Mark Hoppus Opens Up on How Chemo Set Him Back as a Musician

The day many wondered whether it would ever come is almost here. Blink-182, with Tom DeLonge back in the band, will be releasing their One More Time… tomorrow (Oct. 20). With the record almost here, Blink-182 sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe for an all-encompassing conversation that included the revelation that Mark Hoppus had to relearn playing bass and build his vocals back up after his 2021 cancer treatment.

Over the course of the conversation, Hoppus reflected on the reunion with DeLonge, noting, “I didn’t know that Blink would ever get back together or that I would ever share a stage with Tom. And I told management, I told Travis, I told everybody, I’m like, ‘I’m not setting foot on stage again with that dude. Not a chance.’ That’s the truth. But I’ve always thought Tom was one of the best songwriters in the world and one of my favorite songwriters, but there was a lot of bad blood and there was a lot of stuff in the press and feelings and all this stuff.”

“Then honestly, I got sick… But Tom was always like, ‘We’re going to get you through this,'” recalls Hoppus.

This started the healing with DeLonge’s support through his cancer battle. But beyond the emotional healing there was still a physical healing that still had to come for the reunion to be realized.

Within the chat, Hoppus notes, “Once I was clear of the cancer diagnosis and got the all clear, I was still a fucking hollow, just shell. Shitty, weak brain eaten with the chemotherapy and pain and everything else. And then getting back in the studio to make this record was like learning how to play bass again, learning how to… The chemotherapy wrecked my vocal cords. I had to go to work with a vocal coach. I had to rebuild my throat,” says Hoppus. “I had all this stuff had to rebuild to get to the point where we could go and walk on stage at Coachella and have one of the biggest shows of our career and have this album, which touch wood is one of the best albums we’ve ever written.”

That said, Hoppus explains that there was still all the pressures that come with a reunion, but they found a way through that with a specific goal in mind. “We sat down the very beginning and we said, ‘The only way that we’re going to do Blink 182 again is if it’s fucking fun. If we can do it our own way and not have people over our shoulders telling us, ‘You need to do this, you need to do this, you need to do this.” And so really, our mission statement with this whole thing was, imagine if Blink were the fucking Beastie Boys. That’s our call to arms,” he explains. “Would the fucking Beastie Boys do it? Would the Ramones do it? … Would Fugazi do this shit? If we’re not down with it, and if we don’t want to do it, then fuck everybody, we’re going to do it our way. And now, touch wood, it feels like the best time in the band in forever. We own it. It’s our creative vision. It’s us three.”

READ MORE: Mark Hoppus Reveals His Mount Rushmore of Blink-182 Songs

Blink-182‘s One More Time… arrives tomorrow (Oct. 20) and you can order yours in the platform of your choosing through the band’s website.

Blink-182 Speak With Apple Music’s Zane Lowe