Well I Guess This is Growing Up

When I was in 5th grade, I liked mostly mainstream pop music. It was all the stuff you’d hear on local popular radio stations. I also liked a small amount of good music too thanks to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (Superman by Goldfinger anyone?!). Fortunately, on occasion, good music gets played on mainstream radio, which is what happened while I was in 5th grade. I totally fell for it. The song was “All the Small Things” and the band as you may already know was Blink-182.

Blink-182 was formed in the early to mid 90’s when guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus, and drummer Scott Raynor decided to play music together. The band was formed in Poway, California which is a city located in southern California just north of San Diego. The band was originally called Blink but changed their name to Blink-182 to avoid legal complications with an Irish band of the same name. Before releasing their first record Chesire Cat in 1995 under indie label Cargo Records, the band played at a variety of venues in the San Diego area. They garnered some local attention upon the release of their debut album as well as attention from other well known punk bands and their management. The guitarist of one of those bands, Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise, even convinced the founder of the Vans Warped Tour, Kevin Lyman, to sign Blink-182 for their 1996 festival. By 1996 major record labels began to notice the band, which resulted in a bidding war. Eventually Blink-182 signed with MCA.

Blink-182 released their sophomore album Dude Ranch on June 17, 1997. The album included the single “Dammit”, which earned them mainstream fame. They again spent another summer on Warped Tour and toured extensively afterwards, promoting their newest album. Tensions in the band began to fly in 1998 due to the long touring and issues involving heavy drinking with Scott Raynor causing his eventual departure. Raynor was replaced by drummer Travis Barker.

In 1999, Blink-182 released their third full length album, Enema of State. The album featured three singles, “All the Small Things”, “What’s My Age Again?”, and “Adam’s Song”, that garnered more mainstream radio and MTV airplay for the band. Enema of State gave the band multi-platinum success by January of 2000 and sold 4 times as fast as their previous album.

After gaining greater popularity and playing arenas throughout North America and Australia, the band got together to record a fourth album. Take Off Your Pants and Jacket was released in 2001 continuing the bands fame with mainstream singles “The Rock Show”, “Stay Together for the Kids”, and “First Date”. Between the release of Take Off Your Pants and Jacket and the band’s 2003 self-titled album, tensions again began building between bandmates fueled by DeLonge’s interest to pursue other music styles. The tensions lead to the hiatus of the band in 2005. During the hiatus, Hoppus and Barker continued to make music together in the band +44 and DeLonge began his new project Angels & Airwaves. It wasn’t until a traumatic plane crash involving Travis Barker and 5 others (4 were killed) that the band decided to regroup.

In 2009 the band announced their reunion on their website and joined Weezer and Fall Out Boy on tour that summer. The group recorded a sixth album, Neighborhoods, together that was released in 2011. Neighborhoods didn’t receive as much success as anticipated. In the following years, the band toured, released an EP, and again parted ways with Tom DeLonge, who yet again wasn’t focused on making music with Blink-182, in the midst of planning a seventh album.

Since then, Alkaline Trio frontman and guitarist, Matt Skiba joined the band in DeLonge’s place. The group released the band’s seventh album California a week ago. Blink-182 will begin a tour in support of their newest album on July 22nd.

Blink-182 was a punk rock band from the start. Through their success their music began to have a more pop-punk feel. Whether you call that selling out or developing their sound, the Blink-182 most people are familiar with plays pop-punk music. It’s upbeat, sometimes fast, and has that punk edge. Their roots are strictly punk though.

As I mentioned before I began paying attention to Blink-182 in 5th grade. By 9th grade, I was supposed to attend a Blink-182 concert with my best friend at the time but it fell through. I was bummed it didn’t happen for several reasons (TBS opened, seeing Blink would have been amazing, and I totally wanted to spend as much time as possible with this friend for…certain reasons *wink wink*). I might still be slightly bummed too. During high school, as my music interests developed I began to appreciate Blink-182 more, especially after I purchased their Greatest Hits album. I guess my knowledge of Blink-182 to a certain extent is their greatest hits, but I still know a few more beyond that. Throughout high school, college, and even after Blink-182’s music was a part of my life. They’ll always be a legendary band in my mind for that. “Dammit” will always be the number one coming of age/nostalgic song. “All the Small Things” will always be my first favorite Blink-182 song and “Going Away to College” will always be one of my favorite songs to play on guitar. As with many other bands, much of their music is a part of me and my life. It’s pretty incredible how music can do that.

Anyway, the reason I decided to write a post about Blink-182, besides being a legendary pop-punk/punk rock band, is to talk about the new album. I recently found out that Matt Skiba joined the band after listening to a few of the new tracks. As a former Alkaline Trio fan, I feel like this new version of Blink-182 combines the two bands musically. It’s epic! The new music has a classic Blink-182 sound but lacks DeLonge’s notable vocals. Instead there are elements of the new material that remind me of Alkaline Trio, especially with Skiba’s singing. Only time will tell how successful this record will be with the new Blink-182 lineup, but for anyone who grew up listening to both of these bands, it’s worth a listen. Here’s two lists. One contains all my old faves and the other contains songs off the brand new record you should listen to.

New Songs

1. Sober
2. California
3. Bored to Death
4. Kings of the Weekend
5. San Diego

Old Songs

1. Dammit
2. Going Away to College
3. All The Small Things
4. What’s My Age Again?
5. M+M’s
6. Adam’s Song
7. First Date
8. Feeling This
9. I Miss You
10. The Rock Show

 

Coachella Band Preview: Rancid

It’s April 1st and Coachella is no joke 2 weeks away! I feel like there’s a bunch more bands to preview but I may only do 1 or 2 more after today. Bummer! I know! But it’s okay cause Coachella is soooo soon! Last year at Coachella there were a couple bands playing the festival that I would consider “old school” as far as my music taste goes. I guess by my definition that means I used to listen to them in high school. Brand New and Bad Religion fit that spectrum last year. Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness and Desaparecidos even gave off that “old school” feel too, especially with Andrew McMahon playing a Jack’s Mannequin and Something Corporate song during his set and Connor Oberst shredding guitar on stage with his new band. This year the band that falls into the “old school” category is a punk rock band who has been in existence since the early 90’s. They’re called Rancid and I’m sure you may have heard of them before.

Formed in 1991, Rancid hails from Berkeley, California. The group is composed of Tim Armstrong (guitar and vocals), Matt Freeman (bass and vocals), Lars Frederiksen (guitar and vocals), and Brandon Steineckert (drums). Steineckert replaced original member Brett Reed in 2006. In the 90’s, Rancid was part of the revival of mainstream punk rock along with bands like Green Day and The Offspring. Since their inception the band has released 8 studio albums, splits, compilations, extended plays, and online-only live albums. Their self-titled first album was released all the way back in 1993 under Epitaph Records. Their breakthrough came from their third album, …And Out Come the Wolves, which was released in 1995. The singles “Time Bomb” and “Ruby Soho” became synonymous with the band. In 2003, after the band released their sixth studio album, Indestructible, they even received a bit of backlash from fans. It was the first time that the independent band released an album that was distributed by a major label (Warner Bros.) and fans believed the group became sell-outs. The album was met with mixed reactions from fans who believed the album sounded more “poppy” than normal. After that the band went on hiatus for 2 years and didn’t release another studio album until 2009. Their latest album, …Honor Is All We Know, was released in September 2014.

Rancid is about as punk rock as you can get. They do have some roots in ska though since both Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman were part of influential ska band Operation Ivy. You can actually hear that ska sound in several of their songs including one of their most well known  and one of my personal favorite songs “Time Bomb”. Their sound in general is pretty distinct as well. Despite that more “poppy” album even the songs on their latest album have that same punk rock sound we’ve heard over the years.

I first heard of Rancid while I was in high school. According to my iTunes, I downloaded my first Rancid song a little over 9 years ago. I was never a huge Rancid fan during that time, but with my love for punk rock, pop-punk, and ska, I always enjoyed an occasional song. “Time Bomb” and “Fall Back Down” were and still are my two favorite songs. Despite not listening to punk rock music that often anymore, I’ll always appreciate Rancid because they influenced plenty of bands that I listened to in high school and college.

Unless I missed something in my research, 2016 will be Rancid’s first ever appearance at Coachella, which I find hard to believe given the band’s 25 year existence (you can correct me if I’m wrong). Guns N’ Roses may be a headliner but Rancid is just as legendary in their scene. If you’re into that sort of legendary band thing, liked punk rock in high school like me, or still like punk rock, Rancid is a band to see at the festival. They play Sunday. It’s tough to give you some prep recommendations because of the countless songs the band has, but here’s a few of my faves:

1. Time Bomb
2. Fall Back Down
3. Maxwell Murder
4. Ruby Soho
5. California Sun
6. You Don’t Care Nothin’
7. As Wicked