Yikes. Talk about when band break-ups get ugly…
Although Tom DeLonge's split from punk-popsters Blink-182 was denied by the singer/guitarist on Instagram yesterday, with him saying that he had never left the band and only heard of the rumours "when all these weird press releases started to come in" - now his bandmates Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker have confirmed that he has left the band after failing to commit to recording sessions scheduled for earlier this month.
"We booked January 5th to go into the studio," said Hoppus. "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," Hoppus said. "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."
Barker added that DeLonge was "disrespectful" and "ungrateful" not to speak to his bandmates and go through his manager instead.
Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio will replace DeLonge in the band.
