| Blink–182 — California (July 1, 2016) |
Blink–182 — California (July 1, 2016)
≡• “We all wanted to write the best record that we could and everybody was really focused. We’d show up at eight in the morning and stay until two in the morning all week long. And I think that crucible that we lived in for those two months really created something special. It does feel like a new beginning. It feels like when we used to tour and sleep in the van because that’s all we wanted to do is play rock music.” — Mark Hoppus
≡• The album’s artwork was created by English street artist D*Face.
Origin: Poway, California, United States
Formed: 1992 in San Diego
Album release: July 1st, 2016
Recorded: January–March 2016, Foxy Studios, (Woodland Hills, California)
Record Label: Viking Wizard Eyes / BMG Rights Management
Genre: Alt Rock / Pop Punk
Duration: 42:46
Tracks:
01. Cynical 1:56
02. Bored To Death 3:56
03. She’s Out Of Her Mind 2:43
04. Los Angeles 3:03
05. Sober 3:00
06. Built This Pool 0:17
07. No Future 3:46
08. Home Is Such A Lonely Place 3:21
09. Kings Of The Weekend 2:56
10. Teenage Satellites 3:12
11. Left Alone 3:10
12. Rabbit Hole 2:36
13. San Diego 3:13
14. The Only Thing That Matters 1:58
15. California 3:10
16. Brohemian Rhapsody 0:30
• All songs written and composed by Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker, Matt Skiba and John Feldmann, except where noted..
Songs written by:
• Hoppus, Barker, Skiba, Feldmann, Patrick Stump 5, 13
• Hoppus, Barker, Skiba, Feldmann, David Hodges 8, 9, 10
• Hoppus, Barker, Skiba, Feldmann, Martin Johnson 15
Personnel:
≡♦ Mark Hoppus vocalist/bassist
≡♦ Travis Barker drummer, percussionist
≡♦ Matt Skiba vocalist/guitarist
¬* California is the upcoming seventh studio album by the American rock band Blink–182, set for release on July 1, 2016 through BMG. Produced by John Feldmann, it is the first album by the band to feature vocalist/guitarist Matt Skiba, who replaced former member Tom DeLonge. After touring and releasing the band’s sixth album Neighborhoods (2011), it became difficult for the trio to record new material, due to DeLonge’s various projects. After disagreements, the remaining members of the group — vocalist/bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker — sought separation from DeLonge and recruited Skiba, best known as the frontman of rock band Alkaline Trio, in his place.
¬* The album was recorded at Foxy Studios between January and March 2016 with Feldmann. He was the group’s first new producer since longtime collaborator Jerry Finn. Prior to his involvement, the trio began writing together some months earlier and completed dozens of songs. They decided to shelve them upon working with Feldmann to start fresh, and they proceeded to record another 28 songs; in all, the group recorded upwards of 50. The band, as well as Feldmann, would regularly spend “18 hours” in the studio a day, aiming to start and complete multiple songs in that timeframe. The album’s title comes from the band’s home state of California, and its artwork was illustrated by the street artist D*Face.
Music
≡• Hoppus considered the music on the album wide–ranging, commenting, “We tried to capture the energy and not worry so much about all the knobs.” This includes songs he felt sounded like the group circa 1999, “super–fast late–Nineties–punk–rock–sounding songs,” as well as more progressive songs “that are like nothing we have ever done before.” Overall, he considered the record “really rich with sing–along melodies and sing–along choruses,” which was what he preferred most when listening to bands. Feldmann considered the music not a “huge departure” from the Blink’s usual sound, as hoped to make a “classic Blink record.” To familiarize himself, he listened to all of the band’s catalogue prior to recording. Lisa Worden, music director at Los Angeles radio station KROQ, compared its sound to the second Blink album Dude Ranch and commented, “It sounds like Blink but it’s not anything that we’ve heard before. For fans of the band, they’re going to be super happy with it.”
Lyrics
≡• Hoppus considered his lyrical content more or less the same as prior releases: “The topics are universal. There is a lot of angst that could be teen angst or it could be angst of everyday life. I still have the same emotions I had 20 years ago — I get frustrated or I get excited. I still feel like I’m falling in love with my wife.” Though in the past he preferred to ruminate on his lyrics for days on end, Feldmann’s speedy process gave Hoppus little time to process them. Despite this, he felt he wrote “some of the best lyrics I’ve written in a long time for this record, because I didn’t have a chance to go and overthink things.” “Bored to Death” was the first song the band recorded with Feldmann on the group’s first day of work with him. “She’s Out of Her Mind” was the result of multiple rewrites, with each draft attempting to perfect the chorus preceding it. Hoppus called it a “simple love song.” Hoppus described “Sober” as “about rebuilding [and] finding yourself, and knowing that you’re in a troubled place but striving to get to somewhere better.” Its subject matter is based around two experiences: one when Skiba was a bicycle messenger in Chicago and was struck by a car, and another a fictional story of a “drunken night with a girlfriend”. Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy receives a writing credit for inventing a dandelion–four leaf clover metaphor present in its lyrics. “Built This Pool” is a short joke song with homoerotic lyrics.
≡• “Home Is Such a Lonely Place” is a ballad with “clean arpeggiated finger–picking guitars with strings underneath it.” Its lyrics are themed around lost love; it emerged from an early–morning coffee meeting between Hoppus and Feldmann, who both imagined how lonely their homes would be when their children grow up and move away. “Rabbit Hole” was one of Hoppus’ favorites, and revolves around “standing your ground and not falling for people’s nonsense.” It came together quickly, like many songs on the album, and its energy led Hoppus to label it among his favorites. “Brohemian Rhapsody” — its title a pun on Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” — is another joke song with the sole lyric “There’s something about you I can’t quite put my finger in.”
Studio albums:
≡♦ Cheshire Cat (1995)
≡♦ Dude Ranch (1997)
≡♦ Enema of the State (1999)
≡♦ Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001)
≡♦ Blink–182 (2003)
≡♦ Neighborhoods (2011)
≡♦ California (2016)
≡♦¬*____________________________________________________*¬♦≡
| Blink–182 — California (July 1, 2016) |
≡• “We all wanted to write the best record that we could and everybody was really focused. We’d show up at eight in the morning and stay until two in the morning all week long. And I think that crucible that we lived in for those two months really created something special. It does feel like a new beginning. It feels like when we used to tour and sleep in the van because that’s all we wanted to do is play rock music.” — Mark Hoppus
≡• The album’s artwork was created by English street artist D*Face.
Origin: Poway, California, United States
Formed: 1992 in San Diego
Album release: July 1st, 2016
Recorded: January–March 2016, Foxy Studios, (Woodland Hills, California)
Record Label: Viking Wizard Eyes / BMG Rights Management
Genre: Alt Rock / Pop Punk
Duration: 42:46
Tracks:
01. Cynical 1:56
02. Bored To Death 3:56
03. She’s Out Of Her Mind 2:43
04. Los Angeles 3:03
05. Sober 3:00
06. Built This Pool 0:17
07. No Future 3:46
08. Home Is Such A Lonely Place 3:21
09. Kings Of The Weekend 2:56
10. Teenage Satellites 3:12
11. Left Alone 3:10
12. Rabbit Hole 2:36
13. San Diego 3:13
14. The Only Thing That Matters 1:58
15. California 3:10
16. Brohemian Rhapsody 0:30
• All songs written and composed by Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker, Matt Skiba and John Feldmann, except where noted..
Songs written by:
• Hoppus, Barker, Skiba, Feldmann, Patrick Stump 5, 13
• Hoppus, Barker, Skiba, Feldmann, David Hodges 8, 9, 10
• Hoppus, Barker, Skiba, Feldmann, Martin Johnson 15
Personnel:
≡♦ Mark Hoppus vocalist/bassist
≡♦ Travis Barker drummer, percussionist
≡♦ Matt Skiba vocalist/guitarist
¬* California is the upcoming seventh studio album by the American rock band Blink–182, set for release on July 1, 2016 through BMG. Produced by John Feldmann, it is the first album by the band to feature vocalist/guitarist Matt Skiba, who replaced former member Tom DeLonge. After touring and releasing the band’s sixth album Neighborhoods (2011), it became difficult for the trio to record new material, due to DeLonge’s various projects. After disagreements, the remaining members of the group — vocalist/bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker — sought separation from DeLonge and recruited Skiba, best known as the frontman of rock band Alkaline Trio, in his place.
¬* The album was recorded at Foxy Studios between January and March 2016 with Feldmann. He was the group’s first new producer since longtime collaborator Jerry Finn. Prior to his involvement, the trio began writing together some months earlier and completed dozens of songs. They decided to shelve them upon working with Feldmann to start fresh, and they proceeded to record another 28 songs; in all, the group recorded upwards of 50. The band, as well as Feldmann, would regularly spend “18 hours” in the studio a day, aiming to start and complete multiple songs in that timeframe. The album’s title comes from the band’s home state of California, and its artwork was illustrated by the street artist D*Face.
Music
≡• Hoppus considered the music on the album wide–ranging, commenting, “We tried to capture the energy and not worry so much about all the knobs.” This includes songs he felt sounded like the group circa 1999, “super–fast late–Nineties–punk–rock–sounding songs,” as well as more progressive songs “that are like nothing we have ever done before.” Overall, he considered the record “really rich with sing–along melodies and sing–along choruses,” which was what he preferred most when listening to bands. Feldmann considered the music not a “huge departure” from the Blink’s usual sound, as hoped to make a “classic Blink record.” To familiarize himself, he listened to all of the band’s catalogue prior to recording. Lisa Worden, music director at Los Angeles radio station KROQ, compared its sound to the second Blink album Dude Ranch and commented, “It sounds like Blink but it’s not anything that we’ve heard before. For fans of the band, they’re going to be super happy with it.”
Lyrics
≡• Hoppus considered his lyrical content more or less the same as prior releases: “The topics are universal. There is a lot of angst that could be teen angst or it could be angst of everyday life. I still have the same emotions I had 20 years ago — I get frustrated or I get excited. I still feel like I’m falling in love with my wife.” Though in the past he preferred to ruminate on his lyrics for days on end, Feldmann’s speedy process gave Hoppus little time to process them. Despite this, he felt he wrote “some of the best lyrics I’ve written in a long time for this record, because I didn’t have a chance to go and overthink things.” “Bored to Death” was the first song the band recorded with Feldmann on the group’s first day of work with him. “She’s Out of Her Mind” was the result of multiple rewrites, with each draft attempting to perfect the chorus preceding it. Hoppus called it a “simple love song.” Hoppus described “Sober” as “about rebuilding [and] finding yourself, and knowing that you’re in a troubled place but striving to get to somewhere better.” Its subject matter is based around two experiences: one when Skiba was a bicycle messenger in Chicago and was struck by a car, and another a fictional story of a “drunken night with a girlfriend”. Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy receives a writing credit for inventing a dandelion–four leaf clover metaphor present in its lyrics. “Built This Pool” is a short joke song with homoerotic lyrics.
≡• “Home Is Such a Lonely Place” is a ballad with “clean arpeggiated finger–picking guitars with strings underneath it.” Its lyrics are themed around lost love; it emerged from an early–morning coffee meeting between Hoppus and Feldmann, who both imagined how lonely their homes would be when their children grow up and move away. “Rabbit Hole” was one of Hoppus’ favorites, and revolves around “standing your ground and not falling for people’s nonsense.” It came together quickly, like many songs on the album, and its energy led Hoppus to label it among his favorites. “Brohemian Rhapsody” — its title a pun on Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” — is another joke song with the sole lyric “There’s something about you I can’t quite put my finger in.”
Studio albums:
≡♦ Cheshire Cat (1995)
≡♦ Dude Ranch (1997)
≡♦ Enema of the State (1999)
≡♦ Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001)
≡♦ Blink–182 (2003)
≡♦ Neighborhoods (2011)
≡♦ California (2016)
≡♦¬*____________________________________________________*¬♦≡