Box Car Racer Biography

Box Car Racer was a side-project created by Tom DeLonge of blink-182. While blink took a break in 2002, DeLonge formed Box Car Racer to experiment with and record ideas he felt were not "blink-friendly". DeLonge soon enlisted Travis Barker, stating that he didn't want to pay for a studio drummer.

David Kennedy from Hazen Street completed the trio and an eponymous album Box Car Racer was recorded in 2002. DeLonge did all the bass work for the album, but Anthony Celestino was their touring bass player. Guests on the album included Mark Hoppus from blink-182, Tim Armstrong from Rancid and Jordan Pundik from New Found Glory.

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.

Box Car Racer took a hiatus after their headlining tour in 2003. DeLonge has stated publicly that the project is now defunct and will never reunite. He is now concentrating on Angels and Airwaves.The Box Car Racer album poster can be seen in the background ending scene of the movie Along Came Polly.

The band's name comes from the B-29 Bomber which dropped the second wartime atomic bomb on the Nagasaki, Japan. The plane's name was "Bockscar". Tom has said in an interview that he has seen the name misspelled as "Boxcar", and thusly, dubbed the band under that name for their music and lyrics pertaining heavily to love and war.