The Downright Strange Lives of Blink-182
Z.S. Louis
Contributor - Control Alt History
zslouis@proton.me
When legendary 2000s rock icons Blink-182, announced their reunion tour in 2023, their long-awaited return marked the first time in 10 years that the original Blink-182, featuring guitarist Tom DeLonge, drummer Travis Barker, and co-lead singer Mark Hoppus, would play in front of a live audience. While there is no doubt that each respective band member has true talent on the stage, their offstage activities may be just as interesting.
Tom DeLonge: Ufology Expert, Freemason, and Friend of… John Podesta?
Out of all of the members of Blink-182, Tom DeLonge may be the most well-known, but he’s far more than just a rockstar, as he has become synonymous with the UFO truther movement, Freemasonry, and was even mentioned in the Wikileaks leak of Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta’s email server.
Before DeLonge surfaced in the UFO conspiracy circles, many Blink-182 fans began to notice a pattern in DeLonge’s wardrobe choices, which often featured Freemasonic imagery. In a 2012 interview, DeLonge commented on his affinity for certain “iconographies” and that his side project band, Angels and Airwaves, was designed to feature “esoteric” descriptions and meanings that “we (the band) don’t talk about”, created specifically for fans to find “the treasure hunt that is there, within the art” (2). While DeLonge may have avoided a direct answer on the topic, photographs of the musician may clear up any questions on his potential Freemasonic membership.
Freemasonry may be the least puzzling connection when it comes to DeLonge. Especially after his name appeared several times in the Clinton email leak of 2016 (3). The official story claims that John Podesta and Tom DeLonge had a mutual interest in releasing disclosure documents on top secret UFO files held by the United States government (4). Throughout their email exchange, DeLonge urges Podesta to meet with him to discuss “very important people” who Podesta will find interesting and also writes that he has “been in touch with a former US official involved in the cover up of the Roswell incident”. Within the email leak, it is confirmed that virtual meeting invites were sent between DeLonge and Podesta.
It is unclear exactly how DeLonge was able to get in contact with such a high-ranking official in the Clinton campaign, but it could be in relation to his “entertainment” company, To the Stars LLC, founded with alleged high-ranking scientologist, Harold Puthoff (5) (6). DeLonge discussed this company, and it’s eventual connections with high-ranking officials, extensively in his 2017 interview on The Joe Rogan experience.
Throughout the episode with Rogan, DeLonge makes several strange comments such as having a long-detailed plan for the topics discussed in the interview, claiming that he cannot discuss the US government at all, that he is working with senior intelligence officials and former secretaries of defense, claiming to have had multi-level meetings with senior NASA officials, and much more. However, one of the strangest comments that DeLonge makes in the entire interview is that he cannot remember exactly what kicked off his top-secret discussions with the government, but he believes that he became educated enough on the “core story” and someone contacted him for a role in “communications” (7).
Mark Hoppus: Anti-Terrorism Global Military Strategist
Much like DeLonge, co-lead singer Mark Hoppus has some interesting off-stage talents as well. In his 2025 memoir, Fahrenheit-182, Mark Hoppus boldly claims to have pitched a strategy to locate Saddam Hussein to a top Navy admiral in 2003. Not only that, but Hoppus claims his strategy was executed during the successful location and capture of Hussein just four months later. Mark doesn’t go into great detail as to why the notoriously non-political band was flown into a US military base in Bahrain to perform, especially during the absolute peak of tensions during the Iraq War. However, separate from the logistics of the situation, it is also unclear exactly how Hoppus devised his plan for the US to use drones capable of large-scale ultrasonic frequency broadcasting in order to triangulate Hussein’s location while he filmed his video messages to military authorities (8). Considering its alleged successes, this is a pretty remarkable feat for a self-described “short-lived” attempt at a student (9).
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/A7Iak5dI-Gw
Internet rumors also swirl that DeLonge isn’t the only Freemason of the group, but he is in fact joined by Hoppus as well. Fans took notice of Hoppus’ frequent master mason handshakes with guests on his talk show, Hoppus on Music.
Travis Barker: Kardashian Connections and Scientology
Drummer Travis Barker may be the least suspicious member of the band, which is really saying something considering he married into the Hollywood royalty Kardashian family, and has been rumored to have deep connections with the Church of Scientology. Barker and Kourtney Kardashian wed on May 15th, 2022, forever solidifying Barker into the troubled list of Kardashian boyfriends and husbands. Whether you look at Bruce Jenner, Scott Disick, Tyga, Kanye West, Lamar Odom, Travis Scott, or Nick Lechey, it seems that any man involved with a Kardashian ends up in a serious situation (10). Hopefully Barker has a better experience with the family than Kanye West (11).
The Kardashian’s aren’t Barkers’ only friends in high places, former Scientologist Serge Del Mar claims that while Barker himself isn’t a scientologist, he has close personal contacts within the church. Del Mar alleges that Barker and convicted serial rapist scientologist Danny Masterson maintained relationships with the same scientology run PR firm for many years. According to online sleuths and Barker superfans, clashes over scientology and connections to Masterson may have played a role in the canceling of The Mars Volta album Saddle on the Atom Bomb, which featured Barker on drums. This rumor could potentially hold truth, as The Mars Volta lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala is a scientology defector and is also married to Danny Masterson victim Chrissie Carnell (12). While much less public and obvious compared Hoppus and DeLonge, it’s safe to say Barker has a few odd connections off the stage as well.
The Name “Blink-182”
Outside of its members, even the band name Blink-182 has drawn some interest from fans and online researchers alike. As seen in the Joe Rogan interview above, Tom DeLonge frequently discusses the Roswell Incident (14), which took place on July 2nd, 1947. July 2nd, also known as World UFO Day (13), is the 183rd day of the calendar year. It is believed by some that the 182 in Blink-182 references the remaining number of days in the calendar year after World UFO Day. It is well known that Freemasons enjoy symbolism through numbers, so maybe DeLonge and Hoppus are hiding something right in front of our eyes.