YEAR IN REVIEW: The band records their first two demo tapes -- Flyswatter and Demo No.2.

 

Undated (Early 1993):

• Mark begins working at the Wherehouse, a chain record store in San Diego, managed by Patrick Secor. He and Secor bond over music.

• Mark buys his second-ever bass guitar, a black 1985 Fender P-Bass, from a Guitar Center in Los Angeles. He uses this bass on all of the band’s early demos, as well as Cheshire Cat.

• At some point, Mark is forced to choose between his girlfriend and the band, and leaves briefly. Scott later recalls that "a couple of demos" were created on a four track recorder with Tom, Scott, and their friend, Cam Jones on bass (Jones later of the Iconoclasts, who produced a split EP with blink the following year titled Short Bus). Promptly, Mark breaks up with his girlfriend and returns to the group.

• Blink performs their first shows. It is incredibly likely the band’s first concert took place at the Spirit Club on 3/30/1993, though I include the following bullet points for clarity.

  • Pat Secor, quoted in Blink 182 - The Band, The Breakdown & The Return, remembered it to be "at a high school. They played a lunchtime concert.

  • The 4/7/1993 show at SOMA was promoted as the band's "first show" when Tom sold reproduced fliers for those concerts on Reissued in 2014.

  • Kerry Key, friend of the band, says the first show was at a venue called the Gorilla Pit (see 10/1993 date below).

3/30/1993:  

• The band performs at the Spirit Club in San Diego, California. Flyer

  • Other bands included the Iconoclasts and Witch Grass.

• This is the earliest known blink concert, and very very likely the first. According to Anne Hoppus, author of Tales from Beneath Your Mom, it was indeed the band’s first concert ever, and the Spirit Club was a 21+ venue. "Every five minutes," the owner came to tell them to "turn it down," eventually telling them to stop after 15 minutes. He gave them Snapples for their effort. 

4/1993 (undated): 

• The band performs at Alley Mrs. Meat Music Store and Cafe in San Diego, California. Flyer

• This is likely the band’s second concert. Mark mentions this as their “first” show in a 1994 interview with a zine. Likewise, Anne Hoppus, in TFBYM, recalled their second performance as an "after-hours" in-store gig at this venue.

4/7/1993: 

• The band performs at SOMA in San Diego, California. Flyer

• In 2014, Tom sells reproduced fliers for the concert on the app Reissued, calling it the band's "first show".

5/1993 (undated):

• The band's first-ever recording, the demo Flyswatter, is created on a four-track recorder in Scott's bedroom.

• Tom graduates from Poway High School.

• Travis graduates from Fontana High School.

5/28/1993: 

• The band performs at SOMA in San Diego, California. Setlist, poster (restored),  poster (unrestored)

  • Other bands included Quickdumb, Big Schlog, Product and Loophole.

• In 2014, Tom sells reproduced setlists for the concert on the app Reissued.

7/5/1993: The band records their second demo tape, titled Demo No.2. It later surfaced online from longtime fan daveyjones in 2004/5. The original demo is just a blank cassette; some versions floating around online have fake inserts/etc.

7/22/1993: The band performs at SOMA in San Diego, California. Poster

9/28/1993: The band performs at the Gorilla Pit. Other bands included Wistful Eye and Kilgore Trout.

As of February 15th 2023, Kerry Key updated the caption on Flickr and provided us the exact correct date of this show.

Picture from the show

Other picture from the show (3rd Picture)

Advert (page 35)

12/13/1993: Tom, on his eighteenth birthday, witnesses the divorce of his mother and father, prompting him to move out. The inspiration from the experience would later fuel the writing of "Stay Together for the Kids".

Undated (Late 1993): Pat Secor begins hanging out with the band, attending rehearsals. According to him, as the band grew more competent from performing live, they were eager to "put out a record."