Blink 182 History

Blink-182 consists of Mark Hoppus (Bass/Vocals), Tom Delonge (Guitar/Vocals) and Travis Barker (Drummer).

Markus Allen Hoppus was born on March 15, 1972, in California. When he was 14. his parents divorced and he went to live with his dad in Washington.His dad gave him his first bass and amp when he was 15, in return for helping to paint his house. He origionally wanted to be a highschool english teacher. Mark has the least number of tatoos/piercings in the band, with just a nipple ring and his left ear pierced. He used to smoke, but doesn't anymore. Mark's nicknames are "Fish Guts" and "Mr.Take Advantage of Your Goat When You're Not Home". He collects keys from hotel rooms that Blink 182 stays in. His favourite bands are "Jimmy Eat World" and "Fenix TX".

Thomas Matthew Delonge, Jr., was born on December 13, 1975, in San Diego. Ever since he was young, he has believed that aliens exist. He got a computer solely for the purpose of looking up internet sites about aliens. While he was growing up, Tom was used to hard work. He spent time working on a construction site, and also at Gary's Chicken and Ribbs in his hometown, Poway. He appeared in the movie Idle Hngs as a fast food employee, and got to say 1 line. Tom's nicknames are "Hot Pants, May I Check Your Prostate?" Before Blink 182 he worked at a fast food restaurant called "Gary's Chicken and Ribs" and drove trucks for a construction company. Tom's favourite bands are "Jimmy Eat World" and "Ol' Dirty Bastard".

Travis Landon Barker was born on November 14, 1975 in Fontana, California. He has been playing the drums ever since he was young, and got his first drum set as a young boy. He is a highly skilled drummer, and has played in a wide variety of bands before joining blink. He was previously with the ska band, 'the aquabats', where he played under the name 'Travis Baron von Tito'. He has about 50 tatoos and piecings all over his body, which have a lot of meaning to him. He also runs his own shop called 'Famous Stars and Straps'. Tom collects Cadillacs and old Bikes. His favourite bands are "Police", "Descendants" and "ODB".

The legend that is blink-182 started way back in 1992, by Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge. Hoppus and DeLonge were joined by drummer Scott Raynor, and began a non-stop gigging schedule on the local punk circuit. Origionally just called blink, they were forced to change their name when an Irish techno band also called blink threatened to sue them. Although there are countless rumours of what the 182 stands for, ranging from the number of times certain words are said in movies to numbers that relate to where they live to the number of times that they have performed various sexual acts, the truth is that it is really just a number that they choose pretty much at random and thought sounded good.

The self-released Fly Swatter EP appeared in 1993, and was followed by the cassette only "Buddha" demo, released by Filter Records in a run of less than a 1,000 (the material was re-issued in a slightly different format three years later by Kung Fu Records). Several of the songs from the demo tape subsequently appeared on the band's full-length debut, Cheshire Cat, which was released by the Grilled Cheese label in 1994. Despite the enforced name change, the trio's popularity continued to grow owing to support slots with several leading punk bands including No FX and Pennywise, and their ubiquitous presence on the skating and snow boarding scenes. They also developed a reputation for stripping off during live shows. A steady flow of singles and EPs confirmed both the trio's penchant for gloriously immature scatological lyrics, and their ability to craft great tunes.