Today sees the release of Travis Barker’s Disney+/Hulu documentary Louder than Fear, a no-holds-barred look at his career and the 2008 plane crash that changed his life.
Travis has been over this ground before, in his 2012 memoir Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums. We spoke to him then…
Calabasas, California, 2012…
Upon entering the cool confines of Travis Barker’s compound that houses his recording studio and offices for his Famous Stars And Straps clothing line, the first thing you see is drums, drums, drums.
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The air con is a welcome change from the stifling heat outside as we are ushered into the main control room. When asked if the studio is ever rented out to other artists or projects, long-time engineer James Ingram replies, “Not really. It’s pretty much all Travis, all the time.”
As the photo shoot is winding down, rhythmic pulses of swing, with sporadic bursts of rolling triplets, emanate from the drum room of the studio. Even while pictures are being taken, Travis is practising.
After a brief pause, we sit in the coolness of the now-familiar control room for our chat. In addition to all of the various recording projects (with Antemasque, Transplants, Blink and a solo album) there is also his new autobiography.
It’s a personal memoir that answers a lot of questions on topics that he has never talked about publicly. Travis’ book pulls no punches and sugarcoats nothing. Graphic and brutally honest at times, it balances the moments of darkness with humour and hope.
It is however, real. He goes into painful detail of his plane crash and road to recovery that was fraught with more tragedy. In addition to co-writing it with Gavin Edwards (Rolling Stone magazine), Travis also has several third-party contributions from his family, friends, doctors, past and present bandmates, and his ex-wives, offering their honest perspectives.
It’s as though having all of that bottled up in him, and finally releasing it in his own words in the form of his book, has strengthened his commitment to move forward and continue to involve himself in a diverse range of projects while still maintaining his devotion to his friends and family. He is still a man on a mission.
When did you first get the idea to write a book, and what made you decide that now was the time for it?
“I think it was after my plane crash. There was a lot of interest for me to go and talk to people about it. But the truth was, I wasn’t ready. I still wasn’t ready two years ago and it’s been seven years.
“After that, I had a scare with a bunch of pre-cancerous cells on my esophagus. After looking death in the face a couple of times, I really want to get the first part of my story out.
“I’m sober now. I think a lot of people can learn from it. It deals with my growing up lower-middle class, being a kid not being fed with a silver spoon. There is a way to be passionate about what you love to do and, basically, saying ‘no’ to a plan B.
“My goal wasn’t to be rich and famous, my goal was to make enough money to have somewhere to sleep, to eat and do what I love, which is playing drums. My goals were simple. I knew they were going to take a lot of hard work but they were in reach.”
Did you work or collaborate with another writer putting the book together?
“There was a journalist named Gavin Edwards who wrote for Rolling Stone for many years. He joined Blink on our trip to Iraq when the war broke out. He was in Afghanistan and Bahrain with us.
“Every time we ended up working with him, he was always on-point. Obviously he’s working for the publication, but he wasn’t some sketchy journalist that was putting words into people’s mouths. I liked how he captured things.
“When it came time, I interviewed some people and I loved the fact that he was rooted in music. He’s a muso. He loves music. I thought it was really important that I get people that are actually in my life to be a part of this book.
“People like Skinhead Rob, Tim Armstrong, my good friend, Dr Brian Weeks. I got in touch with some people that I grew up with that I don’t talk to so much anymore. Everyone has these stories, why not let them share them? I feel that really lets you in.
“There’s stuff that’s humiliating for me, but that’s a part of writing it. If I’m not honest and sincere, why tell my story? For me, it was easier to tell it now because I am sober and there’s nothing I’m ashamed of that I’m still doing. It’s more of things that are in the past.
“I treated this book as if it was an album. I poured my heart and soul into it and it’s relevant. It literally leaves off a month ago. It’s right now.
“My goal was, get it out before I die [laughs]! If I live another 20 years, I’ll hit everyone with part two!”
Were the people you approached to contribute onboard with the idea?
“Oh yeah. It wasn’t like I had to twist anyone’s arm to do anything with this book. It’s all a collaborative effort. I don’t really have anyone that I have bad blood with.
“Mark (Hoppus) and Tom (Delonge) are in the book. I don’t talk to Tom at all, but I’m in the studio every day, or a couple of times a week, with Mark. The interviews with Mark and Tom all took place about six months ago.
“There’s people all the way from my childhood to today. People in pivotal moments of my life and without them, I probably would have made different decisions.”
Did you find that writing the book was therapeutic for you?
“Extremely therapeutic, yeah. There were some hard moments where Gavin and I were in tears. Other ones we were laughing our asses off, reading something one of my friends he interviewed said.
“I’m not even there when he does it. If you were there and Gavin’s interviewing you, you can say whatever you want, Gavin’s putting it in the book! My book is completely honest. It will shed a lot of light to people and inspire some people.
“Obviously, there’s the whole survival aspect of my story. The plane crash is something I’ve never touched on. We really go through it, detailed. It’s a wild adventure.
“I had to read it a couple of times recently before I had to wipe my hands clean of it. I’m touched. There are still parts that give me chills. It’s my book. It’s weird.
“I’ll be the first person to say it sucks!”
“For drummers, there’s a whole chapter called Drums Drums Drums. It talks about everything from my practice routine as a kid, to why I play the way I do. I explain that I could play as technical and hold my hands perfectly correct if I wanted to but I choose not to.
“I’ve always hated seeing drummers that look like they hate their job. Forgive me, I love to have fun behind the kit. I’m not there to impress you. I grew up marching, playing jazz, I can do that. But I’ll bore me and you!
“My favourite drummers always look like they’re having a good time. Buddy Rich, Keith Moon, Stewart Copeland, Dennis Chambers. Just love what you do. I’ve seen some great drummers that can’t read music and maybe aren’t technically correct.
“More power to them. I tend to enjoy them more. It doesn’t have to be technical.”
How did the project with Antemasque come about?
“In my Aquabats days, they were At The Drive In. We would almost cross paths, but we had never actually met. I first became friends with Cedric (Bixler Zavala, vocals) around the last show that DJ AM and I played before he passed away, which was in Las Vegas.
“Cedric and his wife were there. I got to meet them. Then, my ex-wife was friends with Cedric’s wife. I’ve always kept in touch with her and three or four months ago we were talking, catching up.
“She said, ‘Cedric wants to talk to you, can I give him your number?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, of course!’ He hit me and we were talking about Dag Nasty and Hüsker Dü and all these bands we liked. We were just talking on the phone and I felt like I was talking to someone I’ve known my whole life.
“I’m thinking in my head, ‘Where is this going?’ So, he said, ‘We have just recorded a new album with Antemasque and we had these ideas for it and we wanted to know if you wanted to play drums.’
“I told him to send me some stuff and I’d check it out. I got on the phone with Omar (Rodriguez Lopez, guitar) like a half-hour later. He was like, ‘Are you down?’ I said, ‘Yeah man, let me hear the stuff.’
“I told him, ‘I know what you and Cedric do, you guys are amazing. I have so much respect for you musically and everything you’ve done.’ Sure enough, it was great f***king songs.
“A week and a half later, we made plans for them to come here, in North Hollywood. During that week and a half, they sent me some more ideas for songs. I studied the songs, we got in [the studio], we recorded the whole album in a day and a half.
“Now we have some shows in November that I’m going to play with them, some festival dates, like two weeks of touring. I had such a great time recording that album. It was really fun.
“I think it’s being mixed now and it’s going to come out the beginning of the year. But on these shows, we’re playing the new album.”
How did the collaboration work? Did they have specific things worked out for you, or did they just say, “Be yourself”?
“They’re rooted in punk rock so they wanted things to be like, ‘Push here, don’t pull there.’ They didn’t want it to sound robotic. They wanted it to have that energy like the old bands we listened to. That same wild, spastic energy.
“We immediately hit it off. We had so much in common. They were the most easy-going guys ever. Every song on the album, I think I did in one take. Maybe I gave them a second take where I did a little bit more.
“Honestly, it was one of the most fun, easiest sessions ever. We recorded this cover called ‘One More Time’ that we did here live in 10 minutes! You know you love what you’re doing when it never feels like work.
“Especially with those guys. And the songs are just great. They’re technical at times but I love Cedric’s voice, it’s crazy. Omar’s guitar playing is next-level. I think there are those bands that are technical and you hear it right away and it’s stale.”
Tell us about the next Transplants project, which is going to be a covers album.
“We had this idea before. Transplants would do covers. We know so many covers and have so many in our arsenal that we get to choose from when we play live. We don’t usually play more than one live.
“We had this idea to do a covers album and every genre was open to everybody. It’s all over the board. There’s everything from Run DMC to Minor Threat.
“It’s going to fk people up because it’s not one genre and there’s some really cool stuff on it.”
What stage are you at for that project and is there a release date?
“We are going to release them separately. There’s going to be a collection of seven songs first and then another collection of seven songs released later. I think, top of the year.
“It’s a project where it’s not a contest to see if we can get Number One on the rock charts. We couldn’t care less about that. We have fun.
“We still have Transplants Tuesdays, where we come in and have about three or four hours with everyone’s schedule. We say, ‘These are the two songs we’re covering today. How are we going to flip it? Are we doing like the original, or are we making it our own? Who’s playing what?’
“And we knock it out. It’s very raw. I’m very spontaneous and in some ways impatient. I like to keep things moving in the studio. Tim and Rob are the same way.
“We’re responsible musicians. We know we’re recording this song. On Monday, you know your part, let’s do it. Luckily, I’m in great company.”
There has been a strong resurgence in vinyl in the music scene. Are you going to release EPs or any other alternate formats?
“We’re getting ready to re-release Haunted Cities on vinyl. We’re a band that likes physical product. It will obviously be released digitally, but we will have limited vinyl and we’ll make CDs.
“We even talked about making cassette tapes for some of the stuff! I still like the physical stuff. It’s so difficult when you buy something on iTunes, or whatever, I want to know who produced it, where it was recorded.
“I guess as time goes on, that stuff matters less and less, but to me, I was raised on geeking out on albums.”
You’re recording new material with Blink-182 here also?
“Yeah. Blink was in here yesterday. Then, at night, I was in here making beats for my follow-up album to Give The Drummer Some. There’s always something happening.”
What’s the chemistry like writing and recording with a new member in Blink?
“It’s really cool. I wake up every morning to Matt Skiba (guitar/vocals, from Alkaline Trio) saying, ‘Hey, here’s a song idea.’ A lot of them will start off like that. A really simple idea.
“Then, I come in and make all the ideas very different from one another. They give me the freedom to do something totally weird. I’m going for something interesting.
“Even though five minutes ago might be the first time I’ve heard it, I’m trying to make interesting drum parts. That’s how it’s been working. It’s Blink. It’s straightforward, but it’s interesting in the same manner that it’s always been.
“I think the last couple of times Blink attempted to record with Tom, maybe we had writer’s block, I’m not sure. With Matt, we’re knocking out a song a day.
“We’re not saying what it is. It could be a double album, it could be an EP. Who knows? But right now it’s fun, it’s a good time, and everyone enjoys being here. We’re writing cool songs.
“Everyone has to understand, Tom repeatedly kept quitting the band. In my eyes, we should have stayed broken up the first time. I was in the plane crash. It opened up everyone’s eyes.
“Life is crazy, it can be gone in the snap of the fingers. So, maybe we should be a band. Tom contacted me. At that point, in my mind, I wasn’t thinking about anything in the hospital.
“I was fking crazy and in a burn-centre for four months. The day before that, I was with AM playing shows. The week before that, we were playing the MTV awards and Coachella.
“I was really fine with the movement and what I was doing. So, I never expected him to come back. I felt like the plane crash had him feeling he did want to play in the band, but I truly thought he didn’t.
“Fast forward to this past year. We had committed to playing the Musink festival. We were excited because it was going to be one of the only shows we did in 2015.
“The day before the practices, it was, ‘I quit, I don’t want to be in the band, I’m not doing any shows, I’m not recording an album.’ Mark and I both still wanted to play it. I was like, ‘Literally, the only person we could do this with, and continue with, is Matt Skiba.’
“He would be the perfect replacement for Tom to get through the show. He would murder it. Then, we were in the studio, rehearsing songs, just for this one show, and everyday Matt would be bringing songs, playing guitar with a smile on his face, having fun, jumping around, making jokes, being a nice person.
“It wasn’t normal! Mark and I were like, ‘Whoah, this is crazy!’ It’s actually fun. It hadn’t been like that in so long.
“We ended up playing a couple of warm-up shows because we didn’t think it was fair to Matt to throw him in front of 20,000 people the first day he plays with us. That’s cold blooded.
“We played those shows and afterwards, just in the matter of time we were practising, there were four song ideas that Matt sent. Mark and I couldn’t help but think, ‘Maybe we should just get in the studio and see what it is.’
“People are excited about Skiba. When we played shows, people were yelling, ‘Ski-ba, Ski-ba!’ after encores, in San Diego. I think there’s a huge amount of support for Matt.”
Any idea of a possible release date?
“No. We have (record deal) offers every day. We have the same offers that we did when Tom was in the band. Mark and I are passionate about Blink.
“I see kids all the time and they’re like, ‘Trav, focus on Blink!’ I can’t make anybody do anything.
“If you see me in the studio with the Game or playing with Run The Jewels, or whoever, don’t be mad at me. I love playing my instrument. I love playing the drums.
“I love every genre of music. When Blink is on and crackin’, Blink is my priority, make no mistake. When it’s not, and we are not working, I enjoy playing music with my friends.
“Every genre, every style. Do your homework, it’s nothing new. I love playing the drums, it keeps me sane [laughs]! It is my drug!”
Any other current projects?
“No. The only other thing I’m working on is my solo album, but it’s premature right now. I have a couple of different projects I’m going to put out over the next year, under solo projects.
“But this one is purely a follow up to Give The Drummer Some. It’s basically the same idea.
“I have a track with Run The Jewels on this album called ‘Forever’. Omar from Antemasque played guitar on it. It’s bananas. It’s so good.
“It’s all a collaborative album. Mainly with different MCs and rappers. LP, who’s in Run The Jewels, is a big fan of Omar and Cedric so it made sense. It was an easy pairing.
“They get it. Omar is a scientist on the guitar. He’s amazing. He killed it. I have a record with Wiz Khalifa. I have one with Yelawolf that’s crazy.
“Some of it has live drums in it, some of it is just me programming, with live shakers and stuff. I love producing music too. I just produced and played drums on this band Prayers’ album that I put out on my record label, Lasalle.
“So, there’s always projects like that that I’m doing, that I produce, play drums and help write. This is my home [motions around studio].
“Besides sleeping, I’m here more than any other place.”
Besides the dates with Antemasque, do you have any other live shows or touring plans?
“I have my residency in Las Vegas, where I DJ and play drums. I perform an hour-set of songs that I play drums to and I DJ.
“It’s very similar to what I did with AM, but I have the responsibility of both a lot of drumming and a little DJ’ing. It’s pretty cool.
“I have a cocktail kit, so I’m standing up playing drums and my turntable is right next to me. I have that in October.
“In November I go out with Antemasque. Then I have a couple of dates I think with Run The Jewels.”
You’re always busy recording and producing music. Do you have time to listen for your own personal enjoyment and has anything caught your ear lately?
“Lately, I’ll critique all my own stuff. I’ll write in here, then I’ll leave and I’ll listen to it in the car. For three weeks straight, Omar sent me the mixes that Rich Costey did.
“It hasn’t left my CD player [laughs]! I’m telling you, I loved At the Drive In and The Mars Volta. (As well as) being technical, great musicians, don’t ever underestimate them for writing good, hooky songs.
“Even if I didn’t play on the album, the album is amazing.”
At your recent show in LA with Yelawolf, you were using a lot of stacked cymbals. Tell us a little about your gear choices over the years.
“On a project like that, there are guitars, but he is also a hip-hop artist. Sometimes, you can’t have something ringing out for more than four counts. You want something really quick. I use those with him.
“On that stuff there’s a tighter snare, the toms are tuned high so they cut. With Antemasque, not one stacked cymbal. Really big, downtuned snare. Larger cymbals.
“I think the new Blink stuff we’ve been working on has been in the middle. It’s not a really high snare, but it’s not low. My kit has never really changed.
“Sometimes I’ll add an extra tom if I know the project that I’m working on calls for something more. I’ve gotten really comfortable having a four-piece kit because before I had a drum tech, or the money for a drum tech, I would have to set up my own stuff.
“I’ve always stuck with a small kit. At the end of the day, I’ve always liked drummers who could just murder a small kit rather than some guy with 12 cymbals.”
You’ve talked about playing jazz when you slow down or retire (as if!), have you had the opportunity to jam with anyone or been approached for any projects in that style?
“It’s always on my radar. If the opportunity presented itself I would. I think that’s how Antemasque is going to be.
“People are going to be like, ‘Whoah, I didn’t know Travis could play like that!’ I’ve never been given the opportunity. I grew up playing everything, even Latin!
“I’ll always do something, a project, that I end up being passionate about. I don’t see myself starting that project, but years from now, I’m there, I’m excited, and I’ll kill it.”
You mentioned being sober – how has that affected your outlook on playing and life in general?
“For years, I used other things. After the crash, the only thing I was using was weed. That was always my thing. It comes from the earth, man. It’s all natural.
“Then, I have what’s called Barrett’s esophagus, from excessive smoking. I had what was basically pre-cancerous cells on my esophagus. It was my warning shot.
“My doctor was like, ‘Any damage to the esophagus is irreversible. Damage could already be done. If I was you, I would stop (smoking) right now.’ I stopped cold turkey right then.
“That was actually one of the harder things I had to do. It was difficult. For a number of years, it was stop one thing and start another.
“I was still working out, running five miles a day. I was the most in-shape drug-abuser in the world [laughs]! I wanted to do good and be in good health. I wanted to eat healthy.
“A lot of it stopped after my plane crash because I would highly medicate myself to get onto planes. I would take a handful of pills, have a drink, smoke a couple of blunts and continue medicating myself until that plane took off.
“I hated it. I hated leaving my kids, I hated getting in a big metal tube that was going to fly in the air. Even before my crash, I hated it.
“It was one of the things that I was most paranoid about. With what I did, travelling the world, playing the drums as a musician, it was something I had to do several times a week.
“I haven’t flown and done drugs for seven years now.”
Have your kids inherited your musical genes?
“I play music with my kids, they’re both musicians. Landon’s really good at drumming and DJ’ing and my daughter (Alabama) sings and plays piano.
“They’re around for everything. They’re in the studio. They know every Antemasque song. They know my hip-hop projects that I’m working on.
“We listen to the same music [laughs], which is really cool. When I was growing up, I had amazing parents.
“I learned to love my Pop’s music because it was Johnny Cash, Buck Owens and Willie Nelson. He liked jazz, like Chick Corea. I learned to love all that.
“There’s less of a gap between my kids and myself to where we actually like the same music, growing up on it. I think back then, people my dad’s age were listening to country and jazz.
“Now, it’s all over the board. I think even when I was a kid, the lines weren’t blurred. Now, they’re completely blurred.
“I f**kin’ love it. It’s the way it should be. Music is music.”
