MTV: What was it like going in to record this album after the success of the last one, Enema of the State? Mark Hoppus: We tried not to think about stuff like that, because all we can do is try and go in and make a better record than last time. Whether or not that equates to bigger sales or not is a different thing. But you can't get in that headspace where you start beating yourself up [and worry], "Is this better than the last one or what?" I think this record blows the last one away, but we'll see how the kids react to it. MTV: What do you think makes this one so much better? Hoppus: We tried to make it not as polished as Enema of the State. We tried to strip things down. We wrote it pretty much the exact same way. We went into a practice studio, wrote the record in three weeks and then recorded it over the next three months. I just think the songs are stronger. I think the lyrics are a lot better. I think it's a heavier record. [RealAudio] MTV: Did you decide going into it that you wanted to make it a heavier record? Hoppus: Yeah, we just wanted it to sound bigger. We wanted the guitars to sound heavier. We wanted the vocals to sound a little more present, a little more immediate. ... We were listening to bands like Fugazi and Refused [during the sessions] and just came out with a heavier-sounding record. MTV: Did you record a lot of songs and then pick the best for the album, or did you know "this is the album" and go in and record it? Hoppus: We went in with 16 or 17 songs, recorded all of them [and] have 13 songs on the record. We have extra songs we put in here and there throughout. In the first million copies there is a different bonus song on each one, on the three different versions. Not a million extra songs, people, come on! MTV: So basically you want people to buy three copies of the album? Hoppus: No. Actually, I'm sure what's going to happen is that people are going to trade with each other and borrow or whatever. We just wanted it so one kid would get one song, a different kid will get another song. MTV: Will those songs eventually pop up on the Web site? Hoppus: I'm sure they'll end up on the Web site and people will illegally trade them online. Sons of bitches. MTV: In your opinion, is this a more mature album? Hoppus: I don't know if this is a more mature album. I think it's a more advanced album. We definitely have some songs on here that do not have any maturity in them at all. Then we have some that are about ... all the same subjects we've always talked about. It's about relationships with family and girls and friends and life and divorce, being young and going to a party and trashing your friend's house. I think that we've just gotten better as songwriters and lyricists, so I don't think it's more mature. [RealAudio] MTV: Is it true a guitar tech came up with the album title? Hoppus: Our guitar tech, Larry, ... was snowboarding up in Big Bear. His friend came in all wet, and he said, "Dude, take off your pants and jacket!" They all started laughing. I was eating at a restaurant, [and] he called me on my cell phone and said, "I want to make a suggestion for the next album title." As soon as he said it, it was obviously the best. MTV: If you didn't use that title, what do you think this album would have been called? Hoppus: We were going to call it If You See Kay, and then we were also talking about having a bear on the cover and calling the album Genital Ben. [RealAudio] MTV: Was "The Rock Show" the song you guys knew was going to be the first single right away? Hoppus: I think it was the last song that we wrote for the record, and we thought that it was a good contender. It's hard to tell what's going to be the first single until you actually go into the studio, lay all the tracks down and hear it in its finished form. It's just a good, fast punk-rock love song. We tried to write it in the spirit of, like, the Ramones and Screeching Weasel. It's a really simple song. It's just three chords, and it's basic, but it's a catchy song. MTV: What about the video? Hoppus: We took the budget that they gave us to make a video and just went out and blew the money. We took a homeless guy to a day spa, we bought a car and dropped it off a crane [and] we gave money away on the streets. We bought TVs and smashed them on the street. Everyone spends so much on their video — it costs half a million dollars to make a video — so we thought, "Why pay for expensive lights and cameras and stuff? Why don't we just go blow the cash?" MTV: Because of the success of the last album, did you have a bigger budget to do everything, from the video to the album? Hoppus: I think, honestly, that all videos are probably made the exact same way. But for some reason, when a band first starts off, a video costs $50,000. Then, once they go gold, it goes up to $100,000. No matter what, we could make this video for $50,000, but because we've gone platinum a few times, they charge us $500,000. [RealAudio] MTV: How was your recent club tour? Hoppus: That was all small club shows, just to get back into playing live and just because we love playing club shows so much. We grew up in the punk-rock scene, and it's something that's important to us, so we just wanted to go play these tiny venues. MTV: Was that a good way to test out a lot of the new material? Hoppus: Definitely, because we're not very good live and it takes a while to learn our own songs. ... It was good to go out [where] only a couple thousand kids would see us [massacre our new songs] instead of 10,000. MTV: Is there one song that sums up what the album is about for you? Hoppus: I don't think there is one song that defines this album. I think that this album is a lot wider in scope than our other ones have been. We have a range from really fast punk songs to slower, more emo songs. MTV: Is it harder to make a concert set list now that you have another album's worth of songs to play? Hoppus: We just started talking about which songs we're going to be playing, which songs we're going to leave off. I'm just glad to have new material to get out and perform live because we've been playing [some of the songs] for eight or nine years live. I'm ready ... they just need to be let go. You know