Mark Hoppus
Markus Allan Hoppus (born March 15, 1972 in Ridgecrest, California) is an American musician, producer, and was one of the three founding members of the pop-punk band Blink-182 and the pop-punk/alternative band +44. He plays bass guitar and sings vocals. Lately, Mark Hoppus has produced albums for groups like Idiot Pilot, Simple Plan, and New Found Glory.At the age of 15, Mark got his first bass guitar as a gift from his dad and earned money for a set of amplifiers by helping him paint his garage. Mark never took bass lessons, instead he taught himself by playing to bands such as the Descendents, The Cure, and Bad Religion. Mark played by himself and sang in the band Pier 69, primarily covering songs by The Cure. He also played in a band called The Attic Children in 1988, during this time he lived in Washington D.C. He later moved to San Diego, where his sister Anne (now Anne Wright) introduced him to Tom Delonge. Delonge was a friend of Anne's at the time, and constantly complained about wanting to join a band. She finally introduced Hoppus and Tom Delonge in August 1992. When Hoppus first went over to Delonge's house, he was told Delonge would be at the local skate park. Hoppus went over and found Delonge skateboarding with his friends. Hoppus wanted to impress Delonge, so he climbed on a lampost, jumped off and cracked both ankles and heels and was on crutches for three weeks. He then started playing with Delonge in his garage and they recruited original drummer, Scott Raynor. They went on to form blink-182. In 1998, Travis Barker joined the band during a tour in California.
Mark married Skye Everly in 2000. She gave birth to their son, Jack Hoppus, in 2002. The three currently reside in Los Angeles, California.
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Travis Barker
Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American drummer, who achieved most of his fame by drumming for the band, blink-182. He currently is the drummer for +44 and has also played for side projects Box Car Racer, Transplants and Expensive Taste.In 1996, Barker joined his first touring band, playing drums for The Aquabats as The Baron Von Tito. He recorded one album with them, The Fury of the Aquabats!, in 1997. His career took off when he joined up with pop punk band, Blink-182 in 1998. Barker became known for his mohawk and his tendency to perform without a shirt, revealing a multitude of tattoos. Barker has since established himself as a versatile drummer, producing and guest appearing in music projects of numerous music genres including hip-hop, punk rock, alternative rock, ska, rap, pop and even country.
His business ventures are as vast as his musical interests. He founded a clothing company, Famous Stars and Straps in 1999, LaSalle Records in 2004, as well as a Wahoo's Fish Tacos restaurant in Norco, California. Companies such as DC Shoes and Zildjian cymbals have co-designed products in his name. He has used Orange County Custom Drums to create his drum kits since before he became famous.
Barker's marriage to former Miss USA, Shanna Moakler, was featured in MTV's Meet the Barkers (2005–2006). After filing for divorce in 2006, his marriage trouble and personal life have been scrutinized in the media following a public MySpace battle with his wife and a brief relationship with Hilton Hotel heiress, Paris Hilton. Moakler recently announced that the two are making a fresh start and working it out for their children. People.com now reports that Travis and Shanna have separated again; no reason has been given for the split.
He was born in a poverty-stricken neighborhood in Fontana, California. Barker received his first drum set from his mother at the age of four. He began taking drum and trumpet lessons at the age of five, when he studied with a jazz teacher named Michael Mai and was exposed to many different styles of music. Barker's mother took the lessons along with him and, when the lessons were over, re-taught him for the rest of the week.
The day before starting his freshman year at Fontana High School, Barker's mother died. She told him before she died to continue playing the drums because that was what he was good at, and he listened to her. After her death, Barker became more serious with drumming. He joined marching band his sophomore year and made the snare line. During high school he performed at regional competitions and festivals. During his senior year of high school, Barker passed up drum corps tryouts to tour with his first band, Feeble.
After graduating from high school in 1993, he gained more experience as a rock drummer in a few early bands including Feeble, The Suicide Machines and The Aquabats. In the later, he was known as Baron Von Tito.
From 1993 through 1998, Barker also worked a series of odd jobs and taught drum lessons to support himself. Though he continued to teach privately through 2002, Barker (while appearing on MTV's TRLin 2004) mentioned that he no longer gives private drum lessons.
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Craig Fairbaugh
Craig Fairbaugh (born March 11, 197 cool is a guitarist and back-up vocalist for the rock band +44 (pronounced "plus forty-four"). The band is made up of Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker formerly of the popular pop punk band blink-182, and Shane Gallagher of The Nervous Return. Craig is also the guitarist and vocalist of the goth rock/punk band Mercy Killers.Fairbaugh grew up in the Bay Area and began playing guitar at the age of 15. He later formed and fronted his own three-piece band called Vintage 46, although the band never really played more than local house parties and small hometown gigs. Along the way, Fairbaugh handed off a demo CD to Rancid’s Tim Armstrong who vowed to release one of the band’s albums on a new label he was starting up. Unfortunately that never materialized. He later moved to Los Angeles to try pursue his musical interests.
He also currently sings and plays guitar for the Hellcat Records punk rock band Mercy Killers. He was made an official member of +44 after their former guitarist Carol Heller had left the band while the group was recording their debut album, When Your Heart Stops Beating, which was released on November 14th, 2006. Fairbaugh has also played for Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards, Transplants and The Forgotten in the past, and contributed his voice for the spoken introduction to Alkaline Trio's "Warbrain", which was featured on Rock Against Bush Volume 1. Fairbaugh went on the warped tour with the Transplants, and played with them live twice on Jimmy Kimmel.
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Shane Gallagher
Shane Gallagher is an American musician who plays guitar for punk rock band +44 and formerly The Nervous Return.In 2006, Gallagher left The Nervous Return to join Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker (both of blink-182 fame) and former Transplants guitarist Craig Fairbaugh to form +44. He was brought in as a replacement for Carol Heller as guitarist in +44 after she left the band to start a family.
