Travis Barker and the boys have finally started to calm down, a few decades later; you didn’t ever expect much change from the high-charged pumped-up punk rock they have been writing for years.
The band’s new album, while still loud and powerful, is quite different than everything they have put out in the past.
The lyrics are not as filled with teenage angst, which they should have left behind long ago, but instead, the sound is more relative to vocalist Tom DeLonge’s other band, Angels and Airways.
Tom DeLonge, one of Blink-182’s two lead vocalists, experimented with his side project, and there is a clear definition now where his influence lies.
Released September 27, 2011, the highly-anticipated album was a bit of a letdown for long-time Blink-182 fans who were hoping to hear their guys calling from a phone booth trying to recall their own age. Instead, we are left with lyrics of isolation, confusion and death.
It was worked on in three different studios, and DeLonge was not the only one to introduce his unique style.
Each of the members used their childhood and upbringing as their source of inspiration for the album, hence the name, “Neighborhoods.”
The first album in nearly eight years was a hit, though; the iconic Blink-182 cannot do wrong, even if they have grown up just a little.
Though their subject matter changed, the energy was still there.
In a recent interview with After the Press!, bassist Mark Hopus was asked “A lot of songs on ‘Neighborhoods’ reinvigorate the same energy found on earlier albums. Was this a conscious effort to appease fans?”
He responded, “No, it wasn’t an a conscious effort to appease fans, it was more of a conscious effort to appease ourselves because we didn’t want to lay into a rut and make a really mellow record, especially after being gone for eight years. We wanted to come back with some fury and some fight, you know?”
The legacy of Blink-182 does not have an end in sight, though hopefully there are more surprises to come from the trio.