Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has also performed as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transplants, founded the rock bands +44 and Box Car Racer, and thereafter joined Antemasque and Goldfinger. Barker was a frequent collaborator with the late DJ AM, and together they formed TRV$DJAM. Due to his fame, Rolling Stone referred to him as "punk's first superstar drummer" as well as one of the 100 greatest drummers of all time.[1]
Born in Fontana, California, Barker began drumming at an early age. He began playing for The Aquabats in 1996, but left to join Blink-182 in 1998, which encountered mainstream success with Enema of the State (1999). Barker established himself as a versatile drummer, producing and making guest appearances in music projects of numerous music genres including hip hop, alternative rock, pop, and country. He also starred in an MTV reality series named Meet the Barkers. He was involved in a plane crash in 2008, but he recovered and released his debut solo album, Give the Drummer Some, in 2011. He has continued to work with rappers, releasing extended plays with Yelawolf, Asher Roth, and Nottz, as well as with Blink-182 and the Transplants.
Aside from drumming, he founded the clothing company Famous Stars and Straps in 1999, and the record labels LaSalle Records in 2004 and DTA Records in 2019. Companies such as DC Shoes and Zildjian cymbals have co-designed products in his name. He released a memoir, Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums, in 2015.Early life and education[edit]
Barker was born in Fontana, California on November 14, 1975,[2] When Barker was four, his mother gave him his first kit, which was the only one he would have until he was 15. Barker began taking drum lessons at age five with a drummer named Michael Mai, who would expose young Barker to many different playing styles. At this time, he also began taking trumpet lessons. In junior high, Barker learned to play the piano and briefly tried singing, joining the madrigals men and women's choir.[3] In addition, Barker had non-musical aspirations; he also was interested in becoming a professional surfer and skateboarder. However, Barker states that "I always migrated back to drums, though. That was the one direction that kind of felt like I was connected to and I could kind of understand. I could express myself better through my drums than I could anything else."[4]
Barker has described himself as a stoner during his tenure at Fontana High School.[3] His mother, who had been diagnosed with Sjögren syndrome three months earlier, died the day before he started high school.[2] She told him to keep playing music and to follow his dreams. At Fontana High School, Barker played the drum set in the jazz ensemble and snare drum in the marching band.[3] He gained a lot of experience performing at regional competitions and festivals. Barker employed a variety of styles including military and jazz rhythms, but was attracted to the driving rhythms of hip-hop and punk rock.[5]Career[edit]Musical beginnings (1993–1998)[edit]
After graduating from Fontana High School, Barker worked as a trash man in Laguna Beach and played with the punk rock bands Snot and Feeble, a Fontana-based band where he met Chad Larson.[6][7] Larson went on to co-found the ska punk group the Aquabats in 1994. After local shows and demo tapes, the band recruited Barker through Larson's connection.[6] Barker, who was "sleeping on [his] friend's couch" and still working as a trash man, only intended to fill in for a few days but ended up joining the band.[8] The group then went into the studio with veteran producer Jim Goodwin to record The Fury of the Aquabats!.[5] Barker's speed and accuracy meant that once his parts were recorded, he was free to head off and rehearse (and sit in with other bands).[9] He had picked up a nickname with the Aquabats—Baron Von Tito—the reasons for which are lost to history as none of the members recall why.[9]
Barker (top right) joined Blink-182 in 1998.
After the October 1997 release of The Fury of the Aquabats!, the group toured nationwide with San Diego-based Blink-182, who had recently completed their second album Dude Ranch. The trio's drummer, Scott Raynor, announced to his fellow members that he would depart following the SnoCore Tour in February 1998.[10][11] The ensemble enlisted Barker to fill in for Raynor. Barker, who did not have time to prepare or practice with the duo, learned the drum tracks for the 20-song setlist in only 45 minutes before the first show and performed them flawlessly thereafter.[12] Raynor returned that May, but arguments only grew worse.[13] Raynor was fired by DeLonge and Hoppus, ostensibly over a drinking problem,[13] and the band recruited Barker once more. "I remember Travis rehearsing backstage for an hour or two, then playing with them during sound-check," recalled Aquabats member Adam Deibert. "A few of us were standing by the stage and I vividly remember the feeling of this is the new Blink. We should have looked for a new drummer right then because it was so obvious what band he belonged in."[8] The addition of Barker inspired DeLonge and Hoppus to "play better" and keep up with their new member, whom DeLonge called "perfect."[14] Barker continued playing with Blink-182 throughout 1998 and stepped in to play with the Vandals, where he filled in for Josh Freese as the year closed.[15]Mainstream success (1999–2004)[edit]
Barker's first album with Blink—Enema of the State—was released in June 1999 and catapulted the trio to stardom, becoming the biggest pop punk band of the era. Three singles were released from the record—"What's My Age Again?", "All the Small Things", and "Adam's Song"—that crossed over into Top 40 radio format and experienced major commercial success.[16] "All the Small Things" became a number-one hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, but also became a crossover hit and peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Its video parodied boy bands and pop music videos and won a Moon Man for Best Group Video at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.[17][18][19] The album has sold over 15 million copies worldwide and had a considerable effect on pop punk music.[20][21]
Travis Barker started his clothing line Famous Stars & Straps, which caters to the punk rock skateboarding community, in 1999. His love for tattoo art heavily influences his designs and overall style.
The band's success did great things for Barker. "Four years ago, I couldn't afford to feed myself," he said in an interview at the time. "But now I can buy art, work on old Cadillacs, and live in comfort. I can finally buy a dog and afford to feed him."[17] He began dating Melissa Kennedy and purchased a rehearsal studio.[17] Barker branched out into retail at this time, opening a store in Riverside called Famous Stars and Straps. The storefront was shut down by the city, but FSAS products began to be carried by other retailers and via the Internet.[22] Barker also began offering drum lessons and added Guitar Center drum clinics to his list of activities.[23] The band began its first arena tour in the fall of 1999,[24] but Barker missed much of the 2000 Mark, Tom and Travis Show tour after he broke his finger.[17] Blink-182's next effort, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001), was greeted with immediate success, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 and going triple platinum within three weeks (the record eventually sold in excess of 14 million copies worldwide).[25] In 2001, Barker married Melissa Kennedy, but the two divorced in August 2002 after nine months of marriage.[26] Following a cancelled European tour, DeLonge went back to San Diego to record an album he deemed an experiment in ideas he felt weren't suited to Blink-182.[14][27] DeLonge, not wanting to pay for a studio drummer, simply asked Barker to step in and perform on the record, called Box Car Racer. The experiment became a full-time band and toured in 2002, which led to strained relations between DeLonge and Hoppus.[28]
Word had got around that not only was Travis Barker an amazing drummer, [but that] he was also an amazing studio drummer which was a skill that a lot of drummers don't necessarily share. Travis had this reputation of being a guy who could sit down with a click track and no music and have the arrangement in his head and he could lay down the drum tracks in five, ten minutes for a song and then the band could play on top to him as if he was a drum machine.