Blink-182 has released “Edging,” its first new music with founding member Tom DeLonge since 2012.
On Thursday, DeLonge shared on Instagram a note he said he sent to Matt Skiba, who replaced him in blink-182.
“I wanted to take a minute and say thank you for all that you have done to keep the band alive and thriving in my absence,” he wrote. “I think you are enormously talented (I still love to listen to your band to this day). You have always been so kind to me, not only in the press, but also to others. I really noticed.
“Emotions between the three of us in blink have always been complicated, but Mark’s cancer really put things in perspective. But to be honest, the band would not even be here today if it were not for your ability to jump in and save the day.”
Hoppus told People in August about reconnecting with DeLonge and Travis Barker after he was diagnosed with cancer.
“There were no lingering grudges,” he recalled. “It felt very back to what it should be: three friends sitting in a room.”
“Edging” was produced by Barker. “I wanted to imagine as a listener what I wanted to experience and at the same time as a band member what we wanted to make and say,” he explained, in a release, "and most importantly how it would sound production wise in 2022.”
A video for the song, directed by Cole Bennett, is set to premiere on Saturday.
“Edging” is the first taste of the forthcoming new album from blink-182. DeLonge, Barker and Hoppus announced on Tuesday they are hitting the road for a 2023 tour that includes Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on May 11 (a May 15 show was added on Wednesday), Montreal’s Bell Centre on May 12, Rogers Arena in Vancouver on June 27, Rogers Place in Edmonton on June 29 and Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on June 30.
The song is not about the titular sexual pleasure technique – and, the title doesn’t appear anywhere in the lyrics.
“I ain’t that cool / A little f**ked in the head / They’ll be hanging me quick / When I’m back from the dead,” DeLonge sings. “Get the rope.”