In 1992 Tom DeLonge (guitar) and Mark Hoppus (bass) were introduced to each other by Mark´s sister Anne Hoppus. Together they wrote and organized the song “Carousel” in the first night they played together. Scott Raynor, a metal-fan who lived in the same town was also part of the band. They founded the band “Duck tape”. Soon they found their own style which was influenced by The Cure and NOFX. After they had written “Carousel” they had some more ideas and wrote more songs – as a result, they recorded their first demo CD “Flywatter”.
Their first shows were already a success and quite a lot oft tapes were bought. As Mark was working in a record shop at that time, he played his boss the “Flywatter” tape which his boss liked. As a result Mark´s boss introduced Flywatter to “Kung Fu Records”. Their second tape “Buddha” was now recorded with a label and under better conditions than “Flywatter” ( in 1998 Buddha was also sold as a CD but the songs of the tape had been remastered. Therefore Buddha was their first published album!)
In the following year “Cargo Records” and “Grilled Cheese Records” paid attention to them and offered them to record an album in a proper studio. As a result “Cheshire Cat” was published in 1994. They left the band name “Duck Tape” behind and called themselves “blink” from then on. However, this name was problematic as an Irish band called “blink” thought abut legal proceedings against them. Consequently, they added the number 182. A lot of rumor was going on about what the number stands for. Officially it is said that it is just a number which was randomly chosen and that its pronunciation was a reason for picking this number.
Due to the album “Cheshire Cat” which was sold about 300.000 times, blink 182 became more and more successful and famous. Their first video was made for the song “M&Ms”. Their budget was 10,000 $. After a very short time MTV stopped playing the video as it was inappropriate for youngsters. Soon afterward a censored version followed.
Blink 182´s debut album was “Dude Ranch” which was published by MCA Records. They played at the Vans Warped Tour, “Dammit” was in the billboard charts for weeks and in Australia they became extremely famous.
In May 1998 Scott decided to leave the band. He made this decision shortly before Blink 182´s probably most important concert (“Palladium”) so far-Mark and Tom were distraught. They asked Travis Barker if he could replace Scott for the evening. Travis was playing the drums at the “Aquabats” and this band was supposed to play before Blink 182. Travis agreed on replacing Scott until they would find a new drummer. Travis learned to play their songs within 45 minutes and was playing them on the show without making any mistakes. They finished the tour together and Travis became Blink 182´s drummer.
Together they recorded the album “Enema of the state”. Some of the tracks had already been recorded with Scott, Travis added some new ideas. The album was sold about 4 million times and was awarded with platinum! As they had a lot of new fans their album which came before the last one received a gold status as the new fans bought the old album as well. MTV awarded Blink 182 as the “Best New Act 2000” and their singles “All the small things”, “What´s my age again”, and “Adam´s song” were all a great success! At the making of the video for “All the small things” Mark got to know his wife Syke, they got married on the 2nd of December 2000.
On the 7th of November 2000 Blink 182 published their first live-album which is called “The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The enema strikes back) “ and which includes almost all singles from the albums. “Take Off your Pants and Jacket” was published in four different version and was repeatedly awarded. The following tour had to be canceled as Tom had some issues with his back and as all band members agreed on taking a break for a while. Their personal highlights during that time are probably the wedding of Tom & Jen in 2001 and the wedding of Travis and his long-term girl-friend Melissa Kennedy on the 22nd of September 2001.
Tom used the break to cure his herniated disk and at the same time being creative. Together with Travis they wrote songs and recorded them too. Together, they founded “Box Car Racer”! In order to play concerts Tom asked his school time friend David Kennedy (guitar) and Travis asked his old friend Anthony Celestino (bass) to play in their band. The self-titled album was published in May 2002. Soon afterward Blink 182 and Box Car Racer played a tour. Blink 182 was touring together with Green Day and Jimmy Eat World in the Pop-Disaster Tour, Box Car Racer played 21 shows together with “The Used”. At the same time Travis started some Hip Hop projects. Together with Tim Armstrong (Rancid) and Rob Aston he founded “The Transplants”. They mixed Punk and Hip Hop and published their self-titled album in October 2002. Mark used the time to be the guest vocalist of Simple Plan (I do anything) as well as of “New Found Glory” ( Something I call personality) and acted as the main character in “Haunted”. Furthermore, he joined the management of FenixTX.
2002 was a very exciting year for Blink 182-they had two new projects and published the DVD “The Urethra Chronicles 2” and most important Mark and Tom became fathers. On the 15th of July 2002 Ava Elizabeth DeLonge was born as Tom´s and Jen´s first child. Shortly afterward, on the 6th of August 2002, Jack Hoppus- Mark´s and Syke´s first son was born. There was some negative publicity when Travis and his wife got divorced after only a short marriage-on the 22nd of August 2002. It did not take a long while after his divorce when Travis met Shanna Moakler (whom he would marry shortly afterward. She is an ex-playboy model and was once Miss USA). She went on one of the rehearsals of “The Transplants”.
At the beginning of 2003 Mark, Tom and Travis went into the studio again. Together they worked on the songs which they had written during their last tour. They rented a house in San Diego to work concentrated on their new songs. Web-cams were installed in order to offer their fans the possibility to follow every progress the band made. On blink182.com fans could observe the band working during day-and night.
At the rehearsals with the Transplants, Travis was introduced to the ex-playboy model and former Miss USA Shana Moakler On the 9th of October their first son, Landon Asher Barker, was born. On Halloween 2005 the couple married in Gothic look.
During Blink 182´s time in their studio there was some negative publicity as well. Tom´s and Travis´project Box Car Racer came to an end. Mark felt left out, Tom and Travis decided to stick with Blink 182 and Mark. During their recordings they changed their record label. As MCA records put them under a lot of pressure and were pushing the band to publish their new album as soon as possible they decided to change to Geffen. Shortly afterward, Geffen took over MCA records.
With their seventh studio album (self-titled) the fans got new music to listen to on the 18th of November 2003. This album was topping all other albums. The new songs were very diversified and there was a cameo appearance of Robert Smith (The Cure) for the song “All of this”. Due to this development the gained many new fans but lost some old fans. After the publishing of their new album a world tour followed which had to be canceled after they had toured through Europe and America. At their show in Melbourne (10th of March 2004) Travis broke his foot. The shows which were supposed to follow had to be canceled. Just one month later – on the 22nd of April 2004 – Blink 182´s America tour started in Mexico and Travis was able to play the drums again. The highlight was the cameo appearance of Robert Smith at the Wembley Arena in London. Together Blink 182 and Robert Smith played “All of this” and “Boys don´t cry” (The Cure). The end of the tour was the end of Blink 182 too. In February 2005 Mark, Tom and Travis canceled the benefice concert for the victims of the flood in south-east Asia. Dave Navarro announced that Blink 182 have closed. The official statement of their management followed shortly afterward:
"For over a decade, blink-182 has toured, recorded and promoted non-stop all while trying to balance relationships with family and friends. To that end, the band has decided to go on an indefinite hiatus to spend some time enjoying the fruits of their labors with loved ones. While there is no set plan for the band to begin working together again, no one knows what tomorrow may bring"
In an KROQ interview (which was not arranged with their management) Travis mentioned that it was definitely just a break and not the end. After eleven years of hard work they wanted to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Would it just be a break like it was in 2002 when Box Car Racer and The Transplants were founded? Some people expected a new arising of BCR but this was not the case.
In summer 2005 Chris Georggin announced the publishing of a greatest hits album. All the published singles as well as the title song of Travis´reality show “Meet the Barkers” - “Another girl, another planet” would be on the album. This song was recorded shortly before Mark, Tom and Travis announced their hiatus.
Shortly before the announcement of the break of Blink 182, Mark and Travis founded their new band (+44) and Tom founded Angels and Airwaves. More info about these bands are in the Angels and Airwaves and (+44) area. Reasons for the hiatus you can find in the “hiatus-area”.
There was a terrible shock for everyone on the 20th of September 2008! After a TRVSDJAM show in Columbia Travis and DJ AM were on their way back to Van Nuys, California. The Learjet was rushing over the runway, crashed a fence and was then rushing over a street. Later, the air safety authority FAA mentioned that the air controller had realized some sparks which came out of the air craft. Travis and DJ AM survived this horrible accident with severe burns. Both were brought to a hospital in Georgia which is specialized on burns (Joseph M. Still Burn Center). Both pilots as well as Travis´ friends Charles Che Still (Bodyguard) and Travis´personal assistant Lil´Chris Baker were fatally injured. This horrible incident made Tom to contact Mark and Travis. In November 2008 Mark wrote in his blog that he, Travis and Tom were talking to each other again and that they were trying to rebuild their friendship. He also mentioned that he was not sure if this also meant the reunification of Blink 182.
At the end of 2008 the band “Forever the sickest kids” were gossiping about a reunification of Blink 182! The announced to be the support of Blink 182 in April 2009. Shortly afterward the ticket-shop “Wolfgangsvault” announced tour dates for a complete Blink 182 tour. Soon it was realized that these statements were not true. However, all fans were waiting for news about their favorite band. From the 8th to the 9th of February something unbelievable happened – Tom, Mark and Travis were together on stage again, for the first time since 2004. They hold a speech for the winner of the Grammy in the category “Best Rock Album”. Many fans had hoped that Blink 182 would reunify and this was finally announced by them. The friendship of the three men seems to be as good again as it used to be in the past. Tom did not call it a “reunification” but said that they would just continue to work where they had stopped.
The album “Summer 2009” as well as a world tour was announced. This was not exactly true, they were touring through America and announced the publishing of the single “Up all night” which then was not published. The album was not published either but 2010 the band will go into the studio again. As Mark announced the new album is supposed to be published at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011. First tour dates for Europe have been announced-in summer Mark, Tom and Travis will play at some festivals. Travis will not travel via plane though, he will travel via bus/ ship.
