Monday, August 8, 2011
Blink-182: An IGN Classic Interview
Spence D. talks enemas, tattoos, and job skills with the modern masters of crappy punk rock
When it comes to modern day punk rock, few do it with more obnoxious panache than Blink 182. The SoCal trio of Tom, Mark, and Travis are prime products of juvenile rock-n-roll styled hi-jinx, playing music with the prime intent of having fun no matter what. And believe it or not, their high decibel, devil-may-care philosophy is hugely popular with the youth of today.January 7, 2000
What a surprise that is, eh?
Watching the trio perform live, one quickly notices that Tom and Mark play the manic goofs, shouting and finagling with one another and the fans. Travis, on the other hand, is the quiet straight man who keeps the beat behind the drum kit.
In person these personas persist. Travis is quiet as kept, seemingly reveling in the "real bad boys move in silence" mystique while simultaneously being the deliverer of deadly deadpan wit. Mark, on the other hand, is the self-same manic madman that he is on stage, just toned down a bit. When he speaks his words come out in a flurry of high velocity energy. Imagine a kid souped up on red Jell-O and you've got Mark nailed. As for Tom, well, I never got to meet him (he was out shopping at the time), but by all accounts he seems to be a mellower shade of his on-stage persona.
At any rate, I caught up with 2/3 (Mark and Travis, to be precise) of the CPR ("crappy punk rock") trio over the Christmas holidaze and this is what was said...
IGN For Men: How cool is it that you guys make your living off of creating crappy punk rock?
Mark: It's amazing that we make a living off of creating music. Honesty, like I don't mean to get all sappy and sentimental, but it's so gratifying to have, you know, the validation of not only people liking your band but being able to make a living off of it. It's really cool to be able to tell your parents "See, I told you so" [laughs].
IGN For Men: Do you ditto that sentiment, Travis?
Travis: Yeah, totally. I mean the whole time I was growing up they [my parents] were like "When are you gonna get out of the garage? or "[When are you gonna] play at a real show?" or [When are we gonna] see you on TV?" And now it's pretty much all there.
IGN For Men: You've finally been legitimized in your parent's eyes, to a point.
Travis: Yeah, totally, to a big point.
IGN For Men: Well yeah, what with being on MTV and the cover of newsstand magazines and all of that.
Mark: Totally. My mom was always very supportive. In fact, when I wanted to drop out of college and be in a band and start touring she was the first one that said "If this is really your dream then you should go for it. You only get one chance at your life so you might as well do something that you really enjoy rather than go out and get a job. There's always time to get a job, but there's only one chance you have to go out and try and do something that you really want to do." So she was always real supportive, but my dad was real slow coming around. He was a lot more practical and was always like "Well you know, if you want to be in a band, be in a band. But make sure you have something to fall back on because most people in bands don't make it." So it took him a long time for him to come around and be real supportive, but now he's like the biggest supporter of all.IGN For Men: Did you take his advice? I mean do you have something in your back pocket to fall back on?
Mark: Well if like working in a record store is something to fall back on, yeah! [laughs] But I never finished college and I never got an education or anything. And I think it shows through.
IGN For Men: Yeah...well, I don't know about that. I don't know you well enough to agree or disagree, but in some ways the education you get on the road...I mean you've obviously been places where the average person hasn't.
Travis: We'd be really good roadies.
Mark: [laughing robustly] Yeah, we would be incredible roadies. Actually I think that we would be good in the industry now, like artist representation and things like that. We know what it's like to be on the road and we know what problems occur and we know all the promoters and we know all the people that you have to deal with. So I don't know...
IGN For Men: Are you insinuating that you want to go the Fred Durst route and run your own label, do A&R and get into film?
Mark: I don't know about that. I like having free time. I mean you can try and do everything in the whole world or you can do one thing poorly [laughs]. Instead of trying to do everything a little okay, we like to do one thing really awfully.
[editor's note: at this point in the interview Travis opens a bottle of water let's fly with a bottle cap hook shot aimed at the trash can across the room. He misses, hitting instead the large gray plastic tub filled with ice, beer, and juice, which sits on a table adjacent to the garbage can]
IGN For Men: Awww, you missed dude!
Mark: [laughs] Travis: I've been making weird shots like that all day.
IGN For Men: What's the band's tattoo requirement? Do you all get tats as a band?
Mark: I don't have any tattoos. Tom and Travis have the tattoos.
IGN For Men: Ah, then you are the tattooless one.
Mark: Yeah. And Travis actually spends a lot of time thinking about his tattoos and he has certain tattoo artist that he'll only go to because he trusts their work and they know like what he wants and he knows what they are capable of doing. Each tattoo that Travis has means something particular to him and is well thought out and well placed and Travis kind of has a master plan for his tattoos. And Tom just one day wakes up and says "I want a tattoo" and tries to think of something that might be cool on his body and then he goes and gets that done wherever.IGN For Men: Now does Tom go to the same artists as you do? Or is he more devil-may-care, like if you're in Cincinnati and he wakes up and decides to have a tat, he'll just got find the first guy out there?
Travis: Yeah that's kind of how it is. Like sometimes when we're on tour if I find a rad artist I'll go "I want this piece. I want to find someone who will do this piece." And I'll tell Tom that I'm going and he'll think of something on the way down to the tattoo shop and he'll get it.
IGN For Men: Do you map out your tatoos, you know, sketch 'em out in a book and then take the sketches to the tat artist?
Travis: Yeah I have or I'll bring something in, like if it's [the tat] a picture of something, then I bring it in. Like I have a ghetto blaster [tattoo] on my stomach and it's actually a tattoo of like my first ghetto blaster. I actually brought it in [to the tattoo parlor] and said "You know, make it look like this."
IGN For Men: What tape got the most play on that ghetto blaster?
Travis: Probably Run DMC or Beastie Boys' Liscense To Ill.
IGN For Men: Which Run DMC?
Travis: Ummm, the Christmas album, actually got a lot of play on that ghetto blaster. I still have it, too.
IGN For Men: What would you say is your coolest tat or which one are you most proud of?
Travis: I don't know. It's weird. Like for me it's different, but for other people...like we were at the Billboard Music Awards and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers came up and said "That's the best tattoo I've ever seen, the ghetto blaster on your stomach." I was like "Wow." You know, I got that 'cause obviously I liked it, but I was like "Nobody will ever have a ghetto blaster on their stomach." But Snoop Dogg and Flea came up to me that night and just went "Oh my God, I love that tattoo." And I was just going "Yeah, yeah!," you know? But I mean I have a lot... I mean like they're all favorites, you know? I have like a memorial for my mom. My mom passed away, so that's like a favorite. And then there's just other stuff, just rad stuff.IGN For Men: I've gotten the ears pierced, but that's about as far as I've ventured with the body art.
Travis: Yeah, I kinda went overboard. I got my ears pierced and I stretched 'em. And now I'm trying to go down and I keep on putting smaller jewelry in them, but they're hard to close. I like the ear piercings, but I took most of my [other] piercings out.
IGN For Men: Now the title of your most recent record is Enema of the State. I got a kick out of it, but it hit a little close to home 'cause I have a friend who recently started getting colonics...
Mark: Really? For real?
IGN For Men: Oh yeah and now she's become totally addicted to them.
 |
| Strapping on the ole enema glove. |
IGN For Men: I take it none of the three of you have ventured into this area.
Mark: Tom has done it to himself twice. But just because we begged him to do it 'cause his ass smelled so bad all the time. And I've never had one. Have you Travis?
Travis: No. It's just too creepy. I couldn't sit down and do that to myself.
IGN For Men: I don't know if you're supposed to do it to yourself.
Travis: Well you can buy them [enema kits] like in the supermarket.
IGN For Men: You're kidding!
Mark: Tom does 'em to himself.
IGN For Men: Oh man. My friend went to some clinic where there was a professional 'enemologist' or whatever you call them.
Mark: No, Tom just did it to himself just on a whim.
IGN For Men: That's scary. What does he do with the residue?
Mark: I don't even want to know. I don't even want to think about things like that. Very upsetting.
IGN For Men: Changing the subject to something less upsetting, who's your favorite Power Puff Girl? Bubbles, Blossom, Buttercup?
Mark: Is that that cartoon?
IGN For Men: Yeah.
Mark: I haven't seen that cartoon. I see ads for it on the Cartoon Network but I haven't been able to watch that much television lately. I used to be able to watch TV, honestly, like eight hours a day. When we first started the band we had a lot of downtime. We weren't touring as much as we do now and I would just watch TV all the time when we weren't on tour. Now it just seems like...my favorite TV show is a show called Change of Heart. Have you ever seen that?IGN For Men: I don't think so.
Mark: [turning to Travis] Have you ever seen Change of Heart?
Travis: Oh yeah, it's gnarly.
IGN For Men: What is it?
Mark: It's the best show ever. They take a couple who's been together between like 6 months...
IGN For Men: Yeah, okay, and then they send them on other dates. It's like a $%&*@#$-up Dating Game. Yeah, I've seen it.
Mark: Yeah, they go out on other dates, exactly.
Travis: They get so mad at each other...
Mark: Yeah, they get so pissed at each other...The guy always tries to act like the mack, "Yeah I picked her up and I dropped her off at her house." And the host asks "Oh, did it end with a nice kiss?" And he's all "Well, it ended with a little bit more than that." And he acts all cool. And then they go to his girlfriend and she's like "You did what? You did NOT kiss her!" Aww, man, it gets crazy.
IGN For Men: Well have you ever seen Forgive and Forget with that big gospel spouting woman, you know the chick who's like a poor version of Oprah? Travis: Yeah.
Mark: I've never watched Forgive and Forget.
IGN For Men: That show is crazy. Like if you cheat on your girlfriend then they have you on the show and you admit the errors of your ways and if your honey forgives you she comes out the "forgive" door. If she doesn't then she stays backstage and makes you look like the idiot that you are.
Mark: Totally! I haven't seen it, but I've heard about it.
IGN For Men: Now you're the video game guy. But didn't I just overhear you say that your Dreamcast is still in the box and since you've gotten a serious girlfriend you haven't had the time to play games like you used to.
Mark: Right [laughs]. Well, you know, actually it's not because I have a girlfriend that I haven't played it. She's actually really behind it. She's like "Let's go play Dreamcast tonight!" But it just never ends up working out. She got it for me and now we've just been really busy. We'll get to it sometime for sure.
IGN For Men: When you're out on the road doing the tour spiel with the big bus and the whole 9, do you have it stocked with Dreamcast, Playstation, and N64 consoles and games? I know that you were a big N64 head at one time, too.
Mark: Right! I have a Nintendo 64 that we brought on a couple of tours and played a lot of James Bond and a lot of Star Wars Pod Racing and some Banjo-Kazooie. We had a Playstation also that we did a lot of stuff with. But now that we have the Dreamcast, I don't know what's gonna happen.
IGN For Men: Who's the king of Goldeneye, then?
Mark: I was definitely the king of Goldeneye, until we toured with a band called Homegrown. Yeah, when we toured with Homegrown, they had a lot more spare time than we had, obviously, and those guys rule at that game. They just absolutely rule. I couldn't even get a shot in on them at all. You can do that head-to-head thing, you know, you can try and hunt each other with guns and they just kicked my ass. Yeah.
IGN For Men: Hey Travis, tell me about your belt buckle company.
Travis: Oh yeah!
IGN For Men: Do you design your own buckles?
Travis: It's not like I'm a computer geek and I totally know how to do everything. I basically draw it on a piece of paper, give them a sample [drawing] and then we go into production with it.
IGN For Men: What's the coolest buckle you've designed so far? And do you wear your own buckles?
Travis: Yeah [standing up, lifting up his shirt and displaying a thick circular buckle]. This is the only one that we've gone into production with [so far]. We really like it a lot. It's just a metal belt buckle, a circle full of stars. We're gonna be putting them on the website, so kids can pick 'em up.IGN For Men: You're also the pimp daddy of the Caddy's...you collect old Cadillacs, right?
Travis: Uh-huh.
IGN For Men:How many of 'em do you have in the garage at this point?
Travis: Two in my garage at this point.
IGN For Men: Runable?
Travis: Oh yeah. Like one has 60,000 original miles on it. It's a '66 Coupe DeVille hardtop, 2-door. It's in like close to mint condition. And then [I have] a '70 Coupe DeVille convertible 2-door. And it's also in super good condition.
IGN For Men: Do you work on them yourself, you know, are you a self-professed gearhead?
Travis: No. I'm in no way like a motorhead, you know? I'm not even like that. But I have a mechanic and every time I take it to him and there's a problem that I can't fix I sit there and watch so I can do it the next time, you know? I just went out and bought my own tools, too.
Mark: You've got to give it up for those people, for those guys that like know all that $%&*. That can listen to your car and go "Oh yeah, your things on the fritz" or whatever. Just open up the thing and put it all back together. Dude, I can $%&*!@# barely put gas in my car. Seriously, every time I pull up to the pump I've got to make sure which side is the right side of the car to put the gas in. I really respect people that can work on a car.IGN For Men: I know where you're coming from, man. I used to have a VW Bug and I could change the oil and the timing belt only because they were in the do-it-yourself easy to use manual.
Mark: [laughs] Right!
Travis: Even when you read the manual, though, it's still hard. Even then I'm lie going "Man, that doesn't look right." [laughs]
IGN For Men: You always end up with that extra bolt lying on the floor.
Travis: Yeah, totally. But I want to learn more.
IGN For Men: I know that you're also on the old bicycle tip, too.
Travis: Oh yeah. I used to be into BMX when I was little. But now I collect old Schwinns and stuff, like cruisers. Like Dyno came out with a bunch of rad bikes this year. They came out with the Von Dutch model, which was like pinstriping and flames.
IGN For Men: My bicycle pedigree goes from a Schwinn Stingray to a Centurion 10-speed to a Peugeot 10-speed.
Travis: Really? Yeah, they've come out with all sorts of things. I collect the old Schwinns, but Dyno came out with like a Roadster, which is twice as long as a normal beach cruiser. And it's lowered, it has lowered forks and you can like fix 'em up. Like I put 72-spoke rims on it. It has mirrors and it has flames and pinstriping on it. It's pretty rad. But anything that looks like, that resembles a Harley somewhat, you know. They have a bike that looks primered now, too.IGN For Men: You don't have a bike with the extra long forks and the circular chain steering wheel, do you?
Travis: Naw, I'm more into like making them look more like hot rodders rather than lowriders. I have one lowrider bike, which is a pure lowrider. It's made by Lowrider, actually. It's like a small 24-inch frame and it's like really low and it has like 72-spoke rims on it. But they're really hard to ride. They don't really manage that well. But, yeah, I'm more into just like the regular cruisers.
IGN For Men: Do they even still make Schwinn Stingrays and stuff?
Travis: Well they're making 'em now. And Chuck, my drum tech, showed me there's a shop in San Diego that carries nothing but vintage bicycles. It's like they have bicycles there for $20,000. But Schwinn's making like re-makes of like The Black Phantom and all like the old stuff, you know. They're totally re-made, but they look nice. I mean they're nice bikes.
IGN For Men: I've noticed a theme with your album covers. You've got a pussy [cat] on one cover, an ass on another, and then a Vivid Girl on the latest one. So there's a very sexual thing going on as far as I can see. Or am I just reading way too much into the album artwork?
Mark: Well I always thought that there were always eyes on all of our covers. You have the cat's eyes, you have the bull's eyes, and you have her eyes, Janine's eyes. So there's always living creatures on the cover. I don't know what that means, but I like your explanation better. I'm gonna start saying that now [laughs].
IGN For Men: Feel free to take it, man.
Mark: Cool! Is that it?
IGN For Men: Yeah, thanks.
Mark: Thank you so much. Okay, I've got to go pee-pee, where's the pee-pee room?
Blink-182 Interview
NYROCK:
First off, I love the title of your new album, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, particularly after the video to "What's My Age Again?" [hit single from Enema of the State (1999)] where you were running around naked....
Blink-182
Biography
Blink-182 is a pop-punk band from San Diego, California formed in 1992 by Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, and Scott Raynor. In 1998, Raynor was replaced by Travis Barker, and in early 2005 DeLonge left the group, initiating an indefinite hiatus. DeLonge went on to form Angels & Airwaves, while Hoppus and Barker formed +44. On February 8, 2009, blink-182 announced that they had reunited.
Early years (1992-1998)
In May 1993, Blink recorded their first demo tape, entitled “Flyswatter”, in drummer Scott Raynor’s bedroom. A 4-track was used to record the material. According to Hoppus, only around fifty copies of the demo were produced to give to their family and friends. Before the end of the year, the band released another two demos, one commonly known as Demo #2 while the other was entitled Buddha. Of this last record around 1,000 copies were produced by Filter Records, an independent record company headed by Hoppus’s boss.
In early 1994, Blink signed with Cargo Records. The band recorded their début full-length album, “Cheshire Cat” in three days. The album contained a number of updated versions of songs such as “Carousel”, “Strings”, “Sometimes” and “TV” that had appeared on the “Buddha Promo Tape” as well as some originals.
Shortly after the release of “Cheshire Cat”, Blink was threatened with legal action by a pop band inIreland of the same name. In order to avoid a dispute, Blink appended “182” to the end of their name. The band has cited a variety of reasons for ultimately choosing 182, with some of the more common explanations being the number of times Tony Montana utters the word “fuck” in Scarface, references to the 1985 Timothy Hutton film, Turk 182!, the band’s ideal weight, the number of half the days in a year and the number of miles Hoppus had to drive to visit his girlfriend. However, DeLonge has stated that it is just a number that they “pulled out of their ass”.
After moving to Encinitas, California, the band recorded the album “Dude Ranch” in 1996 with producer Mark Trombino. blink-182 recorded the album under Cargo Records, but signed with MCA which later became Geffen Records in 1996, in order to handle increased distribution. The album was released in 1997 and was relatively commercially successful, selling 4 million copies worldwide.
The single “Dammit” did well on U.S. modern rock charts, however drummer Scott Raynor later left the band. There are two common explanations for his removal - that Raynor had a serious drinking problem and was asked to go into rehab or face ejection, or alternately, that he departed in order to attend college. Raynor claims he agreed to go to rehab, but that DeLonge and Hoppus were doubtful of his sincerity and subsequently fired him over the phone.
Hoppus and DeLonge had asked drummer Travis Barker of blink-182’s support band The Aquabats to fill in for Raynor for the remainder of the tour, thus he had to learn all of the songs in a matter of hours before the show. He ultimately went on to join the band permanently afterwards, leaving The Aquabats.
In 1999, blink-182 hired Jerry Finn as its producer and recorded “Enema of the State”. This album propelled the band into the mainstream with hit singles “What’s My Age Again?”, “All the Small Things” and “Adam’s Song”. All gained a significant amount of airtime on radio and MTV. Enema of the State went on to sell over 10 million copies worldwide making it the band’s best-selling album to that point.
In 1999 the band also had small parts in the film American Pie, though Travis Barker was incorrectly credited as Scott Raynor.
In 2000, the band released The Urethra Chronicles, a DVD which featured behind-the-scenes information. “The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back”, blink-182’s live album, was also released in 2000, featuring songs from their three full-length records. The album also included one new studio song, “Man Overboard,” among the live renditions. The album quickly went out of print making it a much sought after item. A limited edition was printed in October 2006.
The band continued its commercial success with “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket” in 2001, which was in the same vein as “Enema of the State”. However, a European tour in winter 2001 was canceled in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. Rescheduled dates in early 2002 were also canceled due to DeLonge’s problems with his back.
In 2002, blink-182 co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour with Green Day, along with supporting actsJimmy Eat World and a little known band called Kut U Up. The tour was documented, from Kut U Up’s point of view, on the DVD Riding In Vans With Boys.
After taking some time off in 2002, recording of the next record began in early 2003. The band released its next studio album on November 18, 2003. It featured the hit singles “Feeling This”, “I Miss You”, “Down”, and “Always”. According to Barker, the “Untitled” record was supposed to represent a new blink-182. It received significant airplay on radio and TV. The Cure front man Robert Smith, often cited as a major influence on the band, appeared on “All of This”. During late 2003, the band embarked on the “Dolla Bill” tour, named for the inexpensive ticket costs (It was originally planned to be completely free but later realised that it would be necessary to charge something for the ticket). A tour with No Doubt in the summer of 2004 was also very successful.
Indefinite hiatus and new bands/spinoffs (2005-2009)
In mid-February 2005 the band inexplicably cancelled a performance at Music for Relief’s Concert for South Asia (a show put on to aid victims of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake). Shortly there after, before a planned final US spring tour, on February 22, 2005, the band announced they were going on an “indefinite hiatus”.
Geffen Records released a Greatest Hits compilation on November 1, 2005 in the U.S., one previously unreleased track was included “Another Girl Another Planet” (a cover song originally by The Only Ones). The song was also used as the theme song to Barker’s new reality TV show, Meet the Barkers. Included was the previously issued “I Miss You” B-side and blink-182 album bonus track “Not Now”. The album reached number 6 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.
DeLonge announced his new band, Angels & Airwaves. As his reason for why blink-182 went on indefinite hiatus, DeLonge suggested the mounting tension between himself and Hoppus, ultimately caused by DeLonge’s desire for a break with his family coupled with Hoppus’ feelings of betrayal after the formation of Box Car Racer. He also announced his plans to create a film about the final days of blink-182. Angels & Airwaves released their debut album “We Don’t Need to Whisper” on May 23rd, 2006, where it debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200.
Hoppus and Barker’s new project +44 surfaced on December 13, 2005 with the song, “No It Isn’t”. Coincidentally, the song was released on +44’s official MySpace on the same day that Angels & Airwaves were slated to release their first song (and also Tom DeLonge’s 30th birthday), though the release of the latter was delayed. Initially, Hoppus was hesitant to admit any deliberate correlation between the song and breakup, but has since admitted the song was about DeLonge and the breakup of the band. +44 released their first album “When Your Heart Stops Beating” on November 14, 2006 and debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200.
In August 2006, Hoppus gave an extensive interview with B182.com. The interview focused on blink-182 and the unexplained events that had led to the band’s hiatus. Contrary to DeLonge’s statements, Hoppus said that the band had been getting along at the time of their final album. Hoppus went on to say that DeLonge requested a half-year respite from touring to spend time with his family, despite a planned final spring U.S. tour. Hoppus and Barker hesitantly conceded, leading to the cancellation of the upcoming tour. Further problems arose in discussions regarding the band’s future recording endeavors. It was at this point that Hoppus felt that blink-182 had ceased functioning as a band. Hoppus went on to state that he and Barker eventually formed +44 at the end of the European leg out of frustration for DeLonge’s constant reluctance’s.
On April 5, 2007, it was confirmed that blink-182, along with Rancid and Green Day are some of the bands set to feature in a documentary about modern punk music. The film is titled One Nine Nine Four and looks at the genre of music in the nineties. It will consist of band interviews and archive footage, which will be all compiled together by the documentary makers Robot Academy Films in [pace]Australia. It’s expected to be released early next year. Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk will narrate the film, which also features the likes of NOFX and The Offspring.
Travis Barker of +44 currently was asked if the band would get back together. He said “I don’t know, I haven’t talked to Tom in a long time. I do however talk to Mark everyday.”
On November 18th, 2008, after Travis Barker was in a small plane crash, Mark Hoppus updated his blog, himynameismark, with this statement:
“in the midst of everything else that has happened lately, tom, Travis, and i have all spoken together. first through a number of phone calls, and then a couple of weeks ago we all hung out for a few hours. they’ve all been great, very positive conversations. we’re just reconnecting as friends after four years of not talking. it’s a good thing.”
He also stated that this doesn’t mean a blink-182 reunion, but after several years they have finally begun speaking to each other again. Hoppus also talked about Travis Barker’s brush with death in a plane crash in September 2008 and the death of their great friend and longtime producer Jerry Finn.
Blink-182 officially announced their reunion while presenting at the 2009 Grammy Awards. The band’sOfficial Website confirmed the band’s reunion with a statement on their website. This song, the first new material released by blink-182 following their indefinite hiatus, was posted in full to Blink182.com late on July 14, 2011, then officially premiered the following day at 10:30 a.m. on Los Angeles radio station KROQ. The Up All Night Songfacts reports that Up all Night, the first new material released by blink-182 following their indefinite hiatus, was posted in full to Blink182.com late on July 14, 2011, then officially premiered the following day at 10:30 a.m. on Los Angeles radio station KROQ.
Early years (1992-1998)
In May 1993, Blink recorded their first demo tape, entitled “Flyswatter”, in drummer Scott Raynor’s bedroom. A 4-track was used to record the material. According to Hoppus, only around fifty copies of the demo were produced to give to their family and friends. Before the end of the year, the band released another two demos, one commonly known as Demo #2 while the other was entitled Buddha. Of this last record around 1,000 copies were produced by Filter Records, an independent record company headed by Hoppus’s boss.
In early 1994, Blink signed with Cargo Records. The band recorded their début full-length album, “Cheshire Cat” in three days. The album contained a number of updated versions of songs such as “Carousel”, “Strings”, “Sometimes” and “TV” that had appeared on the “Buddha Promo Tape” as well as some originals.
Shortly after the release of “Cheshire Cat”, Blink was threatened with legal action by a pop band inIreland of the same name. In order to avoid a dispute, Blink appended “182” to the end of their name. The band has cited a variety of reasons for ultimately choosing 182, with some of the more common explanations being the number of times Tony Montana utters the word “fuck” in Scarface, references to the 1985 Timothy Hutton film, Turk 182!, the band’s ideal weight, the number of half the days in a year and the number of miles Hoppus had to drive to visit his girlfriend. However, DeLonge has stated that it is just a number that they “pulled out of their ass”.
After moving to Encinitas, California, the band recorded the album “Dude Ranch” in 1996 with producer Mark Trombino. blink-182 recorded the album under Cargo Records, but signed with MCA which later became Geffen Records in 1996, in order to handle increased distribution. The album was released in 1997 and was relatively commercially successful, selling 4 million copies worldwide.
The single “Dammit” did well on U.S. modern rock charts, however drummer Scott Raynor later left the band. There are two common explanations for his removal - that Raynor had a serious drinking problem and was asked to go into rehab or face ejection, or alternately, that he departed in order to attend college. Raynor claims he agreed to go to rehab, but that DeLonge and Hoppus were doubtful of his sincerity and subsequently fired him over the phone.
Hoppus and DeLonge had asked drummer Travis Barker of blink-182’s support band The Aquabats to fill in for Raynor for the remainder of the tour, thus he had to learn all of the songs in a matter of hours before the show. He ultimately went on to join the band permanently afterwards, leaving The Aquabats.
In 1999, blink-182 hired Jerry Finn as its producer and recorded “Enema of the State”. This album propelled the band into the mainstream with hit singles “What’s My Age Again?”, “All the Small Things” and “Adam’s Song”. All gained a significant amount of airtime on radio and MTV. Enema of the State went on to sell over 10 million copies worldwide making it the band’s best-selling album to that point.
In 1999 the band also had small parts in the film American Pie, though Travis Barker was incorrectly credited as Scott Raynor.
In 2000, the band released The Urethra Chronicles, a DVD which featured behind-the-scenes information. “The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back”, blink-182’s live album, was also released in 2000, featuring songs from their three full-length records. The album also included one new studio song, “Man Overboard,” among the live renditions. The album quickly went out of print making it a much sought after item. A limited edition was printed in October 2006.
The band continued its commercial success with “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket” in 2001, which was in the same vein as “Enema of the State”. However, a European tour in winter 2001 was canceled in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. Rescheduled dates in early 2002 were also canceled due to DeLonge’s problems with his back.
In 2002, blink-182 co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour with Green Day, along with supporting actsJimmy Eat World and a little known band called Kut U Up. The tour was documented, from Kut U Up’s point of view, on the DVD Riding In Vans With Boys.
After taking some time off in 2002, recording of the next record began in early 2003. The band released its next studio album on November 18, 2003. It featured the hit singles “Feeling This”, “I Miss You”, “Down”, and “Always”. According to Barker, the “Untitled” record was supposed to represent a new blink-182. It received significant airplay on radio and TV. The Cure front man Robert Smith, often cited as a major influence on the band, appeared on “All of This”. During late 2003, the band embarked on the “Dolla Bill” tour, named for the inexpensive ticket costs (It was originally planned to be completely free but later realised that it would be necessary to charge something for the ticket). A tour with No Doubt in the summer of 2004 was also very successful.
Indefinite hiatus and new bands/spinoffs (2005-2009)
In mid-February 2005 the band inexplicably cancelled a performance at Music for Relief’s Concert for South Asia (a show put on to aid victims of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake). Shortly there after, before a planned final US spring tour, on February 22, 2005, the band announced they were going on an “indefinite hiatus”.
Geffen Records released a Greatest Hits compilation on November 1, 2005 in the U.S., one previously unreleased track was included “Another Girl Another Planet” (a cover song originally by The Only Ones). The song was also used as the theme song to Barker’s new reality TV show, Meet the Barkers. Included was the previously issued “I Miss You” B-side and blink-182 album bonus track “Not Now”. The album reached number 6 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.
DeLonge announced his new band, Angels & Airwaves. As his reason for why blink-182 went on indefinite hiatus, DeLonge suggested the mounting tension between himself and Hoppus, ultimately caused by DeLonge’s desire for a break with his family coupled with Hoppus’ feelings of betrayal after the formation of Box Car Racer. He also announced his plans to create a film about the final days of blink-182. Angels & Airwaves released their debut album “We Don’t Need to Whisper” on May 23rd, 2006, where it debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200.
Hoppus and Barker’s new project +44 surfaced on December 13, 2005 with the song, “No It Isn’t”. Coincidentally, the song was released on +44’s official MySpace on the same day that Angels & Airwaves were slated to release their first song (and also Tom DeLonge’s 30th birthday), though the release of the latter was delayed. Initially, Hoppus was hesitant to admit any deliberate correlation between the song and breakup, but has since admitted the song was about DeLonge and the breakup of the band. +44 released their first album “When Your Heart Stops Beating” on November 14, 2006 and debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200.
In August 2006, Hoppus gave an extensive interview with B182.com. The interview focused on blink-182 and the unexplained events that had led to the band’s hiatus. Contrary to DeLonge’s statements, Hoppus said that the band had been getting along at the time of their final album. Hoppus went on to say that DeLonge requested a half-year respite from touring to spend time with his family, despite a planned final spring U.S. tour. Hoppus and Barker hesitantly conceded, leading to the cancellation of the upcoming tour. Further problems arose in discussions regarding the band’s future recording endeavors. It was at this point that Hoppus felt that blink-182 had ceased functioning as a band. Hoppus went on to state that he and Barker eventually formed +44 at the end of the European leg out of frustration for DeLonge’s constant reluctance’s.
On April 5, 2007, it was confirmed that blink-182, along with Rancid and Green Day are some of the bands set to feature in a documentary about modern punk music. The film is titled One Nine Nine Four and looks at the genre of music in the nineties. It will consist of band interviews and archive footage, which will be all compiled together by the documentary makers Robot Academy Films in [pace]Australia. It’s expected to be released early next year. Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk will narrate the film, which also features the likes of NOFX and The Offspring.
Travis Barker of +44 currently was asked if the band would get back together. He said “I don’t know, I haven’t talked to Tom in a long time. I do however talk to Mark everyday.”
On November 18th, 2008, after Travis Barker was in a small plane crash, Mark Hoppus updated his blog, himynameismark, with this statement:
“in the midst of everything else that has happened lately, tom, Travis, and i have all spoken together. first through a number of phone calls, and then a couple of weeks ago we all hung out for a few hours. they’ve all been great, very positive conversations. we’re just reconnecting as friends after four years of not talking. it’s a good thing.”
He also stated that this doesn’t mean a blink-182 reunion, but after several years they have finally begun speaking to each other again. Hoppus also talked about Travis Barker’s brush with death in a plane crash in September 2008 and the death of their great friend and longtime producer Jerry Finn.
Blink-182 officially announced their reunion while presenting at the 2009 Grammy Awards. The band’sOfficial Website confirmed the band’s reunion with a statement on their website. This song, the first new material released by blink-182 following their indefinite hiatus, was posted in full to Blink182.com late on July 14, 2011, then officially premiered the following day at 10:30 a.m. on Los Angeles radio station KROQ. The Up All Night Songfacts reports that Up all Night, the first new material released by blink-182 following their indefinite hiatus, was posted in full to Blink182.com late on July 14, 2011, then officially premiered the following day at 10:30 a.m. on Los Angeles radio station KROQ.
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