Kevin Morby at Town Hall
photo by Ellen Qbertplaya

Kevin Morby shares letter he wrote to blink-182 in 7th grade (but never sent)

(via Kevin's Instagram)
(via Kevin’s Instagram)

Kevin Morby was recently on Fucked Up frontman Damian Abraham’s Turned Out a Punk podcast where he talked about his whole musical career, from growing up in suburban Kansas, discovering punk rock, moving to Brooklyn in the mid-’00s, joining Woods, starting The Babies with Cassie Ramone, the heyday of Todd P shows, going solo and more. Like every guest on his podcast Kevin was first asked how he got into get into punk, to which he replied, “It would’ve been from some radio band — technically maybe blink-182 which led me to Green Day. I’ve always said that Green Day are the greatest gateway drug that there is. Once you’re onto Green Day, you’re only twice removed from the best music ever.”

The young Kevin’s blink-182 fandom was clearly very strong, as he posted an unsent letter to the band from seventh grade that his mom recently unearthed, that has “PLEASE READ” in giant letters. He then writes, “Please read this hole letter. I’ve spent months getting your guys address” — and yet after all that effort he didn’t send! — “…I always wear wear my blink 182 tee shirts. Everyone at school just makes fun of me because I don’t wear the ‘nice cloths’ or like rap. Sorry I know Travis likes rap. It’s ok but I go for punk.” He goes on to tell them about his own band at the time, School Master Slugs, saying “we are only 12 & 13 so we were learning new things every day.” Read the whole letter above and you can listen to Kevin’s episode of Turned Out a Punk (which is highly recommended) below.

Kevin is currently on tour in Australia, but will bring the 2020 Oh My God tour back to North America for a spring tour of the Southwest and Midwest, and will open for Nathaniel Rateliff at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater in August. All dates are listed below.

On Turned Out A Punk, Kevin also commented on Matt Skiba’s current position in blink-182 (“Matt Skiba being in it all is also weird, it’s like my sixth grade dream came true: Alkaline Trio and blink-182 merged into one”). That version of blink-182 has some upcoming shows this year (including Firefly), while Tom Delonge is touring with his band Angels & Airwaves.

KEVIN MORBY – 2020 TOUR DATES
MAR 1 SUN – Nine Lives Festival – Brisbane, Australia
MAR 4 WED – Adelaide Festival – Adelaide, Australia
MAR 5 THU – The Enmore Theatre – Sydney, Australia
MAR 7 SAT – A Festival Called Panama – Golconda, Australia
MAR 9 MON – Brunswick Music Festival – Brunswick West, Australia
MAR 21 SAT – Electric Park Ballroom – Waterloo, IA, United States
APR 9 THU – Texas Theatre – Dallas, TX, United States
APR 10 FRI – Mohawk Austin – Austin, TX, United States
APR 11 SAT – White Oak Music Hall – Houston, TX, United States
APR 13 MON – Proud Larry’s – Oxford, MS, United States
APR 16 THU – Saturn – Birmingham, AL, United States
APR 17 FRI – Terminal West – Atlanta, GA, United States
APR 18 SAT – Motorco Music Hall – Durham, NC, United States
APR 20 MON – Hi-Fi – Indianapolis, IN, United States
APR 21 TUE – High Noon Saloon – Madison, WI, United States
APR 22 WED – Turner Hall Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI, United States
APR 24 FRI – Fine Line Music Cafe – Minneapolis, MN, United States
APR 25 SAT – Record Bar – Kansas City, MO, United States
JUN 27 SAT – La Magnifique Society – Reims, France
JUN 28 SUN – Le 106 – Rouen, France
JUN 29 MON – MOD – Hasselt, Belgium
JUN 30 TUE – Luxor – Cologne, Germany
JUL 2 THU – Le Bikini – Ramonville-st-agne, France
JUL 4 SAT – Days Off – Paris, France
JUL 6 MON – Club Manufaktur – Schorndorf, Germany
JUL 7 TUE – Z-Bau Nürnberg – Nürnberg, Germany
JUL 8 WED – Columbia Theater – Berlin, Germany
JUL 10 FRI – Pohoda Festival – Trenčín, Slovakia
JUL 11 SAT – Bankito Festival – Bánk, Hungary
JUL 12 SUN – Mochvara Club – Zagreb, Croatia
JUL 13 MON – PARCO DELLA MUSICA – Padova, Italy
JUL 14 TUE – Les Georges – Fribourg, Switzerland
JUL 16 THU – Super Bock Super Rock – Lisbon, Portugal
JUL 18 SAT – Tivoli Vredenburg – Utrecht, Netherlands
JUL 19 SUN – Welcome to the Village – Leeuwarden, Netherlands
JUL 22 WED – Hare & Hounds – Birmingham, United Kingdom
JUL 23 THU – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds, United Kingdom
JUL 25 SAT – Summerhall – Edinburgh, United Kingdom
JUL 26 SUN – Gorilla – Manchester, United Kingdom
JUL 27 MON – Oval Space – London, United Kingdom
AUG 26 WED – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO, United States