Alkaline Trio Interview

Kevin Ryder on KROQ

As Alkaline Trio preps to head out on the road with blink-182, Matt Skiba has a great analogy for his time in both bands. The longtime co-lead of the Chicago group stepped in for Tom DeLonge during his time away from blink, and now with Mark, Tom, and Travis together again, Skiba will open the show with Alkaline Trio.

"I feel like I walked into a family, like I'm the new, maybe mistress or the new wife, that luckily the kids all approved of," Skiba says of his role with blink for nearly 7 years. "And Alkaline Trio is the successful marriage that I went off and cheated, and came back and they were still on the couch reading US Weekly."

Alkaline Trio is once again rolling out new music, this time with the help of Travis Barker as executive producer on the new tracks, including the lead single, "Oblivion."

"They turned out great," says Dan Andriano of the 3 songs they created with Barker. "It was so easy, and Travis in the studio was great, like the energy was very natural and everything flowed, and when we left, we were like, 'that was easy.'"

Everything in the life of Travis Barker seems "effortless," as Matt says. "The things that he's survived, he's done with such grace and I think he makes even difficult things look easy."

To hear more from Alkaline Trio on their new song "Oblivion" and their upcoming tour with blink-182, check out the full interview with Kevin Ryder above.