Early recordings were largely electronic in nature, and featured vocals by Carol Heller, formerly of the all-girl punk quartet Get the Girl.
Although anticipated by the music press, the band's only album—When Your Heart Stops Beating (2006)—underperformed commercial expectations and received mixed reviews from critics.
[citation needed] By 2004, Blink-182—consisting of bassist Mark Hoppus, guitarist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker—had emerged as the biggest pop punk act of the era, releasing the multiplatinum album Enema of the State (1999) and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001), which reached number one.
This latter was recorded with the help of Hazen Street guitarist and longtime friend David Kennedy, and was intended as a one-time experimental project, but evolved into a full-fledged band, with Barker behind the kit.
[10] Following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, DeLonge agreed to perform at Music for Relief's Concert for South Asia, a benefit show to aid victims.
[16] The band's name is a reference to the country code needed when placing a phone call to the United Kingdom, where Hoppus and Barker first discussed making music alone.
[14] Shortly afterward, friend Craig Fairbaugh came in to observe, listen, and to play songs; by the end of the day, Hoppus and Barker asked him to become the fourth member of the group.
As early as August 2005, Internet rumors began to circulate that the album would be released in January 2006, although the band's management denied the claims.
[19] Thanks to Hoppus' and Barker's silence on press interviews, misinformation flooded the Internet in the months prior to the record's release, and countless impostors posted fake songs online.
[21][22] Hoppus did not give any formal interviews prior to the release of the album, instead working on it in relative secrecy, spending time updating his blog, and producing tracks for Motion City Soundtrack.
[23] "During that time, their former bandmate, Tom DeLonge, did the opposite, peppering blogs and magazines with quotes hyping his new band and putting the blame for the Blink situation squarely on their shoulders", reported James Montgomery, of MTV News.
[25] The New York Times described it as "zippier and catchier" than Angels & Airwaves' debut studio album We Don't Need to Whisper, but concluded that neither band was as good as Blink-182.
[28] Barker nevertheless took part, but after an excruciating Amsterdam gig, the band drafted Gil Sharone, then of The Dillinger Escape Plan, to fill-in for him.
[29] The band spent April to June 2007 on the Honda Civic Tour of the US and Canada alongside Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is... and Paul Wall.
and "The Rock Show"—into set lists, despite the band's rather adamant stance against doing so months before, apparently due to Hoppus and Barker fond feelings with Blink-182.
[33] In September 2008, Barker and collaborator Adam Goldstein (DJ AM) were involved in a plane crash that killed four people, leaving the two the only survivors.
[34] Barker sustained second and third degree burns and developed post-traumatic stress disorder, and the accident resulted in sixteen surgeries and 48-hour blood transfusions.