During the San Antonio stop of blink-182’s “One More Time” tour, an iconic artifact from the “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket” era was on display outside- the van from “The Rock Show” video. Fans lined up hours before the show to get a look at it, and the van even saw a wedding proposal (she said yes).
“The Rock Show” video brilliantly displayed the pop-punk icons blowing an inflated major label budget for the video by giving money away to homeless people, fans, purchasing TVs to smash, and buying the van itself to recklessly drive into other cars, and skateboard off of. Austin couple Andrew Baldwin and Taylor _displayed the van prior to blink’s show outside the Frost Bank Center. The couple tracked down the 1985 Dodge Ram B250 fan and 1,700 miles and $1,000 later, the beat up van arrived in Austin from Sacramento ready to be refurbished. Watch their video journey here.
“We always knew people would be interested in the project because blink has such a large following, but how many people are interested and the degree to which they're interested has been pretty cool,” Baldwin said. “Some of our restoration videos reach 2 million individuals. I've given up on trying to wrap my head around how many people that really is, and we get some really heartfelt messages from people about how nostalgic it is to see the van running again and how it feels like a piece of their teenage years are coming back to life with it. Even if nobody else cared it would still mean a lot to me, especially now that my dad has been so involved in the project.”
The project did become a family affair, as Baldwin’s mom assisted with the decals and his dad helped with the restoration itself.
“There was a period of time when we were way behind on our goal of having it done by the time Blink's next tour started and he was driving 6 hours roundtrip every Saturday,” Baldwin said of his father. “He'd leave his house at 5 a.m., get to my place around 8 a.m., we'd work our asses off for 8 or 9 hours and then he'd drive back home. But that's been my favorite part of the whole thing - working on it with my dad. So it's been rewarding in a lot of different ways, some of which were unexpected.”
Originally, the couple planned to gut interior and use it as a camper for fans to rent, but that idea was scrapped as soon as they received the van. The restoration project’s end goal was to take it to shows and tailgate, and that dream came into fruition.
“I always cringe a little bit when I hear an athlete or an artist talking about how they do what they do because of the fans, Baldwin said. “ I'm like ‘come on dude, this is your career.. .you'd be doing all of this regardless,’ but with that being said, what ultimately made us pull the trigger and take on this project was the potential to share it with other people.”
By MIKE DAMANTE
The top blink-182 shows I’ve covered. Click the photo to read.
If you are a fan of pop-punk, Mike Damante’s book “Hey Suburbia: A guide to the emo/pop-punk rise” is out now, and features exclusive interviews with blink-182, New Found Glory, Alkaline Trio, Descendents, and others.
Related content:
