Mark Hoppus

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Mark Hoppus
Hoppus on tour in 2007
Hoppus on tour in 2007
Background information
Birth name Mark Allan Hoppus[1]
Born March 15, 1972 (1972-03-15) (age 36)
Ridgecrest, California, U.S.
Origin Poway, California, U.S.
Genre(s) Pop punk
Punk rock
Alternative rock
Occupation(s) Musician
Record producer
Instrument(s) Vocals
Bass
Occasional guitar
Years active 1989–present
Associated acts Blink-182
+44
Notable instrument(s)
Fender Mark Hoppus Jazz Bass

Mark Allan Hoppus (born March 15, 1972) is an American musician and record producer. Hoppus was one of the founding members of the pop punk band Blink-182 and the pop punk/alternative band +44. He plays bass guitar and provides vocals. As of late, Hoppus has produced albums for groups like Idiot Pilot, New Found Glory, The Matches, and Motion City Soundtrack.

Contents

Biography

Mark Hoppus was born in Ridgecrest, California on March 15, 1972.[2] At the age of 15, Hoppus 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.[3] Hoppus never took bass lessons, instead he taught himself by playing to bands such as the Descendents, The Cure, and Bad Religion. Hoppus 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 McMurray[1]) introduced him to Tom DeLonge in August 1992. DeLonge was a friend of Anne's at the time, and constantly complained about wanting to join a band. 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 lamp post, 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. In 1998, Travis Barker joined the band during a tour in California. Blink-182 went on to record many more albums which made the band very successful. The band recorded two number one hits, "All the Small Things" and "I Miss You". As of 2005 the band went on an indefinite hiatus. Hoppus wanted to continue to write music so he started +44, a new band with fellow Blink-182 band mate Travis Barker. In 2006 they released their first album entitled When Your Heart Stops Beating. The band have recently signed a deal with Interscope Records and are currently in production of their second studio album.[4]

When asked about a possible Blink-182 reunion, Hoppus usually replies with "I don't know. Ten years ago I would never guess that I would be where I am now, I can't guess where I'll be ten years from now."[5]

Personal life

Hoppus married Skye Everly in 2000 after meeting on the set of Blink-182's "All the Small Things" video shoot. Two years later, Skye gave birth to their son, Jack Hoppus on August 5, 2002. The three currently reside in Los Angeles, California.

Musical gear

Hoppus has been seen sporting his signature Fender Mark Hoppus Jazz Bass in a variety of different colors since the days of Blink-182. Though considered to be a Precision Bass, Hoppus's signature consists of a Jazz Bass body with a Precision Bass neck and pickup. Recently, Hoppus's signature underwent a slight modification. The bodies are now made of Ash instead of Alder, making the bass lighter. The pickup locations were switched from their usual positions. The pickup that was placed under the E and A strings was also placed under the D and G strings and moved above the original position, placed higher than the pickup under the E and A strings, giving the D and G bass strings a warmer, thicker bass sound. The pickups Hoppus uses are Seymour Duncan Quarter-Pound pickups, the same as is on the Fender Precision Bass. The current colors of his +44 touring basses include Olympic White, Sunburst and See-Through Blond all coupled with a tortoise shell pickguard. Besides his signature basses, Hoppus was seen using one other bass guitar live on stage: the six-stringed Fender Bass VI, most notably for the song "I Miss You".[3] Prior to the use of Fender Basses, Hoppus heavily used Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray basses in various colors during the early days of Blink-182 up until the early Enema of the State period.

For live sound, Hoppus plugs his basses into three Ampeg SVT Classic bass heads running into two Ampeg 8x10 SVT bass cabs. Prior to the use of the all-tube SVT Classic heads, Hoppus used two Ampeg SVT-4 Pro heads which only feature a tube preamp.

Companies

Hoppus and Tom DeLonge co-owned two companies, Atticus and Macbeth Athletics, Hoppus has since sold his share in both companies; as well as loserkids.com.[6]

HiMyNameIsMark

"HiMyNameIsMark" (also known as 'The Morning Zoo') is a podcast that was set up in the wake of the hiatus by Hoppus, and can be found at HiMyNameIsMark.com. Every few weeks he released a show of songs by underground bands, interviews with band members and/or friends, and reminisces about happenings in his life. He is often joined on the show by his friends Chris Holmes (+44's engineer) and James Ingram (+44's assistant engineer). In 2005 Hoppus won the "Best Podcast" award, beating out many of the hottest podcasts.

Non-Musical

Mark Hoppus was a guest actor on an episode of the UPN show, Haunted, back in 2002.[7] He also wrote columns for Risen Magazine's March/April and May/June 2005 issues entitled "Beyond Us".[8]. Mark Hoppus was also confirmed to be a part of the 2008 film, "One Nine Nine Four", a movie about punk rock in the 90's.

Solo discography

For Hoppus' work with Blink-182 and +44, see Blink-182 discography and +44 (band)#Discography, respectively.

Recording

Year Album title Band Record label Credits
1988 The Attic Children Demo The Attic Children Vocals and bass
1998 Look Forward to Failure The Ataris Fat Wreck Chords Vocals on "That Special Girl"
2002 No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls Simple Plan Atlantic Records Vocals on "I'd Do Anything"
2002 Box Car Racer Box Car Racer MCA Vocals on "Elevator"
2002 Sticks and Stones New Found Glory Drive-Thru Records, MCA Bass on "Something I Call Personality"
2004 The Passion of the Christ: Songs Various Artists Vocals on MxPx's song "Empire"
2005 Panic MxPx SideOneDummy Records Vocals on "Wrecking Hotel Rooms"
2005 Commit This To Memory Motion City Soundtrack Epitaph Records Vocals on "Hangman"
2006 White Heat Renee Renee Vocals and bass on "Paper Doll"
2006 Kevin & Bean's Super Christmas Various Artists Vocals and bass on +44's cover of "Christmas Vacation" by The Descendents
2007 Changes Vanilla Sky Universal Music Records Vocals on "Nightmare"

Producing

Year Album title Band Record label Credits
2005 Commit This To Memory Motion City Soundtrack Epitaph Records Producer
2006 Wake Up Something for Rockets Produced two songs
2006 Decomposer The Matches Epitaph Records Produced "What Katie Said", "Sunburn vs. the Rhinovirus", and "The Barber's Unhappiness"
2006 We're Up to No Good, We're Up to No Good Rory 111 Records Producer
2006 Punk Goes '90s Various Artists Fearless Records Produced Mae's cover of "March of the Pigs" by Nine Inch Nails
2007 Wolves Idiot Pilot Reprise Records Co-Producer
2007 One Track Mind Something for Rockets Producer
2008 Spread The Rumors Socratic Drive Thru Records Producer
2008 TBA Feverclub Producer
2008 Our Lunar Activities Our Lunar Activities Producer
2008 TBA KOOPA Pied Piper Records Producer
2008 TBA New Found Glory Drive Thru Records Producer

Writing

Year Album title Band Record label Credits
2006 In with the Out Crowd Less Than Jake Warner Bros. Records Co-wrote "The Rest of My Life"
2008 TBA All Time Low Hopeless/Subcity Records Co-writer

References

  1. ^ a b Hoppus, Mark (2008-04-10). Wikipedia Is Wrong. himynameismark.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
  2. ^ blink-182. AskMen.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-28.
  3. ^ a b Dowling, Joshua (2004-08-27). Mark Hoppus unplugged. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 2007-02-28.
  4. ^ http://www.himynameismark.com/
  5. ^ http://www.edge102.com/station/adlercast.cfm
  6. ^ b182.com (2006-08-14). Mark Hoppus Interview with b182.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-24.
  7. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1457891/20021002/blink_182.jhtml
  8. ^ Risen Magazine volume 4, issue 2, pg. 76; volume 4, issue 3, pg. 70

External links