\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember that first Roxy show being mildly terrified and looking over at Mark cracking jokes,\u201d said Skiba, who went on to record two albums with Blink. \u201cHis joy would just bring me back into the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just as the world was beginning to emerge from the pandemic, Hoppus learned he had cancer. \u201cIt got really dark,\u201d he said, recounting a conversation with Skye, with whom he has a 22-year-old son, Jack, a video game designer. \u201cWe were sitting in our kitchen and I was dying \u2014 the medication, the chemo, was just so gnarly,\u201d he recalled. \u201cFelt like I was being crushed between two trucks. I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t know if I can do this.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife goes, \u2018What are you saying? Are you going to kill yourself?\u2019\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd that moment really crystallized the fight for me. That was when I was like, \u2018This is a losing battle, but I have to fight the fight. I can\u2019t just give up in front of my wife and son.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
When DeLonge found out about Hoppus\u2019s illness, the resentments dropped away. \u201cI was very quick to say, \u2018I\u2019m all in, Mark,\u2019\u201d DeLonge said. \u201c\u2018When \u2014 not if \u2014 you\u2019re done with these treatments, the north star is we\u2019re going to play again. Let\u2019s do that for each other.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Hoppus was cleared of cancer in September 2021, and a year later, he, DeLonge and Barker announced that they were reuniting again. In 2023, Blink released its ninth studio album, \u201cOne More Time\u2026,\u201d which became the group\u2019s third record to hit No. 1<\/a> on the Billboard 200.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the band\u2019s relationship has ever been as healthy or as strong as it is now,\u201d Barker said. \u201cWe love this version of our band.\u201d DeLonge marveled at Blink\u2019s longevity: \u201cPlane crash, cancer, top of the charts, breakups. It\u2019s absolutely bananas that we\u2019re still here.\u201d<\/p>\n Blink-182 will continue so long as it\u2019s still fun, Hoppus said. \u201cThe one thing that we have all agreed on, and promised one another, is we have no desire to become a legacy band,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to ride off into the sunset playing \u2018All the Small Things\u2019 at casinos ad nauseam. I want to play \u2018All the Small Things\u2019 forever, but I also want to keep creating new music that connects with people.\u201d<\/p>\n Camera operation by Pilot Lee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n