The drama continues as Blink 182 members Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker exchange blows online with their bandmate Tom Delonge. Earlier, both Hoppus and Barker announced that their guitarist has "indefinitely" left the band and that he will be replaced by Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba for an upcoming set at this year's Musink Festival.
The two also sat down with Rolling Stone to give a tell-all interview regarding their relationship with Delonge and the current status of the band.
They revealed that things have never been the same with Delonge, describing their reunion as being "questionable". Barker blasted at his bandmate calling him "ungrateful" and "disengenuous."
When the news first came out, Delonge immediately countered with an Instagram post saying that he "didn't quit the band," Hoppus calls it out differently.
"There are legalities involved with this. As Tom pointed out, he technically didn't quit the band. Then it gets all lawyer-y, which I will leave to the attorneys and managers. I just want to go out and play Blink songs," he said.
Delonge has since defended himself via a message on his Twitter account saying "A year ago Mark and I spent a week on the phone with managers debating parting ways with Travis... Don't pretend there isn't more to this story."
The tweet has been deleted shortly after it was published.
Now, Delonge issues an explanation from his camp by publishing an open letter addressed to the fans regarding the matter.
Quotes from the letter appears below via Consequence of Sound.
"The big reset was when I tried to put together a band summit in Utah where we'd talk and work things out. It quickly was narrowed down to three hours in someone's dressing room in a shitty casino. What I hoped would be a positive get-together away from everything turned into an awkward meeting in a smelly convention hall dressing room. But it was there that I told Mark and Travis that as long as we talked, and things were good between us as real friends, that I would be engaged and work passionately. I'd mirror our personal relationship. Exact words."
In the letter, he once again states that he is not quitting and that he never "planned" to.
"Sad for you- that you're witnessing this immaturity.
I know them very well, and their current actions are defensive and divisive.
I suppose they're doing this as a way to protect themselves from being hurt.
Like we all do.
And even as I watch them act so different to what I know of them to be, I still care deeply for them. Like brothers, and like old friends. But our relationship got poisoned yesterday.
Never planned on quitting, just find it hard as hell to commit."
Read the whole letter here.
Check back frequently at Franchise Herald for more news and updates on Blink 182's Tom Delonge.
