New York, why did he go to such great lengths to not mention the band by name? Is the group finished?

In part two of our exclusive interview with Hoppus, we get the answer to that question ... and a few others. And if you're expecting a new +44 album anytime soon, well, you might be out of luck.

On The Future of +44: "To answer your question about the interview at the Woodies — and, by the way, I want to thank everyone at MTV for choosing the most flattering photos possible to go in the article — the reason I wasn't able to answer with a great deal of specificity is that I didn't really know how to say what was going to happen. Since late August of last year, I've been in the studio every week writing songs with the intention of putting out a record of my own. As of this week, I've got about 10 songs in various stages of completion and another 10 ideas that I still want to work on. ... By the way, this interview will be the first time many people at the label are going to hear about the possibility of me doing an album on my own. Hi, Interscope!"

On Going Solo (Sort Of): "Travis has played on a bunch of [my] tracks, and he's working on his own album as well. We totally support each other in whatever we're doing. He's like a brother to me. I see him in our studio every week, and we'll be in the room of the studio he's working in, listening to stuff he's recorded, or he'll come into the room where I'm working and check out my songs. He's played on a bunch of them, and he's asked if I'll play on some of his songs. We collaborate and give each other ideas and support. That's what I meant when I said [in the interview at the Woodies], 'No matter what I work on, Travis will be a part of it.' "

On Just When We'll Get to Hear His Music: "Well, I just co-wrote a song for a movie coming out called 'Fired Up,' [and] the New Found Glory record I produced comes out soon, and I'm super proud of that. Those guys wrote a great album, and I think people will be blown away. There are a bunch of collaborations, producing offers and film and TV projects that I'm working on as well."

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Blink-182 in 2004
Photo: Mike Guastella/ WireImage

In November, Mark Hoppus set the Internet abuzz with one simple blog post.

It was the first time he'd updated his site, HiMyNameIsMark.com since his best friend (and bandmate) Travis Barker escaped a fiery plane crash in South Carolina, a crash that killed four people, including Barker's assistant, "Lil Chris" Baker — whom Hoppus was also close with — and security guard Charles "Che" Still. And while Hoppus' words about the death (and escape) of his friends were undoubtedly touching, they weren't what made message boards tick.

No, it was the last paragraph of the post, in which he wrote that, in the wake of the SC crash, he and Barker had begun spending time with their former Blink-182 bandmate, Tom DeLonge, who left the band under decidedly angry circumstances in February 2005. It was the first time they'd all been in a room together in more than three years, and to many, that meant just one thing: finally, after all that time, it sounded like Blink-182 were getting back together.

Of course, it didn't matter that within a few weeks, Barker had quashed those reunion rumors. For the first time in a long time, millions of Blink fans had hope. Especially since, after starting all the Blink talk, Hoppus had done little to deny it himself. In fact, he hasn't said much of anything since then.

Until now, that is. Late last week, Hoppus agreed to talk with MTV News about the past, the present and the future (all of which involve Blink-182). Here, in the first of our two-part chat with him — part two comes Wednesday — he addresses the impact of a single blog entry, repairing his relationship with DeLonge and the prospects of a full-blown Blink reunion.

On That Blog Post: "I'm amazed at the response from what I wrote on my blog. It's awesome that so many people want to know what's going on. And I know there are lots of questions people have, so I'm going to lay it all out here in this interview. I'm just speaking for myself here. The simple answer is, we're still reconnecting as friends right now. None of us know exactly what's going to happen. I do know that we're all very stoked to be talking again, laughing and letting the past remain in the past. But we're also coming together after an extremely acrimonious band breakup, a lot of anger and frustration with one another and four years of not talking. I think that we need to get back to a certain point as friends before we could ever take a stage together again, because that's what we always based everything on."

On His Relationship With DeLonge: "Right now, we're getting back to just being friends. I talk to Tom several times a week, sometimes several times a day, and you know, he's still the same Tom that I talked to on tour buses four years ago. He still talks about UFOs and lasers and conspiracy theories. We talk about new bands we dig — Vampire Weekend — and the movie 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall.' We also make stupid fart jokes. God help us, we're grown men still making fart jokes. ... Who knows? I know two things: One, I'm just glad we're all friends again, and two, none of us know anything for sure beyond that."

On the Future of Blink-182: "The future is wide open. ... Blink-182 wasn't manufactured by a label, and we weren't making music to make money or for fame. We were three friends in a band, writing music that we loved. That's where it began and ended. Before there's reunion talk, we need to get back to that point again. Actually, we would need to get beyond that point, to a place where you can say to someone, 'Hey, man, I'm not really feeling this,' and be able to argue constructively about the music. Because that's where the best of Blink-182 came into being. The pull between the ideas the three of us had. I've always thought that the three of us each brought something unique and special to the songs, and the collision of those elements made the music what it was. In short, we would need to get back to where we're all close enough friends and artists to be able to tell each other, respectfully, 'Suck it.' My final thought is this: If — and this is a big if — Blink-182 were ever to re-form, it would have to be the most amazing, ridiculous, mind-blowing show and tour ever. I feel like, as bitter as our breakup was, we stepped back at the top of our game, and we'd have to come back even stronger and better than before."

So, if there's no Blink reunion in the immediate future, what about Hoppus and Barker's other band, +44? The answer might surprise you. Check out MTVNews.com on Wednesday for more.

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Plus-44
Photo: Interscope

Just last week, Travis Barker told MTV News that despite a broken right arm, he was determined to play drums on Plus-44's upcoming North American tour — even if it meant "assigning different body parts to different parts of the drums."

But in the end — and despite his best efforts to learn a new way to tackle the instrument he's played for more than 25 years (see "Travis Barker Discusses Bad Break, Road To Recovery") — Barker's injury proved to be too much. On Monday (October 9), Plus-44 announced they were putting tour plans on hold so their drummer can recuperate.

"The first leg of [Plus-44's] fall tour will be rescheduled due to an arm injury suffered by Barker," the band said in a statement. "All rescheduled shows will take place in December; exact dates to be announced soon."

The tour will now kick off November 8 at Jannus Landing in Tampa, Florida, and end November 22 at St. Andrews in Detroit (see "Plus-44 Announce Tour Dates — For Real This Time"). Plus' tour was scheduled to launch October 13 at Soma in San Diego and included stops at this weekend's Bamboozle Left Festival (see "Dashboard, Plus-44 Help Bring Bamboozle Fest To West Coast"). Those dates are now rescheduled, as are all shows up until a November 6 gig at the Warehouse in Houston, Texas.

In addition, the November 16 show at Lupo's in Providence, Rhode Island, has been canceled, with no makeup date given.

Barker's cohort in the band, guitarist Mark Hoppus, expressed his frustration at Plus' canceled shows but pledged that they'll more than make it up to fans in the cities they're missing this time around.

"We can't wait to get out on the road and show everyone what we've been up to for the past year and a half," he said in a statement. "We will get the word out with the new dates in the next couple of days."

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Plus-44
Photo: Interscope

Travis Barker is done talking about Tom DeLonge and the details surrounding last year's Blink-182 breakup.

Well, almost.

Turns out he's still got a bit of the ol' vitriol bubbling inside, and he's not shy about letting it boil over. You just have to ask him about "No It Isn't," a song on Plus-44's upcoming album, When Your Heart Stops Beating (see "Plus-44 Address Blink Breakup On LP, Want Fans To 'Hear The Truth' "). And then just sit back and observe an eruption of Mentos-and-Diet-Coke proportions.

"That song is absolutely about the end of Blink-182," Barker said. "It was a classic case of something bad happening and everyone around you not telling you what the deal was. Like the owner of your record label telling you, 'Oh, everything is going to be fine. Any press you do, Travis, make sure you say everything is cool!' And it turns out the same dude is part of the conspiracy of Tom quitting Blink. The only reason we were being cool and calling it an 'indefinite hiatus' is because that's what this dork at the head of our record label was telling us. So that's when you find out that everyone was conspiring against you. That makes you go, 'F--- you. Here's a song about the real deal.' "

Barker is presumably ranting about Jordan Schur, the former president of Geffen Records (which released Blink's self-titled final album in 2003). Schur announced the formation of his own imprint, Suretone Records, in March and released We Don't Need To Whisper, the debut from DeLonge's Angels & Airwaves, in May. And while he's obviously off Barker's Christmas list, Schur's not the only target of Barker's anger. Witness, if you will, part two of his screed:

"['No It Isn't'] is about coming out a year later and telling the truth," Barker said. "About being like, 'Yeah, we were on our way to go play a tsunami benefit [February 2005's Music for Relief: Rebuilding South Asia], and Tom didn't call, but his manager did, and he said that Tom couldn't contain his sh-- long enough to play a song for people who were suffering, which was pretty sad to me. And obviously we weren't going to say anything bad about him while we were recording our record, but now that it's done, we are gonna talk about it. For a year, people were saying that what Tom did was valid or called for. It eats at you. So maybe you have to talk about it, and maybe you have to write a song about it."

And while Barker could continue, he stops himself and takes a deep breath. Because there are actually other songs on Heart to talk about — 11 more, to be exact. While a final sequence has yet to be determined, the tunes that will make up the album are "Lycanthrope," "Baby Come On," "Little Death," "155," "Lillian," "Cliff Diving," "Weatherman," "No It Isn't," "Make You Smile," "Chapter 13," an electro-instrumental dubbed "Interlude" and the title track, which the band shot a video for earlier this month with director Liz Friedlander (see "Plus-44 Announce Tour Dates — For Real This Time").

"There's been so much written about the album without anyone hearing it, so it's cool to actually talk about some of the songs," Barker's Plus partner, Mark Hoppus, laughed. " 'Make You Smile,' is probably the most electronic song on the record, and it's one of my favorites. Travis had the idea of having a girl sing half the lyrics, and so we had [former Get the Girl frontwoman] Carol [Heller] come down and sing on it. But when we moved into the studio, I was taking over more of the vocals, and Carol wanted to go start a family with her husband, so she decided to leave. It was a mutual decision. But her voice is still on the song, and I think it's beautiful.

"Also, a lot of people have written stuff about this album being really dark and introspective," Hoppus added. "And that's sort of true. There's some really heavy, baring-of-my-soul songs, and then there are songs like 'Cliff Diving' or 'When Your Heart Stops Beating,' which are really positive and incredibly fun."

And that sentiment is echoed by Barker, who wants fans to know that while there is some fairly dark territory mined on Heart, it's definitely an album full of, well, "ups."

"The record is a rollercoaster," Barker said. "It's not all tragedy and sorrow. It takes you to different places. To me, it brings up feelings of, like, driving too fast or skateboarding down the street in the middle of the night. In fact, everything about this band has given me that feeling: Writing a new song, playing our first show, looking at the artwork for our first album, they're all ups. And that feeling is all over this record."

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• Travis Barker
• Mark Hoppus

Idiot Pilot
Photo: Reprise Records

Idiot Pilot's eclectic debut album, 2005's Strange We Should Meet Here, was a concept piece about someone who doesn't exist and lived a life that never happened.

But for the band's sophomore LP, Wolves, singer Michael Harris — one-half of the Bellingham, Washington, duo — turned his attentions inward.

"This record is a lot more introspective," he explained, calling the music he's been writing with his cohort Daniel Anderson — Idiot Pilot's chief music machinist — "dark pop." "It's a lot more personal, and a lot of the songs are about me and my experiences in life. It's sort of a therapy session, but not in an overbearing, cheesy way. It's much more personal, and the music is darker. But it's also more uplifting. It's the oddest thing. The overall mood is much darker, much more heart-wrenching and personal. But at the same time, I think it will be a source of relief for people to hear what we have to say."

Idiot Pilot have been working with producer Ross Robinson (Korn, Norma Jean) at his Venice Beach, California, home. They'll be recording 15 tracks total, but they don't think all of them will make the final track list. Wolves should be in stores before springtime and include the cuts "Red Museum," "Elephant" and "Scene From the Pit."

The LP's being co-produced by former Blink-182/ current Plus-44 bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, who first learned of the band after a pal caught the Pilot live.

"A friend of mine in the U.K. saw them at a show in London and e-mailed me and said, 'You've got to check out this band,' " Hoppus said. "So I went to their MySpace page, checked them out, and they were so inventive, so different, that I immediately wanted to work with them.

"They're really creative guys," he added, "and they're trying to figure out what they are and what they want to do with their music. It feels like they're doing that on this record, and so it's cool to be part of that process. They have all these ideas and all of this enthusiasm. Plus, they have the knowledge and control to bring it all together."

Because Idiot Pilot are a two-dude operation, Hoppus suggested that his pal Travis Barker come in and contribute to the effort, rather than relying on computers to create the drum tracks for the disc. Barker tracked drums for five songs, and "with their musical sensibility, mixed with what Ross brings as far as making it aggressive and cutting and heavy, with my pop sensibilities, with their lyrics and melodies, mixed with what Travis does on drums, has just a really cool effect on everything," Hoppus said.

In addition, the Dillinger Escape Plan's Chris Pennie appears on the album, augmenting several of Wolves' tracks with his drumming prowess. Anderson said the one-two punches of Hoppus and Robinson and Barker and Pennie are bringing something new to Idiot Pilot's established sound.

"With Travis and Chris, they're just at two different ends of the musical spectrum, and it just seems perfect with the music we're doing," he said. "And Mark and Ross bring two totally different vibes that are equally as important to the music, and we've kind of put them together into this really cool thing."

And with Wolves, Anderson said fans can expect to hear a more seasoned, more progressive Idiot Pilot — one that experiments with various soundscapes but in a more mature manner.

"Our sound hasn't changed, and it won't alienate any fans at all, but it's definitely different," he said. "It's kind of drawing on a sort of shoegazer/ My Bloody Valentine kind of thing, and maybe even going as far as to say that it's a post-rock album — bands like Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky, taking that influence in our music and really bringing it to the forefront on this one. It's heavy, but not in an aggressive way. It's just heavy in a really beautiful, kind of cinematic and epic way. ... We set out originally to make a really dark album that has just as many, if not more, hooks than any pop album you could put out."

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• Mark Hoppus
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Plus-44's Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker
Photo: Michael Buckner/ Getty Images

Mark Hoppus would like you to know that everything you've heard regarding Plus-44 is wrong.

From the countless impostors posting fake songs online and numerous fan sites posing as the Plus' official site to the common description of the band as "an electronic side project," misinformation abounds. And so finally, after more than a year of silence, Hoppus — along with Plus bandmate Travis Barker — decided it was time to clear the air.

"This is the first interview we've done about the band. We didn't want to talk about the record until it was nearly finished. We had an idea about what it was going to be, and it changed, but now we can finally talk about it," Hoppus said (see "When It Comes To Publicity, Plus-44's Mark Hoppus Is No Tom DeLonge"). "But because of our silence, all these people online started to make up their own sh--. They made their own songs and posted them saying they're our songs. The stuff that's out there now isn't really Plus-44."

"It's kind of flattering that some kids would go out there and post songs under our name," Barker added. "I mean, at least it means that people are excited to hear our stuff."

Speaking to MTV News from their studio in Hollywood — where they were putting the finishing touches on Plus' debut album, tentatively called Little Death — Hoppus and Barker were beyond excited to finally be putting all the gossip to bed, and to finally have some real Plus-44 songs out there. After all, most of the music has been more than a year in the making (see "Blink-182's Hoppus, Barker Form Electronic Side Project").

"We started Plus-44 more than a year ago, writing songs in Travis' basement and my living room, and in that time we've changed some things, we've tried stuff and pulled and pushed songs," Hoppus said. "One song, 'Weatherman,' was one of the first ones we started in Travis basement. One night, I had a dream — and I woke up in the middle of the night and I had this guitar part in my head. So I had to pick up a guitar and write it down. And that matched perfectly with this part that Travis had written on his keyboard. We built it in Travis's basement, and that was a year ago, and we just finished it."

And there have been plenty of changes: Original vocalist Carol Heller is gone, replaced by a pair of guitarists: Craig Fairbaugh and Shane Gallagher. Producer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura was called in to tinker with a track. And finally — and most importantly — the band's sound underwent a rather drastic transformation. And to that end, it's no longer entirely correct to refer to Plus as merely an "electronic" act.

"At first, we had the idea that it would have a lot of electronic influences, because by necessity we were recording on a computer. But then we bought this studio, and after we moved the band into here, the whole vibe changed," Hoppus said. "There's all kinds of stuff going on. Guitars mixed with keyboards, and electronic drums mixed with live drums. It's based on guitars and rhythms, and both Shane and Craig are great guitar players."

But for all their candor, there's one topic that neither Hoppus nor Barker were particularly anxious to speak about: their former bandmate, Tom DeLonge.

While DeLonge's rather unique promotional methods for his new band, Angels & Airwaves — which included promising feature films and spouting off such head-scratching statements as "This is the best music made in decades. ... It is so much more powerful, emotional and melodic than Box Car and Blink put together" — rubbed many people the wrong way, they were just par for the course for his former musical compatriots.

"I have to say you're definitely seeing what the real Tom was like, and that's the only comment I'll make about him or his band," Barker said. "But everything happens for a reason. If the Blink breakup didn't happen, we wouldn't be here right now, and we wouldn't have been able to make the record we did. ... It's the best thing in the world."

• Mark Hoppus
• Travis Barker

Woodie Awards Biggest and Brightest Moments

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