Interview with Mark Hoppus and Shane Gallagher of +44

Interviewer: Oliver Marx . venue: Hyatt Hotel . Cologne . Germany . 2007

+44 - When Your Heart Stops Beating

Story:
This interview originally appeared in German at the Playboard Snowboard Magazine. We´ve interviewed Mark Hoppus (Ex-Blink182) and Shane Gallagher at the Hyatt Hotel in Cologne. Honestly it was pretty strange to make an interview with such a well known person, but Marc was pretty nice in the end. At first he did not showed a real interest in the interview, maybe because we were just from a small magazine. But then we catched his attention with a couple of intersting questions.

Punk76: Plus44, your new project sounds very mature to me. It has left behind that kind of kiddie image, that Blink182 was pretty much known for. So could you please tell me something about your new band?
Mark: Let´s see: It is different then Blink182 and we improved our songwriting and also this is a new group of people writing songs together.

Punk76: You started out as a three piece group - Travis, you and a female singer. Now the band consists of four guys. So, where has that girl gone?
Mark: She wanted to start a family with her husband. When we started with +44 she came down and worked on songs and helped us further on songs. But when we got into the studio the album started to become more Rock oriented. We took it into a more Rock direction and I was taking over more vocals anyway. So she wanted to start a family.

Punk76: May you tell us why Blink182 once broke up?
Mark: Yeah, Tom quit but he never really told us why. I heard rumors that he wanted to stay at his family. But his manager told us, that he started a solo-project right after he split. At this time I heard his solo project was only called Tom DeLonge and later became Angels And Airwaves. But I don´t know, why he quit Blink. I don´t know if he was more into a solo-record or if he just need to be a part in something that he can have just absoulute control over. I don´t know what it was...

Punk76: Are you still friends with him?
Mark: No! This is broken over.

Punk76: I once made the same experience that you made. I was best friends with my mate for about eight years. We experienced a lot of good and bad stuff and suddenly from one to the next day everything was over. We did not spoke any words again. So I can image that something is missing in your life, when from one day to the next an important person is missing in onces life. Would you say, that there is something missing in your life?
Mark: No, I wouldn´t say, that something is missing in my life. Tom quit Blink and handled himself. So he made it very easy to close that door and do something different. I think in the beginning ... (Tom, quit for a second and started another sentence) It is actually a gigantic blessing for us. He really forced Travis and I to do everything for ourselfes. For me vocally I am doing everything on the record on my own now. Before I would sing only up to "C". Anything about "C" Tom must sing. So I never thought that I could do vocals in "D" and "E". So that was really cool. And also I am writing a lot more of the guitar parts. I wrote a lot of guitar parts for Blink, but also working a lot with Craig and Shane (new members in +44) has tought me a lot about songwriting. This experience is pushing my skills as a songwriter.

Punk76: I recently received a new CD from a band called Rory on One-Eleven/East-West records (web). I saw that you produced their record.
Mark: I just produced two songs. I produced a song called "Hey" and a song called "Typical".

Punk76: So, do you produce any other bands?
Mark: Yeah, I produced songs for a band called The Matches (Epitaph records). Let´s see.. I produced the entire Motion City Soundtrack record. And I just co-produced an album with Ross Robins for a small band from Seattle, called Idiot Pilot.

Punk76: Something else. I really don´t know what is behind your band name. What does +44 means?
Mark: Obviously it is the phone-dialing code for the UK, which is +44.

Punk76: And why did you choose that name? Is it because you like the UK so much?
Mark: We like London. We do love London. We always had a great time there. We wanted an international FEEL to the name. And we also liked that the name didn´t described, what the music was gonna be like.

Punk76: What are the lyrics about on this record?
Mark: About everything that has happened in the past two years. The good and the bad.

Punk76: But you´re not talking about the "normal Girl" stuff, or?
Mark: Well, there is a couple of songs that refers Girls. There is like "Cliff Diving", there is "Baby Come On" and there is "When your heart stops beating". Theire love songs in a very different way. "When your heart stops beating" is about just kind of when you fall over a Girl and say Fuck you to the world and trash the place alike in the spirit of "True Romance" - that movie, have you ever seen that?

Punk76: But you´re not talking about the "normal Girl" stuff, or?
Mark: Well, there is a couple of songs that refers Girls. There is like "Cliff Diving", there is "Baby Come On" and there is "When your heart stops beating". Theire love songs in a very different way. "When your heart stops beating" is about just kind of when you fall over a Girl and say Fuck you to the world and trash the place alike in the spirit of "True Romance" - that movie, have you ever seen that?

Punk76: No..
Mark: (Marc accepts the answear and continues) Ok, and then "Baby Come On" is a song about a Girl. It´s about a girl who is kind of loosing her mind and loosing her place in the world and trying to save

Punk76: Mark, it is so strange to sit in front of you here today. I renember me and my friends shooting a skate video almost ten years ago. We filmed it on tape and put music with an recorder on it. I totally renember, that we used Blink songs, when noone knew about your band. I also renember that I found out about Blink on a Serial Killer compilation, manufactured by Fearless records, years ago. And now you´re sitting in front of me.. pretty strange somehow for me...
Mark: (Laughing) Well, that pretty great, man!

Punk76: How did you gained so much sucsess with a Punkrock band? Could you please reveal something about your music-career developement?
Mark: We were just very lucky and we tried to write the best songs, that we was able to write. We tried to work very, very hard and we tried to tour as much as we could do.

Punk76: But it must be very exhausting, or? I mean, especially when you try to raise a family..
Mark: Oh yes, it is exhausting. But I am blessed with my family. My wife is been very supportive to me and the band.

Punk76: Is she coming sometimes to Europe to accompany you here while you're on tour?
Mark: Oh yes, it is exhausting. But I am blessed with my family. My wife is been very supportive to me and the band.

Punk76: Is she coming sometimes to Europe to accompany you here while you're on tour?
Mark: ctually my wife was in London with us when we were there and she came to Paris. She gone back to the United States today but she likes to come out on tour. When I was in Blink-182 my wife and son were out for eight weeks on our US Tour and lived on the Bus.

Punk76: How old is your son?
Mark: He is four.

Punk76: Is he already a pure Punkrocker? (smiling)
Mark: (smiles too and says:) He actually likes Kelly Clarkson (laughing).

Punk76: Well, at least he is going into the right direction!
Mark: (laughing) Yeah!

Punk76: Shane, what is your position in +44 and how did you made it into the band?
Shane: I play guitar. Mark and Travis called me up to come down to come to their house and check out some of the demos that were laying around.

Punk76: You was friends with them before?
Shane: Yeah, I was friends with Travis in High-School and I met Mark about four years ago when my old band THE NERVOUS RETURN (La Salle records) was on tour. So I met Mark around then and so we becoming friends. So, they called me down and I checked out the songs and demos and actually they made me smile. And so it came together and Craig came into the picture. And so we became +44.

Punk76: Does it feels strange to be a part of a "Super-Rock-Star-Group" now?
Shane: I think it´s great. It is definitely a blessing.

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