These three guys (Mark, Tom, and Travis) have created music together that just hits me in just the right way. And their sound evolved at just the right time in my life (going from the Enema of the State/Take Off Your Pants and Jacket sound to the self titled album sound) in 2003. In fact, the self titled album is by far my favorite album to date. Its brilliant and different and frankly I've never heard another album quite like it. Its not a joke album, and it proved that these guys can be and should be taken seriously.
So naturally, it came as quite a shock on that sad day in February 2005 when it was announced that the guys broke up (I'm sorry went on an indefinite hiatus). I never really lost hope that they would one day return, but the more I learned of the circumstances surrounding the split, the more faith I lost in that sentiment. And then one day in late 2008, Travis Barker with DJ AM were on a private plane that sadly crashed and killed the only 4 other people on the plane (the two pilots, their good friend Chris Baker, and Travis' bodyguard). Miraculously Travis and DJ AM survived the crash, but sustained significant injuries. Suddenly, life was put into perspective of all three members of blink. As well as DJ AM, but sadly his story took a much different course, and ended in a very unsettling way, suffice to say, the only living survivor of the plane crash today is Travis Barker.
Anyways, not long after it was announced that blink would return, life was too short and whatever these guys were mad at each other about, just didn't make sense anymore. So the joy that I felt when it was revealed that the blink boys would be at the Grammys presenting an award together was that which I've only felt one other time when my parents gave me a car for graduating college (just happened a few days ago actually). Sure enough, it was at these awards that the guys announced their return as a band. My life was complete.
But that was then, early 2009. I'm writing this now in May 2011, and aside from a few tours and late night performances there really hasn't been any new blink material. Don't get me wrong, the two shows I went to in the summer of 2009 were awesome (Milwaukee show was way better than Minneapolis show though). My complaint though is, these guys are taking too long to finally release anything new. We haven't heard one new song yet, best we've gotten is an 8 second clip of Mark singing a tune, and its cool that we got that, but the fans definitely deserve more at this point. In the summer of 2009, it was claimed that a new song, Up All Night would be released, yet it never was and still hasn't seen the light of day. It is very frustrating. I really want to hear new material. I'm sure that the reason it wasn't released is that it didn't sound too good, perhaps it sounded too much like Tom's crummy other band Angels and Airwaves. A truly awful band with only a couple of decent tunes. Its not like Tom isn't brilliant writing and performing music on his own as evidenced by his 2002 side project Box Car Racer, its just that when he tries the different spacey style of AVA constantly, he loses his appeal. And its not like there isn't a place for that kind of sound, Asthenia on the self titled blink album is absolutely a precursor to AVA, but its substantially better than every AVA song, save perhaps the Adventure.
Anyways, the point is, I grow impatient as the days go by. Supposedly the new blink album will arrive sometime in the summer, and you can be assured that when it does I will quickly be here to review it. But I am disappointed with how long it has taken for these guys to go from announcing their return to the release of any new material, two years and counting at this point.
So here's to hoping that this album doesn't become Chinese Democracy, and it truly is released this summer. Sound off your opinions in the comments section.
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