Opening with ‘Anthem Part Two’, drummer Travis Barker begins with palpitations on his drum kit as all falls silent, soon followed by the metallic twang of a guitar and the crowd starts to churn with motion. It’s a zero to one hundred moment apt for a band that rarely leaves anything in the dressing room. Lyrics, “we really need to see this through” is a fitting motif to mark the set – and the tour for that matter. Immediately following is ‘The Rock Show’, a middle finger meets meta moment lyrically for the band; the members clearly have a lot of fun with it. 

The audacious nature of the band’s crude but iconic lyrics are easily understandable in the moments between songs. With a carefree irreverence, the returning DeLonge lets slip that “all the people from last night were ugly”, an incentive to scream louder if ever you’ve heard one. These small moments of crowd interaction are met with laughter as DeLonge and bassist Mark Hoppus riff between each other, showcasing how a friendship as long and complex as theirs leaves a bond that doesn’t take long to reconfigure. 

As we enter the second half of the show, a giant red van descends from the rafters during the slight respite of the slower paced ‘Up All Night’. To the momentous surprise of the room, the van begins to turn with the approaching bridge of the song to reveal the nurse from the cover of album ‘Enema of the State’. With this, we are plunging into ‘Dysentery Gary’; guitar and drum began to hum in unison as the notes seem to blend into one another, with a ferocity like no other – relentless is the word as following on is ‘Dumpweed’, another song that ups the ante of musical limits. Pyrotechnics – a staple for the band – sees fire blaze around their performance space, even their backdrop is on the edge.

A complaint if there is one, is that Blink are very much an all or nothing band, their live set is lacking the nuance and variance that their discography seems to have. Maybe criticising them for bringing what can only be described as unceasing pace to their tracks is a little unfair considering how well the pit seems to take this change, only perhaps rivaled by the screams coming from the rafters; however it’s noticeable with track ‘Stay Together For the Kids’. The live version melts with anonymity into the setlist, whereas the recorded counterpart has a grander and more poignant composition that takes its time to build.

Barker’s talent is mesmerising, and it’s easy to get lost in the insatiable drum patterns he maintains throughout the entire show. He is hoisted into the air with his kit as he plays back to back tracks downwardly titling to the audience, yet his composure doesn’t even flicker. DeLonge and Hoppus spend minutes baiting the crowd into thinking Barker is dying to speak to everyone, and when the moment finally comes, all he says is “Hey London” before continuing drumming to the great pleasure of the crowd who love the raucous moment. These three know how to play to all their strengths, a harmony from three decades of musicianship, and Barker’s desire to perform is purely musically based – and with skills like his, you really can’t blame him.

They play the iconic Top Gun melody to open ‘What’s My Age Again’ which, considering their blatant Americanism, seems a fitting addition and nod to the contemporary success of the story in the film. It draws parallels with the band themselves, a symbol of the states that still transcends what it represents – a line that is so carefully tread by the band and their music. With this, they are officially on a whistle stop tour of their greatest hits. Whether it is the band being drowned out during the crowd’s voices chanting the “where are you? And I’m so sorry” of ‘I Miss You’, or a whirlpool of space for a pit opening as ‘All The Small Things’ starts. The nostalgia packed within this final half an hour is more than most band’s can say about their setlists. 

No one can discredit blink 182 on their legacy, and what is better yet still is that the threesome still go at it with the same adolescent vigour of days past. They are where technical skill meets childish candour – a combination so distinctive you’d only need to read that to know who this review showcases.

JESSICA MCCARRICK

While we all pretended that Matt Skiba singing ‘Aliens Exist’ is something we wanted, it never sat right. That’s no slight on Skiba, he was an ample stand-in for a band that in hindsight probably should’ve taken another hiatus following DeLonge’s departure, but it’s just not blink-182 and his strengths lie better in the darkness of Alkaline Trio.

DeLonge’s return was treated as a prodigal son moment but a question loomed over any potential new material – would it be any good? We’ve already seen what a dysfunctional Blink can produce – the confused mess of 2011’s ‘Neighborhoods’ – and the final record of the Skiba era, 2019’s ‘Nine’, should never have made it out of the recording studio.

The first single ‘Edging’ didn’t help to dispel the nagging feeling that this wasn’t going to be as great as we had hoped. It’s a corny, bopping track with juvenile lyrics and a paint-by-numbers modern day pop punk chorus. If this was to be a taster of what was to come, it didn’t inspire confidence.

However, ‘One More Time’, Blink’s ninth full-length record, is a triumph. It’s everything that everyone who picked up their self-titled album back in 2003 would hope it to be. It’s dark, it’s fast, it’s (by blink-182 standards) mature and it’s an album that only a Tom, Mark and Travis blink-182 could produce.

From the opening riff of ‘Anthem Part 3’ (feeling nostalgic yet?) which flies straight into Travis’ signature ‘Enema of the State’-era double time drumming, it signals that the old Blink you’ve been waiting for all these years are back. DeLonge has left behind the half-arsed vocal performances that plagued ‘Neighborhoods’, and it’s just like it’s the year 2000 all over again.

But just when you thought it couldn’t get anymore Blink, DeLonge makes a masturbation joke heading into the punchy, nouveau pop punk anthem ‘Dance With Me’. It hits all the right sweet spots – it has an earworm of a guitar hook, it’s fast as a bolt and then the chorus’ ‘oles’ will ring around arenas across the globe for the coming years.

The trio lean into the nostalgia factor on this record but while previous efforts have made it sound like a bunch of old guys wishing they were 22 again – and writing to that effect – this is far more reflective. ‘When We Were Young’ is a celebration of their youth but also accepting that those days are in the past while the synth-heavy ‘Blink Wave’ is another tale of young love.

There are sombre moments such as ‘You Don’t Know What You’ve Got’, in which Hoppus details his battle with cancer. Reminiscent of ‘Adam’s Song’, it’s Hoppus’ incredibly personal and heartbreaking realisation that his life could be coming to an end. It’s summed up in the gut wrenching line – “this poison skin you can’t touch, go on without me my love”.

The acoustic title track sees DeLonge and Hoppus provide a frank, honest detail on the band’s relationship, it’s falling apart and how their wish is just do this all again “one more time”. It’s a beautiful tale of the importance of friendship and how they’ve neglected it at certain points. The delicate and poignant chorus of – “Do I have to die to hear you miss me? Do I have to die to hear you say goodbye?” – really hits hard.

In tracks like ‘Terrified’ (a re-worked song originally intended for Box Car Racer), the absolutely thrashing ‘More Than You Know’ and ‘Turpentine’, you have some of the best punk rock songs Blink have written in years. And even in the little interludes (‘Turn This Off!’ and ‘Fuck Face’) they have their own little ode to the hardcore/skater punk scene that brought them to this world in just 30 second blasts.

In the build-up to their return, it felt a little unbelievable, that in an interview with the band, DJ Zane Lowe was eulogising how ‘One More Time’ is “the best album you’ve ever made”. However, while it may not reach the adoration levels of an ‘Enema of the State’ or ‘Take Off Your Pants and Jacket’ for fans, it is up there with some of the band’s best work.

It’s the sound of three best friends making the music they’ve wanted to make for years. It’s an emotional rollercoaster but it’s a hell of a ride. Lyrically it’s heartfelt, honest and at times brutal with a sprinkling of the cheekiness that makes Blink still Blink while musically it’s fast, hard and well thought out. There is minimal borrowing from other genres and where previous records have seemed confused, ‘One More Time’ couldn’t be more focused.

It not only stands up to the hardcore fans but it is a genuinely good punk rock record and one of the best the genre has seen in a while. After years of waiting and wondering whether we’d ever see the trio on the same stage together again, it feels so good to have the Tom, Mark and Travis Show back.

TOM WALSH

Pryzm is a nightclub in Kingston that has recently begun to host one-off shows, and tonight Blink-182 are in town to play two very intimate acoustic sets to celebrate the release of new album ‘NINE’, with Mark Hoppus and Matt Skiba leading the crowd through singalongs galore – a very different way to spend a Friday night. Opening on ‘Darkside’, the audience is entranced from the first note, and while Hoppus has had a chequered history when performing live – having been under the weather a lot – tonight he sounds pitch perfect, whilst Skiba perfectly compliments the lower tones of his band mate. 

The set leans very heavily on the newer material, with ‘Cynical’ leading into a mesmeric ‘Bored to Death’ – a highlight of the entire set. Throughout the show, the crowd sound as loud as the band, the lyrics being shouted back through every song. The older material gets the biggest reaction though, and blink-182 have fine tuned these songs to sound as vibrant acoustically as they do when played in full. ‘Down’ still rumbles through the speakers, with Hoppus’ chorus being especially chilling and ‘I Miss You’ sounding somehow even more haunting acoustically, with the pain of the lyrics being emphasised with the quieter guitars, packing a hefty emotional punch. 

The crowd plays their part throughout, with some questions that are randomly thrown out answered. Hoppus replies that blink-182 will be back sometime next year, and after a highly charged ‘I Really Wish I Hated You’ an audience member asks if the song is about former singer Tom DeLonge. Hoppus, quick witted as always, shuts down the fan, saying that it’s definitely not about DeLonge and that it is, in fact, a beautiful love song, whilst Skiba laughs in the background. The surprise of the night comes in the form of a cover of Post Malone’s ‘A Thousand Bad Times’, which could easily have passed as a blink-182 original, the ease with which they apply the pop-punk treatment really highlighting the talent this band possesses. 

The finale comes in the form of one of the band’s biggest songs, ‘All The Small Things’, which would’ve had the biggest singalong of the night bar none had they not then launched into ‘Family Reunion’, the expletive filled song that sees the whole crowd singing along. blink-182 are the band that people have grown up with, that people are introducing their kids to, and whilst the older material is undeniable as some of the best songs pop-punk has ever seen, the new material is still almost as good. A band who can reinvent themselves to make an acoustic show as good as a full live show, using both new and old material, are a special band. Nine albums in, blink-182 still provide one of the most fun nights out.

ADAM ROSARIO

Gone was the frosty, failing relationship vibes of DeLonge and Mark Hoppus, and each show became a celebration of a beloved band that some considered to have lost their way. Lessons had been seemingly learnt from the overambitious, genre-confused misstep of 2011’s ‘Neighborhoods’, and as new material began to filter out from the trio’s new look, there was cautious optimism.

‘California’ saw Blink embrace their pop punk sensibilities and with Skiba’s trademark rasping vocals and desire to write material that would be the day to Alkaline Trio’s night, it resulted in one of their most popular and commercially successful records in 15 years. Now, four years into the blink-182.0 project, it feels as though ‘Nine’ is yet another misstep.

Much like ‘Neighborhoods’, ‘Nine’ is ready to challenge its listeners but, unfortunately, it finds the same struggles that the 2011 effort encountered. It’s an incredible slog of a listen, dipping between ballads, auto-tuned vocals, ill-thought out rap tracks and the occasional cleansing tonic of 60-second blasts of ferocious punk (see ‘Generational Divide’ and ‘Ransom’).

Starting in very much the nostalgia-laden motifs you would come to expect from blink, both ‘The First Time’ and ‘Happy Days’ tell tales of those carefree teenage days. While it’s not quite ‘First Date’ and ‘The Rock Show’ territory, all the hallmarks are there, from stealing kisses off girls at drive-in movies to that first swig of beer on endless sunny days.

There’s an enormous juxtaposition between the starry-eyed yearning for yesteryear in the achingly boring, try-hard-anthem ‘Blame It On My Youth’, and the dark, masochistic ‘Heaven’, in which Hoppus strains the line of “heaven doesn’t want me anyway”.  There are moments of heartbreak in the lyrics of ‘Hungover You’ but it is underscored by a shopping centre rap track and a chorus that could have been on absolutely any low-rent drum n’ bass song of the past five years.

That is the overwhelming frustration with ‘Nine’ – there is a good record in there, but it has been swamped with autotune, synths, and unnecessary blast beats. There are some excellent moments, such as the dance-punk-fused ‘Darkside’ and the massive chorus of ‘No Heart To Speak For’, but these are few and far between. 

While once blink were the pioneers and innovators of pop punk, ‘Nine’ seems to have been influenced by too many of their 2019 contemporaries in the genre. Musically, there is nothing that really sets it apart from the other faceless bands that clog up pop punk on both sides of the Atlantic, and while there are moments of dark and delicate storytelling, it is not enough to carry the full album.

It is hard to quite pinpoint who ‘Nine’ was written for. It has a sound that will feel alien to hardcore Blink fans and doesn’t really capture the imagination for newer pop punk fans, while those with a passing interest will probably just pose the question “wait, this is what blink-182 sounds like?”.

Perhaps it wasn’t written for anyone. Maybe it was a cathartic experience for Hoppus, Skiba and Barker (and the other 17 collaborators), but it just feels like another stumble in the post-DeLonge blink world.

TOM WALSH

The pair have just today dropped the news, and with it the first single from that EP, ‘destruction’.

The EP is due to drop September 20th, so there’s just a month to go before we’re treated to the full collab.

nothing,nowhere. (or Joe Edward Mulherin) detailed the collaboration explaining, “Travis has been a huge influence on me my whole life. He is the reason I became interested in tattoos at a young age and was also one of the main reasons I decided to start learning how to play instruments. Working with him was some of the most fun I’ve had making music. it was just an organic process, it reminded me of hanging at a friend’s house when I was younger and just creating to create.”

Barker remarked, “I love making music with Joe. He lives in a universe between genres like myself and does it so well. It’s like hanging out with an old friend that skates, listens to everything I do, and we just happen to be making music at the same time. Joe’s a triple threat, this EP showcases that”.

With such an obvious bond between the pair, this EP is bound to be something very special and we can’t wait to check it out. In the mean time, however, watch the video for ‘destruction’ below and don’t forget you can catch nothing, nowhere. at Reading and Leeds later this month.

Along with the announcement comes the full tracklist for the upcoming album, to be released on 20 September – check it out below. Digital pre-orders for the album will start at midnight tonight (and let’s face it, it’ll still be five billion degrees outside and we’ll all still be awake) here, with limited edition vinyl, cassettes, and CDs to come.

Fans who pre-order the album digitally will also receive an instant download of new track ‘Darkside’, which will also be released at midnight tonight. Head here to watch the lyric video when it drops in just a few hours.

Excited yet? We are.

NINE Track List:
1. The First Time
2. Happy Days
3. Heaven
4. Darkside
5. Blame It On My Youth
6. Generational Divide
7. Run Away
8. Black Rain
9. I Really Wish I Hated You
10. Pin the Grenade
11. No Heart To Speak Of
12. Ransom
13. On Some Emo Shit
14. Hungover You
15. Remember To Forget Me

Out of nowhere, our social media feeds were blowing up with the news, which came complete with the release of the band’s first single, ‘Drug’ and a lyric video to match (below).

The track is super catchy, perfectly encapsulating everything we love about both All Time Low and more recent Blink 182, so it’s no surprise that it was hugely popular among the pair’s friends and thus chosen as the band’s first single.

Speaking to Kerrang!, Hoppus explained, “Drug is always the first song we play people when introducing them to Simple Creatures, so it only makes sense that it’s the first single.”

“I love the ratty guitar lead mixed with the thumping kick drum. Lyrically, the song is about being destroyed by the things you love.”

Gaskarth said: “Drug is a song about someone or something you want the most, being terrible for you… Feels great until it doesn’t, but then you can’t stop.

“In the studio it felt immediately like it was the song that best defined Simple Creatures; it’s gritty, grimy, rooted in the musicality we both came up on, but with a twist that takes it away from anything we’ve worked on before.”

Simple Creature’s first EP will be arriving in March with more details to follow soon.

The record will be available in three colour variants – blue, pink and green – and will come dressed in the cover art to match.

For old fans of the band, made up of four members including Blink-182’s Travis and Mark, this is a great opportunity to add to their collection.

The pink and blue variants are available for pre-order now for release on April 12, while the green variant will be released later in the year for Black Friday (November 29).

SRCVinyl will be stocking all variants, with the blue cover/LP also being available to purchase from a number of retailers, too.

Pre-order now!

(While you sit around and wait for April, why not catch up on the (un)official saddest album to ever exist starting with the title track…)