"Honestly, the shows went well. We always got a good reaction, and the next time we came around, we had more fans and better floors to sleep on — some with carpet!"
The GoodTimes tour saw a range of bands tour the United States and Australia to support and promote GoodTimes, a surf video by Taylor Steele. Blink-182 joined Pennywise, Pivit, Unwritten Law, 7 Seconds and Sprung Monkey, who were all featured on the GoodTimes soundtrack.
Blink-182 had recently released Cheshire Cat, and the Good Times tour was the band's first national tour promoting an album. The band were so poor at that time that they couldn't even afford a van to tour in, so Unwritten Law loaned them theirs, nicknamed The Cock. Mark's sister, Anne, and Scott Raynor spoke of their conditions,
"Any money made goes back into the gas fund. You only have five dollars and it has to feed you all day. You eat nothing but crappy fast food, or on a good night, Denny's."
"I had to wear earplugs while I slept to keep the cockroaches out of my ears, sometimes I had to wear earplugs so I could sleep while people came and went buying drugs."
The Video
"The surfers in Taylor Steele's videos no longer have to worry about crushing the established hierarchy of surfing. They are the established hierarchy of surfing. This movie shows them at their best."
The video showed some of the best surfers of the time surfing in France, Africa, Australia, North America and Mexico. The soundtrack opened with Sprung Monkey's Good Times, and it featured two Blink-182 songs: Lemmings and Zulu. This was a great way to promote the band before the tour.
USA First Leg
Costa Mesa, California was the first date of the tour, and it was especially comforting for Blink-182 as this was the state where they originated from. The bands played 19 dates on the first leg of the tour. On Halloween, Tom DeLonge was arrested for underage drinking. Many more stories came out from this tour about the tricks played on each other by the bands. Scott said,
"There were plenty of times I laughed until I cried."
At one date in South Carolina, a fight broke out between the bouncers and the crowd after the force used by the staff was deemed too much. Scott said of the situation,
"It was crazy […] that kind of thing happened a lot. Not always to that degree but there is an underlying tension at punk shows between the fans and the bouncers who signify authority."
Australia
The bands played 16 dates in Australia but, initially, Blink-182 were unable to go due to lack of money and expensive plane tickets. Pennywise helped them out and the band joined the tour in Australia.
The fun times continued and more crazy incidents happened as the band were touring. Mark spoke about a party after their last date in Melbourne,
"It was packed with people and everyone was dancing; which was weird because every party I've ever been to, people just stand around and nobody dances. Tom comes in and he's super drunk, so I ask him why he doesn't get naked and start dancing. So, Tom gets full on naked and starts dancing. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. The whole room just cleared out. All these Australian people got up and left."
Even the band manager, Rick DeVoe loved getting naked. In a posh Australian restaurant, at a meeting with Mushroom Records, he stripped off and tried to start a food fight. The evening didn't get much better, with a member of Pennywise urinating under the table. We're guessing the record company didn't stay for dessert.
USA Second Leg
The band played again in the United States, touring at 13 venues from the end of December 1995 to the beginning of March 1996. The pranks and tricks didn't stop after the madness in Australia. A battle ensued between Blink-182 and Pennywise which included buckets of snow, squirt guns filled with hot sauce, contraptions made out of car batteries and Blink-182's belongings getting thrown out of a window! Hotel security and the police were called to the scene, and the bands were told they could never stay in the hotel again!
The bands finished the tour in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, where they were met with fans that would follow them for the rest of their careers. One fan said,
"This was Blink 182 at their most raw; their most punk. I have to say the GoodTimes tour is definitely the best time I have seen them live so far. They may have been a little rougher around the edges but the vibe there was awesome. Fans came to see a punk show and that's definitely what they got!"