Blink 182 and Taking Back Sunday are set to perform a benefit concert on September 6 in San Diego for professional surfer Jason Bogle, who suffers from a rare kind of bone cancer called Ewing Sarcoma. At the same time, Blink 182 is readying the release of a new self-titled album, the follow-up to 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Your Jacket. The set hit stores on November 18.
Some parents who take their kids to Blink 182’s shows are often surprised at the giant burning expletive in the background, but band members Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge revealed that their performances shouldn’t come as a shock.
Hoppus explains, “There’s been a few parents that have taken their kids out of the shows because I guess, whatever… We’ve been doing the exact same stuff onstage for the last nine years that we’ve been a band, and some people don’t know what to expect.”
Delonge adds, “Now there’s people watching us, so now all of a sudden now it’s a problem. Now it’s an issue.”
Fans can expect the same sense of humor on the new album, but with a different twist. Bassist Mark Hoppus said on the band’s official website, blink182.com, “We took our songwriting more seriously on this record than we have on other records. We didn’t want to go in to the studio and record the same album as we did last time. We just wanted to see where we could take our music.”
Blink 182 recently played two shows in the Middle East, including a concert at a military base in Bahrain and on an aircraft carrier in Kuwait. Hoppus wrote on the band’s official website, “We don’t really get involved in the whole political side of things, whether or not we should have gone to war. We’re going over there because these guys are putting their lives on the line.”
Blink 182 is nominated in the category of best group video for the song “First Date” at Thursday’s (August 28) MTV Video Music Awards.
After the benefit show, Taking Back Sunday will go on tour to support its 2002 release Tell All Your Friends. The band is scheduled to perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live on September 9.
