Travis Barker
Thank you for life, and all the little ups and downs that make it worth living.Collection: Life
Once in a while, I'll slip and get off my vegan diet and have egg whites in the morning, that's a good source of protein while I'm out on the road. If I can feel my body starting to tire, those are good to keep you healthy.Collection: Diet
I'm a freak, everything has to be totally flat when I play. Ed Will, my jazz teacher, set up everything completely flat, and then you'd tilt your snare drum away from you, so I do that too. So my snare tilts away from me.Collection: Teacher
I need protein from food rather than just protein supplements. I changed my diet.Collection: Diet
My biggest fear ever is to be involved in a plane crash, so when that happened... well, I'm just thankful to be alive. I'm just grateful to be here at all.Collection: Thankful
I'm super serious about that stuff. I mean, it's rare that I sit down at a drum set when I'm not touring, because we tour so much.
Playing my drums is therapy.
Then I tried out for the Fontana High School drum line, in Riverside, and I did really well. I got second chair, and played snare in that drum line for three years.
I've always liked Dennis Chambers, he's real flashy.
In 1996, I was in was in an acoustic kind of rock band, we were called Feeble. We were just playing locally.
In junior high, I sang in madrigals, men's' and women's' choir. I played piano too, but then I got out of it.
We never worry about the big things, just the small things.
I wanted to say thanks... and share my gratitude for everything I've been blessed with. Family, friends, and continued support from everyone.
I was playing with the Aquabats, and then I quit to join a band called Suicide Machine in Detroit.
We were concerned with having good songs, not just songs that go two hundred miles per hour.
We just wrote songs that seemed good to us. We wrote the album in like two weeks. We could have had more time, but we accomplished what we needed to in the two weeks.
We just wanted to write a bunch of songs that we thought were good songs.
We all write the music, and then Mark and Tom write the lyrics.
We all liked the Descendants and stuff like that, so we started playing it. It's not that it was really hard, well, it does take skill to play fast and keep up your stamina. But it was something that just happened.
On tour, you never have a home, you don't get used to anything, and you're always super busy.
Oh, I was super serious about practicing and rudiments, and still am. I still have all my books.
My mom passed away a day before high school started, and her dream was for me to be a full rock and roll guy, and play drums in a band.
My mom listened to the Beatles and Elvis, a lot of different types of music.
My chops are still up, even though I'm not still in high school.
I was told once if I kept breaking things on my legs, that I wasn't going to be able to walk soon, you know? I wanted to be a pro skateboarder, but it was too hard. I was trying, but it wasn't going to happen.
I was in a band called Hooker for a while.
I was a kid, and I wasn't even sure if I wanted to play the drums, you know? All I wanted to do was skateboard, but I was still learning and taking it in, so it was good.
I used to have friends come on tour and work as my drum tech, but they get bummed out when I have to tell them what to do. This time I'm just going to fly them out and let them hang. It's all good.
I practice every day, I warm up before I play.
I play Orange County drums. I love those guys. I've got a four piece kit.
I listened a little to punk when I was younger, but it was straight edge punk. It was nothing like what is going on now, like poppy punk.
I like Steve Gadd, everything he did with Steely Dan. There's so many. I like everything.
I learned the songs and played the gigs, and then they called me about a month later. They told me they were like super stoked on me and asked me to join their band.
I can play punk rock, and I love playing punk rock, but I was into every other style of music before I played punk rock.
But there's actually a lot of punk bands out there that go out of the norm, use odd time signatures, or a lot of different tempo changes in a song.
But really, anytime, I play on a practice pad as much as I can.
Bill Stevenson of The Descendants is really good, too.
And I was in another band called Flash In The Pan, which was soca, Latin music, down in Laguna Beach.
And I played in jazz band as well during all three years in school.
All I wanted to do was ride skateboards - I wanted to be a professional skateboarder. But I had this problem. I kept breaking half of my body skateboarding.
A lot of people think that punk rock musicians don't know what they're doing.
If we play to first time Blink 182 listeners, it's good they are listening to us and not the Backstreet Boys. Old Fans or new fans, it's all the same to us.
I've been vegan since I got out of the hospital... It's another eye opener. It changed my life in a number of ways.
I run every day now. I never ran before.
In the hospital, I promised myself that I ever walked again, that I would eat well and swim every day.
I looked Death right in the face.
I have my kids every Friday through Monday, and I don't leave them the whole time I have them.
I'm obsessed with my children.
My mom died when I was 16. I had a rough childhood, you know what I mean, but it made me strong.
I want a certain thing for my children. I just want to be in their life. I don't want nannies raising my kids.