Box Car Racers

Box Car Racer was a side-project from two members of the band Blink-182, featuring guitarist Tom DeLonge and drummer Travis Barker. DeLonge formed Box Car Racer to experiment with and record ideas he felt were not "Blink-friendly", along with Travis Barker. David Kennedy from Hazen Street completed the group and an eponymous album was ready to be recorded. Tom was insistent on a bass player, so he hired Anthony Celestino who was Kennedy's friend. Guests on the album included Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 on the song "Elevator", and Tim Armstrong from Rancid and Jordan Pundik from New Found Glory on "Cat Like Thief".

DeLonge and Barker claim the group was heavily influenced by Dischord emo, citing influences such as Rites of Spring, Fugazi and later era post-hardcore bands such as Quicksand and Jawbox.

Box Car Racer took a hiatus after their headlining tour in the fall of 2002. DeLonge has stated publicly that the project has served its purpose, and is now permanently defunct.

Origin of name

Travis Barker has always liked the name Box Car Racer. Tom Delonge immediately fell in love and then later realized that it was the same name as the Japan bomber. He wasn't happy with it but DeLonge wanted to be politically correct. So he states that the band's name comes from the B-29 Bomber which dropped the second wartime atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. The plane's name was "Bockscar". Tom has said in an interview that he had seen the name misspelled as "Boxcar", and thus, dubbed the band under that name for their music and lyrics pertaining heavily to love and war. He wanted the band to also have a three word name, another reason for the name "Box Car Racer".