Matt Skiba Reveals ‘Almost a Whole Album’s Worth of Stuff’ Was Written With Blink-182

Tom DeLonge is back in Blink-182 and Matt Skiba, who filled in admirably over the last seven years, has now taken a step back from the group. But in a new interview, Skiba reveals that he was quite far along with Blink-182 on material for a new album that may or may not see the light of day.

Recently speaking with Vulture, Skiba confirmed the presence of unreleased songs from his time within the group. "I don't know if they'll come out," said the singer-guitarist. "I think they're really good."

"There’s almost a whole album’s worth of stuff," he then added. "It was supposed to be an EP, and it just kept going, and going. And now we have, I don’t know if they’re just going to get scrapped, but there’s eight or nine brand-new songs that are done. We basically finished those, and then Mark was diagnosed, if I’m getting the timeline correct."

Skiba is of course talking about co-vocalist and bassist Mark Hoppus, who underwent treatment for cancer during the late spring and summer of 2021. It was during that period that Hoppus and DeLonge reconnected on a more significant level, with DeLonge declaring in September of last year that they had "completely repaired" their friendship.

Further discussing the work he'd already done with Blink, Skiba stated, "I hadn’t even thought about those recordings. But I have them. They’re good songs. I’ll keep them a secret. I’ll keep them safe forever. But we’ll see. I don’t know, maybe they’re something that we could open up and look at differently, or it’s something that’ll come out later, I have no idea."

Within the same interview, Skiba reiterated that he was glad to see DeLonge return to the band. He initially posted after DeLonge's return was announced, "I am truly grateful for my time with blink and I am truly happy you guys are a band and a family again."

In the Vulture interview, he elaborated, "I really am genuinely glad, as a fan of the band, that they’re a family again. It seems like people are really psyched about it, and I’m one of those people too. I’m honored to have been asked to fill in for Tom or to join the band or however you want to phrase it. I’m proud of the work that I did with them. We had a great time… There’s no bad blood, there’s no drama, there’s no nothing. It’s just the next chapter in the band’s life."

During his time in the band, Skiba appeared on the California and Nine albums, and there's always the possibility that the now shelved material could eventually surface when the time is right.

The move hasn't left Skiba without work, as his long-running band Alkaline Trio have several dates surrounding their When We Were Young festival appearances. See the stops and get ticketing info here.