Box Car Racer was formed in 2002 by Blink-182 members Tom Delonge and Travis Barker along with David Kennedy. This band shows a completely different side of a Blink at this time: a darker, serious side and features songs that Tom felt were not “Blink-friendly.” This change is evident in not only the lyrical content but also the music. 

“I Feel So” begins with a slow piano tune followed by an acoustic guitar. Instantly, it becomes evident that this is a completely different band from Blink. This song is filled with brutal honesty, as Delonge opens the album with: “sometimes, I wish I was brave; I wish I was stronger.” Later, he asks for a new start (“let’s start over”). On “All Systems Go,” Delonge criticizes the government (“the government is lying; the youth, they won’t believe them”) and questions “when will this be over.” 

So the anticipation is building up, inside each and everyone of you — the nice fellows of blink182 have decided to open up their souls, and attempt a side project. Tom Delonge along with Travis Barker, wrote all of the material. All the lyrics were written by DeLonge, and rounding out the band with David Kennedy on rhythm guitar and Anthony Celestino on bass. The sound really is something in it’s own — some blink fans may run and hide, some blink fans may consider this something above anything they have ever heard before .. but the truth of the matter is that this album rocks — hard.

Starting out the album with a lengthy intro to the first single, “I Feel So” — the radio/video version you have heard is not how the album version starts. The length of the intro almost leaves the anticipation too much to bear … then the familiar guitar strums, and drum beats take over the speakers, and you know you are in for a treat. The first two tracks on the album, “I Feel So” and “All Systems Go” (along with the later Elevator) — are by far the two most ‘radio friendly’ song’s on the album .. and for people that have only heard these two songs, they most likely assume that this is just a different version of Blink182 … they are very, very wrong. I get the feeling while listening to the first two songs, that these were written originally as possible blink182 songs (anthem pt2 era), but then by changing some of the musically arraignments around found a much better home with the new Box Car material.