In a recent Instagram comment, producer Matthew Pauling has made a bold claim about Matt Skiba and Blink-182.
Matthew Pauling exposes Matt Skiba’s alleged contribution to Blink-182 album
Pauling claimed that he recorded most of the guitar parts from Blink-182’s “California” album, claiming that Matt Skiba only contributed about 20%.
On the album Pauling officially appears as “additional production” and “recording engineer”.
Blink-182 recently performed at Riot Fest 2025, where they were joined by Stephen Egerton of the Descendents and reunited with Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio.
The 20th anniversary of the punk festival took place in Douglass Park, Chicago, with Green Day and Weezer headlining the other two days.
During their headline show on Friday night, September 19th, Blink-182 collaborated with longtime Descendents guitarist Egerton to perform a cover of the classic 1982 track “Hope” from the influential debut album “Milo Goes to College.” Although this song has been a regular part of Blink-182’s setlist in 2025, they had not played it prior to this year since 2003.
Blink were joined by Alkaline Trio frontman Skiba, who was also a member of Blink-182 as a replacement for Tom DeLonge from 2015 to 2022. They played ‘Bored To Death’ – the first song the band released with Skiba as a co-vocalist, and a track that has appeared on Blink setlists sporadically in 2025.
