by Zack Zarrillo

Spin or Bin: In light of the recent blink–182 feud (and also the departure of Asking Alexandria’s frontman) what are your opinions on founding members leaving: Might it seem as if a band is continuing for the sake of its brand and impede its future?

Chad Gilbert: I think it’s always up to the band. I feel like blink–182 is in a tough spot because a lot of people love Tom and [he’s] not in the band anymore. But to be honest if Mark and Travis get another member and they make an album that’s fucking awesome, then people will love it. I think at the end of the day music speaks for itself and I think people don’t like change but sometimes change can be for the better. I don’t know whether you’ve seen Blink live but Tom sometimes sounds like shit live! He writes great songs but who knows, maybe the new singer will sing better live and people will be like, “Damn! He actually sounds better than Tom!” It all depends on how you react – I don’t know about Asking Alexandria but same thing: If you can step to the plate and write good songs then it doesn’t necessarily have to be the same as it used to be, but that doesn’t mean it still can’t be good.

And I think fans too should trust a little bit in bands as well. I’m friends with Mark and I’ve read comments that Blink have gotten. People are like “Oh where’s Tom??” but at the end of the day if you have a couple of people who wanna play all the time and you have one person who never wants to play, that’s unfair to the people that wanna play. Fans should just try to trust their bands that they’re gonna make the best decisions for themselves which ultimately will be best for the listeners.