Travis Barker says Tom DeLonge wanted Blink-182 to sound like Coldplay

He divulges more about artistic differences

Published 2nd Mar 2016

Travis Barker has criticised his former band mate Tom DeLonge saying the guitarist/singer wanted Blink-182 to sound more like U2 or Coldplay.

Bink-182 parted company with Tom in January 2015 in acrimonious circumstances and now, in a fresh interview, Travis has once again revealed there was huge artistic conflict within the band.

Speaking to YouTuber Mr Wavvy about DeLonge’s tumultuous exit, Travis said: "You got two of the three members and one has basically just tapped out and is being extremely difficult and won't compromise."

He added: "Mark (Hoppus) and I never wanted to change. The last couple of albums, Tom wanted to sound like U2, to record songs that basically sound like Coldplay.

!

“For us, we were always like 'Blink is Blink, man. We want to sound like f***ing Blink-182'… That's what side-projects are for. I love Blink for what it is. We love Blink and we love the sound of Blink."

With vocalist Matt Skiba on board, Blink-182 have been working hard on their seventh studio album since last year and at one point scrapped 16 songs they’d written for it.

Drawing comparisons to Green Day, who shelved album ‘Cigarettes and Valentines’ before making their tour-de-force ‘American Idiot’ in 2004, Travis told KX 93.5 he was excited by the resulting music.

"It’s honestly the best material we’ve written or put out in years. I haven’t been excited about a Blink album like this in a long time. I’m 120 percent in,” he enthused. Blink-182’s last album ‘Neighborhoods’ was released in September 2011.