BLINK-182
Blink
182 deserve a place in the
punk rock hall of fame if only for
their song "M&Ms" and the video
they made for it. You won't see it on
MTV, though. Reportedly, the net-
work's executives turned the video
off when it starts getting bloody, at
the point where the band's girl-
friends open fire on the three musi-
cians as they unload their equip-
ment outside of a club. "Why are you
showing us this shit?" said the exec-
utive with the pea-sized brain.
Apparently, he didn't understand that
the shoot-out scene, with all its camp
hilarity, is a perfect metaphor for tor-
tured teenage relationships--Blink's
favorite subject matter.
In the year since their debut album,
Cheshire Cat, came out, they've
chalked up enough frequent flyer
miles to buy a pool table and a set of
steak knives. Not bad for a little pop
punk band from San Diego.
You've done a shitload of touring
for a band with one album. Mark
Hoppus, bassist/singer: In the last
year, we've toured the US three times
and have been to Alaska twice and
Australia and Hawaii twice. Sounds
like an exciting year. Tom Delonge,
guitarist/singer: Yeah, but it's tiring.
Then again, I just remember I used to
work at this stupid job. I think about
that, and I realize I'm not that bad off.
What was the job? Tom: Prostitution.
No, I lifted concrete for drillers. Mark:
Tom had to drive this big platform
truck and unload 100 pound bags of
concrete by hand. Tom: Not just
bags--pallets. After the forklift broke, I
had to lift pallets of concrete and sand
by hand. How does it feel to go to
places you've never been and see
people you've never met singing the
words to your songs? Mark: That's
the biggest flattery ever, that something
we made up in our rooms is taken to
88TH
heart. Does one of you write the love
songs and the other the goofy
songs? Mark: We write everything half
and half. Tom: Actually, all of the
songs are about each other. I saw you
roll down the sidewalk on your
boards. Do you still skate a lot? Tom:
Not so much anymore. I was really into
UL
it up into the middle of high school,
then I started working, and that took up
a lot of time. Mark: We're like all the
other has-been kids who used to skate
in high school, but we still bring our
boards on the road and fuck around in
parking lots when we have the time.
We also like to go snowboarding when
we get the chance. Tom: We got to go
riding up in Alaska a few months ago.
Mark: It was like a big snowboarding
competition that we played at with a
bunch of snowboarders who had never
heard of us before. Did you enter any
of the events? Mark: No way. Tom: It
was crazy. One guy died that was in
one of the other bands; he fell into a
250-foot crevasse. There was another
guy in the contest who fell into a 50-
foot crevasse, and he came back all
bloody and was like, "Yeah, man, I dug
myself out." He was all stoked. How is
your girlfriend situation at the
moment? Tom: No comment. Mark:
The only person in our band that has a
girlfriend is Scott [Raynor], our drum-
mer. Tom: The quietest one who doesn't
talk to anybody gets the girlfriend.
Mark: Me and Tom are still floundering.
It's hard to sustain a relationship
when you're on the road all the time.
Tom: That's my excuse. I don't have
time for the babes. I hear your drum-
mer used to be a metalhead. Mark:
When I first ran into him, he was. He
was in 8th grade, and I said, "Here's a
Descendents tape, come back in a
week." Was he converted? Mark: Oh,
totally. Has Scott finished high school
yet? Mark: He wants to. He wants to go
to college. He's the only one who actu-
ally has goals beyond the band. Tom:
We think we're going to be rock stars.
He could get his GED. Mark: For a
while, he was taking Home Study.
Tom: Between songs, he had to do a
couple pages of homework. What about
you guys? Mark: I was in college for
five years, and I was still a sophomore.
Tom: He took Human Sexuality like ten
times. Mark: And I failed every time.
--Morgan Walker
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