Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus declared himself “hopeful for the future” in an August interview with People, discussing his overcoming of stage 4 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and the reconnecting with former bandmates Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker in the process of fighting it.
It appears as if hope sparked action. Blink-182 did the traditional tell-tale sign: they wiped their Instagram feed clean and updated their bio across their platforms to read, “Crappy Punk Rock since 1992.” Internet sleuths simultaneously noticed Blink’s four most recently liked tweets are from 2012 and 2013, positioning them as foreshadowing for what’s to come:
https://twitter.com/ZWiloch/status/258277724790075394
today i learned that blink 182 are in fact actually still together and haven't been broken up for like 10 years like i previously thought
— kieran (@kierxn_) December 3, 2013
Its going to be really strange in 10 years when blink182 is classic rock and we hear it in drug stores and elevators.
— Christopher Also (@ChrisAlso) December 1, 2013
In 10 years will college students still sing Blink 182 and get pumped? #kufootball
— Sean Jones (@tobiasjones4) November 16, 2013
If the curious social media activity caused you to check the iconic band’s official website, you were met by an animated bunny tapping its foot and surrounded by “UNDER CONSTRUCTION” banners. And if that weren’t enough to indicate that something is definitely coming from Blink, there are mysterious posters in New York City and a billboard in Peru.
The biggest question may not be what Blink has in store but rather which iteration of Blink is at work. Matt Skiba replaced DeLonge after his messy Blink-182 departure. But this July, Skiba responded to an Instagram comment asking if he was still a Blink member. “Your guess is as good as mine,” the Alkaline Trio singer/guitarist wrote. “Regardless, I am very proud of and thankful for my time w @blink182. We shall see…”
Skiba’s comment was sandwiched between DeLonge sharing with James Corden last November that he’s “always talking about some kind of reunion” and adding Blink-182 to his Instagram bio this August.
With People in August, Hoppus shared that he spent time with Barker and DeLonge at Barker’s Italian wedding to Kourtney Kardashian this spring. But it was their time together before Hoppus endured chemotherapy that seemed to forge a path toward a potential official reunion.
“It was the first time that all three of us were in the same room in like five years,” Hoppus told the publication. “It’s actually better than it used to be. There was no agenda. There were no lingering grudges. It felt very back to what it should be: three friends sitting in a room.”
Hoppus also said that he had been “writing music” and felt “open to whatever the next phase of Blink is.” There’s a strong possibility that the next phase is starting to unfold.
Blink-182 is a Warner Music artist. .
