Cheshire Cat is the debut studio album by Blink-182 (then known as simply “Blink“), released on February 17, 1995, by Cargo Music. The trio, composed of guitarist Tom DeLonge, bassist Mark Hoppus, and drummer Scott Raynor, formed in 1992 and recorded three demos that impressed the San Diego–based Cargo label. In addition, their reputation as an irreverent local live act at venues such as SOMA alerted the label, who was seeking to expand into different genres.
Due to budget constraints, the album was recorded quickly with producer Otis Barthoulameu at Westbeach Recorders in Los Angeles. Producer Steve Kravac engineered the recording and advised the trio to record additional overdubs. As such, the band spent an additional week re-recording several tracks at Santee, California’s Doubletime Studios. The album was originally released with the band’s name as Blink, until an Irish band of the same name threatened legal action, after which the band appended “-182” to the end of their name.
Released during the breakthrough year for punk rock in California, the album brought the band great success in and outside of the San Diego skate punk scene. “M+M’s” and “Wasting Time” were released as singles to promote the album, and received popularity locally through radio play. The band toured in support of the album vigorously, most notably on the GoodTimes Tour in 1995, which brought them outside of California for the first time. Cheshire Cat is cited by bands and fans as an iconic release, and has sold over 250,000 copies as of 2001.
Tracklist:
- Carousel (DeLonge)
- M+M’s (Hoppus)
- Fentoozler (Hoppus)
- Touchdown Boy (DeLonge)
- Strings (Hoppus)
- Peggy Sue (DeLonge)
- Sometimes (Hoppus)
- Does My Breath Smell? (DeLonge)
- Cacophony (Hoppus)
- TV (Hoppus)
- Toast and Bananas (DeLonge)
- Wasting Time (Hoppus)
- Romeo and Rebecca (DeLonge)
- Ben Wah Balls (DeLonge)
- Just About Done (Hoppus, DeLonge)
- Depends (DeLonge, Hoppus)
Japanese bonus tracks - Zulu (DeLonge)
- Lemmings (re-recorded for Dude Ranch) Hoppus
Blink-182
Mark Hoppus: bass, vocals
Tom DeLonge: guitars, vocals
Scott Raynor: drums
Artwork
Jeff Motch: cover layout and design
Additional musicians
Matt Houts: additional vocals on “Ben Wah Balls”
Production
O: production
Steve Kravac: mixing engineer, co-producer
Jeff Forrest (“The King of Santee”): mixing engineer, additional lyrics on “Wasting Time”
