Blink-182 Rehearsing Amid Tom DeLonge Drama

Blink-182 is reportedly rehearsing this week without Tom DeLonge, the band’s longtime guitarist and vocalist who recently penned an open letter to fans following rumors that he had quit the band.

Mark Hoppus posted a photo of Blink-182’s rehearsal space on Instagram earlier this week, sparking rumors that they’ll have Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio fill in for him when the band plays Musink Music And Tattoo Festival in March.

In a letter released this week, DeLonge spoke out against his bandmates’ allegations that he had left the band “indefinitely”, saying that he, Mark Hoppus, and Travis Barker had been having issues for years and that they had tried to have his new Angels & Airwaves album delayed in order to complete their project, something he felt he just couldn’t do.

“All of these other projects are being worked, exist in contract form. I can’t just slam the brakes and drop years of development, partnerships and commitments at the snap of a finger. I told my manager that I will do Blink-182 as long as it was fun and worked with the other commitments in my life, including my family.”

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Mark Hoppus told Rolling Stone that he and Barker hadn’t spoken to DeLonge in person for several months, but had made a deal to go into the studio and to play the music festival when DeLonge sent them an email via his manager that he didn’t want to continue.

“We booked January 5th to go into the studio. On December 30th, we get an e-mail from Tom’s manager saying that he has no interest in recording and that he wants to do his other, non-musical stuff and that he’s out indefinitely. There’s a flurry of e-mails going back and forth for clarification about the recording and the show and his manager sends [an e-mail] back saying, ‘Tom. Is. Out.’ Direct quote. This is the exact same e-mail we got back in 2004 when Tom went on indefinite hiatus before,” Hoppus said.

While DeLonge wrote in his letter that he was sad about the way things had turned out, Hoppus says the band will go on without him if his decision is final.

“There are legalities involved with this. As Tom pointed out, he technically didn’t quit the band. Then it gets all lawyer-y, which I will leave to the attorneys and managers. I just want to go out and play Blink songs. I want to go out and play the songs that we’ve been spending the last 20 years of our lives writing. That’s what Travis and I want to do. If Tom doesn’t want to do that, which obviously he doesn’t, that’s OK. He doesn’t have to be embarrassed or try to claim that he’s secretly really working on Blink.”

[Image via YouTube]