Box car racer
| Box car racer | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Post-hardcore , punk rock , pop-punk , alternative rock |
| founding | 2002 |
| resolution | 2003 |
| Founding members | |
| Tom DeLonge | |
guitar |
David Kennedy |
| Travis Barker | |
| Live and session members | |
bass |
Anthony Celestino |
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Box Car Racer was a 2002-2003 punk band that consisted of Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker from blink-182 and David Kennedy from Hazen Street and Over My Dead Body . Anthony Celestino acted as tour bassist. With Box Car Racer, DeLonge paid tribute to his post-hardcore influences such as Jawbox , Quicksand , Fugazi and Refused, among others .
history
The project began in 2002 when a tour of blink-182 had to be canceled due to DeLonge's back problem. DeLonge and drummer Travis Barker originally formed the band out of boredom. The idea started with sessions during the recording of the album Take Off Your Pants and Jacket , where DeLonge played acoustic guitar. The newly formed band should be called The Kill , the first album Et Tu, Brute . In the end, they decided on Box Car Racer, the name of a band Barker had played in shortly after graduating from school.
In December 2001 the band began to record the first and only album, Box Car Racer . Jerry Finn was hired as a producer. Tom DeLonge deliberately wrote more serious and thoughtful topics for the album, which were also influenced by the depression caused by his ongoing back problems. On Box Car Racer DeLonge played the rhythm guitar as well as the bass , and Anthony Celestino was hired for concerts. The band's first live performance (with Celestino) took place on April 1, 2002.
Finally, on May 21, 2002, Box Car Racer appeared , which reached twelfth place in the US charts. It reached number 27, 30, 7, 89 and 49 in the British , Australian , Canadian , German and Irish charts. The album was awarded gold by the CRIA , and the single I Feel So reached 120th place on the Billboard 200 , eighth in the modern rock and 41st on the UK charts. The second single There Is could not be placed on the Billboard 200, but in the Modern Rock charts at number 32.
Box Car Racer is a concept album that is about a boy who sees a bleak future with greedy government destroying the earth. With a group of outsiders, he flees the disaster and falls in love with one of the fugitives. Various artists from the alternative and punk area have guest appearances. So are Tim Armstrong and Jordan Pundik of Rancid and New Found Glory be heard on "Cat Like Thief". The blink-182 bassist, Mark Hoppus , also took part in the album. Among other things, the album differs from the publications blink-182s by the more introspective and darker music and the more serious lyrics without the typical humor of blink-182. It is believed that Box Car Racer influenced the fifth album, titled by the band name, blink-182s, as it also has a darker and more serious atmosphere than the previous albums.
Box Car Racer was received positively by the critics, it was rated positively by Sputnikmusic , Slant Magazine , IGN Entertainment , PopMatters , AbsolutePunk and Allmusic , among others . In a review of I Feel So , Sarah Dempster of the New Musical Express called the song "better than anything by blink-182".
In October 2002 the band began their first tour, for which The Used was hired as the opening act. Although Box Car Racer wrote a new song during the tour, the last concert took place on December 17th, 2002. Tom DeLonge stated that he could well imagine being on stage with Box Car Racer again one day, but now wanted to focus on blink-182 and their fifth album. The band was thus disbanded.
DeLonge founded the alternative rock band Angels & Airwaves in 2005 , which he saw as a successor to Box Car Racer. The last songs written by Box Car Racer were used for the band's first studio album, We Don't Need to Whisper .
Discography
Albums
- 2002: Box Car Racer
Singles
- 2002: I Feel So
- 2003: There Is
Trivia
- The song And I can also be found on the soundtrack of the video game ATV Quad Power Racing 2 and can be heard in the game during the races or in the background in freestyle mode.
- The band coverte the song Mandy by Barry Manilow in some of their concerts.
- Box Car Racer played the unreleased song Dance With Me in a few live performances.
- Angels & Airwaves occasionally cover songs by Box Car Racer at their concerts.
- Box Car Racer posters are e.g. B. in the film ... and then Polly and in the TV series Meine Wild Töchter and Still Standing .
- For the 2010 album Love , Angels & Airwaves recorded Letters To God Part II , a sequel to the box car racer song Letters To God .
- The song I Feel So can also be found on the soundtrack of the video game SX Superstar and can be heard in the game in the background.