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Travis Barker talks blink-182 collabs with Grimes, Lil Uzi Vert and Pharrell, says new album is "60 per cent" done

blink-182 are "slowly finishing up" their new album, which is set to feature collaborations with Grimes, and Lil Uzi Vert and Pharrell, according to Travis Barker.

Travis Barker talks blink-182 collabs with Grimes, Lil Uzi Vert and Pharrell, says new album is "60 per cent" done
Words:
Emily Carter
Photo:
Jonathan Weiner

After confirming in January that blink-182 will be releasing a new album at some point this year, Travis Barker has revealed that the pop-punk kings are currently roughly "60 per cent" done with the record.

Joining Rock This with Allison Hagendorf alongside Trippie Redd (whose new rock-inspired album Neon Shark vs. Pegasus was produced by Travis), the drummer says that the band are "slowly finishing up this album" – the follow-up to 2019's NINE.

"There's a lot of cool stuff," he teases of the release. "There's like a song with Grimes right now that's really, really cool that I love. There's a song with Uzi that's really, really cool that we did with Pharrell."

Read this: The 20 greatest blink-182 songs – ranked

When asked by Allison what blink-182 fans can expect from the record with these collabs in mind, Travis explains, "I mean, it's not like blink’s making a rap song or anything. It's like bringing Uzi over to our world. So it's more of a punk kind of like reggae feeling song.

"And yeah, I mean, I don't think blink will ever be anything but like a pop-punk band," he continues. "I mean, that's who we are. And I feel like our fans have kind of journeyed with us when we've done songs like I Miss You or ballads like Adam’s Song. But like we're never going to veer too far off from what we are – like, I'm like a punk kid at heart, you know what I mean?

"Whether it's like pop-punk with blink or whatever with [Machine Gun Kelly] or whatever with Trippie, that's where my heart's at. Like, I was raised on rap music and punk rock music. It's kind of all I know…"

Can't. Wait.

Listen to the full new episode of Rock This with Allison Hagendorf below:

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