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Blink-182 Will Launch ‘Independent’ Era With Eclectic December EP

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Blink-182’s planned pre-Christmas EP now has a tentative release date, and the pop-punk pranksters are lettting slip a few details about the release, their first since leaving Interscope

The as-yet-untitled-EP will kick off Blink’s “independent” era, and could include up to five songs, singer-bassist Mark Hoppus told MTV News. “As it stands today, the EP is set to release on December 18,” he’s quoted as writing in an e-mail. “We’re not sure how many songs will make the final EP… hopefully all five, but we’ll make the final determination when the mixes are complete.”

The EP will reportedly be sold on iTunes and via Blink’s website, with pre-orders starting soon. Along with the digital release, Hoppus said the group is planning limited-edition deluxe “gift” packages with “a special screened, museum-quality poster, limited-edition T-shirts and sweatshirts, wrapping paper, holiday cards and whatnot.” Expect “something fun and funny for the holidays,” per Hoppus.

Being able to do things their own way, post-Interscope, appears to have helped inspire the band. “We have ideas for songs, we get into a studio and put the ideas together, grind hard, chase that paper, and weeks later we release the songs on our own,” Hoppus is quoted as writing. “I spent last week in the studio with Travis and Tom. It was great, ideas falling everywhere. Lots of long hours spent on five new songs. …The band is in a great place creatively. Having everyone in the same room at the same time makes all the difference for us.”

OK, but are those songs any good? Compared to last year’s reunion LP Neighborhoods, they’re amazing, to judge by drummer Travis Barker’s recent comments. “To me already, this EP is a hundred times better than Neighborhoods,” Barker told Rolling Stone. Barker, who recently teamed up with rapper Yelawolf for an EP called Psycho White, said one of the new Blink songs is “very folky,” and declared that as the band proceeds, “The rule is there’s no rules.” So what was the rule when they named an album Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, then?