816. - Mark Hoppus

21:36And watching him order, the times that he just had to order spaghetti with marinara sauce is insane. Yeah, that's true. That'll get to you after a little while. Yeah.

21:45Jason Stewart:How was Travis Barker's bachelor party, by the way? I didn't even think about that. It was awesome. They had it at her house. They did a co-ed bachelor party. and it was super fun. It was one of the first times that I'd really gotten to hang out with Tom since the, what do you call that, the pandemic and the cancer. And it was the first time we were just hanging out socially, not doing band stuff. So it was really nice to have three of us together. And it wasn't a wild bachelor party. It was super fun and, you know. Sure, it's tame. It's tame. You can't be too loud with Chris in the other room working.

22:25You know, you got to kind of keep it. You got to keep it down. It was a great time.

22:28Jason Stewart:I feel like I don't like the co-ed bachelor, though, not to poo-poo, but I feel like there's some traditions we got to manage. Why? What do you want to do that you can't do because there's ladies around? Great question, Mark. Great question, Mark. Yeah, Jason, what do you want to do that's so badly? No mouth stuff. No line crossing in that way, but, you know, storytelling. Did you say no mouth stuff? You heard me, Mark. I said no mouth stuff. Okay. Got it. Like with a woman of the night, perhaps. You know what I mean? No, I understand. So none of that, but you want to get maybe drunker than you would want to get around your partner and her friends.

23:13Jason Stewart:You might want to tell stories of past sexual escapades that you might not want to share. You know, things like that. Just having all dudes, all of your friends in one room. You know what I mean? Yeah. I don't know. The dynamic changes. I like the co-ed thing. It was rad. It was rad. And you know what? You can get laid. Oh, I see what you're saying. You're not having to take the weekend off because you're with the fellas. Interesting point. I'm back, Mark. I'm back. I will say I think the all-fella bachelor party if it's your first marriage and you're young makes a lot of sense. I think when you're an adult and it's your second marriage, it doesn't matter.

23:52You know where I went from a bachelor party was Dave and Buster's. And we played video games and I was home by like 9.30 at night and nobody really even got drunk or anything. Dave and Buster's is one of my favorite places. I want to go to the one in Times Square. I've never been. I used to go in Atlanta all the time. It's really, it's fun. It's always fun. What is your go-to game at an arcade? Because I was talking with some friends yesterday and I think that the all-time arcade game is skee-ball. I think that's a good choice for all time. I'm more of a basketball, the classic basketball. I don't get into the I'm not into like shooting stuff really just because I'm not good at it but I think skeeball is also secretly difficult it is but it's like it's a game it feels like it's from the early 1900s it feels like it's you know like you would play it at Coney Island back when it first opened that kind of thing it feels very Coney Island 1.0

24:43Jason Stewart:it has a turn of the century feel to it when I was a kid I remember going to the arcade and the skeeball was what that was the Super Bowl that was what it was all about that's where you get the tickets that's where a boy becomes a man you know i agree with the ski and then also you know you had your friend who was like the smallest kind of wiggliest friend get all the balls and he would crawl up in there and then reach underneath the little guard thing and you can just put the balls into the hunt i mean it's cheating of course but you know we're trying to get over on the system here yeah that's cheating those people You don't know anything about that.

25:17Jason Stewart:You don't know anything about that. I'm trying to win a stuffed animal, okay? I don't know what you guys want from me. That's the best part of all of that stuff, is that you're fighting for something you don't want. Yeah. At the end of the day, you're like, I'm going to get a pencil pop thing? It's like a carrot. You're going to get a beautiful eraser. This is sick. I can't wait to take this off. For all the homework that you love to do. Yeah. Well, I guess speaking of partying, you mentioned in your book you grew up potentially in the meth capital of California, if not the world. Yeah. Did you ever personally dance with Tina ever in your life?

25:51I have not. Wow, that's strength. I've never done meth and I've never done cocaine. And in fact, I've been in this band since 1992. I have never even seen cocaine. No way. Okay. True story. You're not hanging out with the right people, first and foremost. Second of all, there had to be a period where you were touring with other bands that were partaking. I'm sure that they were. I've never been offered it by another band. Nobody's ever said, like, hey, we're going to go do cocaine. Do you want to come do cocaine? To be fair, Mark, we just met. I don't feel the vibe that I could offer you cocaine.

26:22You put out that energy in a good way.

26:25Jason Stewart:So you tell me, 93, you're with Fletcher from Pennywise. He just drank 24 beers. You never once saw a little bag come out. Never saw a bag come out, ever. You know, I want to not believe you. Did they ever call you Narc Hoppus? They should. they should they're gonna start now they're gonna start today is the first day that's actually that that is that is interesting and i do feel like it's an energy thing you can tell if someone wants to partake and if they don't if you're attuned to that so we played a show last year in south america and at the show oh the promoters gave us a menu of all the different drugs that you could get and how much it was and like specific dosages pretty impressive that is impressive If that's when a promoter is going above and beyond, you don't see that much these days.

27:13No, not a lot.

27:14Jason Stewart:Well, I guess growing up around a community that ravaged by meth is going to make you not interested in ever trying that. Yeah. I saw a lot of my friends growing up, even in high school, just like really spun out on meth and it made me not want to partake of that at all. Yeah. That early will have an effect on you. Like high school era will have an effect on you. I mean, I had friends that went out and made gypsum flower tea and ended up in the emergency room. Like, there was not a lot to do in the desert. So this was like smoking banana peels, like that kind of stuff, right? Yeah. The dark arts.

27:51Jason Stewart:Speaking of, you know, that era, it reminded me also when I was reading your book, you were mentioning going to Disneyland a lot growing up. I did that a lot as well. The annual pass, you know, fucking around in high school. Yeah. And you mentioned the phrase getting your V card stamped. And I realized that it's a bygone term that you really don't hear anymore. And when I was of stamping age, everyone said it. That was the only way you referred to it, right? Yeah. I've never heard stamped. I've only heard taken. Okay. Because someone took it from you. Not in a negative way, obviously, with consent.

28:30But you know what I mean. So I think that stamped makes it feel more like a passport. which feels a little more promiscuous, let's say. Worldly? Yeah, worldly. Exactly. I have a virginity passport. I have several stamps. Well-traveled. Yeah, well-traveled.

28:51Jason Stewart:How many times do you think you've driven from San Diego to Los Angeles in your life? My God. Several hundred, if not a thousand. And I just did that drive last week. I went to my niece's graduation in San Diego and drove back. It is so close. And it is like, it's like going to Vegas. It's one of those things where you're like, Vegas seems so close, but it's so far away. And it's such a hassle to get there. And you're like, we can get in the car and drive. You're like, cool. That's four hours. Like four hours is just long enough that it sucks. Okay, so we'll fly because that's shorter. But still, like you got to leave four hours ahead of time.

29:30So you don't save any time. it's like going to san diego he's like it's going to eat up for your whole day and you're going to be miserable when you get there and then you're going to turn around and drive home and you're going to be even more pissed off when you get like might as well go to a fucking farmer's market yeah no of course it's better what is the what is your relationship to san diego now do you dislike it or are you fond of it and it brings back like positive memories uh i love san diego for what it is san diego is a great city with great people it's laid back It's beautiful. It's got the ocean right there.

29:59It is a perfect place to retire in. I feel like it is quiet. It is suburban. It's just like suburban sprawl forever. And I wanted to get out of San Diego because it was suburban sprawl. And it was like, where do you want to go this weekend? Do you want to go to the mall with the Chili's? Do you want to go to the mall with Applebee's? Do you want to go to the AMC theater? It's like, I wanted different stuff. So I went to LA. There wasn't a lot of variety is what you're saying.

30:27Jason Stewart:Yeah. Did you find that as you got older, you started craving the suburban comfort again? Sometimes, yeah. I just don't like things being all the same. Like, you know, it's like a sea of mid. Like, I'd rather have highs and lows than just a sea of mid everywhere. You're saying that you like the... Ojai is like you like the quiet and you get... I do like the quiet. You get some of the itches scratched, but it's not same. It's not mid. Yeah, totally. Like there's some restaurants here that are beautiful and there's some places here that are just holes in the wall that are also great. And there's a great burrito shop.

31:03You really, you really, it sounds like your life is kind of based around burritos. Yeah. Well, growing up in Southern California, you know, it's kind of just part of the. You don't have a choice. No, Jason, I mean, Jason, who grew up in Southern California, I've noticed a burrito and nacho tent poles as well in his upbringing. And I've even gotten into the breakfast burritos over the years. Just like just wrap stuff in a tortilla and I'm good. Okay. Oh, wow, you've pushed into breakfast breads. Congratulations. That's a big step for anybody. Proud of you. But we've had some time off lately, so I've been able to really buckle down and focus.

31:31Sure.

31:32Jason Stewart:I've been really able to - Explore the sausages, explore the potato space a little bit. Yeah. I really got my shit together. Over the years, as the profile grew, the money grew, did you ever invest in any failed alcohol brands or shitty restaurants or anything fun like that? Nothing major. I feel like you've always been good with your money, right? Touch wood, I've been pretty solid so far. Okay, my wife bought Tesla stock when it first went on the market. This is years and years and years ago. Our cost basis on Tesla is like$8 a share, and we bought a ton of Tesla stock, and that's done really well for us.

32:12In the early aughts, late 90s, dot-com boom, there was a company called groceries.com, and it was the first time you could get groceries delivered to your house. And so I had groceries delivered to the house, was talking to the guy like, this is insane. You have groceries delivered to the house. And the delivery driver said, man, we have so many drivers and we can't hire people fast enough. So I was like, okay, cool. I called up my business manager and I said, I want to buy groceries.com stock. And he said, you know,.com stocks are volatile and you might lose all your money. I'm like, I just talked to the driver guy and he said they can't hire people fast enough.

32:47I want in. And I bought a bunch and they went bankrupt like a month later. and okay totally out of business yeah you you learned what did you did you make any money from the clothing like mcbeth and atticus and shit or did you sell it i did i sold it to tom when the band broke up the first time oh because you guys did together and then you were like i don't want any i don't want any piece of this it was part of our separation thing that uh that he bought the company for me because it like that it was a company that we built together but like it would have sucked for everybody that worked there and for the company itself to have two people that were actively disliking one another at the head of the company so it didn't make sense like the company was based in san diego like a mile from tom's house and i was living up in la at the time and i was like no just take it they can do cool stuff i hope you hit him over i hope you hit him over the head for the price at least yeah i think we decided on was totally fair i mean i made money and and it wasn't like innovative or hurtful or or anything like that it was just this is what this is what the company's worth yeah and i'll go away like a very simple equation there wasn't a lot of thinking i mean i i think that those those um i mean you've been in a relationship with these guys for your entire adult life so i i can't yeah and i mean i i think that there's going to be ups and downs yours are just documented yeah totally and talked about in magazines well i think it's I think it also though I think that nowadays people really want bands to reunite it used to be it used to be different now there's like such a market for it and people really want it yeah I think you guys timed it really well whether that was on purpose or not definitely wasn't on purpose but uh I think that the timing was right I mean when we came back I felt like the world really wanted Blink-182 uh back and you know the tours we've been doing lately have been the biggest sure as we've ever played and playing stadiums and it's insane i don't know why or how but i'm very thankful to be here and sure yeah i mean enjoy doing yeah i don't don't ask questions bro

34:45Jason Stewart:it's all good yeah well i mean do you have any ideas i feel like you know a lot of people say you know since maybe 2001 or so culture kind of stopped happening and we're just sort of rehashing the same music movies graphic design blah blah blah blah blah yeah i've heard that when you watch a band of that era on stage you're just like oh it's just that different like we uh when i watched you at coachella last year or green day at coachella this year you know there'll be some new groups playing and it's cool and all but then you guys or they get on stage and you're like oh i get it it's just different you know interesting i completely agree i think that you know i think that people want to have fun i think that uh when blink reforms like people were like the world is weird right now there's a lot of negativity i think people want to laugh and go out and have fun and kind of forget their cares and enjoy the night and make memories and laugh and cry and have fun you know but i think that i think that's actually a big part of it i think that music isn't super fun like i really like a lot of stuff and i think it's really good but i don't think fun is a word I would use to describe it.

35:56And I think that that is a void you fill for sure.

35:59Jason Stewart:We have a fun void. All hip hop music nowadays is kind of minor in terms of tone and key and it's dark themes and drugs and weird. It's a far cry from big pimping with Jay-Z and just having fun and partying tunes. And back when TRL, you guys were crossing over with all these hip hop groups and it was a big party and now it's gone a lot darker i feel like yeah i feel like the world is is a weird is it a weird place and i so i feel like people want to go out and laugh and have fun and i think that that's what bring blink bring what blink brings uh and our crew puts on an amazing show with lights and lasers and cool stuff and smoke and fireworks and rad you're like yo this this ticket is worth the price guys let me tell you we have fireworks we got fucking lasers Now, but when you look, when you crowd wise, is it at the point where it's like father son type shit, like people coming together?

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38:17And the new convenient pump makes cleaning even easier, so you can spend less time tackling dishes and more time together. Shop now at palmolive.com. It's so rad because I look out at the crowd and the people in the front have an age of day. It's all like, you know, 18, 19, 20-year-olds all across the front, pushed up against the barricade. And then there's people that are coming to the show. It's their first show they've ever come to. and it's a blink 182 show 30 something years into our career it's insane and then there's people that are like bringing their kids and like father son like i came to blink shows growing up and i want my son to come to blink shows when he's growing up and it's it's rad it's a fun time i'm really grateful for the people that weren't around when we first started off that are coming to the shows that's that's really well yeah that's a testament of the power of the whole thing you know what i mean if it's like if it's still appealing to a new generation that means it has some staying power and i love the people that have been there since day one they're still coming to see us after all this time you're like i appreciate my peers as well but yeah yeah you

39:20Jason Stewart:must recognize people in the crowd from 20 years ago and that must be crazy i guess the only difference now is your your stage is further away from the crowd than it used to be back when you first started you're like i wear glasses i can't see any of these motherfuckers they're not they're not in focus they're not in focus yeah i was just watching a video of um you know you know that band turnstile they were doing a show a couple months ago yep and they were playing in a field to whatever 10 15 000 people and it was just them in a stage no barrier no security guards punching kids yeah and i was it was really like oh my god i realized that we haven't had this in so long no and they're bringing that turnstile are so great they're such great people and a great band and they opened they opened for you guys for a tour didn't they yeah they did i remember that i remember that yeah they were great and uh the way that they run their shows is so magical like no like you said no barricade no security people getting up on stage but somehow it works and people look out for one another and there's a even though there's so much going on there's just love and joy and and uh yeah celebration yeah no no for sure it's it's some like we police ourselves type thing that really works which is like what hardcore was always about but to see it on this scale is is what i think is so fascinating totally and especially a band at their level who are transitioning from like this super cool underground band that is now crossing into mainstream and in the top 10 and you know tens of thousands of people come to their shows that they can have that and i would think if somebody pull them aside and be like yo like you know we need to have barricades we need to have proper security and they're like no we got it yeah we're cool fans know the deal.

41:00Jason Stewart:It must be a lot harder to book those shows nowadays in the insurance, fear, paranoia era of all these venues. I've wondered that myself. Is a venue going to say, hey, we can't have people jumping off our stage. Yeah, this is our rules, not yours. I guess Morrissey is able to do that, have that police element a little bit where his security guards handle the people who run on stage with care they let you they let you hug him for like a second and then if it goes on too long they do remove you but it's a it's it's polite i mean if you're if you're trying to bite a piece of his shirt and hide it you know what i mean then they're gonna get you out but what a polite hug they let you get away that's funny that's like old old school like the beatles on stage or something like that girls went up and just like losing losing their fucking minds all they want to do is touch you and leave they're like not even they don't even want more than that that had to happen to you a lot as well though right uh people getting on stage yeah i mean people get up on stage and run over they there was a dude that hopped on stage but now on the last tour that we had there were literally flames that shot up from the floor and fireworks that were on the like on the ground so if somebody got up on stage they could be lit on fire very easily and so some guy tried to get up on stage and our security guys took him out that was so gnarly like like uh a secret service agents or something it was insane he disappeared he disappeared yeah he didn't get more than two steps onto the stage and then all of a sudden he was gone but what's weird is even in a live show with travis beating the hell out of his drums and you know a hundred and something decibels of speakers just blasting and everything else i can feel when people are running across the stage really like a sixth sense type vibe like i don't know if it's through the floor or what it is but like i can somehow feel it or know it or hear it or something but every time somebody gets up on stage it's very rare that somebody gets up on stage and starts running across that i don't notice it know that they're coming yeah even if it's behind me it's weird that is interesting i saw a video of someone maybe it was like halsey or someone but basically like knew the fire was about to come out and there was a cameraman like stand and like i saw that video like pulled him like saved him from it and i was like yeah i mean you obviously you're all aware of the show when that stuff's going to happen but to have the peace of mind while you're performing in front of whatever you know an arena of people is it was very impressive it's much better than i am you're like oh sorry dude died oh well next one no but seriously so we have our in-ear monitors and in our ear monitors before the fire hits it goes fire fire fire like i don't know 20 times on the tour i'd be standing directly over the fire thing with the thing saying fire in my ears and just forget all together that the fire is going to happen because i'm like looking at the crowd or something and they had to they had to literally have three people stand on the stage just watching me and tom the whole time to make sure that we weren't standing over the fire while the fire was firing while it's saying fire in our fucking ears you're in the zone bro what are you supposed to do you're in the zone you have to perform it's it's like it's like trying to tell a toddler not to bump their head on the coffee table it's just gonna happen yeah but i guess on the on the subject of pyro we were talking on the intro of the episode fourth of july tomorrow fireworks factories exploding and people losing a hand and you know lots of you know everyone's dog is getting scared and why why do we still do so much pyro on stage you know i think you wrote mentioned your book different pyro related stories and the smells of of burning flesh and like now that we're in the world of lasers and drones and all this cool crazy shit why are we still doing pyro ah because it's rad because it looks cool and it's impressive you know we don't do anymore or at all is the concussion cannons that we used to use what is a concussion cannon it's just a big giant boom it's just a huge boom um which was so funny we toured with jimmy world one time and they were playing and as the end of tour prank they were playing the song it's super slow just gym like kind of you know clean guitar tone real like sentimental and just in the middle firing these big giant concussion can boom they just shake the entire venue and they fuck up their their show so bad by doing that um but we stopped using it because we didn't want people to think that there was an explosion in the building like there's so much bad shit happening in the world we don't want people to have that thought on their head at all post 9-11 we switched that up a little That's so interesting because I feel like I've obviously been in a show where that's happened before, but I can't think of ever happening.

45:37I can think of like confetti and all the other stuff like, you know, coming down, but just the straight noise. I guess I didn't notice.

45:44Jason Stewart:So that boom would happen, like, for example, like, you know, after the bridge and then like the third chorus on Say It Ain't No. Yeah, totally. Like at a big moment, Travis hits his drums and the drum is just a big like, oh.

46:06To really shake people. But yeah, we've stopped doing that. Once again, you're maturing. You know that it's not. It's not worth it. The fire is going to stay, but boom, we got to get rid of it. We got to get rid of it.

46:17Jason Stewart:How deep did you go in your goth phase? Or are you still deep in your goth phase? I mean, I don't wear red lipstick or black eyeliner anymore, but I still listen to The Cure. Anymore is the key to that, I think. anymore is what we're i did i did i totally i'm like i went deep into the cure i mean i had posters and posters and t-shirts i could recite every single cure lyric from three imaginary boys up to blood flowers to you probably even right now uh and i did spike up my hair and i wore red lipstick and black eyeliner to school and went to metal shop and my teacher said okay today we're gonna learn about our quote jesus christ mark what the hell are you what's on your face why do you look like this yeah why do you come to metal shop wearing makeup um but yeah i got really into the cure and really into golf and and the cure led me to uh punk rock and punk rock saved my life so sure it's all it's awful you know i mean the cure came up this weekend because um at glassonbury they um he came out and sang with liby rodrigo and people were like yeah this motherfucker's really still got it like people are like this is crazy i can't believe he sound but he did didn't he do a song did you do a song with him yeah he sang on yeah he sang on the untitled album on a song called all of this and we were writing like write it for him and shit or was it like no we had this song that sounded really cool and tom goes hey you know what would sound really cool in this song is robert smith i was like yeah that'd be fucking awesome wouldn't it and tom's already calling people to try and get him like i never thought it was possible but tom just picks up the phone and starts making phone calls gets and figures out that we're actually friends with somebody that manages the cure and so that person talked to robert robert smith went and talked to his nieces and nephews who he really trusts and his nieces and nephews were like oh we love blink 182 definitely do the song so he kindly said yeah send me the song so we sent him we had to fucking fedex him a hard drive because this is before you could file transfer sure sure sure so we mailed him a hard drive and uh we got it back like you know a couple weeks later and he had recorded it all himself at his studio and written it all all his stuff and uh killed it and then we went to London and he performed with us on stage and that was awesome and I saw him perform with Olivia Rodrigo and it sounded great and he killed it and it made me very jealous you're like yeah remember who did it first all right yeah really cool I thought we were the special band that feels like uh I've heard stories like this before where a son or daughter or a niece or nephew gets something like this done because they're asked and they're like a fan and you see it kind of I I can tell when that happened.

48:53Usually I'm like, this doesn't make any sense. And then I'm like, oh, it's because somebody's, Martin Scorsese's daughter was like, you have to do this, dad. It's that kind of thing. I like that. I think you have to check in with the younger generation. Totally. And thank you, nieces and nephews.

49:07Jason Stewart:Yeah. Thankfully he asked the cool nieces and nephews because he probably has some not cool nieces and nephews that would have fucked it all up. Probably. How is your germophobia journey going, Mark? it's good it's good i was just thinking about it today um i wash my hands a lot but i don't sanitize uh as much it's really just when i'm on tour because when i'm on tour i'm worried about getting sick and every singer in every band every performer has the same fear like they're worried about their voice the whole time because there's really nothing you can do about you're in crowded rooms you're traveling you're not sleeping well you know you're singing every single night or every other night, whatever it is, and you get sick.

49:48Like it just happens. Like there's no other job really where there's nobody that can replace you. Like if you're a Broadway singer, like if you're a singer or an actor on Broadway, you have an understudy. So if you get sick, it sucks. And the people that come and like, oh, well, the headliner is not there, but I still get to see the play and I still get to do the whole thing. But like if Tom gets sick, nobody can sing Tom songs. If I get sick, nobody can sing my songs. So don't, don't talk about, don't talk about Matt skee-ba like that when he's not here to defend himself don't do that also um but yeah so when i'm on tour i'm just the whole time i'm worried about getting sick and worried about my voice so i really just spin out and that's right kind of the only thing that that i feel like i can do is wash my hands and stay away from people uh and then when i'm home i it takes a while for that to go away oh i see like you have to wind down from those behaviors yeah yeah but the way the

50:38Jason Stewart:way that you explained it in your book was an angle that i hadn't recurred to me because you You hear about the Howie Mandels or other people, and they're just sort of dismissed as a freak. And your logic was like, I have hundreds of crew members and employees and people working on this tour, and if I just get lazy and fuck around and get sick, all these people don't work tomorrow, and they don't work next week. And that level of pressure seems tough. Yeah, we had to cancel it. I got sick at the end of our South American tour last year. and was in Mexico City. And we had, I think, three or four nights of shows.

51:17And I got really sick on the first night. We had to cancel the rest of the nights. And I'm reading stuff online and I'm sick and I'm in my hotel room and I'm just feeling awful and reading comments like, you know, I flew here. I flew seven hours to be here. You know, we had, because people travel and they get hotel rooms and they have babysitters for their kids and they make plans around it. And then you're like, oh, sorry. my throat hurts you know you can just go do something else tonight that sucks i don't like that but i always okay so when this is going down and you're like i feel this coming on you get the you get the rock doc in the building and you do whatever you can but sometimes it's not enough and the rock doc they had in mexico gave me a shot he said i'm gonna make you big and strong again and he gave me a shot of something but i don't know what it was don't ask questions don't ask questions and then uh put me on all these meds that just totally spun me out it was it was bad mexico city was bad i was really sick and the doctor that that they got it was like a sunday or a saturday or something so it was the only one that they could do like you got to find somebody that's a good doctor that'll come to a hotel in the middle of a day on an hour's notice on like a Saturday.

52:35So who are they going to get? You're going to get the doctor

52:38Jason Stewart:from The Simpsons who's going to show up and just... Yeah, exactly. Totally. The pool is a little limited at that time of day. I see what you mean. If it's the weekend. If it's the weekend. Yeah, I'm always... But you guys travel. How do you travel? Do you all have your own bus so you can really spread out? And if you're feeling bad, at least you're alone? Yes. In the States, when we travel, sometimes we travel by plane. Sometimes we travel by bus. If we're traveling by bus, then we each have our own bus. because we usually have family members out with us. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That started happening when we started having kids and getting married.

53:09That's a big step for any band. That's a big step for any band. What's that, getting married? No, that happens all the time, separate buses. Separate buses is pretty baller. You can only really do it in a three-piece band. Like, if there are more band members you get, like the least plausible. Yeah, when it's six, seven people, you're taking too much from the bottom line. Stop bands aren't doing that. The horn section has to stay home. They share a bus. The horn section shares a bus.

53:32Jason Stewart:Aquabats lose again. son of a god what do you think is uh is more difficult reading a book that you wrote or writing a book uh reading it reading a book that i wrote is hard because the writing of it is awesome but i really enjoyed that awesome awesome you say how come everybody i know says it's hell on earth writing no it was super fun i i got to i i would go and i would get super high and i'd go downstairs and i'd write and like my co-writer would come over and i'd tell him stories and we'd write and when and like change things and agonize over words and go through like that was fun i enjoyed that whole process how similar did that feel to like songwriting especially when you have like a collaborator i would assume that feels very similar yeah it helped a lot i was writing on my own and uh i didn't enjoy it as much as i enjoyed writing with somebody else because i like having somebody else in the room to spar with to like you know what about this what about this that's that's our whole approach is what i love that's yeah that's our whole approach here on how long gone that's yeah i mean dan that worked on it with you i mean his book was great i really found it i think he's like the right guy for the job totally dan was exactly the right guy for the job he's a great writer he has a great sense of humor like i couldn't pick a better co-writer so you felt like it was fun and collaborative and like creative it wasn't like you were torturing yourself alone looking out the window with the laptop no i felt like it was a fun project to do um words are my shit i love words i love lyrics i love like i do the crossword puzzle every day i love communication i love words and so like writing a book was a joy because i like putting words together in order that convey something that means something to somebody else can make somebody else laugh or make somebody else think something or cry or or understand what i'm trying to say is is really important to me yeah when did you decide to write it after cancer my when my manager was like you my manager told me for years and years you should write a book you should write a book and i was like yeah well i don't know i mean like there's so many stories about people being in bands and and whatever but when in when i was sick with cancer and i thought i wasn't going to make it like i was really bummed that i'd never told my story about blink because blink's my favorite band and i'm and i wanted to tell the story from my perspective and my experience in this band that i love so much and so that's when i got serious about it yeah yeah yeah i mean i think that's a better reason than most um but i i think that we all need to push sometimes yeah for sure did the getting high part of it start around the cancer like did did you start hitting the edibles around the cancer time or had you already been experimenting i had been a little bit but yeah during cancer i was uh using using cannabis and it helped it helped me a lot in fact like There are times when I look back and I wish that I would have taken it easier on myself when I was going through the chemotherapy and spend more time just resting on the couch.

56:29I felt like there were too many days where I was like, I'm not going to let this stop me living my normal life. I'm still going to go and do my stuff. And I'm going to fight my way through this. And there are times where I should have just stayed in bed. You have to listen to the body. Do you feel obviously different now? Does it feel like a second lease on life type shit? Yeah, it does. It feels like a second lease on life. It's weird because the best part about surviving cancer is taking everything for granted again. It's like, that's the best reveal shit. Like when you start when you feel like, OK, cool, I'm back to normal now.

57:06And you're just like getting annoyed at dumb shit. Like you're like, OK, I'm back, baby. This is what I need. This is what I need. Yeah. Like I'm sitting in traffic. Yeah, I could I could be dead right now. Sitting in traffic. This sucks. No, but I think it really is that primal and that simple. Like, I could be dead or I could be doing this. You know what I mean? That's really how simple it is.

57:25Jason Stewart:I feel like when you're going through that moment, you're like, never again am I going to take blah, blah, blah for granted. And then five years later, you're like, I'm able to take that for granted again. I think so. Totally. I've earned the right to take this for granted. I'm back, baby. Well, I'm glad that we're experimenting with THC. Yeah, it helps. I feel like we, people talk about cancer a lot and it's like, obviously we see the physical aspects when you're going through it. You know what I mean? But I think like the actual pain is not talked about that often, or is it at least in my experience, it's not like the physical pain of it all.

58:03And I think that is like, obviously that's what the THC is for, but was that unbearable at points or was that? Oh my God. I honestly, I mean, honestly, I sat down one day and I told my wife, I don't think that I'm going to be able to live through this. I don't think I'm going to be able to do this. Like I don't have the will. I don't have the strength or the will to go through this for as long as it's going to take. It was like, you know, day four after my first treatment and I was miserable. And she said, well, what does that mean? You're going to kill yourself. And that's exactly what I was saying.

58:36Yeah. But when she said, but when she said it to me, I was like, Oh, yeah that's the reality fuck no like it felt different it felt different when you heard it repeated back to you when she said it back to me i was like oh fuck that is what i'm saying and i had to say like no i'm gonna no that's not what i'm saying and had to change my mind right then obviously beyond the physical physical aspects it feels like it's the mentally most challenging thing because they always say that it's like about the fight you know if you give up it could win and so i think you have to fight against it and that's the hardest part totally yeah how long have you been with your wife a long time uh we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary in december nice congratulations i assumed i assumed as much we met august 4th 1999 and she was working at mtv right yeah she was a talented executive she ran the west coast uh talent department for mtv and we were filming the video for all the small things and we were filming a tv show for mtv called making the video and she was the executive from mtv that came down to the set to make sure that we were all good and tom said hey my friend mark thinks you're pretty would you go on a date with him and she said no i don't date artists i i was i was hoping she would say that you had to kind of beat her down to get her to go i gave her my phone number i said no worries here's my phone number if you just want to talk or if you want to go get coffee or something no pressure whatever here's my number and i went on a date that night with melissa joan hart and uh swag came back to the hotel and sky had left a message on my cell phone saying call me and so i called her and uh we talked all through the night that's a great story and melissa joan hart i'm sure was heartbroken but we all move on yeah did you go on did you go on dates with other people like actresses where did you go through a phase no not at all and the date that I had with Melissa like she was super cool but we like we just didn't connect it was just we went out to dinner yeah it was all good um she had I had met her at a teen choice awards like an award show sure she had had her publicist reach out to my publicist to get my phone number and it was just it was really like I put it in the book because I thought it was an interesting story just about like because I'm just this kid from the desert and all of a sudden like I'm in Los Angeles going to award shows and like famous actresses are asking for my phone number because they want to go out on a date and meet me i was like whoa this is insane i can't believe this is happening well um some people would say that's the whole point you know obviously making music is fun but you know there's there's some fringe benefits you know uh and i don't know and then that was the night that i ended up meeting my wife so uh so i never got into that whole scene or anything at all you're probably better off for sure 100 except when it comes to writing the book if there's you know if there would have been some additional stories, you know, could have padded it out.

1:01:25But you made the right decision for your actual life.

1:01:28Jason Stewart:Chapter 12, Jessica Alba. You know, something like that. Totally, exactly. Well, you mentioned having a lot of fun writing the book, and I feel like you were able to express or show your comedic side in the book in a way that I appreciated more than in the songwriting. Oh, thanks. I feel like you were able to really kind of flex your your comedic timing and like you said you really like words and even when you were reading it out loud you kind of had comedic pauses and timing and you would break here move words around so they wouldn't step on step on the joke and things like that do you still keep up with with comedy nowadays uh yeah i try to like stand up or anything like that yeah i watch stand up i i don't go to clubs too much at all i can't think of last time i went to a comedy club but i love watching stand-up specials and and i feel like comedy is joy and intelligence and truth and you know yeah i like when i like comics like george carlin and richard pryor i like uh shane gillis uh who else do i like this that's uh that's new right now who are your guys man what's that i was i was doing my mark maron impression and i said who are your guys man so shane gillis i mean in terms of new people.

1:02:46Jason Stewart:Shane Gillis? I don't know. Who else is out there right now? It's a good question. Our favorite, I feel like, is Robbie Hoffman, who's been on this show a few times. I don't know if you've seen him. Look into Robbie Hoffman. I don't recognize the name. I'll have to watch. Her stand-up's really funny. She's in the new season of Hacks as well as an assistant, so you might recognize her from that if you look it up. A lot of people like Tim Dillon right now in terms of new people as well. Awesome. Also, our friend Whitmer Thomas a beautiful comedian oh wait I love when no wit rules I told I told him a while ago we were trying to schedule this he's like oh I can't wait this is so great but he taught I mean his you saw him doing an impersonation of you and got in touch with him yeah I did I was on Instagram and someone posted like a video of him this is a long time ago this is like 10 years ago or something of him doing a joke about blink 182 and I replied to him on Instagram we became friends and like we started a band together like a shitty cover band uh just for fun with the with uh why am i spacing his name right now jonah hill no jonah ray jonah ray yeah who's also awesome i know jonah yeah and uh and he helped me you know do my book tour he he uh he wrote the first joke for my book tour oh that's great that's see that's it's real make a wish goes both ways in this situation.

1:04:12I like that. It was a joke that he was going to use. He's like, I wrote this joke and I was going to use it in my stand-up, but if you like it, then you go ahead. And so the joke is literally get up on stage and go, yeah, a lot of people know this, but I invented jacking off. That is so stupid and really appropriate for both of you.

1:04:33Jason Stewart:That's the most Whitmer joke ever, and it's a perfect joke for you to open your book. Totally. Yeah. And I'm sure when he told you that, you're like, oh, why didn't I think of that? Totally. Yeah. It's right. It was that out there the whole time. Who are you going to bring out on tour to open for you guys? We are bringing Alkaline Trio. Okay. Look, I didn't want to get into this with you, but I mean, Alkaline Trio, I get a lot of shit for liking Alkaline Trio. How? Why? Then you're hanging out with the wrong people. No, it's because of the look. I think it's the look. I think the look is sort of extreme.

1:05:07You know what I mean? like the black and red I think that whole thing it turns people off

1:05:13Jason Stewart:It's okay when Interpol does it but not Alkaline Yeah, totally I find it Jason and I are a duo, obviously we do this show together and when we have people that have had creative partners for a long time especially someone like you who's been through some strife what do you think the secrets are to kind of keeping the band together for lack of a better term Communication Communication and honesty yeah communication and honesty will always win and you know kindness if you come into if you come to each other with kindness then it's all good do you think having a third party there helped everything or do you think it it was it was just you mean having three band members yeah like i'm saying having when you when you and tom are having your issues and travis is there does travis stay out of it does travis does it help to have a third party that just feels more neutral yeah it does but you know when the band was breaking up like tom singularly was like i don't want to do this band anymore yeah at all and he and so he left and so then travis and i turned to one another and did plus 44 sure but like i think we don't really have arguments really now like we you know disagree on things but i don't know i feel like we're all mature and we're all thankful to be here and you know it's been taken away from us twice uh so yeah i feel like you've gone through all the stages of whatever a band is going to go through and now you're just you know it's behind you we're all in band heaven and thank god we're playing the biggest shows of all time band heaven no but i mean it does it's it's really it's really a testament because i think it's i you know i i feel like you guys are doing it for the right reasons to be completely honest i think a lot of bands do it for the money but you have the money you're doing it because you want to do it the only reason i do this is because i like doing it you know we're we're very lucky to be um you know comfortable in our lives and everything else like uh i don't have to make decisions based on needing money uh and definitely play in the band because it's a joy and i like playing music and i like seeing people and i like i love being on stage and looking at the crowd and seeing people smile and singing along and like like you know tom's doing something ridiculous or travis is doing his drum solo and i look at people and they're like nudging each other and pointing and smiling and laughing it's literally just sitting here talking about it gives me goosebumps because it's such a joy to get to do that.

1:07:33It's nice to hear someone who's done this for this long still feel this way because I feel like a lot of people are just like, this is my job. I'm a little bit jaded by it. I know it's cool, but it's not. I don't get those feelings anymore. I have those days too where I'm like, oh, here we go again. Go play a show. My God, fucking get up from the hotel. Do you know who I am? Get in another van and drive to another fucking arena and sit in a locker room all day and go play a show. have a fucking burrito from our private show afterwards i mean i get jaded and shitty for sure on tour no i mean tour i said no sparkling yeah tour is a tour is not the way people are meant to live no you know simply it's just an insane thing to do when you really get to the nuts and bolts of it even at the highest levels it's just not what the body wants no not at all and i have people that will come out on tour uh and they'll be there for like three or four days and they'll go home and be like, I can't believe you guys do that for weeks on end.

1:08:30I don't know how you guys do it. Like our booking agent will come out. Stay with us for like four days. I don't know how you guys do it. We do it because you fucking book it like this, bro. We don't have a choice. You send us around.

1:08:41Jason Stewart:And this is not your tour manager coming out and sleeping in the van from Salt Lake to Denver. This is, I flew in. We did the stadium. Went back to the Four Seasons. I'm staying at the same hotel that you're staying. Exactly. I'm staying at the Four Seasons on a different floor than you. yeah no this just happened to me i just rode on the bus for one night with my friend and i i got off and i was like i can't believe i literally said that i was like i can't believe you guys do this for like 12 weeks at a time like i just don't you have to really i think that there is something to be said though about getting the the the adrenaline from the actual performance that changes how it feels versus being like a passenger yes absolutely like you know my wife comes out on tour with us and i don't know how she does it because like she doesn't get the payoff that i do like i get the adrenaline rush i get the you know walk up on stage and you know my heart's going whatever 120 something beats per minute for 90 minutes and i'm running around on stage and people are cheering and singing along and you know we high five up for the show and go back to hotel and crash out but she doesn't get any of that like she just travels she's like babe this music is cool but like i don't really i'm not really i found a great spot to have brunch tomorrow yeah if i was her i'd be like wow this is a big crowd i'll i'll get another birkin yeah fuck it yeah exactly let's go i think there's a bottega in mexico city babe we can walk down there do something um all right mark well thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us i i enjoyed listening to you read the book to me thank you for listening to it yeah and it's i think it's I think it's great that you wrote it and I think it's great that you enjoyed writing it.

1:10:20It was nice to hear. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. Nice talking with you. Yeah. We'll see you soon. Hopefully.

1:10:42See you.

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