>>Mark Hoppus: Hi.
>>Jonathan: Hi guys.
Thanks for comin' out.
>>Mark Hoppus: It was great to see all these
empty seats over here 'cause that means normally
this place is all packed.
[laughter]
But not for us.
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: Hey everyone thanks for comin'
out.
My name is Jonathan, I work on the Google
Voice team.
In addition to that I work with a lot of the
early adopters and influencers on Google+.
And today we are joined by Mark Hoppus and
Tom DeLonge of blink-182.
[applause and cheering]
So the guys have been kind enough to take
some time off the Honda Civic Tour to sit
with us and answer some questions.
Today's discussion will be mostly around Google+
and the band's involvement as well as some
questions from our fans via the YouTube Moderator
Page.
So let's dive in.
>>Mark: Let's do it
>>Jonathan: How are you guys doin'?
>>Mark Hoppus: Doing well, doing well.
Yeah I think that we stopped the rain --
[laughter]
today, pretty sure we stopped the rain.
We're at the end of a 10 week tour so every
time I see people that I know they come up
to me and they say, "You look really tired
--
[laughter]
you look really tired."
Tom just looks that way always --
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: We're good though.
>>Jonathan: Good.
Tom this one's for you, I'm sure you're asked
this all the time but obviously we might have
some newbies in the room, if you could take
us a little bit through the formation of blink-182
and a brief history up until now of the release
of your new album Neighborhoods.
>>Tom DeLonge: Twenty years, it's a 20 year
--
>>Jonathan: [chuckles]
>>Tom DeLonge: speech?
>>Jonathan: Give us the Cliff Notes.
>>Tom DeLonge: I got kicked outta high school
and I met his sister at the new high school
and his sister she goes, "Oh you play guitar
my brother's moving down here plays bass."
And I said, "Yeah you know."
At the time actually that's when I saw Scott
play 'cause Scott was playing drums, he wasn't
even in high school yet but he came over at
lunch time for a battle of the bands with
some other freshmen or something, he was like
in eighth grade.
And so he's at the school and we're like,
"Wow this guy's a great drummer," and he's
like in junior high.
So I started playing with him in his bedroom.
Then I met Mark through his sister at that
same school and we started a band and came
up with the name skateboarding one night and
here we are.
But so now years later Travis was opening
up in another band and we were at odds with
the first drummer and we made a big departure
and got the new guy in and then the next thing
you know we're here.
It's crazy.
>>Mark Hoppus: Somewhere in there they invented
the Internet too.
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: And that's why we're here.
>>Mark Hoppus: That's why we're here.
>>Tom DeLonge: Remember the first time I asked
you about the Internet I'm in Mark's bedroom
and I'm like, "Well now what the fuck is the
Internet?"
And he just goes, "Well no" --
[laughter]
this is the raddist thing about it it's so
new really at this time he goes, "No it's
like you can like grab anything and like there's
like a thing that you type in and it pulls
up information about that thing."
He's like, "For example," and you grabbed
duct tape.
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh yeah.
>>Tom Delonge: And you're all, "Like duct
tape," and he goes to the back of duct tape
and it's all ducttape.com.
I was like, "Why would people got look up
info on tape?"
You know that's what I, but I was trippin'
that was my first experience.
>>Mark Hoppus: The fir --
>>Tom DeLonge: The last thing I did.
And the other thing is then I went out and
bought a computer to look up UFOs because
I thought that would be cool.
[laughter]
And I was like that makes sense to me but.
>>Jonathan: Nice.
>>Mark Hoppus: I ended up on the World Health
Organization diarrhea home page.
[laughter]
It was my first, that was my first website
that I visited.
>>Tom DeLonge: He was always --
>>Mark Hoppus: It was always the same thing
it was like ?
>>Tom DeLonge: Porn.
>>Mark Hoppus: my sister was telling me about
it --
[laughter]
[laughs]
[laughter]
and she was like, "You can look up anything,"
and I'm like, "alright look up diarrhea,"
--
[laughter]
and --
[laughter]
World Health Organization diarrhea homepage.
>>Tom DeLonge: Not beautiful, naked women,
there was like diarrhea --
>>Mark Hoppus: Nope.
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: Well good to know.
[laughs]
[laughter]
So Mark --
>>Mark Hoppus: What was the question?
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
[laughter]
Something about the band back there --
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
I'm curious what drew you to activate on Google+,
you're obviously one of our more active users
and --
>>Mark Hoppus: Um-hum.
>>Jonathan: I'm curious what your favorite
features are?
>>Mark Hoppus: I love that from its integration,
from its inception that you could segment
who you spoke to and gave which information
to which is I think for me personally, and
I think for everybody in the world, is you
wanna share stuff with certain people.
I like that ability.
I didn't like having a public persona and
a private persona and having two different
web pages and things like that and Google+
had that from the beginning which really drew
me to it.
It's new.
I feel like the level of discourse on Google+
is really high right now.
Obviously it's new so the people that are
coming to it are interested.
Everything works really well together, I like
the Hangouts.
I can't wait until I'm able to Hangout with
more than 10 people 'cause it's really weird
right now when I do a Hangout.
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
[laughter]
It is because like I'll go in a Hangout and
10 people or nine other people will pop up
and everyone's just sitting there staring.
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: It this really him?
>>Mark Hoppus: And it's, I've done this dozens
of times and they're like and I go, "So where
you guys all from?"
[laughter]
And it's cool because everyone's like you
know, "I'm from Turkey, I'm from South America,
from Australia."
And then nobody says anything.
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
>>Mark Hoppus: And so it's about like 10 minutes
of me just goin' like, "Any questions?"
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
[laughter]
But it's cool I like having that kind of access
to people.
I like being able to post some things to just
my friends.
I like judging my friends and putting them
in certain circles accordingly.
[laughter]
I'm like the ruler of a small kingdom.
I'm a benevolent king, I'm fair, but I --
[laughter]
yeah.
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
>>Mark Hoppus: I'm also strict.
>>Jonathan: [chuckles]
[laughter]
Good to know you know how to use it.
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah.
>>Jonathan: You got it goin'.
Tom we're honestly thrilled to have you on
Google+ and --
>>Tom DeLonge: Really?
>>Jonathan: we're --
[laughter]
well I know I am.
[chuckles]
And I'm just curious what your first impressions
are but more specifically how you've involved
social media as a big way of engaging your
fans over the years?
>>Tom DeLonge: Well I [clears throat] I was
always enamored with Google.
I think that like when you look at all the
big tech giants of what's goin' on I mean
everyone references Apple for their hardware
and then everyone references Google.
It's like you guys own the Internet it's all
this information and I always was so excited
to see competitively what you guys were gonna
do with your company and all the incredible
wizardry that you have you know [chuckles].
And so when this came out I was instantly
drawn to it because I thought that you guys
would use the technology to really integrate
so well into things, it's not all there yet
but I can imagine what'll happen when you
start bringin' in like Google Maps and more
and all the streaming capabilities and email
capabilities and all that kind of stuff.
It seemed like the one missing component to
such a large world that you guys already had
so I was instantly just like, "Okay, this
is gonna be a really interesting and different
kind of take on the social experience."
For me it's always been really important as
the Internet, I always described it is like
the central nervous system that connects all
these different countries and people of varying
ethnicities and locations across the globe,
but it's like instantaneous this generation
of people so massively different then when
we were kids.
So I think for a company that's so heavily
entrenched in the Internet that's responsible
for so much of where it's going and what it's
capable of the idea of having a social network
to be able to be the glue that ties all your
other pieces together I thought that would
be a great thing for our business and for
our band and that's how I look, I'm not much,
I do really stupid things when I just go out
there to say something just to say it like
I'm not good at that kind of stuff 'cause
usually it's really bad and I understand that,
I'm trying to get better at that but it has
not gotten --
[laughter]
any better for years.
But to be an independent artist and to be
able to have that kind of reach and connectivity
with your fans and to understand where the
marketplace is going and how I want to basically
create art that can go, that can be a little
bit more forward thinking you need to have
those types of tools.
And like Mark said being able to aggregate
people but also send them certain pieces of
information based on who they are, what their
likes are I mean that's like the whole, that's
like a vague way describing what everyone's
going after.
And I think that you guys can do anything
you want.
It's a blank canvas and that's what's exciting
to me.
>>Jonathan: Cool.
>>Tom DeLonge: That's the short answer.
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
>>Jonathan: Mark a personal favorite Google+
post of mine is actually when you chose to
reveal the track listing for your new album
--
>>Mark Hoppus: Um-hum.
>>Jonathan: via screen shot of just your iTunes
library.
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh right.
>>Jonathan: And I'm just curious was this
planned, was this spur of the moment, and
can we expect this to be like per se the new
press release artists doing it themselves?
>>Mark Hoppus: I didn't mean for it to be
the release of the album track listing.
I didn't even think about it.
I probably pissed a bunch of people off when
I did that.
I was so excited to have the actual album
in my iTunes library as an album rather than
just a bunch of files that I'd taken home
from the studio as an actual thing at that
point that I took a screen shot of it just
'cause I was excited as a fan of our band
and I wanted to put it up there.
But I think that, I think that is kind of
the new press release, I think that people
do more of their own press now.
Traditional media is also completely important
as well but for me I love that I can go on
Google+ and let a bunch of people know something
or Tweet something to two million people and
it's there, it's immediate.
It allows us to be very agile with, I mean
from afar we look we're smart marketing, but
really I was just excited and I like to do
stuff.
[pause]
That's, it's just that --
>>Jonathan: You're anxious.
>>Mark Hoppus: I'm anxious and I'm excited
--
>>Jonathan: [chuckles]
>>Mark Hoppus: and I like that instant feedback.
I like having a thought and having it go out
to a bunch of people even if it is dumb.
>>Jonathan: [chuckles] I'm sure that your
fans appreciate it right?
>>Mark Hoppus: Some people do.
>>Jonathan: [chuckles]
>>Mark Hoppus: I never understand though I
never get like especially on across all of
this stuff like you post something and people
reply back, "Oh that's dumb," or, "You're
an idiot?"
And you're like, "You had to click a button
to follow me.
[laughter]
You had to read my thing and then you had
to click a bunch more buttons to tell me you
didn't like what I said, just unfollow."
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: Haters gonna hate man.
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: Uncircle I don't get it.
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
So Tom there's been some chatter about musician
roundtables using Hangouts on Google+ and
I'm curious Hangouts max out at 10 people,
but in your dream scenario if you could Hangout
with anyone using Google+ alive or dead who
would you guys like to have, each of you?
>>Tom Delonge: Um --
>>Jonathan: [chuckles]
>>Tom DeLonge: Well you know I --
[laughter]
there's a lot, I think a lot I to me any kind
of interesting discussion it doesn't really
necessarily matter who it is I mean it would
be interesting to be with musicians, legendary
ones from the 60s, because to me it's come
full circle where bands came out selling very
few records and had to work really hard to
make some noise to get some attention.
And then we ushered in the 80s and 90s where
instantly you're selling millions, I mean
you don't have to do anything and you're selling
millions of records.
And then now you're all the way back to where
bands have to work so hard to sell a few and
I think it causes these artists to have to
really think about their art and be a lot
more progressive just to get any kind of attention.
So it's actually a good and a bad thing, but
it would be interesting to have discussions
with artists from that time period 'cause
I think back in the 60s and 70s that's when
you started getting bands like the Beatles
or Led Zeppelin and they really start thinking
bigger and different and just doing things
that set them apart from the norm.
And I almost feel like we're kind of going
into that same zone again.
So to me that would be a really interesting
discussion but the idea that people can come
and attend these kind, these things is really
interesting.
That's what's so cool about the whole video
streaming thing it's just like that in itself
is a whole institution that can go for miles
and miles on its own outside of, I mean especially
integrated into the social network it's just
like it's incredible.
>>Jonathan: Mark, what about you?
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh --
>>Tom DeLonge: Napoleon Bonaparte.
[chuckles]
>>Jonathan: [chuckles]
>>Mark Hoppus: Probably my grandfather who
I never got to meet, somebody like Einstein,
probably Tom you and Travis would be in there.
>>Tom DeLonge: With Einstein?
>>Mark Hoppus: With Einstein.
>>Tom DeLonge: Just to make me look stupid,
that would be great.
>>Mark Hoppus: I don't know.
[laughter]
There's too much, I could think of a lot better
list --
>>Jonathan: [chuckles]
>>Mark Hoppus: Creative people, creative,
smart people throughout time.
>>Jonathan: Socrates.
>>Mark Hoppus: Socrates.
It'd be a lot like Bill and Ted's Excellent
Adventure.
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
>>Jonathan: That's how you should think of
Hangouts.
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah totally.
>>Jonathan: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure,
that's good.
Now curious Mark you're actually known for
responding directly to fans within the comment
section of your Google+ posts.
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah.
>>Jonathan: Why do you think this is important?
>>Mark Hoppus: I just like setting people
straight and answering people's questions.
I've always, as a fan of music growing up
I always dreamed about being able to ask questions
of bands that I loved and obviously there
was never really.
Actually one time I saw They Might Be Giants
when I was 16 years old and I sent them a
letter.
They played a song in this concert that they
didn't put on any of their records and I sent
them a letter saying, "Hey how come you never
recorded that song, The Sound is a Mass of
Incandescent Gas?"
And I sent it to them and they actually emailed
not emailed me they actually mailed me back
a handwritten letter and I was like, "Wow
that's really cool!"
And to have that kind of access much more
convenient for me like I can answer people's
questions all day long and it kills time for
me and it lets people know what's up with
the band and I think that people know that
we honestly appreciate their support of our
music.
And I like that kind of interaction it's important
to me.
We've always been like that, we've always
hung out after shows and talked to people,
not you so much.
>>Jonathan: [chuckles]
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: Hang on, hang on, I hide a
little bit.
>>Mark Hoppus: But I like that kind of interaction,
I like that.
>>Tom DeLonge: You guys should create like
hardware that they can stick on their bodies
and we can really touch them.
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
>>Tom DeLonge: Next question.
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: That's why --
>>Tom DeLonge: I'm being --
>>Mark Hoppus: That's why he doesn't post.
>>Tom DeLonge: That's true, that is true.
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: [chuckles]
>>Jonathan: We need those gems.
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
>>Jonathan: So Tom in 2005 blink-182 toured,
2005 was actually pretty neat because it also
saw the launch of YouTube and I'm curious
how does it feel to have a shift from video
spins to YouTube views?
It is more promising in a way that fans can
access your videos on demand instead of watching
TV at the right time and hoping to catch maybe
--
>>Tom DeLonge: Oh yea.
>>Jonathan: a snip-.
>>Tom DeLonge: It's a total game changer and
the coolest thing --
>>Mark Hoppus: Game changer!
Oh buzz word.
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: Um --
>>Mark Hoppus: Time to think outside the box.
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
[laughter]
Synergy.
[laughter]
Anyways --
[laughter]
to get back to the --
[laughter]
what it cools it's like now it's like, "Hey
have you heard of this band or have you heard
of this song or have you heard of anything?"
YouTube is like the new, it's almost like
a mini different version of an encyclopedia,
you can instantly go there and get some information
on it.
You can either hear the song or you can see
the video or you can see an interview or you
can see a TV performance or you can see some
kid his review about a book or a movie or
whatever.
It's like, it's you can go to places like
Wikipedia or whatever but YouTube is like
this more from the common person like really
putting their thoughts up whether it's like
they, a lot of times it's a kid.
I've had kids stand outside the studio and
record stuff from their car go put it on YouTube
and just like this echo, like I don't know,
I think it's totally a changing --
>>Mark Hoppus: You can say it, I won't say
--
>>Tom DeLonge: I don't if I'm scared to say
it but it is 'cause it totally changes the
game for everyone.
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: I just like it for the Honey
Badger [laughs].
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
[laughter]
Which you hadn't even --
>>Mark Hoppus: I didn't even know about --
>>Jonathan: You hadn't even seen that.
>>Mark Hoppus: Honey Badger until two days
ago.
>>Tom DeLonge: What's Honey Badger?
>>Mark Hoppus: Honey Badger I'll show you.
>>Tom DeLonge: Have you guys seen, alright.
>>Jonathan: [chuckles]
>>Tom DeLonge: Never mind.
>>Jonathan: You'll see it.
>>Mark Hoppus: I mean just all the stuff --
>>Tom DeLonge: You guys have some weird shit
on YouTube that's what I've noticed.
>>Mark Hoppus: Double rainbow, like all of
the classics.
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: [chuckles]
>> Tom: Peanut Butter Man.
>>Mark Hoppus: Dude.
>> Tom: Peanut Butter Man exactly.
>>Jonathan: I haven't even seen that one.
>>Mark Hoppus: [unintelligible] Peanut Butter
Man.
>>Tom DeLonge: Peanut Butter you guys can
search that on your own network.
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs] You're own --
>>Tom DeLonge: What are you guys putting up
there?
>>Jonathan: So this is for both of you, I'm
assuming you both use Smartphones and I'm
curious besides the Google+ app what are your
favorite apps.
I'm curious --
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh show 'em yours
>>Jonathan: I'm just curious --
>>Mark Hoppus: This one.
>>Jonathan: what would make your life --
>>Mark Hoppus: Your mustache app.
>>Tom DeLonge: I know I love the mustache
app, it's funny but --
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
Do you not have it?
>>Tom DeLonge: Oh I do but it's just --
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh, okay.
>>Tom DeLonge: But no I just don't if that's
appropriate.
Well everyone's got Apple computers, I have
an iPhone I don't if that's --
>>Mark Hoppus: Ladies and gentlemen he has
an iPhone, don't --
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: I know.
>>Jonathan: There's a few of us that have
iPhones, too.
>>Tom DeLonge: What are our favorite apps,
my favorite apps is that the question?
>>Jonathan: Well anything particular maybe
something that makes life on the road more
convenient or maybe stayin' in touch with
your family and --
>>Tom DeLonge: Right.
>>Jonathan: friends a little bit easier.
>>Tom DeLonge: Well per, I'm not much --
>>Mark Hoppus: Chat Roulette.
[laughs]
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: What did you say Chat Roulette?
>>Mark Hoppus: Chat Roulette.
>>Tom DeLonge: Yeah.
[laughter]
I've heard about that I haven't done that.
>>Mark Hoppus: I haven't either.
I'm too afraid.
>>Tom DeLonge: Yeah.
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: I'm just too afraid.
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: I keep thinkin' it's just gonna
be a naked man and --
>>Mark Hoppus: That's all it is!
>>Tom DeLonge: Is that what it is?
>>Mark Hoppus: That's all it is!
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: Like his dad's like waving
at him.
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: But I --
>>Mark Hoppus: Wait for my dad's IPO.
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: Well I don't know the apps
I'm, I like to, the only apps I really use
for real are like news kind of stuff and art
or movies and so like I'm not --
>>Mark Hoppus: The Onion.
>>Tom DeLonge: I like the Onion a lot because
it cheers me up a bit.
And by the way I was just at the White House
and Barack Obama reads The Onion every day,
it's on his secretary's desk right one the
top.
He wants to cheer up a bit too I guess but
--
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: But it's infinite though and
you know what's really cool about Android
is you guys are the new Microsoft and Microsoft's
ancient, it's a whole different, what I loved
about it is like --
>>Mark Hoppus: You're gonna get it.
You're gonna get it.
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: I understand, I know.
[laughter]
But I really believe that.
I believe that that whole the idea as open
source and having the Internet connected into
it is really appealing and really competitive.
And all the hype that Microsoft got back in
the day is now here with that and it's, and
I don't know I think that what's more exciting
is not so much the apps that I love it's just
the fact that there are apps that people can
go out and you can be anybody in a bedroom
and figure it out and launch an application
or program and it's not 50-60 bucks like it
used to be, it can be 99 cents or whatever
so.
>>Jonathan: True.
Mark what about you?
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh apps?
>>Jonathan: Yeah.
>>Mark Hoppus: I'm just traditionalist.
>>Tom DeLonge: Words with Friends kind of
guy?
>>Mark Hoppus: Words with Friend, I do a lot
of Words with Friends yeah.
>>Jonathan: Instagram.
>>Mark Hoppus: I destroy people.
Instagram I like a whole lot, I love Instagram.
Hipstamatic's cool.
I mean there's all those --
>>Tom DeLonge: The camera apps are awesome
yeah.
>>Mark Hoppus: Camera apps are great, all
the social networking ones.
>>Tom DeLonge: Mustache apps.
>>Mark Hoppus: Mustache apps.
[laughter]
That's about it.
>>Jonathan: No fart apps, nothin'?
>>Mark Hoppus: No fart apps, no --
>>Tom DeLonge: Those are good.
The time I've done 'em --
>>Mark Hoppus: Livesaver apps.
>>Tom DeLonge: quite a few fart apps.
[laughter]
You can put 'em on timers.
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh.
That's solid.
>>Tom DeLonge: So you hide it in the other
part of the room.
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: So we're gonna take some time
we're gonna take some questions.
We had a ton of questions submitted online
so we set up a YouTube Moderator Page and
I'm gonna go ahead and read some of those
off for you guys.
So a Mighty Big Dan from British Columbia
asks: "Tom, how long does it take for you
to write your lyrics, where does most of your
inspiration come from?"
>>Tom DeLonge: It doesn't take me too long.
My inspiration usually comes from, once the
music for the song is more or less close to
being completed I'll just try and find an
emotional current in it that makes sense.
I'll either identify with it and write exactly
like it or try and write the opposite.
It's a good question 'cause I think it's different
for every artist, they always say, "I write
the words first," but not for myself.
I like to write the music first 'cause that
to me is like the foundation of the building
you build on top of it.
>>Mark Hoppus: Um.
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: So "Cale Basque" maybe I pronounced
that correctly -- [chuckles]
>>Mark Hoppus: hoping you're right
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: from San Jose asks: "What's going
on with the blinkumentary?
Super excited for when it comes out, I'm sure
it will be great."
>>Mark Hoppus: We are still working on it,
it's still being filmed.
>>Jonathan: I won't lie I don't even know
much of what this is.
>>Mark Hoppus: We've been, a friend of ours
by the name of Haven Lamoureux has been on
the road with us for two years kind of documenting
the reformation of the band, us going on our
first tour, us going in the studio working
on this record, and I think we're gonna wrap
it up, I mean we've been wrappin' it up for
it seems like six months now.
>>Tom DeLonge: It's hard 'cause you keep,
we've been doin' a lot of important things
the past couple months.
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah.
>>Tom DeLonge: It's kind of like keep filmin'.
>>Jonathan: [chuckles]
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah it's an ongoing thing
that hopefully will get released fairly soon.
>>Jonathan: Cool.
So "X FOB M" from Belgium asks: "What's your
best memory ever when you were on tour?"
>>Tom DeLonge: Well that's hard.
One of the best recent ones we were fortunately
able to headline Reading Festival --
>>Mark Hoppus: Um-hum.
>>Tom DeLonge: in Leeds which is 100,000 people,
it's the biggest festivals in the world for
a rock band and, or probably in general.
So when you get an opportunity to headline
that festival it's like it's a highlight of
your career.
And we did that and broke quite a few records
that night at that festival.
It's in England and that was huge.
Comin' off that you felt pretty good about
yourself.
>>Jonathan: Lots of people.
>>Tom DeLonge: Yeah it's a lot of people,
yeah it's crazy.
And they're all staring at your it's like
weird but.
>>Jonathan: [chuckles]
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: So Black Bird 192 from Italy asks:
"Wishing Well, a song that may represent the
story of everyone of us fans and blink told
in three and a half minutes, where did you
find the inspiration to touch so many hearts
with such an amazing song?"
>>Mark Hoppus: Props.
[laughter]
Super props.
>>Tom DeLonge: I actually wrote the lyrics,
you asked about the lyrics, I wrote the lyrics
to that at my daughter's school.
And there was a picnic going on and I was
not engaged 'cause we were late on the [unintelligible]
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
>>Tom DeLonge: there was all these kids running
around bouncing off the walls and I'm sitting
at a little bench I'm just like what rhymes
with, I'm finding rhyme apps on my phone,
I'm like --
[laughter]
rhymes with.
I didn't necessarily do that, I had no service.
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: That's one of your favorite apps
right?
>>Mark Hoppus: You gotta come up with a better
story than that.
>>Tom DeLonge: But that's the truth but I
mean I fortunately I'm a really focused when
it comes to studio stuff so it doesn't really
matter where I'm at I mean I obsess over it
to where my wife hates me because that's I
just live in those songs for the totality
of the recording.
So whether I'm at Chat Roulette with naked
men or I'm at a school -
[laughter]
I'm dedicated to figuring it out.
But Wishing Well it's a great song it's a,
and the song really is just about being a
little bit lost, trying to find your way.
And I think there's a lot of that on our record
where it's everyone's trying to get by and
everyone's trying to win in their own way
but were all in it together so.
>>Mark Hoppus: You did a good job.
>>Tom DeLonge: Thank you.
>>Mark Hoppus: That song's really good.
>>Jonathan: Our final one, so Blind Brown
Eyes then we're gonna take some questions
?
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh got it.
>>Jonathan: from Googlers.
>>Mark Hoppus: Did you say we're gonna take
some questions from lawyers?
>>Jonathan: Googlers.
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh, got it.
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: Google lawyers , there might be
some lawyers in there.
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
[laughter]
Talk to my attorneys.
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: So Blind Brown Eyes from Belgium
asks: "What's it like to be a hero for so
many people?"
[pause]
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh.
>>Jonathan: No pressure.
[laughter]
Tom DeLonge: Who are they asking?
No us right, they're asking --
>>Mark Hoppus: It's humbling, it's yeah, I'd
say it's humbling, it's really cool to get
to do what we do.
We're amazed that after 20 years that we still
get to come out and play Shoreline Amphitheater.
I grew up in California and one year I lived
actually in Mountain View and I remember when
they built Shoreline Amphitheater and to think
that I play that place now with my job is
pretty awesome.
It's really a blessing, it's really fun and
you're welcome for being your hero.
I don't know --
[laughter]
what do you want me to say?
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: Cool.
So I think we're gonna take some questions
from Googlers if we have some time.
>>voices in audience: murmuring
>>Mark Hoppus: Are we gonna do like a Maury
thing and find if somebody's a dad?
>>Jonathan: Yeah.
[laughter]
You have to do the dance though.
>>Mark Hoppus: Okay cool.
>>Tom DeLonge: Do the dance.
>Jonathan: So if you guys, I guess if we wanna
start lining up if anyone has questions for
the guys.
>>Mark Hoppus: Should be pre-screen everybody
and make sure they're all complimentary?
>Jonathan: [laughs]
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
>>Jonathan: It's the only thing we have here.
>>male #1: So you brought up the open source
of Android and so I have a question about
music and open source.
Do you see music moving towards open source
and really finding your revenue from concerts
and merchandise and making music free for
everyone?
Do you think music should move in that direction?
>>Tom DeLonge: I think that's a great question.
That's a really hard question to answer but
I think that there's some kind of, I think
that there's a compromise.
And I think that music, the digital rights
management, they should go away.
That makes it kinda difficult 'cause then
the companies are kinda owning their own versions
of the songs.
But what I do think is that there is a place
to follow that's very similar to how applications
are running where you put out an application
and then there's a free version and then if
you like it you can basically up-sell them
to something else.
And I think that music can work that way as
well where you put out some free stuff and
you can complete the record or you can have
access to physical goods as well, collectible
items.
And a merging of multiple institutions where
I think record labels and fan clubs and merchandising
companies and things that are traditionally
completely separate are all comin' together
so you can have the ability to do that.
'Cause right now I mean for example we put
out our record a week or so ago and there
was a massive issue 'cause one group owned
the songs, one group owned the technology,
one group owned all the physical goods, and
then the band was over here and everyone was
makin' money except for the band and made
it really hard.
And then they all starting yelling at each
other and then the whole thing broke down
and we weren't even really personally involved
in those conversations.
And music was one of those industries where
so many people came in over the decades and
all starting grabbing pieces and it just became
a really hard thing to create a business out
of it later.
So my answer is I think it's gonna be some
kind of compromise, but I do think there is
an element of it being free and I think that
that's one of those things where you steak
your reputation on it kinda, "I believe that
you will like what we do so I'm willing to
let some of it go out to everybody," but to
what degree is gonna vary.
>>male #1: Thank you.
[pause]
>>male #2: Hey guys.
Everyone's a collector, I think, of something
in their own way whether it's small or big
so I just wanna know if you guys collect anything?
>>Tom DeLonge: Bodies.
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: I collect vintage guitars,
Simpsons action figures, and art.
Not like a big collector of whatever but I
like art.
>>male #2: Okay.
>>Tom DeLonge: I'm really bad at that stuff,
yeah.
You know what's funny I don't like, I looking
in, it's really to my detriment too.
I look forward so much that I don't look in
the past so I never collect, nothing, I don't
really value too many things from the past.
Wife gets mad there's like photos and like
I kinda find it sad when you look like at
a photo and you're like, "Oh my God we were
happy, we were young --
[laughter]
remember it.
[laughter]
But clutter is weird to me but I always envy
like, remember you were collecting llamas
for a longest time too.
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh yeah I collect hotel room
keys --
>>Tom DeLonge: Hotel keys that's what it was
yeah.
>>Mark Hoppus: I have boxes of hotel room
keys from touring over the years.
>>Tom DeLonge: It's not weird it's just --
>>Mark Hoppus: I love the actual keys, I have
like a shoestring with actual keys on it,
but now people like me stole all those keys
so they have to go to keycards and now I just
?
>>male #2: Nice.
>>Mark Hoppus: have rows and rows of keycards.
>>male #2: Gotcha.
>>Mark Hoppus: I could break into any hotel
in the world.
>>Tom DeLonge: Ah that's true--
[laughter]
>>male #2: You can use their pool for free
right?
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah for sure.
>>male #2: That's the way to do it yeah.
So I collect T-shirts and Android figures
--
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh cool.
>>Male #2: and just wanted to see if you guys
wanted to trade anything for --
[laughter]
one of these T-shirts?
>>Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge: [laugh]
>>Tom DeLonge: Mark will.
He'll give you some keys.
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
>Mark Hoppus: Yeah, what have I got?
>>Tom DeLonge: Here's the key to my room now.
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
[laughter]
I got guitar picks.
I don't have 'em with me though.
>>Tom: I just got soft kisses [chuckles]
>>Mark Hoppus: I'll owe ya right here.
[laughter]
I'll owe ya some guitar picks.
[laughter]
>>male #2: Here ya go, so I'll give you guys
--
>>Mark Hoppus: Cool thanks.
>>Tom DeLonge: Very nice.
>>Mark Hoppus: Much appreciated.
>>Tom DeLonge: Thank you sir.
I don't know --
>>Mark Hoppus: Can we open up?
>>Tom DeLonge: We could break it in half --
>>Mark Hoppus: Should be open up?
[laughter]
Looks like it's supposed to open up, sorry.
>>Jonathan: [laughs]
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: Thanks for this [makes noise]
.
[laughter]
>>male #3: Hey guys how come you never toured
in South America?
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: We tried.
We had a bunch of stuff booked years ago and
that is the goal.
It's just a matter of getting down there at
the right time because when you release a
record there's certain things and certain
places you have to be at a certain time, right?
So they start mapping out the whole world
and, but I think it's long past due that we
get down there.
>>Mark Hoppus: Absolutely.
>>male #3: You guys have a huge fan base in
South America.
>>Tom DeLonge: Yeah.
>>Mark Hoppus: We've very lucky Brazil, South
America in general is gigantic for us and
we've never toured there.
I think when we very first started off it
was too prohibitively expensive for us to
go and then when we should have gone there
we were touring other places and now it's
just a matter of getting us down there.
>>male #3: Cool, thanks.
[pause]
>>male #4: Hey guys.
>>Mark Hoppus: Hi.
>>male #4: Two quick questions: What would
you guys do if you were never in the music
industry and your favorite blink-182 songs?
>>Mark Hoppus: I would still live with my
mom.
[laughter]
And I don't know, what would you do?
>>Tom DeLonge: I would still be --
>>Mark Hoppus: Live with my mom?
>>Tom DeLonge: would still be living with
my mom, I'm living with her now, you know
what I'm saying?
[laughter]
No I would be driving, I would still be doin',
this is what we did.
Mark would be, it would be three in the afternoon
he's got a burrito and a Big Gulp and video
games and I would show up in a truck with
concrete and I'd say, "Dude, come help me
deliver this shit.
It's so heavy I can't do it by myself."
He's be like, "Alright."
And he would just jump in, he would help me
deliver concrete, he'd be like, "I'm sore
for like five days, I'm not gonna do this
every day."
So I don't know I think about that all the
time like I was like yeah, yeah, a couple
back surgeries later I'm, I was delivering
giant things of concrete, Mark was playin'
video games at home and that's about all we're
good for outside of this.
[laughter]
>>male #4: And favorite blink songs?
>>Tom DeLonge: Oh man I don't know I really
--
>>Mark Hoppus: It totally changes day to day.
>>male #4: Yeah.
>>Tom DeLonge: They all serve a different
purpose.
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah.
Right now I'd say After Midnight 'cause that's
our new single and I love Wishing Well that's
a great song.
>>Tom DeLonge: Yeah I mean I like, I really
like, we have a song called Violence which
is on our last record which is kinda this
mix of electronic and punk rock, it's was
a lotta fun when that song happened because
it really showed, it showed kind of the convergence
of drum and bass music and pop punk music
and I think that also was a little bit of
a window into where we were going with this
record so.
But favorites it doesn't really work.
>>male #4: Thank you.
>>Tom DeLonge: Thanks.
[pause]
>>female #1: Hi.
>>Mark Hoppus: Hello.
>>female #1: I really like your nail polish.
>>Mark Hoppus: Oh thanks.
>>female #1: [laughs]
>>Mark Hoppus: The sad part about this nail
polish is that this happened completely sober.
>>female #1: [laughs]
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: I did this of my own free will.
I bought it and I thought it would be cool
last night.
>>female #1: I like to make poor choices when
I'm sober as well.
>>Mark Hoppus: Good okay.
[laughter]
>>female #1: So --
[laughter]
I actually wanna --
[laughter]
I actually just wanna bring the mood down
a little bit, ask a serious question.
>>Mark Hoppus: Okay.
>>female #1: If, this is for both of you,
if you guys were a mythical creature --
[laughter]
what would you be
>>Mark Hoppus: This guy.
>>female #1: and why?
[laughter]
>>female #1: The man riding the unicorn or
the unicorn -- [laughs]
[laughter]
with a rainbow out of it's butt?
>>Mark Hoppus: This is a Viking riding a unicorn
blasting out of its rear end a rainbow --
[laughter]
in front of the moon.
He's got red high tops on, he's holding aloft
an AK-47 getting struck by lightning.
There's, you can't get better than that.
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: No.
[laughter]
>>female #1: Okay, cool, fair enough.
>>Mark Hoppus: The actual name of this shirt
is Awesome 5000.
>>female #1: [laughs]
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: It has its own title so you
yes, I would be him.
>>female #1: Nice.
>>Tom DeLonge: That's good.
I don't really have a good answer like that.
[laughter]
>>female #1: I shoulda let you go first.
>>Tom DeLonge: Oh yeah and you should have.
If I was to be a mythical, a mythical creature
of any sort --
>>Mark Hoppus: What about the guy from the
Old Spice ads the half man, half horse --
[laughter]
he's pretty rad.
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: Was that Centaur?
>>Mark Hoppus: I think so, I don't know.
>>Tom DeLonge: Does he have a huge --
[laughter]
If that's the case, do you guys know this
--
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: Stop.
[laughter]
Stop!
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: You guys --
>>Mark Hoppus: Save yourself.
[laugh]
>>Tom DeLonge: asked me, do you want honest,
I'm an artist.
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: You guys want me to be honest
here.
[laughter]
I don't know I mean.
You know what's interesting though is, ah
you don't even want me to talk about it, it
doesn't matter.
I don't know.
Thor.
>>Mark Hoppus: There you go, Thor.
[laughter]
Go with that.
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: He's so good looking --
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
>>Tom DeLonge: Brad Pitt, strong.
[laughter]
>>female #1: Thank you.
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
>>Tom DeLonge: You think he's got those lines
right there?
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
[laughter]
>>female #2: Hey guys thanks for coming today.
I think a lot of us probably grew up listening
to music and I was wondering if people have
kind of grown up as you guys have grown up
or if your fan base has like remained younger
and --
>>Mark Hoppus: It's been both.
>>female #2: [responds off mic]
>>Mark Hoppus: Actually one of the best things
about coming back out on the road right now
is that we are seeing people who have been
following blink since day one come out to
the shows, we have seen new people come out
to the shows, it's like parents are bringing
their kids, older brothers are bringing their
younger siblings, it's like a multi-generational
thing at the shows now.
It's really cool.
That being said, I got a note from a mom the
other day who brought her 14 year old daughter
to the show in Atlanta --
>>Tom DeLonge: She probably was not happy.
>>Mark Hoppus: and was very upset with what
she heard us say from the stage and I actually
wanted to email her but I have no way to contact
her back, but I understand where she's coming
from but why the hell would you bring your
14 year old kid to a blink show?
>>Tom DeLonge: Yeah well --
>>Mark Hoppus: At least know what you're brining
your 14 year old kid to.
>>Tom DeLonge: Well that's what's weird to
me too.
She must have been the one, or maybe the kid
just barely heard about it and said, "Mom
take me."
>>Mark Hoppus: Well apparently the kid had
saved up her money by working at a job all
summer to come to the show and then --
>>Tom DeLonge: That's too bad.
>>Mark Hoppus: was really upset.
But it was just the language.
I'm, like, look past that and look at the
art.
>>Tom DeLonge: Yeah.
>>female #2: [chuckles]
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: This is what we're doing up
there.
>>Tom DeLonge: I know yeah.
>>Mark Hoppus: But yeah it's a multi-generational
thing --
>>Tom DeLonge: We have lasers.
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah we do have lasers.
[laughter]
>>Tom DeLonge: And I mean we might be talking
about some really bad stuff but there's lasers.
[laughter]
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah.
[laughter]
>>female #2: Thanks guys.
[pause]
>>Mark Hoppus: I burned my eye out with a
laser on this tour.
>>Tom DeLonge: That is true, he did.
>>male #5: Hey guys.
>>Mark Hoppus: In Milwaukee.
>>male #5: Oh sorry.
>>Mark Hoppus: Go ahead.
>>male #5: So we've been talkin' about the
Internet a lot and how you guys have been
a band that's kinda spanned from before the
Internet and then after and how that's changed
music.
What I was wondering has that kinda changed
the way that you, I guess, go about making
an album in terms of putting the focus away
from making a complete album more towards
like singles and like making a video straight
to YouTube or do you think that it's changed
the way that fans have kind of like looked
at your albums and more taking single songs
and does that change the way you guys do things
at all or?
>>Mark Hoppus: It doesn't change the way that
we do anything at all.
I recognize the fact that there are some people
who listen to a full album still and when
we sequence our album we think a lot about
like a song flowing into the next song and
how like the different keys of songs and different
tempos and different feelings of songs so
you can sit down listen to a record as a whole.
I also appreciate that people wanna pick and
choose different songs.
It's the same as making mixed tape back in
the day.
I think it puts a lot more onus on the band
to create 10 or 12 great songs.
I think that the days of getting by with having
like three or four good songs on a record
and the rest of it be filler is long gone.
>>male #5: Because then people just buy --
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah people will just not buy
the filler.
>>Tom DeLonge: I think there consum-, I think
fans consumption is like what you said though
where I mean one way it's changed for us we
have two studios operating so we're using
the Internet to pass around ideas and we're
usin' the Internet to communicate with each
other to have two studios operating at the
same time.
And I also think that like what we were talkin'
about in some of the other questions where
in the sense where fans can consume and get
introduced to the art in so many different
ways.
And at the end of the day like Mark said we
wanna do albums but we'll still be excited
if anybody just wants to take a chance with
one thing that they really like.
>>male #5: Thanks you guys.
[pause]
>>Mark Hoppus: Hello.
>>female #3: Hi guys, oh this is really high.
[laughs]
Tom I have a question specifically for you.
My friend, Andrew Lee, from Northwestern University
is obsessed with you and --
[laughter]
he wants to know --
[laughter]
he wants to know what your experience doing
Angels and Airwaves and how it has been different
from blink.
>>Tom DeLonge: Well Angels and Airwaves we
have, I'm able to, we're so small that there's
not really, there's nothing that we're gonna
do that might impact old or necessarily new
fans.
We don't really know what we're doing [chuckles].
I guess with blink we're always conscious.
What I did learn was by both, what I really
like about it is I always tell people I get
to play on one part I get to do things that
are extremely unorthodox and pretend that
I'm cerebral and the other way I get to be
the kid that I always wanted to be and always
maintained being eternal youth, the spirit
of having that angst.
So having them both be around at the same
time I try to bleed some of those things over
on both sides where I kinda go, "Wow, I really
was able to learn how not to forget who I
was and also to remember about kinda who I
wanna be."
But I'm also into that kind of stuff.
So some guy was asking me earlier about what
we collect.
I like, I read a lot of books, that's probably
the only thing that I collect is books where
I try to spend a lot of time becoming a better
person.
But that's really bad because I got bad judgment
so don't think that's it's really happening.
But I try to have that come into the art I
really try to have that lyrically.
I was in a different place on the blink record
like approaching lyrics with blink now it's
like I really was able to find out a little
bit more of who I am and like that song Wishing
Well has got a little bit of spirit of me
tryin' to be a little bit of a philosopher
in some ways but I don't know.
But that's a good question.
[pause]
>>female #3: Alright, thank you.
>>male in audience: One more question.
>>female #4: Hi guys, thanks --
>>Mark Hoppus: Hello.
>>female #4: for coming.
My name's Kristen and my heart is pounding,
my heart is pounding like crazy right now.
>>Tom DeLonge: We're handsome, we know.
[laughter]
>>female #4: So I have to admit I came up
here without a question in mind and I have
one now but my high school self would have
killed me if I didn't at least say hi to you.
>>Mark Hoppus: Hello.
>>female #4: Hi.
>>Mark Hoppus: [laughs]
>>female #4: My question is my favorite album
to listen to in high school was the Live Album
'cause it was so funny.
>>Mark Hoppus: Um-hum.
>>female #4: What was your favorite album
to record?
>>Tom DeLonge: Oh.
Well I don't know it's probably, they were
all rad.
I remember the first time with Jerry Finn
on Enema of the State was such an incredible
experience.
Everything sounded so good --
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah.
>>Tom DeLonge: and everything.
That was like the first time I really felt
like were attacking it in a really professional
manner.
But then the How, the self titled one where
we holed up in a house for nine months was
incredible too 'cause that was the first time
we ever like had a laboratory to experiment
in.
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah.
>>Tom DeLonge: You know.
>>Mark Hoppus: I think that, I think that
Enema of the State was our first introduction
into proper recording.
We just had a lot of fun.
Our producer Jerry Finn is one of the funniest
guys that I've ever met in my life, that's
where we first watched the Family Guy.
>>Tom DeLonge: Was on that record?
>>Mark Hoppus: Was it, or maybe it was the
next one.
Oh.
>>Tom DeLonge: He brought some good things.
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah he brought some good things
into the world.
I feel like on the last record was really
about us experimenting and trying different
ideas and feeling free to push ourselves.
And this record was more like relaxed --
>>Tom DeLonge: Yeah, really relaxed.
>>Mark Hoppus: than anything, probably because
we took two years to do it.
[laughs] So they're all great experiences
in their own way I think that we all learn
something at each recording.
>>Tom DeLonge: That's actually really good
point like this record, everyone wants to
think that it might have been really hard
or holed up so, I mean we really had a great
time on this so there's really, it really
was relaxed.
It took a while but there was no pressure
we just did our thing and really had fun doin'
it.
Versus previous records it was always like
you always feel like it's your last record.
>>Mark Hoppus: Yeah.
>>Tom DeLonge: And you go into the studio
you go, "Oh my God we hope the label likes
this one."
We didn't have any of that on that.
So this latest record without the pressure
was, made it so much easier than so many of
the other ones but the other ones were benchmarks
in our career like for all those reasons we
were sayin'.
[pause]
>>Mark Hoppus: You just made the mark like,
"You're dead."
[laughter]
He pointed at you and he goes like this.
[laughter]
>>Jonathan: Well --
[laughter]
that's all the time we have.
Obviously thank you so much Tom and Mark for
coming and visiting and talking with us.
>>Mark Hoppus: I wanna give you credit.
You were my kind of introduction into the
whole Google world right as I signed up I
had a question about doing a Hangout or something
and Jonathan you popped in and answered it
right away.
And I think that's really cool, I mean, I've
never had that on any other service where
I join up and there's somebody there like
actually taking part and kinda guiding people.
So thank you for that and thank you for bringin'
us here today.
>>Jonathan: Yeah and thank you for everyone
comin' out.
[cheers and applause]
>>Tom DeLonge: Do we walk away now:
[applause]
