This Friday, the 14th, blink-182 Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker 's first release with Tom DeLonge in 10 years.
The last time DeLonge worked with blink-182 was on the 2012 Dogs Eating Dogs announced earlier this week that the guitarist was back, replacing Matt Skiba .
In an open letter to his colleague, Tom DeLonge praised Skiba and thanked him for his time in blink, also revealing that his reconciliation with the band was due to Mark Hoppus's cancer diagnosis (see the full letter at the end of this article). After battling the disease for months, the singer recently revealed that he is cancer-free.
In addition to the new single and Tom's return, blink-182 also confirmed rumors of their first visit to Brazil. The band will perform at Lollapalooza 2023 , not only in Brazil, but also in Argentina and Chile. This will be their first visit to Latin America.
Tom DeLonge writes an open letter to Matt Skiba.
Matt Skiba, a musician from Alkaline Trio , joined blink-182 around 2015. Initially, the guitarist was just filling in for DeLonge, who had conflicting commitments with the band's tour schedule, but eventually Skiba became part of the trio, appearing on the albums California and Nine .
Blink-182 didn't give many details about how Matt Skiba's departure was handled to make way for Tom DeLonge again, but DeLonge published an open letter to his colleague thanking him for "keeping the band alive" in his absence. Check out the transcript:
“Hi Matt. Tom DeLonge here. I wanted to take a moment to thank you for everything you’ve done to keep the band alive and thriving in my absence. I think you’re incredibly talented (I still love listening to your band). You’ve always been very kind to me, not just in the media but also talking to other people. I really noticed.”
"The emotions between the three of us in blink have always been complicated, but Mark's cancer really put things into perspective. To be honest, the band wouldn't be here today if you hadn't come along to save the day. From my heart to yours, thank you for being a member of our band."