Box Car Racer

Box Car Racer was an alternative rock/punk band from San Diego, CA. The band formed in 2001 when Blink-182 guitarist, Tom DeLonge grew bored while on hiatus from Blink. He formed the group with lead guitarist David Kennedy of Hazen Street, touring bassist Anthony Celestino, and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.

Blink-182 member Mark Hoppus made his feelings about not being part of the project be known. In response Tom DeLonge stated, “it was never a ‘band’ but rather a project” to experiment with and record ideas DeLonge felt did not fit with Blink-182’s sound. He also stated that the reason why he asked Barker to drum on the album is because he didn’t want to pay for a studio drummer.http://www.last.fm/music/Box+Car+Racer

The group only recorded one studio album, their self-titled debut that was released in 2002. The album consists of a more darker and mature sounding songs than those that appear on their Blink-182 efforts. The group had several contributing artists including Hoppus, Tim Armstrong from Rancid and Jordan Pundik from New Found Glory. The album would go to number 12 on Billboard Top 200 chart. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3pfqxq80ldde~T50 It would have two hit singles, "I Feel So" and "There Is".http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3pfqxq80ldde~T51

Box Car Racer would go on to join the Pop Disaster Tour with Green Day and Jimmy Eat World.http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1453092/20020326/box_car_racer.jhtml The band would then do a headlining tour that fall with support from The Used.http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1456931/20020808/box_car_racer.jhtml

Soon after their headlining tour, Box Car Racer disbanded. DeLonge has stated that Racer was a learning experience. "We compare it to summer school," DeLonge explained. "It's like we went away and learned a lot about music and ourselves — how to do things differently. It makes me excited to start the new Blink record."http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1459205/20021217/box_car_racer.jhtml

DeLonge and Barker would rejoin Mark Hoppus and record another Blink-182 album. Then Blink was put on hiatus. DeLonge has since formed the group, Angels & Airwaves which has released two albums. The second, Love, is currently being offered for free download via their website.http://modlife.com/angelsandairwaves/love.

Travis Barker would star in an MTV reality show, Meet the Barkers and then in 2008 he survived a deadly airplane crash. He and DJ AM would both suffer serious burn injuries.http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20227709,00.html

"I was writing these songs about the end of the world and all this crazy stuff, and then, you know, Revelations in the Bible speaks about the end of the world, and one day I was wondering if World War II was what Revelations spoke about," DeLonge explained. "So I started looking it up, and the second bomb that was dropped on Japan was from a plane called Boxcar (actually Bockscar, but commonly misspelled Boxcar), and it kind of really freaked me out. At that point I didn't even want the name, but it was way too late. I blame Travis for that one."http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1453328/20020408/box_car_racer.jhtml

• Tom DeLonge

• Travis Barker

• David Kennedy

• Anthony Celestino

• Box Car Racer 2002