blink-182

Blink-182 came to prominence in the early 90s punk scene in California where their energetic shows made them a hit with crowds. The group was signed to independent label Cargo Records where they released their debut album “Cheshire Cat”. While the album was not commercially successful, it picked up a lot of buzz and is considered an iconic pop punk album of the time.

The buzz generated by this first album caused a bidding war between multiple mainstream labels and the band eventually signed with MCA. Drummer Scott Raynor’s disagreement with this decision contributed to his drifting from the band and he was eventually fired in 1998 and replaced by Travis Barker.

With the new record label and new line up settled, Blink-182 released “Enema of the State” in 1999 and quickly rose to fame with singles “Adam’s Song”, “All the Small Things” and “What’s My Age Again?” all receiving regular airtime on MTV. The album was the band’s most successful release to date and went to number 9 on the US Billboard chart.

The stress of constant touring and promotion as well as differences about where the band should go with their next album boiled to a head and caused the band to go on an indefinite hiatus in 2005. After Travis Barker was involved in a serious plane crash, the group reunited in 2008 and went on to start work on their sixth studio album, “Neighborhoods”, which was released in 2011 and charted at number 2 in the US.

Blink-182 has cited The Ramones, The Cure and The Vandals, amongst others, as influences for their music, but the reality is that Blink-182 are massive influencers and inspirations for musicians all around the world. The band inspired the second wave of pop punk music in the new millennium and also single-handedly bought this music into the mainstream. For this reason, their music will certainly live on for generations.

The San Diego siblings formed the band in 2007 and with the support of their old label Equal Vision recorded an album’s worth of tracks just between the two of them. That album became ‘A Flair For The Dramatic’ and, after adding new members Tony Perry and Jamie Preciado, they began to build their profile with relentless touring.

They played shows throughout 2007, 2008 and some of 2009 including high profile dates on The Warped Tour and with the likes of ‘A Day To Remember’ and ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ amongst others.

Vic and Mike somehow found the time within all that touring to partner up with the likes Craig Owens and Johnny Craig to form supergroup ‘Isles & Glaciers’ however the group disbanded soon after their only release, 2010’s ‘The Hearts of Lonely People’ – some things are too good to last.

2010 also saw the band back in the studio recording what would become ‘Selfish Machines’ which went to number one on the Billboard Heatseekers Charts. And what would they do next? Well a load more touring of course!

This next wave of touring carried them through into 2012 when they released ‘Collide With The Sky’ and saw the band reach new highs of popularity. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number 12 and went on to over 100,000 copies. After winning RockSound’s band of the year in 2013, the band’s popularity continues to grow as they are really a testament to what can occur when siblings get on!