Mark Hoppus on getting back on stage after chemotherapy: “I was still a f**king hollow shell. The chemotherapy wrecked my vocal cords”

Mark Hoppus has revealed the lasting damage that cancer and chemotherapy had on him when reuniting with Blink-182.

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In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe ahead of the release of Blink-182’s new album One More Time…, the bassist reflects on how his cancer treatment impacted him as the band reformed.

Hoppus was diagnosed with stage 4-A diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in 2021. He was declared cancer-free six months later. In late 2022, the pop-punk trio announced they were getting back together.

“Healing through the band, once I was clear of the cancer diagnosis and got the all clear, I was still a fucking hollow shell. Shitty, weak brain eaten with the chemotherapy and pain and everything else,” Hoppus admits.

“And then getting back in the studio to make this record was like learning how to play bass again, learning how to… The chemotherapy wrecked my vocal cords,” he continues. “I had to go to work with a vocal coach. I had to rebuild my throat. I had all this stuff I had to rebuild to get to the point where we could go and walk on stage at Coachella and have one of the biggest shows of our career and have this album, which touch wood is one of the best albums we’ve ever written.”

Hoppus has been very vocal about his feud with singer and guitarist Tom DeLonge, explaining that this cancer diagnosis is what brought the pair back together.

“I remember telling my wife now, like, ‘I don’t think I’m ever going to play music again, I don’t think I’m ever going to tour again,’” DeLonge says to Lowe. “Until Mark told me he was sick, and then I was like, that was the only thing I wanted to do.”

You can watch the full interview below:

Blink-182 newest album, One More Time…, is set to be released tomorrow (20 October).

For more information you can head to Blink-182’s website.