Mark Hoppus
Mark Hoppus
Mark Allan Hoppus is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality best known as the bassist and co-lead vocalist for the pop punk band Blink-182. Born in Ridgecrest, California, Hoppus spent his childhood moving back and forth between his mother and father's houses, as they divorced when he was in third grade. He became interested in skateboarding and punk rock in junior high, and received a bass guitar from his father at the age of fifteen. After...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBassist
Date of Birth15 March 1972
CityRidgecrest, CA
CountryUnited States of America
During the downtime on tour, I simply walk from room to room, staring into my computer.
Every single day that you walk outside your house is something new and different and exciting.
Why do scuba divers fall backwards off a boat? Because if they fell forwards they'd still be in the boat.
I liked seventeen-year-old me, I was happy when I was seventeen. I was this troubled goth kid that wore eyeliner and make-up to school and listened to punk-rock music and I loved my friends and I started to make music - I like seventeen-year-old me.
Home for me is wherever my wife and kid are.
'Built This Pool' was an idea that I had for a song starting several years ago, and as we were in between takes of recording something, I was actually holding a guitar at the time, and I played this silly thing, and sang the lyrics to 'Built This Pool' kinda in the background.
When I was growing up skateboarding, a bunch of friends and I went to this thrift store and as we were leaving I jumped up and passed gas in my friend's face. I turned around and it wasn't my friend, it was this nice old lady who was just walking out of the store. That was probably one of the more awkward apologies I've had to make in my life.
He [Patrick Stump] is been a friend of ours for a long time, and when we were talking about working with different producers and songwriters for the record, Patrick's name came up. We were excited to work with him - he's a very gifted lyricist and songwriter, and a really cool guy and it was a pleasure to work with him in the studio.
We never really set out to talk about California on the album ['California'], it was something that we noticed that was happening about three-quarters of the way through the recording process. We were looking at which songs we thought would make the record and we realised that there was this theme coming through. I think it's just a product of being in California for as long as I have.
Even though it was January, in Los Angeles it was beautiful and sunny and the blue skies were out and it was hot everyday, so I think it was just a product of our environment. And California to me as a concept or as an idea always seems like endless optimism and endless opportunity - when people think of California they think of palm trees and blue skies and gorgeous sunsets and beaches and everything else. But there's also this weirdness to California, this darkness, it's a place where people come to follow their dreams and sometimes don't make it.
The strongest human emotion is probably love. I think it's universal. I think that across language and country and time and everything else, probably love.
I feel like being in a band, you get license to be a kid forever.
There's also this weirdness to California, this darkness, it's a place where people come to follow their dreams and sometimes don't make it.
I think that happiness is a great thing to strive for, but very difficult to maintain - people are always striving for something different, and something better.