After a tumultuous 2015 following long-term band member Tom DeLonge’s departure, drummer Travis Barker has announced that blink-182 have finished their next album. This news comes after Barker’s revelation that the band had scrapped 16 tracks and re-written the entire album in a bid to produce “the best material we’ve put out in years”. Barker also confirmed that within the coming months a single will be released, as well as a set of tour dates for this summer. The confirmation of an imminent new album release comes as no surprise after Mark Hoppus shared a clip of a recording session back in February.

This album will be the first to feature new band member and Alkaline Trio guitarist Matt Skiba, who joined the band in place of Tom DeLonge and already has noteworthy credentials having released eight studio albums with Alkaline Trio.

During an interview with LA’s Musink Music Festival, Barker said of Skiba’s involvement with the band:

It was great to have someone who wants to be in the studio all the time with us. It has been amazing. I think of the days of making great records, at least with blink – the proof has shown that it’s great when we’re all in the studio together. I think just sending tracks and sending ideas back and forth through the internet, it can’t be as collaborative as it should be. I love us all being in the studio and throwing around ideas and really collaborating.

blink-182 recently caused a stir when Travis Barker spoke to Youtuber Mr. Wavvy about the band’s rift with former guitarist DeLonge, citing creative differences and DeLonge’s supposed lack of co-operation as the primary reasons for the guitarist’s exit from blink-182, claiming DeLonge wanted to sound like “U2 or Coldplay”. You can read more here.

An official release date for the new album is still unknown, however fans are sure to be pleased by the assurance that new material is just around the corner – even more significantly given the band’s rocky (no pun intended) past year.