Biography
Full name:
Thomas Matthew DeLonge
Wife: Jennifer DeLonge (a.k.a. Jen Jenkins)
Children: 1 girl Ava Elizabeth DeLonge (born on July 15th/2002)
Pets: German Shepherd named Grey
Current residence: Encinitas, California
Birthday: December 13th/1975
Bands that he is in(or was in): Blink 182, Box Car Racer
Hometown: Poway, California
Fact about him: When he was 15 years old, he got suspended from
school for getting drunk at a basketball game.
Full name:
Markus Allen Hoppus
Wife: Skye Hoppus (a.k.a. Skye Everly)
Children: 1 boy Jack Hoppus
Pets: 3 dogs Atticus, Cheesburger, and Ahi
Current residence: Encinitas, California
Birthday: March 15th/1972
Fact about him: His role model is Homer Simpson
Full name:
Travis Landon Barker
Fiancee: Shanna (former miss usa)
Children: 1 boy Landon Barker
Current residence: San Diego, California
Birthday: November 14th/1975
Fact about him: He just broke his foot a couple of weeks ago which
forced Blink 182 to cancel a few of their shows on thier current
Australian tour. POOR TRAVIS!!!
In the life of every
band, there comes a time to take stock; to reflect on goals set
and goals achieved; to offer a silent prayer of thanksgiving for
the many blessings so richly bestowed upon us.
For blink-182, this
is not the time.
They're too busy touring
the world, scarfing Sombrero’s burritos, farting and rocking
the planet till the ozone layer disintegrates. In the recent past,
blink-182 won a Teen Choice Award, a Blockbuster Music Award,
and appeared on the MTV Awards '00 where they performed "All
The Small Things" and won Best Group Video. In Europe they
received an MTV Europe Award for Best New Act. They performed
on Saturday Night Live and the Tonight Show (twice), appeared
in American Pie and opened the Billboard Music Awards. The band
also graced the covers of Rolling Stone, Alternative Press (twice),
Teen People, Teen and CosmoGirl, just to name a few.
It's safe to say the
blink-182 is now a worldwide phenomenon, with their records reaping
platinum and their concert tours packing ‘em in all across
Europe, Australia, Asia, and the Americas. And earlier this year,
blink-182 ventured back to the studio with producer Jerry Finn
to record their fourth studio album, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
(you should say the title out loud to fully appreciate the subtle,
sophisticated humor).
By every indication,
Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is turning out to be an evolutionary
hybrid for blink-182, as hooky as 1999's multi-platinum Enema
of the State, but with all the punk spirit of their MCA debut
album Dude Ranch. "This is the hardest, fastest record that
we've done," says blink's Tom DeLonge of the upcoming album.
"It's way more punk-rock than our previous records, and we're
excited about it." Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (release
date 6/12/01) follows Enema of the State and last year's smash
live album The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back).
The band's popularity
has only increased since their formation in '93. They began building
momentum with a string of popular 7"s, and in 1994 they released
their first full-length album, Cheshire Cat, on Grilled Cheese
(a division of Cargo Music). In 1996, they signed a joint-venture
record deal with Cargo Music and MCA Records, with their first
MCA release Dude Ranch (1997) setting the stage for their current
success. By the end of 1998, they had emerged as one of the most
popular pop-punk bands of the year – the album went platinum
in the U.S. and the year-end Billboard Airplay Monitor Report
(BDS) stats indicated that "Dammit (Growing Up)" from
Dude Ranch earned top spins at many key radio stations.
Blink-182 took a break
from the road after Christmas '98 to begin pre-production for
Enema Of The State, recorded in the band's hometown of San Diego
at Signature Sound. Handling production duties was Jerry Finn,
whose previous credits include Green Day and Rancid. Enema Of
The State shattered the standard set by Dude Ranch. World-wide
sales are now over seven million copies, not to mention the fact
that the CD perched high atop the upper-reaches of Billboard's
Top 200 for over a year. The album's three singles, "What's
My Age Again," "All The Small Things" and "Adam's
Song" dominated MTV, alternative, rock and Top-40 radio.
Their summer tour,
where The Mark, Tom & Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back)
was recorded, sold a third of a million tickets. The aforementioned
album was a 20-track collection of live versions of classic blink-182
hits produced by Jerry Finn, and also contained never-before-released
songs, a new studio track, and all the hilarious potty-mouthed
one liners a fan could want. In its limited release, The Mark,
Tom & Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back) sold over 1.5 million
copies worldwide. In other Blink-182 news, a massive U.S. summer
2001 tour is on the drawing boards, and a book about the band's
early days, written by Hoppus' younger sister, Anne, now carries
a title, Tales From Beneath Your Mom. It's scheduled to hit bookstores
in mid-September.
Then there's the ever-expanding
blink-182 mercantile empire, which stretches from pole to pole,
from sea to shining sea. First there's their own blink182.com
website for fans and curious onlookers. Travis's "Famous
Stars and Straps" is a successful retailer and website for
clothes, belts and accessories. Mark and Tom's "Loserkids.com"
is an equally vibrant website for clothes, skates, music, movies.
But despite these ancillary success stories, Mark, Tom and Travis
never lose sight of what's most important for blink-182 and their
worldwide legions of fans: music and tasteless comedy at every
opportunity.
Who knows what's next
for the band? There's an old expression "You can't turn chicken
shit into chicken salad." But, in the case of blink-182,
you can really put chicken shit in someone's chicken salad.
|