NEWS
Machine Gun Kelly and Travis Barker
Getty Images for dcpUPDATE (1/31/22): Months after getting the name of his next album tattooed on his arm — and convincing producer/drummer Travis Barker to do the same — Machine Gun Kelly told Barker that his new LP would no longer be called Born With Horns. MGK broke the news to Barker in a video shared on TikTok, first confirming with Barker that the two would be friends “no matter what,” and then revealing that he’d decided to change the title of the album to, Mainstream Sellout. No word yet on whether there will be additional matching tattoos.
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Machine Gun Kelly added to his already impressive collection of tats Monday when he announced his next album’s title via matching ink with frequent collaborator Travis Barker. The duo showed off their new tattoos — reading Born With Horns — on Instagram, sneering and flexing all the while.
Barker is the record’s executive producer; Born With Horns marks Kelly’s sixth studio album and follows 2020’s Tickets to My Downfall, also produced by Barker.
The Blink-182 drummer has found new life over the past few years by collaborating with younger artists, including Willow Smith, Trippie Redd, and Rae Sremmurd’s Swae Lee.
“Travis showed me the art of not overthinking,” MGK previously told Rolling Stone. “There were times I’d walk in, we would plug in instruments, and whatever came out while we were playing would be the song. But then he also showed me that you can completely scrap a whole song, right when you think it’s done, and do it over until it becomes everything it should be. He would answer the phone at 5 a.m. if I called. The studio sessions became cathartic. There was no censorship. He encouraged the raw emotion to come out.”
Not for the first time, Moby is speaking out against Donald Trump’s administration with clear frustration.
“The U.S. is collapsing under a deeply corrupt and shockingly ineffective administration,” the longtime electronic musician shared on social media. “These are unbelievably dark times.”
Moby went deeper into his thoughts through a video message, where he explained that people outside the United States keep asking Americans what is actually happening in the country.
“So many of my friends outside the United States keep asking me, ‘what the hell is happening over there?’ And honestly, we don’t even know,” he said. “The country is being controlled by one of the most corrupt, dangerous and incompetent administrations imaginable. Nobody fully understands what’s happening right now. These are very dark times in America.”
Moby joins a growing list of artists publicly criticizing Trump and MAGA politics, including Bruce Springsteen, Jack White, Eminem and Billie Eilish.
Earlier this year, Moby uploaded another statement to social media where he addressed how people should respond following the killing of Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis. “The real question isn’t whether people should feel horrified or outraged by what’s happening in the United States,” Moby explained in the Jan. 26 clip. “The question is what are we actually going to do about it?”
The musician and activist also encouraged people to protest, saying demonstrations are a constitutional right and something he believes Trump’s administration is attempting to weaken.
In the end, he urged people to vote regularly, “not only during the upcoming midterms, even though those matter, but also in every special election throughout the year.” He also encouraged supporters to “stop giving money to the scumbag corporations backing Trump and ICE. We all know who they are. Boycott them.”
His newest remarks arrive as the U.S. Justice Department unveils a nearly $1.8 billion compensation fund for Trump allies who claim they were unfairly investigated. At the same time, the Strait of Hormuz remains shut down following military action launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran in late February without approval from Congress, leading to rising gas prices across the globe.
Throughout his independent music career, Moby has earned 10 entries on the Billboard 200 along with two songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and an enormous catalog of sync placements. Overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom, he is viewed as one of the defining artists of his era. He scored two No. 1 albums there with Play from 1999 and 18 from 2002, alongside 18 top 40 singles and two nominations for Best International Male at the BRIT Awards.
Check out Moby’s newest social media post below.
