Blink-182 return with new album and line-up

LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) – American punk rock band Blink-182 are back with a new album “California” and a new member.

The group, which first formed in California in 1992, now features regular members Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker but former mainstay Tom DeLonge has been replaced by Alkaline Trio member Matt Skiba.

“California”, the band’s seventh studio album, has seen lead single “Bored to Death” top Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart, becoming the band’s first number one in more than 12 years.

“We never set out to write a love letter to California but while we were recording it we just kept finding ourselves referencing very specific California things,” Hoppus told Reuters. “California has this endless energy and opportunity and hope and ambition but there’s also a dark, twisted side underneath it and that’s how the record feels.”

(Reporting By Francis Maguire)