Blink-182 work around drummer Barker's fear of flying

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Blink-182 explain why they cancelled their UK tour

Blink-182's Mark Hoppus has spoken about how the band continues to tour internationally, while working around drummer Travis Barker's fear of flying.

Barker was injured in a plane crash in South Carolina in 2008 which killed four people.

His refusal to fly means the reunited trio have to rework the way they tour.

"For Travis to get over here [the UK] he takes a bus from Los Angeles to New York gets on a boat then gets on a bus and travels like that," said Hoppus.

'Dedication'

"It's definitely a lot more work to get him over here, but it just shows the level of dedication we have.

"It shows the will that we have to come and play over here that Travis is willing to get on a boat for a week after being in a bus for three days - just to play some shows."

This summer the band postponed a UK arena tour and pulled performances at the T In The Park and Oxegen festivals.

At the time the threesome, completed by guitarist Tom DeLonge said it was to finish their latest album Neighborhoods, which is out now.

Drummer Travis Barker was involved in a plane crash in 2008

"Everyone was saying, 'Just go and do the tours and play the old stuff' but it was very important to us that when we came here to tour that we had new stuff.

"It was a big, agonising, difficult decision that cost us a lot of money and a lot of good will because people thought we were frivolously cancelling the tour which we weren't.

"Having those extra six weeks allowed us to finish the record and we wrote some of the best stuff in those six weeks so it ended up being the right thing, but it was a painful way to get there."

That UK tour has now been rescheduled for summer 2012 but they deny they'll be playing any UK festivals.

"I don't think we're playing the festivals in the UK," said the bass player and singer. "I think we're doing our own gigs in the UK."

Blink-182 reformed in 2009 after a seven-year break and headlined the Reading and Leeds festivals in 2010.