Blink-182 Speak On Travis Barker’s Plane Crash
The members of Blink-182 have reason to celebrate the long-awaited release of their new album, Neighborhoods. Although the music’s subject matter has been described as some of their darkest, the set is a light at the end of long, arduous tunnel. In the almost eight years since their self-titled last album dropped, the trio experienced a painful split in late 2004, the death of longtime producer Jerry Finn and drummer (and arguably most popular of the three) Travis Barker nearly perished in a plane crash back in September 2008.
In a Q&A with Billboard, bassist Mark Hoppus breaks down the group’s road to recovery.
How did you find out about Travis’ plane crash?
“I was asleep at my house in Los Angeles, and one of my very good friends called and I answered the phone. It was unusual that he’d call me so early in the morning, and I picked up the phone and he said, “Are you okay?” And I said, “Yeah, why, what’s up?” And he told me what had happened, and it was… awful. It sucks. It was one of the worst things to ever have to hear. I got on the next plane I could, out to where Travis was, in the hospital. It was awful.”
How quickly after the crash did you decide it was a priority for Blink to get back together?
“After Travis was in the plane crash, Tom reached out to him, just to say, “Hey, I hope you’re okay, I’m thinking of you,” and that was the first time they had spoken in five years. And not long after that, I talked to Tom. It was a while – weeks and months before we started talking about Blink at all. But mostly it was connecting as people again.”
After working so closely for such a long time, you guys really didn’t speak for almost half a decade?
It was a very strange time, for sure. I think for everybody involved it was difficult — a loss of identity, a loss of purpose, but also a refocusing of identity and refocusing of purpose.
