Nirvana, Weezer and Smashing Pumpkins, all those bands, at their core, are just really incredible pop music and I think a lot of that stuff has deeply affected the way I approach music.
I was really into Blink-182 and punk bands like NOFX and MXPX.
When I was around 13 years old, I started playing in bands and became obsessed with Blink-182 and Newfound Glory. I didn't pay attention to country music anymore; I wanted to do more pop rock stuff.
I was in a really crummy pop-punk band. I think we did a whole bunch of Blink-182 covers, and we were on the fringe of losers and jocks. So we invited all the cool kids to come watch us play in our bass player's brother's bedroom. And it was terrible, but everyone thought we were so cool.
I just love music. Every genre of music: country, rock. I originally first loved punk rock. Pop punk. I don't know, just rock in general. And getting to rap. And now K-pop. Different types of music. I love everything.
I love everything from country to alternative to Blink-182 and 90s music to Dave Matthews.
I love everything from country to alternative to Blink-182 and '90s music to Dave Matthews.
I think that breaking into the mainstream - it was just the right cycle of music for us in Blink-182. People were kind of over the boy-band, pop-princess, manufactured sensibility, and were excited for guitars and angst and energy and enthusiasm, which is our thing.
I grew up listening to Nirvana, and then went through some bad 90s pop stuff - a lot of Australian one-hit wonders.
I grew up listening to Nirvana and then went through some bad '90s pop stuff - a lot of Australian one-hit wonders.
On the first album, we were trying to do a pop-punk album with a classical influence. We'd say 'pop-punk,' and people would say, 'No, you're like burlesque-cabaret-punk,' or, 'It's baroque-pop,' and we were like, 'That sounds way cooler.'
The day Blink-182 announced their hiatus, I felt as if a part of me died.
I listen to all kinds of music. The Calling, Blink 182, Bruce Springsteen, I mean, it's everything.
Punk helped musical fringes get attention. Stuff like Nirvana could never have happened without it.
GN'R was five guys who were all into different things. I liked pop and disco, Izzy was into New York rock, Slash loved Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin, Axl was into Genesis and Elton John, and Duff was a punk rocker. We all blended that stuff together.
That's the thing: pop music has sometimes had a bad reputation for being about a lot of other stuff than the music. And I am just a lover of pop music. I love pop. I love big choruses. Dramatic choruses - they're the best thing in the world. And I do this because I love making music and performing the songs.