Matt Skiba Worked On “Almost a Whole Album Worth of Stuff” with Blink-182 Before Departure

A Matt Skiba-era Blink-182 album is in the wind now that the original trio has reunited.

Alkaline Trio’s frontman, Skiba, joined the punk band after guitarist, vocalist, and founding member Tom DeLonge departed in 2015. During his time in Blink, Skiba recorded two albums – California in 2016 and Nine in 2019—with remaining band members, bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker.

Skiba has stepped down to make way for DeLonge’s long-rumored return, which was announced earlier this month, but not before working on a follow-up project to Nine.

“There’s almost a whole album’s worth of stuff,” Skiba told Vulture in an interview, saying the project was put on hold following Hoppus’ cancer diagnosis. “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 Blink-182 songs that are done. We basically finished those, and then Mark was diagnosed, if I’m getting the timeline correct.

“I don’t know if they’ll come out,” he said, adding “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.”

Since the reunion announcement, Skiba has assured fans there are no hard feelings and he is just as excited about the news. In a recent Instagram post, he wrote “CONGRATULATIONS to the homies @markhoppus @tomdelonge and @travisbarker on their triumphant @blink182 return/reunion and the release of their new single today.”

He added before signing off #fromchicagowithlove, “I am truly grateful for my time with blink and I am truly happy you guys are a band and a family again. THANKS TO THE BAND AND ALL THE BLINK FANS FOR HAVING ME. You were delicious!”

With new music from the original lineup still to come, Hoppus, Barker, and DeLonge will embark on an extensive 2023-2024 world tour.