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Matt Skiba hasnt had time to dwell on the news.
Because, to him, its not a huge deal.
Alkaline Trio even supported Blink on tour for the 2001 albumTake Off Your Pants and Jacket.
And, yes, hes psyched to watch this new era of Blink-182 as a fan again.
I want to walk through the past few days.
We get an announcement earlier this week that Tom is back in the band.
And then implicit in that announcement is that youre no longer performing with them.
I just saw what they had posted on blink182.com.
When did that announcement come out?
I think it was Tuesday.I promise Im not being daft or cute.
Im really like a caveman, dude I do not pay attention.
And whats today, Friday?
So Mark texted me, I guess it wouldve been Sunday or Monday.
Mark had reached out to me to talk, and Ive been home dealing with a sick dad.
So I havent really looked at my phone.
I forget when the video, the theyre coming thing came out.
Whatever day it was
Yeah, that was Tuesday.So I found out on Tuesday is the short answer.
But people were trying to get in touch with me.
So Mark and I would talk, but we werent really talking about the band.
Were friends before were a band.
Far beyond what the band is to me is Marks health and his friendship.
So we just were talking.
It wasnt this huge surprise, nor was it a stab in the back or anything.
Those guys, we were friends and this includes Tom.
Tom especially has been a friend and a fan of my band for many years.
Long before I started playing with Blink, Alkaline Trio was out on tour opening for Blink.
And Tom had, if not everything to do with it, a lot to do with that.
So weve always been buddies.
We havent talked in recent years.
Whats happened between Tom and his bandmates is between them.
I really am genuinely glad, as a fan of the band, that theyre a family again.
Theres just a lot that I dont know about the record.
I saw the tour dates and everything.
I saw the teaser video, which I thought was pretty cute and funny.
And it seems like its going to be huge.
It seems like people are really psyched about it, and Im one of those people too.
Im proud of the work that I did with them.
We had a great time.
I mean, I was just talking to Mark this morning about the new Cormac McCarthy book.
Theres no bad blood, theres no drama, theres no nothing.
Its just the next chapter in the bands life.
Its like, it can always be ironed out.
Genuinely, Im a reject.
I got a message from Tom.
I think Tom is a genuinely good person.
Hes always been nothing but kind and amazing to me.
Hes free to post everything he wants.
There isnt really any mud to sling.
None of us take each other or take ourselves that seriously.
So I think him posting that, I guess youd have to ask him.
I would think its a clumsy way to flush the air.
Is that a weird thing to say?
No, I think thats accurate.
And what you brought up was what I was going to say.
I think that it was done with love.
Have you heard the song that came out today?I did.
What do you think of that?I think that its really great.
Honestly, Im a fan of Blink.
I wouldnt have joined the band if I wasnt a fan of the band.
And it sounds like Blink.
It really is rad to see those guys back together.
Its weird how similar they are and how different they are, and both are equally stark.
I would say that its the crowds, but it isnt.
I would say that its the locations of things, but it isnt.
The differences are many, but I cant really even put a name on what they are.
Theres almost no similarities, but I couldnt tell you what they are either.
Alkaline Trio is the band that I started.
That band has a lot of me in it.
With Blink, it really always felt like a team.
Maybe thats a corny thing to say.
Ive struck gold twice, but in very different ways.
As, again, corny as that may sound, I found that in Blink too.
It was just different ways of carrying my weight in it.
With Blink, I play stage left, and with Alkaline Trio, I play stage right.
[Laughs] And that is the best answer I can give you.
A year ago,you were talkingabout a new Trio album.
You were talking a bit about the Strokes, and you were talking a bit about politics.
How has writing new music been?I was talking about politics?
You were saying that you werent going to write about Biden.
[Laughs] Oh!
Good, okay, great.
Yeah, politics is none of my business.
That sounds like some weird random shit I would say.
Its one of my favorite of their records,Comedown Machine.
Welcome to Japan, its one of my favorite songs.
Its just what Ive been listening to.
The next record will hopefully sound like everybodys favorite Alkaline Trio record.
Its what I think every band tries to do every time is make their best record.
At least, hopefully; thats what we do.
I have so many songs.
I know Dans got a ton.
Ive got probably 200 songs in notebooks and on my phone.
Im just like, voice memo and a loose idea.
Tim Armstrong, years ago, told me that he writes a song a day.
I dont write a song a day, but I give a shot to.
I have 200 songs, maybe 100 of them are good.
Hopefully, ten of those are great, and hopefully we pick the right ones.
I played drums in a band called the Traders that recorded with Albini.
So well see what happens.
Yeah.Shit, there is now!
[Laughs] I didnt know until just now.
Thats a lot of records.
Yeah, now there is!
Thanks a lot, Justin.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.No, no.
It was more like an exercise.
With all that time with COVID, it would be a sin to not be writing.
All I did was paint and write.
Maybe go for a hike or whatever.
And Dan has been working on stuff steadily.
He put out a solo record.
My favorite Dan songs, for sure, are his new songs.
I think theyre really good.
But theres almost a whole albums worth of stuff.
It was supposed to be an EP, and it just kept going, and going.
We basically finished those, and then Mark was diagnosed, if Im getting the timeline correct.
Honestly, until you mentioned it, I hadnt even thought about those recordings.
But I have them.
Ill keep them a secret.
Ill keep them safe forever.
How are you feeling about that?You want to hear something?
Whether Im supposed to, or not supposed to say anything, I guess, is immaterial.
It makes the conversation more fun.
And they almost expertly started advertising it before they had a single band on the bill.
And somehow, all the bands agreed to do it.
Im not making this up.
Somebody may correct me, but I know that Alkaline Trio, we hadnt confirmed anything.
And when we read that, we called other bands that were playing, and nobody knew about it.
It had to have been planned.
And they werent wrong.
Whoever did that, Im not even mad.
You took a shit in the fridge and ate the whole wheel of cheese?
Im not even mad.
Its like, holy shit, dude.
Congratulations to whoever masterminded that, the Lex Luther of promoters.
And I think everybody, including us, is really pumped about it.
Its going to be a great time.
Ill be excited to hear more about how it goes.
A friend of mine bartends at this club in Los Angeles.
Im 46 years old, so Im the old dude.
I just go say whats up to my homegirl that bartends.
I dont know if comeback is the right word, but the timing of it.
I didnt know what was going to happen when COVID hit.
Its going to be awesome.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
