Blink-182 split: 'We haven't talked in months'

Confusion surrounds Tom DeLonge's departure from Blink 182. Photo/Getty

A war of words has broken out after Blink-182 announced founding member Tom DeLonge had left the band "indefinitely" - only for DeLonge to deny the reports.

The row started when DeLonge's former bandmates Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus, with whom he founded Blink-182 in 1992, released a statement saying DeLonge wanted to work on "other non-musical endeavours".

DeLonge, who also fronts the high concept band Angels & Airwaves, denied he'd quit and has written a detailed open letter to fans on his Facebook page in an attempt to explain his situation.

But in an interview with Rolling Stone, Barker and Hoppus slammed DeLonge, calling the guitarist and founding member "disrespectful and ungrateful".

"You don't even have the balls to call your bandmates and tell them you're not going to record or do anything Blink-related. You have your manager do it.

"Everyone should know what the story is with him and it's been years with it," said Barker.

But DeLonge said he "never quit the band" on Instagram and called the band "dysfunctional".

The band's statement came after the Musink Music and Tattoo Festival in California announced that Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiva would be filling in for DeLonge - sparking rumours that DeLonge had left.

Barker and Hoppus said they were "excited" that Skiba would stand in for DeLonge at the festival on 22 March in Orange County, California, and planned to "honor all Blink-182 commitments".

"We were all set to play this festival and record a new album and Tom kept putting it off without reason. A week before we were scheduled to go in to the studio we got an email from his manager explaining that he didn't want to participate in any Blink-182 projects indefinetly, but would rather work on his other non-musical endeavors [sic]," the statement explained.

"No hard feelings, but the show must go on for our fans," the pair said.

Skiba will continue to make new music and tour with the Alkaline Trio, the statement added.

Fans quickly took to Twitter to lament the change in the band's lineup, causing his name to trend.

Blink-182 formed in 1992 and their pop-punk shenanigans dominated airwaves in the late '90s. They went on hiatus in 2005 and reformed in 2009 after Barker suffered injuries in a serious plane accident.

- nzherald.co.nz with Independent