(I originally planned on highlighting multiple bands with 1 post, however, that got lengthy, so I am breaking it down into a multi part series. Enjoy)
Is a band measured as the sum of its whole, or are the parts more interchangeable than we
realize? Does one man change a band? What about two, or three? When is a band no longer what it once was and
just a shell of itself? What if someone
leaves, do you fill in their parts, or just not do those songs anymore? Is it
up to the fans, or the bands, who really gets to decide what makes a band? I guess if ticket and album sales go down,
you might say its up to the fans, but if a band continues on, regardless, are
they really that band anymore? How many
more ambiguous questions can I ask and still have your attention?
So what am I getting at?
When bands change out members, does it matter? More importantly should bands be able to use
their name in any capacity regardless of the members?
Blink 182
This is really the whole reason this whole question came
about. Blink 182 is back, Kind of. It’s no longer The Mark, Tom and Travis Show;
but instead the Mark, Matt and Travis Show.
Basically, if you don’t know, Tom Delonge is out of the group, and Matt
Skiba of Alkaline Trio has taken his place. Some people love it, odd purists hate it, but
the question remains, Is it still Blink 182?
Let’s go back to the beginning, maybe I can make a more
better point.
By the time What’s My Age Again? brought the band their
breakthrough success, they were already on their third album and second
drummer. Sure Dammit had airplay and the
band was on the Warped Tour, but 1999’s Enema of the State was the album that
cemented them as the leaders of the pop punk movement.
But originally it was the Mark, Tom and Scott show. Scott Raynor
played drums for the first six and a half years of the band’s
existence. You can see him in the band’s early video’s even the one for Dammit:
See, I wasn’t lying. So in mid 1998 Scott had been heavily drinking
and had never liked the direction Tom and Mark wanted to go in, so Mark and Tom
got rid of him and recruited Travis Barker from The Aquabats to be their new
drummer. Mind you this happened mid tour
and Travis had to learn the set list in like a day.
Listen, I will be the first to admit that
Travis brought a whole new aspect to the band that Scott never could. Scott was a drummer, Travis Barker is an
artist. Just check out this live version
of Stay Together For The Kids, put on headphones and pull in all the Travis
that you can.
The other thing you can really see in that video is the
difference between Mark and Tom’s reverence for the music. What exactly happened to Tom’s voice, we will
never know. I still listen to Angels and Airwaves. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves,
So Barker joined the band in 98 and they became a
sensation. Were they destined to reach
that with any drummer? Who knows, but they did it. Everything they did for the
next 7 years was golden and loved by their fans new and old. During 2002 Delonge and Barker had a side
project, you may remember as Boxcar Racer.
Barker also played drums in Transplants, another side
project,
Blink put out their self titled album in 2003 and it had a
new sound that was still a hit, but I already told you that they remained
successful. Then in 2005, they took a
break, a hiatus if you will. Tom started
Angels and Airwaves, Mark and Travis had Plus 44 and Travis had a reality show on MTV plus
his work with DJ AM. So the boys of Blink stayed busy as they could.
The guys didn’t really speak to each other until 2008 after
Barker had been involved in a plane crash that took 4 lives but spared him and
DJ AM. Barker required hospitalization
and surgeries and it was in the hospital where the 3 met up and worked out a
comeback.
So they released a new album in 2011 and an EP in 2012, but they lacked something, and I already
showed you what happened to their live shows.
In 2015 Delonge bowed out from the recording process and was replaced in
future gigs by Matt Skiba. Eventually
leading to Matt becoming a full-time member ahead of the band. They recorded a new album, California,
released July 1st 2016 and to be honest, what I have heard so far is
not all that bad. Take a look yourself.
But what about the old songs and Tom’s parts? I thought you
might ask that, so I dug this up.
It’s acoustic, and Travis is not there(he doesn’t travel by
plane anymore) So it’s the best there is
out there right now. There is some
electric videos, but all fan shot. Plus
this gives you an idea of the new dynamic Matt brings to Tom’s old parts. Not
to mention, who doesn’t like a good engagement.
Also, I just want to point out, despite what you’ve heard, Tom isn’t out of the band so he can research UFOs, he’s been doing that since
he was in the band.
So, anyways, that’s
it on the Blink 182 story for now. They
are still Blink 182, even if they only have 1 original member. I guess that’s what most bands decide to
do.
Also, here’s what Tom is doing these days. It's music that coincides with a story. look it up. It's a nifty idea.
Look at that, a whole post, and I didn't say fuck.
