I never want to act my age / What's my age again? / What's my age again?

Mark Hoppus was barely 27 in 1999 when blink-182 released “What’s My Age Again,” an infectious song about refusing to grow up despite facing the pitfalls of arrested development. It was the Poway-bred pop-punk trio’s biggest hit to date — and their first to suggest a budding sense of introspection, if not maturity.

But time waits for no one — as the Rolling Stones sang in 1974 — and acting (or not acting) their age is a more pertinent question than ever for blink.

blink-182, with A Day To Remember and All-American Rejects When: 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday (sold out) Where: Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl, 5500 Canyon Crest Drive, San Diego State University Tickets: $25-$99 Phone: (800) 745-3000 Online: ticketmaster.com

Now 44, Hoppus is still singing “What’s My Age Again” nightly, at least judging by blink’s concert repertoire during its Canadian mini-tour earlier this month. He’ll likely sing it again when the group plays here Thursday and Friday night at SDSU’s Viejas Arena.

The shows will mark the official start of the group’s first U.S. tour since blink singer, guitarist and co-founder Tom DeLonge exited in early 2015, although whether he did so voluntarily remains unclear.

DeLonge contends he never quit and that he is is still a member, even though his role was filled last year by Matt Skiba of the Alakaline Trio.

Hoppus and blink drum dynamo Travis Barker maintain they were forced to replace DeLonge only after he refused to commit to a new blink album and tour. DeLonge subsequently released his first solo album and first work of fiction, the UFO-inspired “Sekret Machines Book 1: Chasing Shadows,” a 704 page book he co-wrote with A.J. Hartley.

DeLonge also co-leads Angels & Aiwaves with San Diego’s Ilan Rubin, who has also played with Nine Inch Nails and Paramore. The two did an in-depth joint interview with the Union Tribune in late 2014, less than two months before Hoppus and Barker announced last year that they were teaming with Skiba in place of DeLonge.

The very public blink feud serves as a potent reminder of just how dysfunctional even the most successful rock bands can be, even after — or, rather, especially after — its core members have worked together since they were teenagers.

Through nearly all of the tortured estrangement of the last year, DeLonge, Hoppus and Barker communicated through their respective managers and representatives, rather than sit down and hash things out in person. This lack of one-on-one interaction seems to be both a symptom of their problems — and, quite likely, the cause.

Hoppus is now the only original member still on board (Barker replaced the band’s original drummer, Scott Raynor, in 1998). This month, the revamped blink released a new album, “California,” its first since 2011’s “Neighborhoods” and only its second since 2003’s self-titled “blink-182.”

The group, you may recall, broke up in 2005, then reunited in 2009, after Barker survived a fiery plane crash that claimed four lives. They discussed their reunion in a Union-Tribune interview that year.

The new tour by blink is timed to promote “California” — and to make as sound a case as possible that there’s life for the band with Skiba in place of DeLonge. The album entered the national Billboard sales charts at No. 1 last week, after selling 186,000 copies and knocking Drake’s “Views” out of the top-spot after a 9-week run. (This week, Drake is back on top and blink is at No. 3, with sales of 37,000, an 80 percent drop.)

“California” is blink’s first chart-topping album since 2001’s “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket.” Alternately rousing and a case of aural water-treading, it is an uneven outing and overly long at 16 songs, even though two of them —“Brohemian Rhapsody” and “Built This Pool” — clock in at just 30 and 16 seconds, respectively.

A solid team player, Emo veteran Skiba is an accomplished guitarist and singer, if overly earnest, who seems deferential to Hoppus. It’s a respectful move that yields mixed results, since the bratty interplay and banter between Hopppus and DeLonge accounted for so much of blink’s proudly juvenile charm.

Of course, blink isn’t the first band to soldier on without a key founding member. And it’s easy to sympathize with Hopus and Barker, who understandably don’t want to jettison blink’s music, or its lucrative brand.

When they toured without DeLonge as +44, after blink’s first break-up, their San Diego tour stop was at SOMA, not the far larger Viejas Arena, where they perform Thursday and Friday. Likewise, when DeLonge mounted his first tour with Angels & Airwave, their debut show was at the intimate Belly Up in Solana Beach.

So, a new album — without DeLonge — it is, for better and worse.

“California’s” best songs, including the high-octane “Bored to Death” and the melancholic “San Diego,” suggest blink could regain its footing and have a reasonably solid future. The album’s lesser songs suggest otherwise. They sound very much like something (make that, someone) is missing. In those instances, the results bring to mind the title of The Police’s fourth album, 1981’s “Ghost in the Machine.”

The real test will be if blink sticks around for another album and tour, and begins to forge a new identity — or, at least, build on its current one. Only then will we — and the band — know if it can survive and thrive with Skiba in place of DeLonge.

You don’t have to be a cynic to predict that another reunion, with DeLonge replacing Skiba, could be looming a few years down the road. If so, egos will be checked, pride will be swallowed, and Hoppus, Barker and DeLonge will realize that they fare better together than they do apart.

Then, after another album and tour — Stay together for the grandkids! — they can break up again. Or not. What’s their age again?