The Blink-182 beef has been going on for much longer than anyone has patience for. I thought that it was time to move past it once Tom DeLonge claimed to have been abducted by aliens or whatever. Regardless of whether or not this is true, it’s pretty much universally accepted now that DeLonge must be an incredibly unreliable bandmate. Case closed. That bizarre interview with Paper wasn’t enough to persuade Travis Barker to drop the conversation entirely. The Blink-182 drummer had a few not-so-flattering things to say about DeLonge in a recent interview with Alternative Nation. According to Barker, there’s no bad blood between the two, he just wishes that DeLonge would, “Man up and quit the band instead of telling people he didn’t quit and just be real with the fans.” Barker described the situation from his perspective:

Basically, we had shows and recording/rehearsal studios booked for the beginning of the year and the day before New Year’s Eve we got an email from Tom’s manager that said he is indefinitely taking a hiatus from the band and won’t be doing anything Blink-182 oriented for any amount of time. He said he won’t put a time frame on it. We already signed a record deal and advanced a show, so we just decided to play this one without Tom and with Matt Skiba [Alkaline Trio frontman]. That’s pretty much the jist of it.

Barker also implied that DeLonge’s commitment to the band is so lax because he isn’t a true punk:

Even amongst all the other projects I do, I can always find a way to prioritize and still be passionate about Blink-182 when it comes around. I love playing, listening, and everything about punk rock. It changed my life. I think for Tom, he doesn’t like punk music and it was a phase for him.

He later stated that DeLonge’s behavior is unfair to fans:

I think this is the third time he’s quit without anyone knowing about it because we didn’t announce the other times. But this is just the last straw. It’s just not cool for the fans. He’d always agree to go on huge tours and record albums, but when it came down to going into the studio, he’d find some excuse not to. And we wouldn’t even hear from him, it would be his management. It comes to a point where you decide you’re not going to force anyone to do anything they don’t want to do and it’s time to move on.

Read the entire Q&A here.

[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]