AceShowbiz - Blink-182 announced on Monday they have cancelled all dates in the U.K. and mainland Europe this year and pushed them back to 2012 because they have become bogged down recording a new album.

Now singer Mark Hoppus has spoken out to reveal his frustration at axing the gigs, insisting the rockers felt they had to honour a promise they made to each other.

He tells Kerrang! magazine, "We are gutted that we are postponing the tour. It was not a decision we made lightly, but we did it to bring you a much better show with new material... We made a promise to ourselves and our fans, after we finished the last tour, that we weren't going to tour anymore until the new album came out."

"We don't want to be one of those bands that rests on former success and keeps playing the same songs over and over, we want to tour new songs."