Blink 182 Biography

Blink 182 (One Eighty Two) show off Californian pop-punk at its finest. The trio of pranksters is made up of three vital members Thomas Matthew Delonge (guitar/vocals), Mark Allen Hoppus (bass/vocals) and Travis Landen Barker (drums). The band is greatly admired throughout most of the world and have 6 widely popular albums under their belt. But this wasn't always the case for the band, things started on a some what sadder note.

Way way back in early 1992 Mark moved from Washington where he lived with his dad, to San Diego California. His sister Anne was already living there and when mark told her he was looking to start a band. Anne introduced Mark to a guy she knew named Tom who played guitar. The two teenagers hit it off straight away and discovered that they had lots of things in common. Once they had been introduced Mark thought it fit that he climb up a lamp-pole to impress Tom but fell down and wrecked both his ankles. After Marks accident the pair met up again and it wasn't long before they were writing songs together, they sounded good but they decided they needed to find a drummer to make the band complete.

Tom told Mark about a kid who played drums at his school (Scott Raynor) and they agreed to ask him about the band. Although Scott was a Metallica obsessed heavy rock fan he agreed to join the band and the original line-up was complete. A fter some discussion about a name for the band they decided simply on Blink (first name was Duct Tape), which would later have the 182 added. The bands first gig was played in a small club called 'The Spirit Club' although they didn't realise it then this was a long way from the 10,000 seater arenas they would sell out later on.

Coming near the end of 1993 the band recorded a short ep called 'Flyswatter' the recording quality on the demo was very bad and the demo never really surfaced. Before the end of 1993 the band recorded another demo this one never really had a title but was nicknamed 'Buddha' because of an image of the Buddha on the front of the tape. About 1,000 copies of the cassette where made by Cargo Filter Records. The tape was sold by Pat Secor of Cargo Filter who had helped them produce it and by Blink at their gigs.

Soon after the start of 1994 Blink released their first full-length debut album 'Cheshire Cat' with Grilled Cheese Records. The album contained several new versions of songs that had appeared on the Buddha demo. Although up to this point everything seemed to be going great for Blink the band who were beginning to believe that their hopes and dreams could come true. The band hit a downer kicked off firstly by their old friend Pat Secor who now claimed that blink had done the dirty on him and took the master tapes of the Buddha demo, and handed them to Joe Escalante at Kung Fu Records who gave the album a proper realise in 1994. This had put a stop to Secor getting any profit from sales of the demo. Secor decided to give up as his chances of getting any money from the demo where only minute and now says "At this point it's not even about the money. It's the fact that there is no mention of my work anywhere now. No credit has been given to me." Although Secor said he wanted nothing more to do with Blink and the demo he carried on selling bootlegged copies of the tape, against Blinks wishes and this just made his relationship with the band even worse. Joe Escalante put a stop to the bootlegs now that he had ground to stand on due to the release of Buddha on his record label.

Shortly after the release of Cheshire Cat Blink found out a techno band in Ireland who also had the name Blink. So to save themselves from a long and risky law suit Blink decided to add the random numbers 182 (One Eighty Two not One Eight Two, pricks) to the end of their name. Soon after Cheshire Cat was re-released by Grilled Cheese under their new name. It soon became very clear to Mark and Tom that the pop-punk trio was starting to take off and go to places they could only have dreamed of; Blink decided that they would need to get a manager; the man for the job was Rick Devoe. Rick was a well known promoter for bands such as The Offspring and Green Day in the San Diego area, he offered to be their manager and Blink were more then happy to except his offer.

Due to the massive punk explosion of the next few years set off by the likes of Pennywise and Green Day, Blink were signed to the massive MCA records. The band packed their bags and shipped out to Encinitas, California with producer Mark Trombino to work on a new album. What came from the recording sessions was 'Dude Ranch'. The success of the album was phenomenal and the release of two new singles 'Dammit' and 'Josie' put the band at the top of the US airplay charts. Although on the outside the band seemed to be having the time of their lives and their dreams were all coming true, on the inside something bad was brewing between the 3 members who had been touring non-stop for nearly 15 months. By late 1998 things got much worse as Scott had began drinking heavily. So heavily in fact that he would often drop his sticks mid song, this made Mark and Tom furious. Suddenly mid way through a US tour Scott disappeared to deal with 'personal problems' leaving Mark and Tom with a show to do and no drummer. The band got a drummer from another band who they were on tour with to play for them that night, Travis who was also playing for The Aquabats that night learnt the whole Blink set in about 30 minutes, and from that second on Mark and Tom knew "This was the real drummer for Blink 182". What came next no one really knows but to put it bluntly Scotty go bye bye. Hello!! Travis.

With a brand new drummer to their name who brought with him a more professional sound, Blink 182 went back into the studio to Start work on a new album. 'Enema Of The State' came out at the perfect time and unknown to the band at the time went on to sell over 7 million copies have 3 smash hit singles and turn the once teenage punksters into pop-punk superstars. The album showed every aspect of the band that is Blink 182. The videos for the singles also got Blink noticed, 'All The Small Things' which showed the band extracting every bit of decency from a number of popular acts and 'What's My Age Again?' which had the band running naked through the streets of California. After the success of Enema Of The State the band decided it was time to release a live album. The album was called 'The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The Enema Stikes Back)' and was only released for a short period of time; it showed the band in a new light. The album was filled with gags and jokes and dismissed all rumours that Blink were strictly a studio band and sucked live.

The band new that Enema Of The State was going to be a hard album to follow but manages to equal its success with their fifth Album 'Take Off Your Pants And Jacket' (Get the joke there?). The album was hugely popular and if it's possible bought the band even more success and put them back at the top of the US play charts. The new album bought them to more huge singles and has made them one of the most well known American bands on the planet.

In Feb 2005 the band cancelled a performance at Music for Relief's Concert for South Asia. Shortly thereafter, before a planned final US spring tour, on Feb 22, 2005, the band announced they were going on an "indefinite hiatus".