In addition to leading one of the most prolific pop-punk bands of all time, blink-182 bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus hosts the Apple Music podcast After School Radio. On the show, Hoppus talks about the “songs, artists and culture that’ve defined the [punk] movement” of Southern California.
For his 50th episode, the artist reunited with his old bandmate and former blink guitarist Tom DeLonge. The pair reminisced about the old days of blink-182 and discussed the things they enjoyed about one another.
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The title of the episode was “The Mark And Tom Show,” an allusion to the band’s 2000 live album of a similar name. Included in their talk was clarity on UFOs and a fair amount of wholesome reminiscence.
Summer 2021 has inspired a great deal of nostalgia for the pair’s early days. Angels & Airwaves, which DeLonge has fronted since 2005, recently paid homage to the blink days by reviving his alter ego Disco in their new video for “Losing My Mind.”
Meanwhile, Hoppus has been using his platform to discuss more than his passion for phallic humor. The artist sent ripples through the music community when he courageously shared his cancer diagnosis on social media in June, receiving an outpouring of support.
The pair began the episode by discussing their friendship. When Hoppus asks why the pair are able to just “get on the phone and pick up like nothing ever happened,” DeLonge says it’s their mutual appreciation for phallic jokes that keeps the pair connected.
“Because we appreciate dick jokes in a way that no one else does,” DeLonge says. “It boils down to only that. There is nothing else. It’s that, in my opinion.”
“It’s a shorthand,” Hoppus replied. “It’s a shorthand we have with each other.”
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Angels & Airwaves are nearing the release of their new album, so DeLonge discussed some of the details of directing their music videos.
“I think it’s funny, for me. I’m thinking about doing these videos, and they go, ‘OK, here’s two grand to make a video.’ No, I don’t know. What do they spend, 15 to 20 grand? It’s so small for a band like Angel, so I’m like, ‘Well, what do people want to watch that costs a few thousand bucks?’ I know it’s definitely not me. It’s going to be really pretty girls in thongs or something and motorcycles.”
Hoppus and DeLonge made music together for decades, so it’s only fair that the two of them reminisced on some old blink stories. Hoppus said the thing he admires most about DeLonge is his fearlessness. The bassist recalled an old MTV program where band members would interview actors and DeLonge found himself assigned to Mel Gibson to discuss his 2002 film Signs.
“He was late,” Hoppus says. “And so it was at a bar. And so you started drinking beforehand. You were texting me like, ‘Dude’s late. I’m drinking. I’m having another glass of wine,’ whatever. And you ended up getting overserved on your beverages. And so when Mel Gibson finally showed up, your first question to him is, ‘All right, Mel, why are you so late to this interview?’ Which I thought was just the ballsiest, raddest thing to say to Mel Gibson to start off an interview. Why are you like that?”
“The whole thing from his point of view must have been absolutely insane,” the guitarist replied.
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Hoppus also provided an anecdote about an encounter with M. Night Shyamalan as a testament to DeLonge’s boldness.
“Another example of your fearlessness that I wrote down, and I just remembered right now was, we were on tour in Japan, and we were having lunch in the hotel, and we look over and M. Night Shyamalan is at a table next to us, and you’re like, ‘I’m going to go ask him to direct a blink-182 video.’ And I was like, ‘What the hell?’
“The dude’s having lunch on a promo tour of his movie in Japan, and you just walk up, and you’re like, ‘Hey, my name’s Tom DeLonge. I play in a band called blink-182. We’re a big fan of yours. Would you ever direct a blink video?’ And within half an hour, we’re all sitting together, and he’s coming up with ideas for a blink video. And I mean, he did come up with a whole treatment and everything. It was going to cost, whatever it was, $20 million, but I mean, just on your gumption or I don’t know, no fucks to give, just walk up to somebody and say, ‘Hey, I want you to direct a blink video.”
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DeLonge also shared what he liked most about his old bandmate. In addition to his characteristic humor, the Angels & Airwaves guitarist also says he admires Hoppus’ methodic acquisition of knowledge.
“On a more serious note, besides just your humor, I think when you decide to get into gardening, you go deep, or you get into fishing, or you get into World War II, and all these things I’ve watched you get into over the years. Scuba diving—‘Well, I’ll be a master scuba diver.’ You just go deep on these things, but you retain the knowledge, and you do it in such a way that when you describe it, it’s really interesting, and you trim all the fat. Me, on the other hand, when I describe something, I’m all passionate, and I’m all over the place. You describe it like a scientist that learned the ins and outs of it. And I really admire that.”
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In a hopeful view of the future, DeLonge shared how his son’s friends and passion for skateboarding reminds him of the early blink days.
“Him and his buddies are going to skate parks and are just roaming all over Encinitas,” DeLonge says. “It’s identical to us, and what’s even funnier is Dickies are the biggest thing ever. And I was telling you about this before, but they look like us, too. It’s just funny. They’ve got the big Dickies, and they’ve got the skateboards, and they’ve got the same crazy hair or whatever. It’s just identical. It’s just really weird to me. I had to pull up old photos of us, and I was like, ‘We literally look like each other,’ these big Dickies and shit.”
DeLonge is set to lead Angels & Airwaves on an upcoming fall tour. Get tickets to the upcoming tour here, and find tour dates below.
What do you think about the pop-punk stars’ reunion? Listen to the nostalgia-heavy conversation here, and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Angels & Airwaves tour dates:
07/31 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
09/29 – Riverside, CA @ Riverside Municipal Auditorium
09/30 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
10/02 – Troutdale, OR @ Edgefield Concerts
10/03 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
10/05 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union Event Center
10/06 – Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
10/08 – Minneapolis, MN @ Skyway Theatre
10/09 – Chicago, IL @ Radius Chicago
10/10 – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
10/12 – Newport, KY @ PromoWest Pavilion at Ovation
10/13 – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
10/15 – Oxon Hill, MD @ The Theatre at MGM National Harbor
10/17 – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
10/19 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
10/20 – Boston, MA @ House Of Blues Boston
10/22 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
10/23 – New York City, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
10/24 – Norfolk, VA @ The Norva
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10/26 – St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live
10/27 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
10/28 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
10/30 – Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom
10/31 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at The Moody Theatre
11/01 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues Houston
11/03 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
11/05 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
11/06 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
11/07 – San Diego, CA @ SOMA
3/10/22 – Leeds, UK @O2 Academy Leeds
3/11/22 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Academy Birmingham
3/12/22 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Academy
3/13/22 – Glasgow, UK @ 02 Academy
3/15/22 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City
3/16/22 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy Bristol
3/17/22 – London, UK @ O2 Forum Kentish Town
3/18/22 – London, UK @ O2 Forum Kentish Town
3/20/22 – Paris, FR @ Trianon
3/22/22 – Munich, GM @ TONHALLE
3/23/22 – Berlin, GM @ Huxleys Neue Welt
3/25/22 – Köln, GM @ E-Werk
3/27/22 – Hannover, GM @ Capitol Hannover