Mark Hoppus is the feature of a new documentary by Spotify about Blink-182‘s forthcoming album California and in it he’s discussed new guitarist Matt Skiba and the band’s legacy.
It’s the first episode of the doco and it focusses on the band’s legacy which is a subject that Hoppus says, “has come up a lot in the past few years.”
“It was crazy important to us that we keep creating new music,” he said.
“We didn’t ever and don’t ever want to become like a greatest hits band.”
While they have no intentions of being a greatest hits band, they have released a Greatest Hits record in the past. Back in 2005 they released one featuring highlights from records up to 2003’s self-titled effort.
California is the band’s seventh album and their first with new guitarist and vocalist Matt Skiba following the departure of Tom DeLonge.
“When Tom dropped out, we had already booked Musink, which is Travis’ festival,” Hoppus said discussing Skiba’s entry into the band.
“The only person we talked about coming and playing our shows was Matt. The reception to Matt was amazing, overwhelming. People were chanting his name before we even came out and played.”
According to Hoppus the next logical step was to hop into the studio and see what happened and by the sounds of it, it went extremely well. When the three of them came together it “created a crucible of energy” which was captured by producer John Feldmann.
California will be released next Friday, 1st July. It’s the bands first album since 2011’s Neighbourhoods.
Watch: Blink-182’s California – Episode 1
