Buddha (album) - Background

Background

After being expelled from Poway High School, future Blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge attended Rancho Bernardo High School where he became friends with Anne Hoppus. DeLonge often expressed wanting to be in a band, so in August 1992 Anne introduced him to her brother, bassist Mark Hoppus, who also wanted to be in a band. Already having jam sessions with drummer Scott Raynor. The three played for hours in DeLonge's garage, showing each other songs they had previously written, and writing new songs together. One of these songs would eventually become what is now "Carousel". The three began playing together and called themselves Duck Tape, until DeLonge thought of the name Blink.

The band practiced constantly, which angered Hoppus's girlfriend. She told him he had to choose between the band and her, so he left the band just as it was starting. DeLonge then informed Hoppus that he borrowed a 4-track from a friend and he and Raynor were using it to make a demo tape. Upon hearing this, Hoppus decided he would leave his girlfriend and return to the band. The demo tape, titled Flyswatter, was released in 1992 in limited quantities. The demo was recorded in Raynor’s bedroom live; no mixing was used in the recording. It was released on the fictional Fags in the Wilderness Records – a joke label created by the band.

Soon after, a new recording, simply titled Demo #2 surfaced, and featured re-recordings of Flyswatter tracks. Many of the songs recorded on the first two demos can be found on Buddha.