Search Results for: Blink-182

Most viewers of “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” see the show’s cast as nothing more than a group of spoiled, plastic rich kids. Some don’t even think they’re real people at all. So one of the show’s stars, 18-year-old Dieter Schmitz, decided to change the public’s perception of him and his fellow OC-ites. And he’s enlisted some pop-punk all-stars to help him do it. Schmitz, now a freshman at San Diego State University, created Running Home 4 Teens, a charity event designed to raise money for teenagers suffering from depression and chemical dependency. His idea was simple: people could… Read more »

It’s fitting that the title of the new Blink-182 single connotes permanence. The release of “Always” has given the band’s year-old untitled album unprecedented longevity. “It’s the first time we’ve ever had four singles,” singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge explained. “[This album] is like ‘The Little Engine That Could.’ We even talked about a fifth single. We’ve never done this before. It is kind of weird that we’re still around.” Since the band’s sixth album dropped last November, it’s yielded the singles “Feeling This,” “I Miss You,” “Down” and “Always,” which is expected to surface at radio next week. Should there be… Read more »

Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge already wears many hats: singer/guitarist, clothing-line impresario, political activist. Now he’s adding another cap to his spiky dome: music video director. DeLonge took time off from stumping for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. On their Web site, TBS wrote that “We spent a very hectic 48 hours flying from Dallas to L.A. back to Nashville to shoot our next video with our good friend Thomas DeLonge. He had a great visual concept and was a very enthusiastic, focused and attentive first-time director. “There is a lot of colorful live performance footage as well,” the statement continued. “The… Read more »

Despite their hackneyed interchangeability, there’s a difference between a rock concert and rock show. Anyone thinking of challenging this should check out a stop on Blink-182 and No Doubt’s monthlong co-headlining trek. Even though they recorded a song called “The Rock Show,” Blink’s set Thursday night at the PNC Bank Arts Center definitely fell on the concert side of the spectrum. Bassist Mark Hoppus and guitarist Tom DeLonge stood dwarfed by the vast, mostly barren stage, save for five trapezoidal video screens positioned behind them. Were it not for a shirtless, mohawked Travis Barker peering down from a massive drum… Read more »

If the actors in Blink-182’s new video appear to have that gangsta look perfected, it’s no credit to their thespian skills. They’re just being themselves. Around 100 former gang members make up the cast of “Down,” the third video from Blink-182’s latest album. They belong to an organization called Suspect Entertainment, which casts ex-gangbangers in film and television roles as a way to keep them off the streets and away from the thug life. The “Down” video opens with a shot of a house party. Everyone is eating, dancing and having a good time until the police show up, looking… Read more »

Avid C-Span viewer and Blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge is stumping for Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry on the campaign trail. “I’m only twenty-eight, and I spent the last twelve years in a band, trying to ruin my life,” DeLonge says. “But Kerry’s awesome! Ever since he got out of Vietnam, he’s come back and led the most amazing life, bettering himself the whole way.” DeLonge – whose brother Shon is a member of the Navy’s Special Forces stuck in the Middle East – has been helping out the Kerry campaign for the past two months, chasing the skate-punk vote. Blink-182’s… Read more »

There’s one drawback to Blink-182’s decision to release “I Miss You” as their next single. “This is the thing, the song’s really hard to play,” singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge said backstage at KROQ-FM’s annual Almost Acoustic Christmas on Sunday. “We’ve never played it before. We might play it in the future, or we might have it on a ghetto blaster onstage and we might do an interpretive dance. It’s one of those things, but it’s gonna be good, though, no matter what it is.” It’s not like the band doesn’t have a good excuse for not having the ballad of sorts… Read more »

The monitors backstage at KROQ-FM’s Almost Acoustic Christmas festival on Sunday were broadcasting the performances nearby, but discussion in the dressing rooms centered on what was unfolding on TV screens everywhere else. Saddam Hussein had just been captured. “Today’s a good day,” said Mark Hoppus, singer/bassist of Blink-182, who recently traveled to the Middle East to perform for U.S. troops. “We think it’s funny that a big turd like him got caught as a coward in a little hole with rats and lice,” added singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge, whose brother serves in the Navy. “He’s not ever coming back [to power].… Read more »

They used to be irreverent punks out for cheap thrills and even cheaper laughs, but now Blink-182 are a changed band. Their untitled new record is more experimental and multidimensional than 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, adding a variety of styles (electronic rock; jangly, melancholy pop; reflective alt-rock) to their foundation of bouncy beats and kinetic guitars. It’s also more lyrically developed, trading tales of adolescent relationships for more serious dilemmas of adulthood. As singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge sang in the band’s 1997 breakthrough hit “Dammit,” “I guess this is growing up.” Growing up has a lot to do… Read more »