Alkaline Trio have returned with a new track called ‘Oblivion’. It comes as the band prepare for a North American tour with blink-182 later this year.
Coincidentally, ‘Oblivion’ is the first of three tracks Alkaline Trio recorded with Travis Barker. It’s also the first recorded material to feature drummer Atom Willard. ‘Oblivion’ proves to be a sharp and punchy number that radiates with familiarity and urgency.
With the initial plan to record a cover with Barker, Alkaline Trio ended up recording three new songs, partly due to the environment both created in the studio.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had such a great time in the studio. We’d wanted to get into the studio with Atom as soon as he’d joined the band and we finally found the time to do it. The idea to work with Travis came to me after guesting on a project he was producing at his studio,” says Matt Skiba. “His vision and talent is the perfect fit for us. I am a drummer at heart so having Atom and Travis working in tandem as drummers and songwriters was absolute heaven for me. Working with two of my favourite drummers was surreal and dreamlike, never mind two of my favourite people in the world. I told Travis that it really feels like he is our fourth member on this.”
Bassist and vocalist Dan Andriano added, “Matt’s been on fire lately, between him having so many good ideas and Travis being so easy and cool to work with we could’ve stayed in there forever. It’s always exciting when working with a producer for the first time, but Travis really blew us all away. He had so many cool and thoughtful ideas for all aspects of the tunes, from structure and writing suggestions to mix ideas… it was awesome. I have a feeling we might just do this again!”
For Atom Willard, the former Rocket From The Crypt, Angels & Airwaves and Against Me! drummer would finally record with the band he joined two years ago, following the departure of Derek Grant. Reflecting on the experience, Willard says it “was like being 20 years old again” with the spontaneous nature of the session being “super fun and exciting.”
With the aforementioned tour with blink-182 and two other songs recorded with Travis Barker, we get the impression that the bond between Trio and Barker is only going to get stronger.
