Mark Hoppus talks life lessons, new songs and where to find the best Mexican food in the world with Esquire

No band from the early 90s through to the 2000s tapped into the psyche of teenage boys around the world quite like Blink 182. When they weren't running around naked in their music videos or hanging out with a monkey in American Pie, they were penning lyrics about the important things in life – friendship, girls, drinking behind rock clubs – that were both brilliantly juvenile and oddly pogninant, before taking a darker turn with a new album in 2003 (with help from The Cure’s Robert Smith, no less).

Now a heritage act for grown up former pop punk aficinardos, Blink have been warming up for a headline slot at Reading and Leeds Festival in August with a pair of intimate shows at London's Brixton Academy. Esquire attended and, after shaking off some mosh pit cobwebs, were delighted to find the band as on form as ever. Guitarist Tom DeLonge referred to each song as a "piece of art" (certainly true of Enema Of The State), drummer Travis Barker performed a break-neck solo and bassist Mark Hoppus lead the band in a double time rendition of their 2001 album track, "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" in the dark. Oh – and the whole thing cumulated in the band performing Dude Ranch single "Dammit" backed by a flaming "FUCK" sign. 

Before the show, we sat down with bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus to talk forgetting lyrics, headlining festivals and the long-awaited seventh album.

Read the full interview on Esquire.