[American Idiot]

There’s been a lot of the discussion about how the lyrics on the new album chronicle the last days of blink-182, particularly the song “No It Isn’t.” What were some of the emotions going through your mind when you wrote that track?

We had been recording demos for a while. It was the first song that we actually finished when we bought our studio. We had recorded the music and I kind of had a rough idea for some of the vocal melodies and things. One day I went to the studio, and it was just me and the engineer there that day. I went out into the courtyard of the studio and started writing the lyrics to the song. It was kind of about the end of blink-182 and the ugly matter that went down. I never really spoke about anything in the press or even to a lot of people that I knew about the end of blink, and it all came out in that one song.

Was it a relief to get it all out there in the open?

Yeah. It was definitely very cathartic to finally like say my peace and to let it out. I couldn’t hold it inside forever. So when I sat down to write that song, the lyrics I think were written probably 15 or 20 minutes, which is very fast for me writing-wise. I really agonize over lyrics a lot of the time and go back and change things and readdress stuff. In that song, the lyrics just came out in a big hurry. I felt great to just finally speak my mind on it and have it come out in the song.

"I haven't spoken with Tom in the past 2 years and that's pretty much where it's at right now."

What is the status of your relationship with Tom DeLonge?

I haven’t spoken with Tom in the past 2 years and that’s pretty much where it’s at right now.

Were you worried that touring might be halted indefinitely after Travis injured his arm?

We were filming the video for “When Your Heart Stops Beating” and it’s a performance-based video, so we played the song over and over and over all day. Afterwards Travis was saying his arm hurt him. We had a few days of press, and then we flew to Europe and we started the tour over there. Travis’ arm started bothering him again on that tour. When we got back from the European tour, Travis went and saw a doctor. The doctor said he had a bunch of stress fractures on his bone and he couldn’t do anything. He had to take 8 weeks off. He couldn’t lift anything. He couldn’t play his drums – nothing.

We had to postpone the tour and we were really bummed about that. Travis was trying to figure out if he could play with one arm. So he set up a drum kit with some triggers and things like that, and Travis went down by himself one day to kind of see how that felt. He sent me an email afterward saying, “I think I can do this.” For some reason, when I got that email from Travis, I knew that we were going to be cool because once he says that he can do something, you pretty much can count on it.

Many of Travis’ peers do talk about how dedicated he is. Has he been that way for as long as you can remember?

Yeah, definitely. Travis has always been the foundation for everything musically that we’ve done. The drums that he plays lay the foundation for everything, and he’s always really solid in the studio and especially live. You couldn’t ask for a better drummer.

With Travis’ family problems (he filed for divorce from Shanna Moakler in August), did it seem like making the +44 album was cathartic for him?

Travis has always been really positive through everything. Through the entire time that I’ve known him, he has a very unique ability to persevere through things and take a positive attitude towards things a lot of times and concentrate on the things that are important to him, his kids, his music. It’s very inspiring to me, that’s for sure. He definitely puts it all into his drums. He’s a great drummer to watch. He’s always been amazing technically, but it’s so much fun to watch him play.

Your performance at The Roxy back in September was your first one in two years. Were you nervous at all?

Oh, yeah, definitely. I’m always nervous! The first night of any tour, I’m always really nervous, especially for not being on stage for a couple years. I was very nervous before getting on stage at The Roxy. We were all just really excited to play and I kept asking our tour manager, “How much longer?” He’d say, “Twenty minutes.” Then we’d say, “Okay, how much longer now?” He’d say, “Fifteen minutes.” Finally we were just like, “Okay, we’re going on stage right now!” We couldn’t wait to get out there and do our thing.

How did the crowds react to the new music?

It was great. It was really cool, especially because nobody had heard any music before that. I mean a song or 2 had been leaked online, but for the most part nobody had heard any of the music at all. The show was sold out in a matter of minutes. Everyone there was really positive and the energy was good. A lot of times when you see a band for the first band and they’re playing songs you’ve never heard before, people stand there and just watch the show. But the energy in that show was really good.

How did guitarists Craig Fairbaugh (The Mercy Killers, The Transplants) and Shane Gallagher (The Nervous Return) come to join +44?

Travis and Shane grew up together in Riverside, and I’ve known Shane for probably 4 years now. He plays with a band called The Nervous Return and Travis had signed them to his label. They came on tour with blink a whole lot so Shane and I became friends out on the road. Craig played guitar in The Transplants when they toured, so Travis knew him from that. That’s how I met him as well.

"There's a little palette of instruments you can use electric guitar-wise."