Mark Hoppus Discusses blink/Box Car Racer Fallout and 'Tough' +44 Tours in FAHRENHEIT-182 Memoir

Have you ever immersed yourself in something for hours on end completely undistracted by the outside world around you? Hyper-fixation baby!

There'll be plenty of fans currently experiencing this after the release of Mark Hoppus' highly anticipated memoir FAHRENHEIT-182 - which details an in-depth and deeply personal journey through his life from the early beginnings growing up in a typical American nuclear family in the California desert, through to dominating the mainstream music scene in the biggest band in the world, blink-182. For the day-one fans, no stone is left unturned as Mark shines a light on ALL of the struggles he faced along the way - yes, including the multiple fallouts with best friend Tom DeLonge - but the truly heartbreaking anecdotes about his battle with stage 4 lymphoma cancer will leave you speechless and bawling your eyes out as he shares intimate details from his personal diary during the chemotherapy sessions which literally saved his life.

It would be remissent to share those gruelling details when you should grab a copy of the book and read it yourself - or listen to Mark narrating via audiobook - so instead let's focuses on the tensions that arose and lead to blink-182's first demise back in 2005 - something the blink fanbase has often pondered for years without thorough explanation... until now.

Prior to the release of their ground-breaking 2003 Untitled masterpiece (self-titled if you're talking to Travis Barker), the band were burnt out after a decade in the industry and relentlessly touring 2001 album Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. As Mark shared, Tom DeLonge was eager to take some time off and "...needed a break from playing in a band. From playing music at all". The idea presented to Hoppus was that Tom was going to focus on family and "sit in his backyard at night [watching] the skies for aliens". Unbeknownst to Mark, Tom was actually working on a side-project called Box Car Racer which EVERYONE in their close circle seemed to know about, except him as he revealed.

"Mutual friends kept asking me if I'd heard the new music Tom was so excited about... I ignored it and tried to enjoy my time at home. But more people asked... Something was definitely happening that Tom wasn't telling me."

This went on for weeks before a call was officially made where Tom explained, "I'm thinking about starting this new project with Dave Kennedy... It's going to be acoustic songs, stuff that wouldn't make sense for blink. I don't even know if I'll release them or not, but I just want to do it for fun."

In his memoir, Mark detailed he thought doing things outside of blink seemed "strange" and that "Even if Tom wanted to take some hard left turns creatively, we could make them work in blink. Even if it didn't sound like a typical blink song..." Evidence of this would come later with the aforementioned Untitled album, but it was in this moment that tensions first started to arise for the pop punk icons when Mark was left out of the entire process, especially after Tom claimed, "he needed a break from music [but was writing] more music."

‍Mark says he didn't understand, but let it go.

However rumours started circulating that Travis had joined the new project and once again, Mark was only finding out through the grapevine, and not from his 'best friend'. The situation got worse when Tom enlisted the help of blink's management, record label, booking agent, attorneys and long-time producer Jerry Finn to assist with the release Box Car Racer's album and promotional tour between the 2001-2002 period.

"It was blink-182, minus Mark Hoppus. I was heartbroken. It all felt so secretive. I was shut out, completely in the dark, no one would give me a straight answer about anything."

As you can imagine, the secrecy played with Mark's long-existing anxieties and it all came to a head during an interview in the KROQ studios - the local radio station who championed blink-182 from day one - where the announcers asked, "So what's the deal, Tom? Is Mark not cool enough to be in your new band?" This struck a nerve and resulted in the bassist remaining quiet for the rest of the interview. He stated that after the interview, he drove home and unplugged his phone for two days while Tom and former manager Rick DeVoe tried to reach him.

"I was livid. Indignant. Righteously incensed. I wanted to scream and scratch people's eyes out. I was bottomless... I wanted to watch it all burn to the ground while I laughed maniacally."

Eventually he spoke with Tom DeLonge about the whole situation, expressing, "This is so fucked! You said this was you and Dave Kennedy writing acoustic songs! This is everything blink-182. Everything except me."

After being talked down and assured he never intended for any of this to happen because Box Car Racer "snowballed faster than he expected..." DeLonge invited Mark to sing on one of the songs, which would later become the iconic 9-11 anthem 'Elevator' - another instigator for blink-182 honing in on darker, mature themes and emotion-driven stories, diverting away from their typical dick joke, sex and adolescent partying music on previous releases.

Mark shared he reluctantly agreed, revealing on top of wanting to support Tom, Travis and Jerry that "...if I was involved, even in a small capacity, I wouldn't feel and look like a complete outcast."

He later labels 'Elevator' a "good song on a good record that nearly brought down our band" and that his bandmates "came to an understanding about Box Car Racer, but the chemistry we had in blink didn't feel the same" afterwards.

"The message to me was clear: Tom thought I held him back from greatness. It didn't feel like we were best friends trying to conquer the world together anymore."

Fast forward to 2006 following the inevitable first breakup a year prior (and DeLonge releasing music under a new project titled Angels & Airwaves), Mark was convinced to keep making music and conceived +44 in Travis Barker's basement with friends/guitarists Shane Gallagher and Craig Fairbaugh.

Mark stated the music on their 2006 self-titled album was "fueled by my sadness and resentment over the loss of everything" and despite loving the album and being proud of what they created, the release process and consequent touring cycle "wasn't the same as releasing a blink album."

"I had the world in my hand and that was taken away. Success wasn't guaranteed anymore. People knew the name blink-182, but who the hell was +44? It felt like I was giving the world a math problem."

Mark also states the hype around Angels & Airwaves "didn't do +44 any favors..." especially when Tom was taking shots at his former bandmates in interviews. Despite this, Travis and Mark remained silent - especially following the release of the album which included the beef song 'No, It Isn't' which (not mentioned in the memoir) was titled this way as a response for when press questioned if it was written about Tom.

Mark also opened up candidly about starting again from the bottom of the pecking order and the "tough," humbling tours which followed, including headlining venues blink-182 played decade ago. He also touched on the 2007 Honda Civic Tour throughout the United States and Canada where +44 opened for the likes of Fall Out Boy, Cobra Starship, The Academy is... and Paul Wall.

Mark recounts an anecdote talking about how blink was headlining a sold-out show in St. Louis and one of the opening bands demanded "I WANNA SEE A FUCKIN' CIRCLE PIT!" while performing, which resulted in the bassist who screamed the words being chastised by the promoter for his actions. Mark explains how he jokingly joined in the banter before introducing himself to the bassist - a young musician by the name of Pete Wentz.

"The reason I remembered that story was because the name of the kid getting chewed out was Pete Wentz, and the name of the band was Fall Out Boy, who was now headlining over +44. He was the star now, and I the support. Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

While the pop punk godfather opened up about a variety of struggles and personal accomplishments throughout his career (including the glory MTV years), the memoir ends with a thorough explanation of where the band are in their current form, and how despite their past grievances, the relationship between blink-182's core members is stronger than ever.

Mark Hoppus truly is a one-in-a-million musician (IYKYK) who touched the lives of countless fans and peers, becoming the defining voice of a generation and inspiration to millions. His dedication to keeping blink-182 alive should not only be commended but celebrated and there's no better way to get the full story than by grabbing a copy of his book.

Words by Paul 'Browny' Brown @brownypaul

FAHRENHEIT-182 is out now. Get your copy here