When Blink 182 finally made it to Sydney for four shows at the Hordern after a false start earlier in the year, despite a great set it was clear that something wasn’t right. While the fart and dog intercourse jokes were absent, so was almost any sort of onstage banter from the boys. Simply, it looked like a band that was still enjoying what they were doing, but only for the ninety-odd minutes that they were onstage. We now know why, subsequent interviews have revealed a band that were well down the road to Splitsville. A few months later the band announced that they were breaking up, eighteen months after delivering their self-titled album which surprised many and amazed even more. When a friend bought the album on release I was shocked to see that anyone still cared. What shocked me more was what was contained within – a mature, impressive set of songs that showed a band who had tried something different and succeeded.

Not Now is an outtake from those sessions, and while not as striking as most of the tracks from the 2003 album, is an impressive ‘new’ song to entice fans to purchase the Greatest Hits set. The vaguely post-punk time shifts that characterised much of that album are present here, as are the huge drums which had me remarking that the band should be known as the Travis, Tom and Mark show after their September tour.

All in all, if it is to be the last music we hear from the lads, it’s a nice way to go out. The band will always have their detractors, but from those of us who grew up with them from Dammit and sniggering at Family Reunion, to the lyrics of First Date that just about any teenager could relate to up until the self-titled album which lifted them out of the ‘guilty pleasure’ category, it’s been great guys.