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Interview by PunkInterviews.com (2002)
Leah Weinberg: How did this whole tour come about?
Travis Barker: I don't know. We were gonna do the same tour we did last year pretty much and then we were like, Man we wish we could group up with another band that came from our genre and make it more like a festival deal. Everyone's big fans of Green Day or whatever, like we all respect each others' music, so we just thought it would be cool if us and Green Day did a tour together and took out some of our favorite bands like Jimmy Eat World and Saves the Day. It just happened. We were talking about it for years, but it just finally made sense.
L.W.: So, did you pick Jimmy Eat World and Saves the Day because you were fans?
T.B.: Well, to be honest with you, we picked Jimmy Eat World and Green Day picked Saves the Day.
L.W.: What are your hopes for this tour?
T.B.: I just hope we get through it with no one getting hurt or getting sick or breaking anything. It's going to be kind of crazy. We have a lot of pyro, my drum riser, during a part in the set where I do a drum solo, it's gonna go like 12 feet high in the air, over the crowd and like drop. I just hope everything's cool. I hope the guys that are working for us are like somewhat sober during show time.
L.W.: Do you have to practice with that at all?
T.B.: No, it's really weird. Last year we had a drum riser that lit on fire and spun. We didn't really have much or a rehearsal or anything. We didn't even know if I was going to do a drum solo. The first day I just got called out and then I had to do it the rest of the tour. It's kind of nice to just freestyle and see what happens. It's fun.
L.W.: What's your definition of pop music?
T.B.: You know what, when I think of pop music, I think of Elvis Costello or the Replacements or stuff like that. But I guess pop now is like the groups of the boys that sing the same songs.
L.W.: Where do you think pop music is headed?
T.B.: God, like I said I wish pop was like bands like Elvis Costello. I don't know. I mean, I consider the Goo Goo Dolls pop. But pop now is the like the boy groups and stuff. I wish there were rock bands that could be pop, but it's not like that right now.
L.W.: What role does MTV play in the music scene today?
T.B.: I think it pretty much makes or breaks bands to a certain point. I wish there was still something like Headbangers Ball or like the punk rock version of Headbangers Ball. That would be so cool. And there would be shows dedicated to a certain style of music, like how there's MTV hip-hop week, but I wish there was still something for hard rock or punk rock.
L.W.: Speaking of MTV, did you watch yourself on Cribs?
T.B.: Yeah, actually I watched most of it, which was cool.
L.W.: Was it weird?
T.B.: Yeah, it was kind of weird. I don't know. Cribs is such a weird thing. You're kind of like sitting there, showing off what you have, which is kind of retarded, but at the same time, I didn't even think about it like that. I didn't feel like I was bragging or anything. It felt pretty much like, Bam, this is what I've got, this is what I do, and if you don't like it, screw off, you know?
L.W.: Do you mind being portrayed as the quiet guy?
T.B.: No, not at all. I guess it doesn't really bother me. I guess people that know me or get to know me or hang out with me know I'm a complete asshole or I like to have a good time. On TV, I never want anyone to remember me as that party guy or like that guy that talked about his dick or talked about shit or fucking someone's mom. I'm really into music. I'm into more like the music side of things. Like when it comes to being in the band, I don't care about who's got the dopest car, who's the most popular. I'm just more into the other side of being in the band.
L.W.: Do you ever get annoyed during shows with all of the joking around?
T.B.: No, not at all. It's super-funny.
L.W.: What's your favorite joke?
T.B.: My favorite joke is probably when we fuck with people that are from a different country, that have bad English, and we'll totally repeat what they say. They'll say something really wrong and it's hilarious and they have no idea what we're talking about. We can say the word vagina and they have no idea what we're talking about. And they think we're talking rocket science. I think that's super-funny.
L.W.: Is there any part of your body that isn't tattooed?
T.B.: My left leg, my buttocks and my genitals.
L.W.: What's the cost of your tattoos?
T.B.: I'd probably guess maybe, like, 1500 bucks an arm and then another close to a grand on my chest and back. But I'm not finished yet.
L.W.: What are the plans?
T.B.: I might try to do either my rib cage or right above my penis. I want to do that and then I want to do a back piece. But I don't know how soon I can get anything done. I'm crazy busy.
L.W.: What do you enjoy the most about being in a band?
T.B.: Obviously doing what you love and getting paid for it is awesome. And there's a lot of good things that go along with it, like being able to write records, record, experiment and create something is super cool. The whole time you're getting paid for it and you get to see the world. It's cool. The only thing I don't like about it, the only complaint, is flying. I don't like that shit.
L.W.: Do you consider your music to be punk rock?
T.B.: Yeah, I mean to me it's not ever about music that makes something punk rock. It's like who's playing it and how they're living. How they're attitude and personality is, you know? I mean there's rappers that are punk rock. Ice T is punk rock. He's crazy and he'll offend everybody he possibly can. So I don't always think it's a music thing. I guess to kids nowadays they think if it's fast it's punk rock. But there's lots of fast music that's not punk rock. I guess it's just the message that's coming across and how it makes you feel.
L.W.: How important is image to the success of your band?
T.B.: I don't know. They were kind of pretty before I got in the band. I have no idea. It's a toss up. There's lots of girls that like our band. There's lots of guys that like our band. I have no idea. I don't really pay attention. I just do my thing or whatever.
L.W.: Tell me a little bit about this side project that you started
T.B.: It's called Box Car Racer. I was gonna do a side project when I got home from our last tour and then Tom was kind of writing songs. He hit me up, like Man, let's just do this together rather than you going off doing your own thing and me writing acoustic songs, let's just combine everything. So we did and we recorded a record a couple months ago. We're actually going to tour a little bit. Just play really small shows. We want it to be the exact opposite of Blink.
L.W.: What's the sound like?
T.B.: You can't really describe it. The way it was recorded, I've never heard another record sound like it. Every part of the song, the verse, chorus and bridge, is a different drum kit on each part of the song, so it sounds super fucked up. It's a little bit harder and slower than Blink. It's like Fugazi meets Quicksand meets crazy break beats. It's really weird. It's trippy. It's different though.
L.W.: When's the record supposed to come out?
T.B.: Last I heard, it's gonna drop May 4.
L.W.: What was your favorite video to do?
T.B.: I'd probably have to say "Stay Together for the Kids." That was just a cool video. It's wasn't super-funny or anything. It was more on the serious side. I like that a lot more. I think "First Date" is supper-funny too. They're both cool in their own way.
L.W.: How did you get involved with the Puff Daddy video?
T.B.: Puffy just put a call in to my manager and asked if I'd be interested in playing drums in his video and I said yeah. I love hip-hop music, so I was like oh that would be super cool. It was rad.
L.W.: Are each of you going to take your own individual tour bus out during this tour, as well?
T.B.: Yeah, I think we are. I mean, we're all married so our wives usually come with us for the majority of the time. I'm gonna bring my drum machine and some recording equipment so I can always mess around. It's hard when you're on a bus with three or five people and they're not into hearing music on the tour bus.
L.W.: What's one thing on the tour bus you can't live without?
T.B.: I have to say satellite television. Say you bring like 20 DVD's, you get through them in the first two weeks. And then if your satellite doesn't work, it sucks.
L.W.: Do you have any preshow rituals?
T.B.: We just warm up. I've always warmed up. Mark and Tom just started warming up. It's better for the long run so you don't have fucked up muscles and your joints aren't all messed up. It's like religious for me. I warm up for at least an hour before every show.
L.W.: What's in your CD player right now?
T.B.: I'm listening to this CD called the Transplants. I'm playing drums on it. It's like crazy drum and bass punk rock music. It's Tim Armstrong from Rancid's band and I'm like studying that right now because I'm recording drums for it next week.
L.W.: What's the most important thing you've learned being in Blink 182?
T.B.: You learn a whole bunch, but I guess most importantly to have a good time. There's so many people out there in bands who are so concentrating on how they rock or how they look when they rock and how they act and being like a rock star asshole. We kind of just have fun with it. We never take ourselves seriously, like, "Yeah, we're gonna go out there and kick ass tonight." That would never come out of any of our mouths. We don't rehearse when we're home. We go on tour and we just play music. It's pretty random. You'd think that a band that has had the success we've had might practice everyday, rehearse and figure out what we're gonna wear.
L.W.: So, you guys don't practice when you're at home?
T.B.: No, we never practice. Lately me and Tom have another band, so we've been pratcicing a lot with our other band. But as far as Blink practicing, never.
L.W.: 3 words that describe Blink 182
T.B.: Assholes. Probably just a bunch of assholes, having fun playing music.
Interview by Guitar Center (2001)
GC: First off tell us about your Fender Guitar.
Tom: My Fenders are made specifically for me, which means they're probably worth nothing. I have a Fender Stratocaster made with a 70's head stock on it, rosewood finger board, with no finish on the back of the neck, one Seymour Duncan invader pickup with one volume knob, no other pickups or knobs and Spurzel locking tuners. I also have a Baritone Telecaster neck on a Stratocaster body, and I'm going to get another one. It's being made right now.
GC: So why did you decide to play a custom strat over just a standard?
Tom: I don't need the other pickups and I don't need the extra knobs, and I like the way Fender's 70's headstocks look, and I need different tuning pegs and it just kind of made sense to throw my favorite humbucker in there and change some hardware. I like to keep my rig as simple as possible - plug straight in and play! Switching pickups and all that kind of weird stuff becomes too tedious for me.
GC: Blink has a pretty straightforward sound. Do you use any pedals or effects?
Tom: Sound from the amplifier! I think it's a sin to plug into a pedal or any effects before plugging into an amp.
GC: So your amps must be pretty important to your sound then. What kind of rig do you play through?
Tom: I love my guitar rig! I love the way it sounds and I use it for one main reason: I think it adds the two elements of guitar sound you need to make a big fat sound. I use a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier and a Marshall JCM900. Mesa Boogies can have all that bottom end and saturation of distortion but it doesn't have that string note tone that a Marshall has. And Marshall has a lot of string note tone but none of that overdriven bottom end. So when you mix the two tones I think it sounds incredible. What I do is put the JCM900 on its clean channel and turn the gain up to 10 and I also do the same with the dirty channel on the Mesa. So you kind of have two totally different unique sounds blended in together. I run that out of 3, Mesa Boogie 4x12's.
GC: What is the coolest recent addition to your setup?
Tom: Probably my Triple Rectifier that's wrapped in snakeskin with the cool earth tone grill on it. It doesn't sound any different but it looks cool, and being the guitarist everything has to look good (laugh), and that's all that matters to me. Lights, shiny lights! The more money I spend, the more lights I want!
GC: What's next on your wish list?
Tom: You know, I want to add a third amp. I'm thinking of maybe adding like a Dual Professional, maybe a Fender Bassman, you know, just to get a beefier sound. Everyone I talk to says I don't need it. But we used one on the last record along with three other amps and I really like the way my guitar tone sounds on the record, so that's an option. Or maybe some more speakers to make it louder, maybe one of those Mesa Boogie Red Barons, those 300 watt amplifiers. That would be rad! I'd blow people's heads off!
GC: So, do you think it's more important to spend money on a powerful amp or a great guitar?
Tom: That's a hard one, because you could have a great sounding guitar and a sh---y amp and it would still sound pretty good. But the main thing that I think a lot of people don't realize is the pickup in their guitar is the number one thing that needs to be changed. I mean, if you have a good fat beefy pickup, it can make a sh---y amp sound much better. But if it's a sh---y pickup then the sound is going to suck from the beginning!
GC: Do you have a home studio to write or record in?
Tom: I don't really have a home studio, but I have a little room in my house where I record all my songs. I have a little Yamaha. It's a digital eight-track Minidisc or whatever. I also have a DAT player and a CD burner and other stuff like that. I don't really record seriously, I just record random guitar riffs and write chord progressions and stuff like that.
GC: How do you write? Do you have a song writing routine?
Tom: What I usually do is come up with a guitar riff I really like and structure the chord progressions around that. Then I'll change various parts of the song after I start adding melodies. I want the melody to be the best thing ever, so a lot of times a chord progression will change and then it will work its way down and I'll end up changing the main guitar riff. Sometimes I'll go up and down throughout a song and it will take a few months to get it to where I want it.
GC: Does everybody in the band contribute to the writing process?
Tom: Well, Mark and I write all the songs. But we sit down with Travis after it's pretty much done and do arrangements and stuff.
GC: Do you warm up before a performance?
Tom: I drink about three or four Red Bull energy drinks!
GC: No Stretching or anything like that?
Tom: No stretching. Don't need to. I'm not an acrobat, although a lot of people think I should be in a circus sideshow!
GC: What advice would you have for a musician who might want to model their career after yours?
Tom: Well if there's anybody out there who wants to do that, then their parents are probably going to disown them! They'd have to work really hard and move back in with their parents and tour in a van and really try, really, really hard to write the best songs you can. But don't just make records because you have songs in your head. If you have twenty songs you should probably make eight, and make them really, really good. I think a lot of people just write songs and put them on a record because they wrote it, and worked hard on it but it still may suck. You've got to have the ability to throw away songs and really pick out the good parts of each song and try to make each song the best it can be.
GC: What do you see as the differences between the new punk movement and the original punks? Where does Blink 182 fit into that picture?
Tom: I think that obviously the new punk rock sound is more of musicians trying to play their instruments and concentrate more on, if not their lyrics, then their melodies and harmonies and trying to integrate their music. You know back in the day, you'd have punk bands that didn't care about anything! I don't know where we fit in but I think that a lot of kids relate to us and see that "Hey these guys are normal dudes that just picked up guitars and had fun!" We're just one band out of a very positive movement. We've never been an angry band and we never want to be. We want people to have fun and say whatever they want to say and offend people and run around naked and do whatever the f--k they want to do!
GC: Blink 182 went from being a band that would open for acts such as NOFX and The Vandals to a band that recently headlined the Warped Tour.
Tom: Yeah, well we've grown up a lot since then. I think we've gotten better at what we do. (We've) Learned how to play our instruments better and learned how to play shows better and learned how to focus on our strengths. I think a lot of bands learn to do that when they get a little bit of success. I think it's necessary. Bands that don't learn that, you don't see them around for that long. So we're trying.
GC: In the early days Blink 182 didn't get a lot of radio airplay, but now you're played constantly. What's your perspective on why and how that happened?
Tom: You know we're on a big label and we write songs that are radio friendly, but that's not anything we haven't done in the past. I mean, even on our past records we got some radio airplay and it's just because our songs are that way. We never tried to write a radio song, it just happened. And we were like, "Let's not change what we're doing, let's try and do what we already do but better!" When we did "Enema of the State" we spent a lot more time and a lot more money to make the "perfect record." Now you hear it on the radio and it's just weird! I wish I could say that there was a formula. But there are so many great songs out there that just don't click on the radio and you wonder how that happens. I don't know. I have no idea!
GC: Do you think the record company has an influence on that?
Tom: Well yeah, when you are on a big label they have all the money and the control. They have so much power and there's so much politics in radio that it's not even about having a good song! It's about who you know, why and where. I don't know about politics. Independent promoters control every radio station. You pay them a lot of money or you don't get your song on the radio. It's weird, I just learned this sh-t like six months ago, I couldn't believe it!
GC: Do you shop at Guitar Center?
Tom: You know, I do shop at Guitar Center and I think every musician does. Every musician will sit there and go "f--k! Guitar Center sucks" but it's not true! Guitar Center is rad because they have such a wide selection. Every musician wants to think that Guitar Center sucks because it's so big. It's kind of like when a band is really big and you want to hate them, but you know they're good, so you kind of like 'em. It's kind of like that!
Interview by ADKG.com (1999)
We're talking with Mark from Blink 182. So did you have a lot of fun making the new album? Was it better than the other ones?
Mark: Yeah, we had a lot more time on this record, so we... We were able to try out everything we wanted to try out, that's the most important thing about recording is taking the time to try different ideas, that's what makes the record cool. It's the extra shit that we add in...
ADKG: How is Travis working out in the band?
Mark: It's great. Travis rules.
ADKG: Do you miss Scott [Raynor, the previous drummer] at all?
Mark: No.
ADKG: You don't?
Mark: Not at all.
ADKG: Like, was that left on good terms, or what happened?
Mark: No.
ADKG: Bad?
Mark: It wasn't on good terms.
ADKG: Ok... Are you planning on touring anymore after the Warped Tour ends?
Mark: We're gonna go to Europe, and then in the fall, come back and do our own US tour.
ADKG: So what's the next single going to be off the new album?
Mark: All The Small Things.
ADKG: Really? Someone told me Mutt was going to be released, is that true?
Mark: No, it's actually on a... The American Pie movie... It's in the movie.
ADKG: Yeah, I saw that. So are you guys actually naked in the video [What's My Age Again?] or...
Mark: Yes.
ADKG: Totally naked?
Mark: Most of it, yeah.
ADKG: Really? Where'd you guys film it at?
Mark: In L.A.
ADKG: Really?
Mark: Yeah.
ADKG: Did they close off the set or anything, or was it just running down the street?
Mark: No, there was a lot of outside stuff, we were... We had these flesh-colored speedos on, but we didn't tell any of the extras what was going on, and we didn't tell.. We left the streets open so that people... We would get people's real reactions.
ADKG: Well, it worked. I don't know if you know this, but your video's been on Total Request on MTV and-
Mark: I heard that.
ADKG: It's been recieved really well.
Mark: That's rad. It's so cool.
ADKG: It's like Britany Spears before you guys and N'Sync after...
Mark: I know... [laughs]
ADKG: Did you ever expect this kind of superstardom?
Mark: No... Well, we're not superstars at all.
ADKG: Oh, sure you are.
Mark: No, we're just guys in a band, Madonna's a superstar. [laughs]
ADKG: So what's been your favorite album to make so far?
Mark: Enema.
ADKG: Really?
Mark: Yeah, it was just good to have the time... We did it in San Diego, so we were closer to home.
ADKG: People say you're getting out of your little kid attitude and starting to get to the more serious side, do you think you are?
Mark: No, not at all. I think we're getting better as musicians and better as songwriters, but I don't think that our attitude has changed at all since we started.
ADKG: I've heard a couple of people call you guys sellouts, what do you think about that?
Mark: We never had anything to sell out, we never said that we wouldn't go on MTV, we never said we wouldn't go on radio, I don't have anything against MTV or the radio... Fuck 'em, I'm not gonna like... die wondering how far I could've gone with my band but I didn't because I was afraid of some 14-year old kid was gonna call me sellout while he takes his mom's car and goes to the movies, you know?
ADKG: Do you plan on ever doing other bands after Blink ends, or do you plan on doing this forever, or are you just not worrying about that?
Mark: I don't think about that. I mean, I'll do Blink as long as Blink's around... It's fun.
ADKG: So you'll keep going till you're sick of it?
Mark: Yeah.
ADKG: So, is Touchdown Boy a true story?
Mark: Yes, it's about one of our friends in San Diego.
ADKG: Are you playing Family Reunion [their song on the Short Music for Short People comp]?
Mark: Yeah, we are.
ADKG: How did that come about? Did Fat Mike just call you guys up, or what was...
Mark: Yeah...
ADKG: How'd you get involved in the project?
Mark: Well, we were actually doing that song... I dunno how that song came around, we were just fuckin' around on stage one time, and just did it, then Fat Mike said "Oh, we need a 30-second song," so oh, we'll do the Shit Piss song. And so we did it.
ADKG: It just worked out?
Mark: Yeah.
ADKG: Did your label have any problem with that, was MCA ok with you guys putting it on the comp?
Mark: Yeah, we have a... a clause in our contract, we can do any comp we wanna do.
ADKG: Alright. Well, that's it.
Mark: Alright, thanks a lot, you guys.
Interview by MH-18 (2002)
Jenny: You guys are all happily married or engaged now, but I assume you played the field to get to this point. Did you date a lot in high school?
Tom: I was Homecoming King, but I didn't date much. I had this one girl I liked. I took her to homecoming and she was totally lame. Most of the girls I liked in high school, I dated after high school and by that time I wasn't into them. So, I had my little revenge.
Travis: I had a lot of girlfriends in 10th grade, but then I had all long-term girlfriends after that.
Mark: Yeah, I dated the same girl all through high school.
Jenny: Sounds pretty successful
Tom: Not always. We have five records full of rejection stories.
Jenny: Like
Tom: The first time I fell in love I was a freshman in high school and had the audacity to pick up a senior and think that maybe she would end up loving me. I was in love with her-- Just totally head-over-heels puppy love. It wasn't real love, obviously, but it was the first time I really liked a girl.
Jenny: So, did you get her?
Tom: No, she thought I liked guys. Uh, that was a joke.
Jenny: I figured. Carry on.
Tom: Really, she was like I value our friendship' and stuff and I was like, What are you talking about?'
Jenny: Ouch she played the let's-just-be-friends card. Aside from me, girls suck. Do you have any advice for guys braving the rejection-ridden dating scene?
Travis: Just be you. Do what you want to do and say what you want to say. I think it's important to say what you're thinking without worrying about the consequences. Just be honest with her.
Tom: The only real advice I have is to not really care that much. In high school you're in love with everybody, everyone has their cliques, everyone is cooler than everyone else and image is so important. But the day you get out of high school that all changes and what really matters is that all the semi-nerdy girls turn really pretty, all the really pretty girls get fat and all the really ugly girls, kinda stay ugly
Mark: All the really pretty girls get pregnant.
Jenny: Nice.
Tom: Just to stick out your four years and you'll be stoked when you get out cause then everyone's normal again and image really doesn't matter and you'll find someone who really loves you and maybe, maybe that'll lead to some crazy, hot sex.
Jenny: While we're on the subject you guys talk about boobies' a lot. Is that your favorite female body part?
Tom: No. We talk about boob-ays a lot because, well, we don't know why... cause we're just kind of idiots. But my favorite body part would have to be the Labium Medora or Labium Minora. Hmm this is a health magazine, I better get this right.
Jenny: I'll look it up. (Actually, it's the Labia Majora and Minora Pudendi)
Tom: Specifically, it's the inside
(Tom notices my disgusted face)
Tom: OK. We won't go there. I like butts, I like eyes, I like knees, and I like legs
Jenny: If this question is too hard we can move on.
Tom: No, I've got it. I like an all-around woman. See if a girl has really pretty eyes but she has like five breasts, than that's not good. It doesn't matter if she has great legs if she has a peg leg and a patch over one eye. You know?
Jenny: So, it's the full package.
Tom: Actually, my favorite body part on a girl is
Jenny: Drum roll
Tom: Legs, I think. But I like butts too. I like butts a lot.
Jenny: Butts kind of go with the legs.
Tom: Right. It's actually kind of the same thing. I don't like them shaved though.
Jenny: So, let's get this straight. You like big, hairy legs leading to a hairy
Tom: No. I like shaved legs.
Jenny: Travis, help us out here. Please.
Travis: Mark and Tom talk about boobs. Not me. I like butts.
Jenny: You're a butt guy too. Tom just said he's a butt guy.
Travis: Really? Are you sure he wasn't talking about a guy?
Jenny: Pretty sure.
Travis: I'm definitely a butt guy. Breasts just don't do it for me.
Jenny: Amen to that. They just hang there
Jenny: What's up with the naked thing?
Mark: The naked thing was short-lived. It was only around for about six months because we thought it was shocking. Once people expected us to do it we kind of never did it again.
Jenny: So you started keeping it covered. But, your fans didn't. Works to your advantage, I guess.
Mark: Yes. We get to see lots of naked people. Actually, we were in Italy the other day and there was a completely naked guy jumping up and down for about 20 minutes. (Pause) And we see boobies too.
Jenny: Of course. Boobies.
Jenny: How'd you get hooked on music?
Tom: I wrote my first original song during my middle school trumpet years. It was called "My Mom's a Transvestite.
Jenny: I assume you never played it for her.
Tom: No, but she found out when my sister came home from school and was like, Mom, what's a transvestite?' She didn't think it as too funny.
Jenny: So, you all picked up instruments really young?
Travis: I played piano for four years, sang for eight years and have been playing drums for almost 12 years now. I was a total band kid. I was in Jazz Band, Drum corps, Drum Line and I would play in bands with my friends.
Mark: In high school I was in a band called, Of All Things.' We covered songs by Social Distortion and Bad Religion all of my favorite bands. I think we only had two original songs.
Jenny: And now you tour with those bands. Very cool.
Mark: It's really wild.
Jenny: How'd you guys hook up?
Tom: When I was 16, I met Mark through his sister. She was having sex with one of my friends.
Jenny: Naturally. Did you get along immediately?
Tom: No, I still don't click with the bastard. He's like a weirdo. He's into weird things like bestiality. He makes a joke of it
Jenny: But it's not a joke to you, right?
Tom: No. If you're going to love animals, you should love animals.
Jenny: Alrighty then. Really
Tom: OK. Right from the beginning all of our jokes and songwriting were the same. It was natural. Jokes came first and songwriting came second. We just had fun.
Mark: We're really good friends and we hang out. It's like I get to hang out with my friends and get paid for it.
Jenny: Not a bad deal. And in the middle of all this fun Enema of the State was having some crazy success. Do you think the new album, Take off Your Pants and Jacket, is as solid?
Travis: We had some success with Enema if the State, so we've accomplished our goals and are just writing what we want to write. Not that we didn't before, but we're just experimenting more now.
Jenny: So the new album is a high point for Blink?
Travis: Definitely. This album best represents us where we are today. People change so much in a year or two. Whether you're a band or an individual.
Mark: The new album is definitely the best, most-honest stuff we've ever done. We touch on divorce, relationships with girls, relationships with friends, the world
Jenny: Teen angst
Mark. I don't think of them as teenage songs. The things that happen to you in high school are the same things that happen your entire life. You can fall in love at 60; you can get rejected at 80. People are always going to give you shit and tell you how to live your life
Jenny: "Staying Together For the Kids, on the Take Off Your Pants And Jacket album, hits the issue of divorce. Is this related to your experience?
Tom: Yup. I was 18, sitting in my driveway when it all went down. So I just took everything from that day and put it into a song.
Jenny: Did you know they were having problems?
Tom: Shit was kind of happening, but I was gone all of the time out working and skating every day. I lived, ate and breathed skateboarding. All I did all day long was skateboard. It was all I cared about. So I didn't notice too much. When I got home that day, my dad's furniture was gone, my mom was inside crying and everything just erupted at that point.
Jenny: How did you deal with it?
Tom: My whole family life was deteriorating, so, I just moved out. I needed to grow and it helped to keep busy.
Jenny: Did you clash with your parents?
Mark: Of course. Parents don't understand kids and kids don't understand parents. My parents were divorced when I was really young and I went to live with my dad. He's very business-like
Jenny: Obviously, different from you.
Mark. Totally. He didn't understand me at all. We were like roommates he had his program and I had mine. He's a cool dad, though. The thing you realize as you get older is that parents don't know what the Hell they're doing and neither will you when you get to be a parent.
Jenny: So how do you deal with that?
Mark: You've just got to understand that people are human and they make mistakes. You've got to work with your parents and they've got to work with you.
Jenny: As long as you don't sacrifice the fun stuff, right?
Mark: Exactly
Jenny: Socially, where'd you guys stand in high school?
Travis: I was a stoner
Tom: Mostly, I was just a loud mouth who tried to make my friends laugh.
Mark: I used to wear eyeliner to school to fuck with the popular kids cause me and my friends listed to The Cure and The Smiths. We weren't totally Goths, but we listened to bands like that, you know.
Jenny: What if the "popular kids gave you a hard time?
Travis: I didn't care. I just hung out with my friends. They were mostly Hispanics, esses and stuff. They were tough. I had the right friends -- nobody was going to mess with me
Jenny: They had your back?
Travis: Totally.
Mark: We just kind of did our own thing and got made fun of by the popular kids. It was kind of like a badge of honor to be an outcast.
Tom: People were always getting beat up at my high school. We had skinheads and every other clique: People who hated people of color; People of color who hated white people; People in gangs who just hated everyone; and Jocks who hated everyone who didn't play football. I would just hang around with my friends and go skateboarding.
Jenny: Did you guys ever pound on anyone?
Tom: Fighting is just stupid. It's all so stupid. There are always going to be those people who have insecurities and are immature. If someone is pissed and they're throwing their fists in the air hoping to hit something to solve something it's just the dumbest thing.
Mark: Thank God I never got in a fight. All of the jock dudes hated me, but all of their girlfriends thought I was nice so they wouldn't touch me. It was infuriating to them.
Jenny: So, aside from fighting, how does a guy respond when someone is giving him a hard time?
Tom: You know what you do? You walk up to the guy and say Hey, it's fine you're picking on me, but if you want to deal with my family business' You know throw a little mob shit at him.
Jenny: Doesn't sound like a fool-proof plan to me.
Tom: OK. How about, if you're going to get your ass kicked or someone's being lame to you, just scream like a girl. What's he going to do if every time he comes near you you're screaming at the top of your lungs?
Jenny: Good point.
Mark: I just wouldn't let it bother you. Everything in high school seems like the most important thing that's ever happened in your life. It's not. You'll get out of high school and you never see those people again. All the people who torment and press you won't make a difference in your life in the long haul. Sure, you'll run into jerks like them out in the world, but you'll probably never see those actual people again.
Jenny: So screw them?
Mark: Screw them. Yeah. But not literally. I'm not advocating promiscuity
Did you ever get into serious trouble in school?
Tom: I was kicked out of middle school a few times. This guy who was kind of a dick and a bully got hit by a car. I jumped up and went, YEAH!' Apparently that wasn't cool with some people 'cause I got kicked out.
Mark: My parents were pretty lenient with me. But, they gave me morality while I was growing up. They taught me the difference between right and wrong.
Jenny: So you didn't push the boundaries?
Mark: I did mostly good things, except light things on fire.
Jenny: Fire?
Mark: I lived in small town out in the desert and my friend used to steal his mom's car in the middle of the night. He'd drive over to my house, I'd sneak out and we'd go out to the desert and just burn things down.
Jenny: Dare I ask what?
Mark: Trees, abandoned mattresses or whatever we could find out there. I think every male in high school really likes to burn shit.
Jenny: Such a guy thing. Did your parents care?
Mark: Ha. They never found out.
Jenny: Until now. What about drinking, drugs and smoking?
Mark: Sure, I did a lot of that in high school, but not anymore.
Jenny: Really? At all?
Mark: No. It totally ruins my voice. I quit smoking, drinking, and doing ecstasy.
Jenny: Ecstasy messed with your voice?
Mark: No.
Jenny: So why'd you quit?
Mark: 'Cause one time I took one and I didn't think it was working, so I took another. Then my friend said, Don't take the ecstasy. It's just a bunch of heroin.'
Jenny: Did you freak out?
Mark: I didn't freak out, my night sucked, I sat on the ground for four hours and looked at one light thinking it was the coolest thing in the world. Then I was standing in the bathroom with a tube of toothpaste in one hand and a toothbrush in the other, knowing that there was some sort of connection, but not knowing what it was. So I stopped. It's not worth getting bad drugs.
Interview by Tom (2002)
Blink-182's Tom DeLonge loses his virginity with Mel Gibson, talking about the actor's role in this summer's "Signs." Will Mel lead the beginner through the process? Will Tom keep his pants on? Read on...
Tom DeLonge: I saw your movie today. And I have a list of questions for you. I've never interviewed anybody before in my life. ... You're my first interview.
Mel Gibson: Hey, let's make it a memorable one.
DeLonge: It will be good. ... This is my first time interviewing somebody and I know what it's like to be interviewed because I've been interviewed. And you've been doing interviews all day long.
Gibson: But that's OK, I'm only just warming up.
DeLonge: Are you ready for answers? You have answers for me? Would you like a drink of alcohol?
Gibson: No.
DeLonge: No, I don't want any either. It's just here in case you wanted some.
Gibson: You're like an enabler, man.
DeLonge: Hey, I saw your movie today.
Gibson: Good.
DeLonge: So I have to ask you, 'cause the kids want to know this is Music Television so the kids are watching this what made you want to do this movie in the first place? And I know no one's asked you this before.
Gibson: No, that's an original. The primary reason why I embarked on this particular cinematic journey, was if I can use three-syllable words for the kids it was such an intriguing story. Intrigue. A lot of mystery.
DeLonge: Do you believe in aliens?
Gibson: Illegal aliens.
DeLonge: Well, they're here, especially in California, but do you believe in the bigger picture of life out in the universe?
Gibson: Um, yes. Something keeps everything whirring and buzzing around in a kind of mathematical order and stuff doesn't really, I believe, happen by itself. I think it's assisted and timed and created.
DeLonge: I had all these really great things I wanted to bring you but I forgot cause it was like 7:30 in the morning and I wasn't really awake yet. Like I didn't even know that time existed. I usually don't wake up 'til like one. That's cause I'm a musician and I'm really lazy.
Gibson: Stay up late at night.
DeLonge: Yeah. But I'm a huge UFO fan so I thought they would ask me to come up here and ask me to ask you about aliens and UFOs.
Gibson: What do you think about UFOs? Do you think they exist?
DeLonge: Wait, who's doing the interview here?
Gibson: Have you ever seen one?
DeLonge: No, I haven't but I know very important people. I have this inch and a half briefing document for Congress of 500 top secret witnesses testifying about the reality for UFOs ... I have the briefing document and I have like 36 hours of testimony that I wanted to bring you. Like a VHS copy you can watch at home with kids. You have kids, right?
Gibson: I do.
DeLonge: That's what my wife asked me to ask you.
Gibson: I got kids coming out of every door.
DeLonge: I have my first kid in three weeks. She's a girl. I'm excited about that. I want to know if you want to babysit, cause I don't even know what to do with my kid.
Gibson: Well, she'll dictate the pace, believe me.
DeLonge: How sick of interviews are you?
Gibson: Well, after 26 years of 'em...
DeLonge: OK, is this a good interview?
Gibson: Hey, this is as good as any interview I've had.
DeLonge:Why are you so handsome?
Gibson: Well, do you really think so?
DeLonge: I think ... well, I called my mom before I came up here. I was downstairs and my mom was kind of freaking out a little bit. She thinks you're really pretty. Not pretty, really handsome.
Gibson: How old is your mom?
DeLonge: My mom is really pretty. How old is my mom? I think she's like 49. But she watches all your movies and stuff.
Gibson: Wow. I like older women.
DeLonge: I think you're really handsome, too.
Gibson: Why, thank you.
DeLonge: I don't want to talk about that 'cause kids might think really weird of my band after that. I'm an artist like you but 'cause I'm a musician, people think weird of us anyways. We run around naked on TV and stuff. ... Have you ever heard my band before?
Gibson: Yes.
DeLonge: Really?
Gibson: [bats eyes]
DeLonge: Don't do that.
Gibson: It's like looking at you in a strobe light.
DeLonge: Hey, you're from Australia, correct?
Gibson: I have lived down there.
DeLonge: Everyone probably asks you that.
Gibson: Yeah, for a great deal of my life.
DeLonge: Hey, your movie's good, man. I saw it this morning. I know I told you. I liked it.
Gibson: Three days in a row, man, you really liked it.
DeLonge: No, I saw it this morning, I really did.
Gibson: Oh, that's the third time I heard it, so I thought you'd seen it three times. It was a misconception of mine. I can't be on the ball all the time.
DeLonge: You make me nervous. I'm not very smart. I'm in a band.
Gibson: I got a feeling he's going to come out with the witty repartee any minute. He's trying to lull me into a false sense of security by saying he's nervous and he's not very smart when in fact he's probably a devotee to quantum physics or something like that.
DeLonge: No, no. I know a little bit about physics, though. A tiny bit. I read Stephen Hawkings' A Brief History of Time. I've read that book. I know a little bit about space.
Gibson: Yeah, me too.
DeLonge: But you probably know more than me.
Gibson: I do, because I have more space between my ears.
DeLonge: Don't say that.
Gibson: It's oxygen.
DeLonge: So while we're here, why would you be interested in doing an interview for MTV? That's what I'd like to know. With me, anyways. You probably wouldn't be interested in doing an interview with me.
Gibson: Hey, nobody told me. They just sort of ushered me in here. I feel like the sort of unwilling victim in the coliseum.
DeLonge: Hey, know what I feel like? I feel like I'm in one of your movies right now.
Gibson: Cool. We could do a scene.
DeLonge: Can you cry on cue?
Gibson: Absolutely.
DeLonge: Really? If you could cry right now, that would be rad.
Gibson: You try it.
DeLonge: I tried it. I have to hear one of my own songs to cry.
Gibson: [splashes water on his face] Oh, they caught me.
DeLonge: She's giving me the sign to wrap it up. I guess the interview's not going too well.
Gibson: It's going great. Are you kidding, man, for your first interview?
DeLonge: I don't know, I've never done an interview before. I've seen the show before and usually you go out and do something and someone mentioned we were having lunch today and then they said it was dessert. I don't know. I don't eat dessert. But I just want you to know I think you did a great movie and I think the kids wanted to know the reasons why you wanted to do the movie and how you felt doing it. Your belief in the subject matter that you were doing, your motivations and all those types of things.
Gibson: Well, I think that perhaps crop circles is kind of the main device in the film, although it's not really what the film is about, it's about something far greater.
DeLonge: Yeah, it's about the family, it's about losing faith, all those things.
Gibson: The crop circle thing, my opinion is that it's probably mostly a hoax. But there are certain sizes of crop circles and geometrical patterns that can only be viewed from high above that are kind of unexplained. You can't logically make sense of them in a way that you can say, "Some guys did that last night." I'm willing to concede that there could be something out there creating this strange phenomenon. But they'd have to prove it to me, I'll tell ya. Just like this cake. Who do you think made this cake? Look at the multi-layers of it. This one's 2000 years old. As we go up the strata, you'll notice that there are small sea creatures in here. This is from the Mesozoic era.
DeLonge: I studied some of these signs, too. Hey, it was great meeting you and I have a feeling that your people want you out of here.
Gibson: Hey, do raspberries remind you of cold sores?
DeLonge: No.
Gibson: They're kind of hairy and bumpy.
DeLonge: They do for some people I know. In my band they have cold sores that big.
Gibson: Oh, really?
DeLonge: Yeah, it's from things I can't talk about.
Gibson: Well, you know the difference between true love and herpes, don't you?
DeLonge: No, actually, I don't.
Gibson: Herpes lasts forever. That's a very cynical view of the world. That's not true, kids.
DeLonge: It's not.
Gibson: No, true love is to be wished for and achieved.
DeLonge: So is herpes. I have a hole in my heart and I'm trying to fill it with herpes for now.
Gibson: Oh herpes, his peas, what's the difference anyhow?
DeLonge: Well, thank you for having dessert with us.
Interview by Mark (2002)
Blink-182's Mark Hoppus sits down with Mike Myers to talk all things "Austin Powers in Goldmember" and the two reach new heights of silliness while unearthing a strange mutual attraction.
Mark Hoppus: You've had a lot of success with the "Austin Powers" series, "Wayne's World" and everything else, so I wanted to ask you, which do you think is the better of the Blink-182 videos, "The Rock Show" or "All the Small Things?"
Mike Myers: I think "All the Small Things."
Hoppus: Really?
Myers: Yeah, but I'll get back to you on that.
Hoppus: That's a good gut reaction and I appreciate that. ... Could you describe the Goldmember character?
Myers: Goldmember's a Dutch guy who is a bad guy. He's from the '70s. He runs a club called Studio 69. He's a type of Dutch guy that you see at the beach that wears a terry cloth banana hammock, and has a lotion bag filled with various lotions and a cell phone and wet naps. He has designed a tractor beam, called Preparation H. Can you believe it? Dr. Evil hires him to kidnap Nigel Powers, Austin Power's father.
Hoppus: What interests me is you said he's like a Dutch guy that likes to wear a banana hammock to the beach, and I know that you co-wrote the movie and also play the character.
Myers: I also own a banana hammock.
Hoppus: What was it that drove you to want to wear a banana hammock in a movie?
Myers: I actually don't wear a banana hammock in the movie.
Hoppus: Oh, that's just the kind of guy he is?
Myers: That's the kind of guy he is.
Hoppus: I want you to describe the arc of Fat Bastard. Where is he going in this movie?
Myers: Fat Bastard is a self-loathing man who is the incorrect weight for his height and he was born out of wedlock and he's from Scotland. And he's going towards what he goes for in every Austin Powers movie or both of the Austin Powers movies that he's in, which is a little bit of self-acceptance. And I think it's a lot like you and I.
Hoppus: That's good. So he's finding more inner truths in this movie as well.
Myers: Right, and you'll see he changes in the movie.
Hoppus: What are going to be the catchphrases to come out of this movie, this film, this summer? What are people going to be saying for the next couple of years?
Myers: It's very nice of you to say that. I actually don't know how it is. It's not like I have a laboratory with 300 17-year-olds with electrodes on their nipples trying to determine what people are going to like and not like.
Hoppus: That would be cool, though.
Myers: I do have that, as it turns out. I confuse a lot because I do actually have that laboratory, but that's for different things. Like for example, that "Get in my belly!" that Fat Bastard said last time, I did that in improv. It wasn't meant to be funny and it became something I saw on NHL tonight and somebody was scoring a goal and he's going, "Get in my belly!" And I was like, "Wow, that's weird."
Hoppus: Taking a life of it's own.
Myers: Yeah. You can't write that way. You just gotta write silly stuff that you'd want to see in a silly movie and have fun.
Hoppus: Where did the name Austin Powers come from? Who thought up the name and what did it mean?
Myers: Well, a lot of spies have names that are virtues or characteristics. Also I wanted it to have a British sportscar. There's a British sports car called an Austin, and there's a car called the Austin Mini. Powers because I wanted him to say "Powers by name and Powers by reputation." And also because of Gary Powers, the U-2 pilot. Francis Gary Powers.
Hoppus: What does shag mean?
Myers: Shag means to make love. It's also a carpet and a haircut.
Hoppus: The movie's called "Goldmember" and a lot of times people use member to mean like, penis, so it's almost like "Goldpenis." Is that intentional?
Myers: I think you have to have a dirty mind to come up with that.
Hoppus: I get accused of that, but I don't know.
Myers: No, he has a club and you have to be a gold member to enter the club. And ironically, his genitalia's made of a precious metal but that's not really what it's about. ... You can be a gold member of American Express, so I guess they're dirty then too, right?
Hoppus: I hope so.
Myers: Help me.
Hoppus: Tell me about Michael Caine.
Myers: Michael Caine plays Nigel Powers, Austin Powers' father. He's Britain's number one spy and Austin's kind of Britain's number two spy. And he's lived in Michael Caine's shadow his whole life and he's become a knight. There's a movie being made about his life and he's caught every bad guy he's ever gone after but he's never gotten his father's approval. The reason we wanted Michael Caine when I was designing [Austin] I wanted to have that sort of Beatle-y mop top. Big hair. And I wanted it to have David Cassidy kind of thing with the frills, any English person's bad teeth and Michael Caine's glasses. The glasses that Austin wears are based on Michael Caine's from the Harry Palmer films. Harry Palmer was another British spy.
Hoppus: I have to run Yahoo searches on a lot of this stuff.
Myers: Oh yeah, and there's gonna be faxes galore that I'll send to you 'cause this is forever, man. This is a lifelong thing.
Hoppus: Do you take responsibility for him becoming a sir, Sir Michael Caine?
Myers: I do, but you know, once an actor always an actor. But once a knight is enough, 'cause if you did it more than that you'd get sore.
Hoppus: I was interviewing Beyonc[Knowles] earlier and I was asking her what it was like to be in the film and stuff and she said that you were ad-libbing a lot on the set and that at one point she had to kiss you but it wasn't in the script. It was something you came up with and you came up to her on the set one day and were like "Yeah, it would probably be better if we kissed on the lips for a few times."
Myers: Wow. That's just patently untrue. That's smutty and dirty. In the script, Austin and Foxxy Cleopatra kiss, but I don't remember any extracurricular kissing.
Hoppus: She said it was on camera but you said it wasn't in the script. You demanded that it happen on camera one day.
Myers: Well, well, well. I think it's the other way around, please. Thank you.
Hoppus: There's a lot of cameos in the movie.
Myers: I didn't kiss any of them. None of them.
Hoppus: Not Tom Cruise?
Myers: No. There's some touching but it's all very tasteful. It's all through the clothes. ... I'm going to need to kiss you.
Hoppus: You know, Seth Green gave me a kiss on the lips. I don't know if you want to one-up him or not. Possibly a kiss on the lips with a hand on my butt. If you're into it, it's cool. If not, I totally understand.
Myers: This is a lifelong thing. This isn't just for today. This isn't just fifteen minutes, it's a lifelong commitment, man. I'm gonna be your worst enemy. I'm gonna be a sick fan. I'm gonna be all over you.
Hoppus: And you can bring the laboratory. We can move into your laboratory. That would be insane.
Hoppus: Beyonc wanted me to ask you about your dogs, so will you please tell me about your dogs?
Myers: I don't own dogs. That's insane.
Hoppus: That's the second lie that Beyonc told me in our interview. First with the kiss, then the dogs.
Myers: It's Lie City, I think we're finding. Maybe by dogs she's referring to my posse. No, I have three dogs, actually. I have two yellow labs and a mutt. I love them.
Hoppus: I was asking her for questions to ask you. Somehow that didn't end up being one of the better questions of this interview.
Myers: I think it was the best question to ask 'cause it led to some weird sexual tension, dare I say it.
Hoppus: The other question I am reluctant to ask you now after the horrible dog question, she wanted me to ask was about taking your dad to McDonald's.
Myers: I never took my dad to McDonald's. That's insane.
Hoppus: She's trying to mislead me on film and it kind of hurts.
Myers: It's a really interesting story. One day I was hungry and my dad said "Why don't you go to McDonald's?" and I said, "Why don't you cook something?" and he said, "I'm too tired from working." And so I said, "Then I'm going to go to McDonald's," and he said, "OK, but be careful 'cause it's far." So we went to McDonalds and I got a Big Mac and small fries. But my dad said, "No, you know what, I don't really feel like anything. I'll just have a tea." Isn't that great? That's the story. I dine out on that. And that's the story I like to tell on set. There's no McDonald's story, no.
Hoppus: Finally the last thing I have isn't a question, it's just a favor for me. Would you please stop undressing me with your eyes as I sit here? This is my first time interviewing. I'm actually a musician by trade and to have you gawk at me for ten minutes straight is a little unnerving.
Myers: I know that and I'm sorry. I don't deny that that was happening.
Hoppus: Check this out. This just came in and you are a very lucky man. This is a copy of the Blink-182 CD to present to you. ... I know you probably own a couple of copies already. Which was the first Blink CD you bought?
Myers: I believe it was "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket." And what's amazing about it is it had "The Rock Show" on it and "Stay Together for the Kids." But my favorite of course was "First Date," which I thought was great. It's an interesting album cause it has the international symbol for a plane on it. And trousers and a shirt. And it has a motif of the New York subway system. You should check it out man. It's really great.
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