Summary
- Travis Barker and his Blink-182 bandmates, Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus, struggled to get along.
- Reports suggest that Barker's traumatic plane crash in 2008 caused tension between him and the other members.
- Conflicting reports and miscommunication led to confusion about the band's future.
Although Scott Raynor was the first drummer in Blink-182, many fans can't even imagine Travis Barker not being part of the band. His tattoos and musical talent are just a few reasons why people love him so much. Blink-182's music endures today because fans feel nostalgic about seeing Travis Barker, Tom DeLonge, and Mark Hoppus on stage together. They remember listening to these songs for the first time as pre-teens or high schoolers and even now, those tunes bring back a lot of strong emotions.
While the band has been touring this past year, there was a time period when they struggled to get along. There are many reports of Travis Barker fighting with his bandmates. Here's the truth about the challenges that Blink-182 experienced.
What Happened Between Travis Barker And Blink-182 Members Tom DeLonge And Mark Hoppus?
According to Consequence.net, Blink-182 disbanded in 2005 and then got back together in 2009. But even though fans were hopeful that everything was fine between the band members at that point in time, that doesn't seem to be the case.
As it turns out, in the 2010s, Travis Barker and Blink-182 might have been fighting. MTV reported that Mark Hoppus gave an interview to the Alternative Press and talked about Barker not performing with the band in Australia in 2013. This is because Barker had trauma from his plane crash, which happened a few years earlier in 2008.
Hoppus explained that when the person promoting the tour told Barker that they didn't think he really wanted to be part of that tour, Barker exchanged some harsh words with him on Twitter. DeLonge was allegedly angry and upset and said that Barker should leave the band. However, DeLonge said that he didn't want that to happen at all.
DeLonge told Alternative Press, "[For the 2013] Australian tour in January, Travis obviously didn’t go on that tour because he didn’t feel comfortable flying, which was a possibility that we had known about from day one. When we agreed to do the tour of Australia Travis said, 'I will do everything in my power to get back on an airplane, but if it gets to the day and I’m not ready to go, we need a back-up plan.' As it [came] closer to the time, Travis called me and Tom and said, 'I’m not ready yet, I don’t think I’m going to be able to make the flight. We should go with a back-up drummer.' With Travis’ blessing we enlisted Brooks Wackerman and completed the tour."
Hoppus said that he and Barker were confused because it didn't seem like DeLonge was interested in staying in the band.
There were definitely a lot of conflicting reports about what was going on with Blink-182. According to MTV, Barker and Hoppus planned to play at the March 2015 Musink Tat Fest just the two of them. They said that DeLonge had decided to leave the band... but DeLonge explained that wasn't true. One thing is for certain: the band didn't seem to be on the same page at all.
According to The Los Angeles Times, DeLonge's bandmates explained to Rolling Stone that they hadn't gotten along with him for several years. DeLonge wrote a message that he posted on his Facebook account. He sounded upset about what his bandmates were saying about him, and he shared his perspective on the matter.
DeLonge wrote that he definitely wanted to be part of Blink-182. He wrote, "I love Blink and am incredibly grateful for having it in my life. It has given me everything. EVERYTHING. I started this band, it was in my garage where I dreamed up the mischief."
He said that while they recorded an EP, they weren't able to release it. He said that he shared his thoughts with the other members of Blink-182 and it resulted in a big fight. He added that they had always had trouble with communication.
DeLonge wrote, "But there’s three of us -- we’re all accountable. At the end of the day, we’ve always been dysfunctional, which is why we haven’t talked in months. But we never did. In the 8 years we have been together it has always been that way."
Tom DeLonge definitely sounded upset, and Travis Barker was as well. According to The Los Angeles Times, Barker said that he wanted fans to be aware of how DeLonge was behaving. Barker told Rolling Stone, “It’s hard to cover for someone who’s disrespectful and ungrateful. You don’t even have the balls to call your bandmates and tell them you’re not going to record or do anything Blink-related. You have your manager do it. Everyone should know what the story is with him and it’s been years with it.”
It's tough to hear that the band had such a hard time talking to each other. It sounds like they struggled for many years.
Does Blink-182 Get Along Today?
The fighting between Travis Barker and the rest of the band is definitely in the past. Blink-182 began their World Tour 2023/2024 in May 2023 and they have been performing together in cities like Montreal, Toronto, Los Angeles, Boston, and Denver.
Starting in September 2023, they embarked on the European leg of their tour before returning to Las Vegas in October. In February 2024, the band will travel to New Zealand and Australia before going to Latin America in March 2024.
In June 2021, Travis Barker was interviewed by Rolling Stone and he mentioned his relationship with Tom DeLonge. He said, "I talk to Tom all the time. We send funny texts and stuff. The times of bad blood and the misunderstandings between us are so over with. It's all love. We all three talk, and we're all friends."
Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus had some problems, too, but that is all over as well.
In September 2021, DeLonge told Zane Lowe of Apple Music 1 that after Mark Hoppus went through his cancer battle, the two became good friends again. He said, "We weren't really talking much at all, maybe once every couple of months, a little text here and there. But now, we talk multiple times a day. We've been able to completely repair that friendship and really cut to the depth of who we are as people and what this is all about."
Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge supported Travis Barker when his wife Kourtney Kardashian's baby needed surgery. Variety reported that the band had to postpone some European tour dates as a result.
