Mark (@markhoppus) recently teamed up with long-standing friend Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low to create supergroup Simple Creatures and took time out from promoting and performing their new EP Strange Love to tell us just how an American rockstar becomes a Chelsea fan, why he'll never change allegiance and give us his prediction for this weekend's match.
Read on to see what he had to say...
First off, you were born and raised in California so how did you become a Blue?
Whenever we were on tour in the UK I was always fascinated by the intensity of the fans of Premier League football and started looking into which team was closest to where I was staying and we were consistently near Chelsea. Then when we moved there [to the UK] to live, we were just down the street from Chelsea, so the tradition continued.
How do you keep track of Chelsea while you are busy touring, recording and gigging?
Living back in the United States now it is difficult to keep up with the matches. Consequently, I usually end up missing them live and catching up with them later after they've already happened.
It's much easier to watch the matches on television here because pretty much all of them are aired but they come on at about four o'clock in the morning California time so that makes it difficult.
You've previously said that you were a big fan of Didier Drogba, but which current player's name would you put on the back of your shirt?
Eden Hazard. He's been with the team for a while now and is consistently great.
What have you made of Chelsea's season so far?
We're trying. Hopefully we'll make the cut for Champions League places!
You spent several years living in London with your family, did anyone tempt you to change allegiance while you were here in the UK?
Always. Even now, I was in London for four days doing shows and press for Simple Creatures and people always challenge me. 'WHY'D YOU CHOOSE CHELSEA, MATE?!' But when I tell them they're my hometown team, the argument usually ends there.
What is your favourite moment as a Chelsea fan?
Sitting on a plastic chair in our kitchen by myself watching Drogba score the final penalty to win the Champions League in 2012.
Are you feeling confident about Sunday's match against Liverpool?
Nope. Not at all. But always hopeful.
Do you have any Liverpool-supporting mates in LA you'll be calling up to watch the game with?
It'll be 8.30am here so I'll be watching it on silent on my iPad from bed while my wife yells at me to turn the brightness down.
You can listen to new music by supergroup Simple Creatures on the official Liverpool FC playlist here.