Blink-182 Splinters into +44

By Josh Grossberg Wed Aug 30, 7:25 PM ET

Looks like Travis Barker's found something to keep his mind off his increasingly volatile breakup with wife

With Blink-182 idling on "indefinite hiatus" and the group's singer-guitarist Tom DeLonge forming a new band, Angels & Airwaves, Barker and Blink mate Mark Hoppus are teaming up for a new project of their own, +44.

According to an announcement on Blink-182's Website, +44 (pronounced "Plus 44") takes its name from the international dialing prefix for the United Kingdom. The newly minted band will release its debut album, When Your Heart Stops Beating, via Interscope on Nov. 14.

In addition to playing bass, Hoppus will assume full vocal chores for the new project. Joining the duo will be guitarist Shane Gallagher, late of the Nervous Return, and Craig Fairbaugh, who played with Barker in the now-defunct Transplants.

"We were two-thirds of Blink-182, so we're not afraid of sounding like ourselves," Hoppus said in a release. "We're not divorcing ourselves from the past, but we are pushing beyond the past. We're progressing like musicians should."

Added Barker: "Mark and I have a natural chemistry after playing together for so long and it's only gotten stronger. This band is a continuation of Blink-182, but it's also different. For a long time, Blink-182 was an underdog. I like being the underdog again."

The drummer says he's looking forward to learn piano and collaborate again with Fairbaugh.

"Musically, what we are doing now we could never have done a few years ago," Barker said. "I love this band. And it's even better that we're doing this with friends. That's the best feeling in the world."

Hoppus, Barker, Gallagher and Fairbaugh will debut +44 in Europe, playing dates in Germany, Italy, France and the United Kingdom in September. They'll then head back to the U.S. for an Oct. 14 performance at the Bamboozle Left festival in Pomona, California, on a bill that also includes Dashboard Confessional, Brand New and Thrice among other acts.

Meanwhile, Delonge is hard at work with Angels & Airwaves, which he has promised will revolutionize rock 'n' roll.

While the band hasn't quite scaled those heights--its debut We Don't Need To Whisper only hit number four on the Billboard charts--Angels is up for three MTV Video Music Awards, including Best New Artist, at Thursday's ceremonies in New York.

In their only public statement about DeLonge's exit, Barker and Hoppus told MTV News that their former band mate's unusual boasts--for instance, that Angels "is the best music made in decades...so much more powerful, emotional and melodic than [former band] Box Car [Racer] and Blink put together"--pretty much explains why the band parted ways.

"I have to say you're definitely seeing what the real Tom was like, and that's the only comment I'll make about him or his band," Barker said. "But everything happens for a reason. If the Blink breakup didn't happen, we wouldn't be here right now, and we wouldn't have been able to make the record we did...It's the best thing in the world."