15 Facts You Didn't Know About Blink-182
2. John Feldmann Wanted The Band To Record California As Quick As Possible
California was a giant step for blink-182.
Not only was in their first album without one half of the iconic singing duo, but the first to feature new vocalist Matt Skiba. At this point, their last album Neighborhoods was widely disliked by fans and critics, and is still considered one of the worst records the band have ever released, so they had something to prove.
Not only did blink-182 need to show that they could be great, they had to show that they could be great without Tom.
The band decided to record with pop-punk mastermind John Feldmann, and went to him with 30 demos in 2015 which they planned to record the year later.
However the producer told them to chuck all their demos out and come back tomorrow to start writing a song from scratch in the studio. The band agreed and came in over the next few days, writing two songs a session, never looking back at the original 30.
Feldmann wanted them to be quick and impulsive, not pick apart their songs and overthink things. The result on California was an excellent example of a band maturing in the best way, while keeping the core of what made them the kings of pop-punk.