WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.680 Okay let's unpack this. We are about to dive 00:00:02.680 --> 00:00:08.099 into a story today that feels less like a standard 00:00:08.099 --> 00:00:10.960 biography of a musician and more like a movie 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:13.560 script. Oh absolutely a script that a studio 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:15.960 executive would probably reject for being you 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:18.839 know too unrealistic. Exactly too unrealistic. 00:00:19.300 --> 00:00:22.320 We are talking about a narrative arc that swings 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:26.250 so wildly from the gritty unglamorous reality 00:00:26.250 --> 00:00:29.350 of working as a trash collector in Laguna Beach. 00:00:29.449 --> 00:00:32.090 Right. Hauling garbage. To the absolute apex 00:00:32.090 --> 00:00:35.109 of pop culture celebrity married into the Kardashian 00:00:35.109 --> 00:00:37.509 dynasty. It's just it's a huge swing. It is a 00:00:37.509 --> 00:00:40.649 trajectory that honestly defies logic. But what's 00:00:40.649 --> 00:00:42.530 so fascinating here and what our source material 00:00:42.530 --> 00:00:44.649 really digs into is that if you strip away all 00:00:44.649 --> 00:00:46.409 the headlines. The reality TV, the marriage. 00:00:46.530 --> 00:00:48.390 All of it. If you strip it away, you are left 00:00:48.390 --> 00:00:50.950 with a musician of incredible, almost singular 00:00:50.950 --> 00:00:53.509 caliber. We're talking about Travis Barker. We 00:00:53.509 --> 00:00:55.369 are. And we're looking at him through the lens 00:00:55.369 --> 00:00:58.329 of a pretty comprehensive biographical overview, 00:00:58.530 --> 00:01:00.350 right? It covers everything. Everything. His 00:01:00.350 --> 00:01:04.170 discography, his surprisingly diverse business 00:01:04.170 --> 00:01:06.890 ventures, and the profound physical and mental 00:01:06.890 --> 00:01:09.109 trauma he has had to navigate. Right. And the 00:01:09.109 --> 00:01:11.709 hook here isn't just he's the drummer for Blink 00:01:11.709 --> 00:01:14.010 -182. I mean, sure, that's the headline most 00:01:14.010 --> 00:01:17.230 people know. But the source material we have. 00:01:17.590 --> 00:01:19.569 It emphasizes a much more significant claim. 00:01:19.790 --> 00:01:22.329 It does. Rolling Stone magazine. Yeah, Rolling 00:01:22.329 --> 00:01:24.849 Stone didn't just put him on some list. They 00:01:24.849 --> 00:01:27.790 straight up referred to him as Punk's first superstar 00:01:27.790 --> 00:01:30.370 drummer. And not just that. One of the hundred 00:01:30.370 --> 00:01:33.409 greatest drummers of all time, period. That is 00:01:33.409 --> 00:01:35.849 a massive distinction. Usually, especially in 00:01:35.849 --> 00:01:38.930 punk rock, the drummer is the engine room essential. 00:01:39.769 --> 00:01:41.890 you know anonymous completely you know the singer 00:01:41.890 --> 00:01:44.409 you know the guitarist the drummer is just the 00:01:44.409 --> 00:01:46.390 guy in the back keeping the beat and maybe gets 00:01:46.390 --> 00:01:49.290 a two second solo if they're lucky exactly barker 00:01:49.290 --> 00:01:53.030 flipped that dynamic entirely he became the visual 00:01:53.030 --> 00:01:55.569 and rhythmic focal point of the band he was the 00:01:55.569 --> 00:01:57.430 one you watched so that's the mission for this 00:01:57.430 --> 00:01:59.370 deep dive right to connect those dots that's 00:01:59.370 --> 00:02:03.120 it we need to explore how a quote Stoner Kid 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:05.920 from Fontana, California, managed to reinvent 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:08.439 the sound of pop punk not just once, but for 00:02:08.439 --> 00:02:11.439 multiple generations. And we have to get into 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:14.639 the why. The why behind his specific technique, 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:18.240 and then later on, the unbelievable psychological 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:20.680 resilience required to survive something that 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:23.759 should have killed him, and then build an empire 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:26.780 from the ashes. It's an incredible story of survival 00:02:26.780 --> 00:02:29.800 on every level. I am so ready for this. Yeah. 00:02:29.860 --> 00:02:31.360 Because when you really look at the timeline, 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:33.900 that resilience is the three line. It's always 00:02:33.900 --> 00:02:35.819 there. We're talking about a guy who went from 00:02:35.819 --> 00:02:38.039 literally sleeping on couches. Unable to afford 00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:40.120 a meal. To buying Cadillac's art collections. 00:02:40.259 --> 00:02:43.780 But I think to really get it, to understand why 00:02:43.780 --> 00:02:47.139 he plays the way he plays, we have to start at 00:02:47.139 --> 00:02:48.939 the very, very beginning. You have to because 00:02:48.939 --> 00:02:51.949 he didn't just wake up a rock star. No. Oh, and 00:02:51.949 --> 00:02:54.909 the foundation is actually surprisingly technical. 00:02:55.009 --> 00:02:57.030 It all starts in Fontana, California. He was 00:02:57.030 --> 00:03:00.050 born there in 1975. Okay. And the chem data point 00:03:00.050 --> 00:03:02.189 to understand his drumming, the thing that really 00:03:02.189 --> 00:03:04.610 differentiates him from 99 % of other punk drummers, 00:03:04.710 --> 00:03:07.530 is the starting age. He received his first drum 00:03:07.530 --> 00:03:11.449 kit at age four. Four. Four years old. I mean, 00:03:11.469 --> 00:03:13.189 think about that for a second. Most four -year 00:03:13.189 --> 00:03:16.009 -olds are still learning not to eat glue or how 00:03:16.009 --> 00:03:19.580 to tie their shoes. He's learning rhythm. He 00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:22.240 was. And it wasn't just banging on pots and pans. 00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:25.860 By age five, he was taking formal lessons. Wow. 00:03:26.139 --> 00:03:29.240 Yeah, with a teacher named Michael Mai. Now, 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:32.060 this is a crucial detail in the biography. Michael 00:03:32.060 --> 00:03:34.659 Mai didn't just teach him to keep a simple 44 00:03:34.659 --> 00:03:38.340 rock beat. He exposed young Travis to a massive 00:03:38.340 --> 00:03:40.900 diversity of styles. Like what? What are we talking 00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:43.759 about? We're talking jazz, Latin rhythms, Afro 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:46.919 -Cuban beats and critically military marches. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:49.210 So right. Right out of the gate. He's not just 00:03:49.210 --> 00:03:52.629 learning rock. He's getting a conservatory style 00:03:52.629 --> 00:03:54.610 education before he's even in first grade. It's 00:03:54.610 --> 00:03:56.610 a completely different vocabulary. Precisely. 00:03:56.610 --> 00:03:59.009 And that formal education continued right into 00:03:59.009 --> 00:04:01.550 high school at Fontana High. He wasn't just the 00:04:01.550 --> 00:04:03.469 kid in the garage band smoking cigarettes and 00:04:03.469 --> 00:04:05.349 learning Ramones songs. He was doing that, too. 00:04:05.430 --> 00:04:07.870 Oh, for sure. But he was also in the jazz ensemble. 00:04:08.009 --> 00:04:10.490 And arguably, most importantly for his sound, 00:04:10.629 --> 00:04:12.650 he was in the marching band. OK, let's just stop 00:04:12.650 --> 00:04:16.339 there for a second. Marching band. Because when 00:04:16.339 --> 00:04:18.899 I think of Travis Barker, the tattoos from head 00:04:18.899 --> 00:04:22.920 to toe, the mohawk, shirtless, sweating, I do 00:04:22.920 --> 00:04:24.660 not think of a high school football halftime 00:04:24.660 --> 00:04:26.680 show. No, you don't think of the plumes in the 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:30.180 uniform. Not at all. But the experts, the real 00:04:30.180 --> 00:04:32.620 drum nerds, they always point to this. So why? 00:04:33.100 --> 00:04:36.160 Why is the marching band background so critical 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:39.220 to his specific sound? It all comes down to the 00:04:39.220 --> 00:04:40.980 physics and the discipline of the instrument 00:04:40.980 --> 00:04:42.579 if you want to really get into the mechanics 00:04:42.579 --> 00:04:46.019 of it. A marching snare drum is totally different 00:04:46.019 --> 00:04:49.220 from a rock snare. How so? It has a Kevlar head, 00:04:49.339 --> 00:04:52.060 like what they use in bulletproof vests, and 00:04:52.060 --> 00:04:54.879 it's tuned to an incredibly high tension. So 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:57.300 the rebound, the bounce of the stick, is instant 00:04:57.300 --> 00:05:00.000 and powerful. To play it properly, you can't 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:01.920 just flail. You have to learn what are called 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:04.060 rudiments. These are the foundational patterns, 00:05:04.139 --> 00:05:06.839 like paradiddles, flams, drags, and rolls. Rudiments 00:05:06.839 --> 00:05:08.879 are like the scales of drumming, right? The fundamental 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:11.480 building blocks. Exactly. And in a marching band, 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:13.480 you're not playing alone. You have to play them 00:05:13.480 --> 00:05:16.360 with absolute military precision alongside 20 00:05:16.360 --> 00:05:18.689 other drummers. If you're a millisecond off, 00:05:18.709 --> 00:05:21.050 the whole thing sounds terrible. It sounds like 00:05:21.050 --> 00:05:24.329 popcorn, a total mess. It requires immense wrist 00:05:24.329 --> 00:05:27.170 strength, finger control, and just this incredible 00:05:27.170 --> 00:05:30.470 snap. So when Barker eventually sat down at a 00:05:30.470 --> 00:05:32.730 rock kit, he wasn't playing with that loose, 00:05:32.730 --> 00:05:35.750 sloppy energy of a typical punk drummer. He was 00:05:35.750 --> 00:05:37.949 applying that military -grade snap and speed 00:05:37.949 --> 00:05:41.209 to the drum set. That's it. That's the key. It 00:05:41.209 --> 00:05:43.589 explains why his drumming sounds so articulate, 00:05:43.790 --> 00:05:46.660 so clear. He's not just hitting hard. He's hitting 00:05:46.660 --> 00:05:49.319 with mathematical precision, even at blistering 00:05:49.319 --> 00:05:51.519 speeds. That makes so much sense. And then you 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:53.540 throw the jazz on top of that. Right. And the 00:05:53.540 --> 00:05:55.899 jazz ensemble experience teaches independence. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:58.060 You're a left hand doing something completely 00:05:58.060 --> 00:05:59.600 different than your right foot. And it teaches 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:02.680 improvisation. So before he ever played a single 00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:05.220 punk show, he had this incredibly sophisticated 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:08.399 rhythmic toolkit that most of his peers just 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:11.480 didn't possess. But his childhood wasn't just 00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:13.920 about accumulating skills and practicing rudiments. 00:06:14.379 --> 00:06:16.399 There's a tragedy in the source material that 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:18.899 really, I think, sets the emotional tone for 00:06:18.899 --> 00:06:22.439 his entire life. It's a pivotal, just heartbreaking 00:06:22.439 --> 00:06:25.759 moment. His mother was diagnosed with Sjogren's 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:28.079 syndrome, which is a very difficult autoimmune 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:30.959 disease, just three months before he was set 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:33.329 to start high school. Oh, wow. And she passed 00:06:33.329 --> 00:06:35.230 away the day before his freshman year began. 00:06:35.490 --> 00:06:37.949 The day before high school starts. I mean, that 00:06:37.949 --> 00:06:41.449 is such a vulnerable, terrifying time for any 00:06:41.449 --> 00:06:43.629 kid, let alone losing your primary support system 00:06:43.629 --> 00:06:45.629 right at that moment. It's a trauma that just 00:06:45.629 --> 00:06:48.910 shapes a person's entire worldview. But it's 00:06:48.910 --> 00:06:51.490 her dying wish that really sets the course of 00:06:51.490 --> 00:06:54.269 his life. It's almost out of a movie. What did 00:06:54.269 --> 00:06:56.930 she say? She explicitly told him to keep playing 00:06:56.930 --> 00:06:58.970 music and to follow his dreams. It was one of 00:06:58.970 --> 00:07:01.819 the last things she said to him. Wow. So it wasn't 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:03.959 just a hobby anymore. Every time he hits that 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:06.240 drum, it's not just for the paycheck or the fame. 00:07:06.379 --> 00:07:08.439 It's almost like he's fulfilling a promise. I 00:07:08.439 --> 00:07:10.600 think that's a completely fair assessment. It 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:13.180 gave him a drive that went way beyond just wanting 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:15.660 to be cool or being in a band. It was a mission. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:17.939 But even with that mission, that drive, the reality 00:07:17.939 --> 00:07:21.240 of life after high school was... No, it was brutal. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:24.079 Oh, it was. This is where we enter what the biography 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:26.279 calls the hustle phase. Yeah, let's talk about 00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:28.360 that reality. Because people see the private 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:30.689 jets. in the mansions later in the story, and 00:07:30.689 --> 00:07:32.569 they just assume it was an easy ride from day 00:07:32.569 --> 00:07:35.610 one. Not even close. After graduation, he wasn't 00:07:35.610 --> 00:07:37.910 selling out arenas. He was literally hauling 00:07:37.910 --> 00:07:40.589 trash. A full -on trash man. He was working as 00:07:40.589 --> 00:07:43.250 a trash man in Laguna Beach, waking up before 00:07:43.250 --> 00:07:46.269 dawn, physically exhausting labor, hauling other 00:07:46.269 --> 00:07:48.689 people's garbage just to survive. And what about 00:07:48.689 --> 00:07:51.529 his living situation? Totally unstable. He was 00:07:51.529 --> 00:07:53.990 sleeping on a friend's couch, just grinding at 00:07:53.990 --> 00:07:56.589 both ends, manual labor by day, and then playing 00:07:56.589 --> 00:07:59.379 in punk clubs by night. In what bands? He was 00:07:59.379 --> 00:08:02.160 in a band called Snot and another Fontana -based 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:04.579 band called Feeble. He was just trying to get 00:08:04.579 --> 00:08:06.660 reps in, trying to make a connection. But it 00:08:06.660 --> 00:08:08.879 was that band, Feeble, that provided the connection 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:12.019 he needed. That was the lucky break. Right. In 00:08:12.019 --> 00:08:15.240 Feeble, he met a bassist named Chad Larson. And 00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:17.540 Chad Larson went on to co -found a ska -punk 00:08:17.540 --> 00:08:21.560 group called the Aquabats in 1994. The Aquabats. 00:08:21.579 --> 00:08:23.660 I love this part of the story. For those who 00:08:23.660 --> 00:08:26.339 don't know, the Aquabats are... Well, there's 00:08:26.339 --> 00:08:27.939 something else. They're unique. They're a whole 00:08:27.939 --> 00:08:30.180 experience. They wear matching superhero costumes. 00:08:30.279 --> 00:08:32.860 They fight imaginary monsters on stage and they 00:08:32.860 --> 00:08:35.580 play this high energy ska music. It's so theatrical. 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:38.299 But musically, ska is actually pretty demanding 00:08:38.299 --> 00:08:41.139 for a drummer, right? Very demanding. It's fast. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:44.200 It's full of syncopated offbeat rhythms. So in 00:08:44.200 --> 00:08:47.299 1996, the Aquabats needed a drummer. Their old 00:08:47.299 --> 00:08:50.399 one left. And Chad Larson says, I know a guy. 00:08:50.700 --> 00:08:53.539 Exactly. He brought in Barker. And originally 00:08:53.539 --> 00:08:55.320 it was just supposed to be a fill -in gig for 00:08:55.320 --> 00:08:57.860 a few days, maybe a week. But then they heard 00:08:57.860 --> 00:09:00.440 him play. And that was it. He was so good, so 00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:02.740 fast, so accurate that they immediately asked 00:09:02.740 --> 00:09:04.879 him to join the band officially. And this is 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:07.220 where he gets that amazing nickname, right? The 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:10.740 Baron Von Pito. Yes, the Baron Von Tito. And 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:12.120 if you're wondering where that name came from, 00:09:12.139 --> 00:09:14.179 I have to disappoint you. Oh, no. The source 00:09:14.179 --> 00:09:17.019 material explicitly states that the reason is 00:09:17.019 --> 00:09:19.779 lost to history. None of the members can recall 00:09:19.779 --> 00:09:22.320 why they chose that specific title for him. It's 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:24.919 just a fun, random piece of lore. I kind of love 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:27.700 that more, honestly. It's just a mystery. But 00:09:27.700 --> 00:09:30.120 the Aquabats were really just the stepping stone. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:34.120 because in 1998, they go on tour with a band 00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:37.100 that is about to absolutely explode. This is 00:09:37.100 --> 00:09:39.700 it. This is the aha moment, the pivot point of 00:09:39.700 --> 00:09:42.620 his whole career. The Aquabats were touring with 00:09:42.620 --> 00:09:45.139 Blink -182. Now, at this point, Blink was already 00:09:45.139 --> 00:09:46.720 doing pretty well. They had released Dude Ranch. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.440 They were on the map, but their drummer at the 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:52.149 time, Scott Rayner, was on his way out. There 00:09:52.149 --> 00:09:54.090 was a lot of internal tension, a lot of fighting, 00:09:54.289 --> 00:09:57.370 largely due to reported drinking issues. So Blink 00:09:57.370 --> 00:09:59.490 is in a serious bind. They're on tour. They need 00:09:59.490 --> 00:10:01.809 a drummer to fill in for a show like right now. 00:10:01.909 --> 00:10:04.090 They look over at the opening act. And they see 00:10:04.090 --> 00:10:06.690 the Baron. They see this kid just destroying 00:10:06.690 --> 00:10:08.690 the drums every night. Well, they ask him to 00:10:08.690 --> 00:10:12.169 fill in. They did. But here is the feat that 00:10:12.169 --> 00:10:14.590 I think defines Travis Barker's career more than 00:10:14.590 --> 00:10:17.529 any album sales figure, more than any VMA award. 00:10:17.769 --> 00:10:19.769 Let's hear it. He didn't have weeks to rehearse. 00:10:19.830 --> 00:10:21.850 He didn't have days. He didn't even have a full 00:10:21.850 --> 00:10:23.850 afternoon. How much time did he have? He had 00:10:23.850 --> 00:10:27.850 45 minutes. 45 minutes to learn a 20 song set 00:10:27.850 --> 00:10:30.549 list. 20 songs. And he went out on stage and 00:10:30.549 --> 00:10:33.509 performed it flawlessly. No, that shouldn't be 00:10:33.509 --> 00:10:35.850 possible. I play a little guitar and learning 00:10:35.850 --> 00:10:38.730 20 songs, all the stops, the starts, the tempo 00:10:38.730 --> 00:10:42.110 changes, the transitions in 45 minutes is. Yeah. 00:10:42.269 --> 00:10:44.710 It's superhuman. How does a human brain even 00:10:44.710 --> 00:10:47.940 process that much information that quickly? It 00:10:47.940 --> 00:10:50.580 speaks to what we mentioned earlier, his studio 00:10:50.580 --> 00:10:54.259 musician brain. He has this almost photographic 00:10:54.259 --> 00:10:57.360 memory for music, this ability to visualize arrangements 00:10:57.360 --> 00:10:59.799 instantly. So he's not just memorizing boom -bap, 00:10:59.820 --> 00:11:02.100 boom -bap. No, he's internalizing the architecture 00:11:02.100 --> 00:11:04.799 of the song. He hears a track one time and he 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:07.440 mentally maps it out. Verse, pre -chorus, chorus, 00:11:07.620 --> 00:11:10.100 bridge, stop, outro. It's a cognitive skill, 00:11:10.279 --> 00:11:12.379 a form of high -speed pattern recognition that's 00:11:12.379 --> 00:11:15.009 just... off the charts. I can only imagine what 00:11:15.009 --> 00:11:17.470 Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge were thinking. They're 00:11:17.470 --> 00:11:19.409 on stage. They look back at the drum kit, probably 00:11:19.409 --> 00:11:21.970 expecting a total train wreck. Right. Expecting 00:11:21.970 --> 00:11:23.610 to have to carry him through the show. And this 00:11:23.610 --> 00:11:26.429 guy who just learned the songs less than an hour 00:11:26.429 --> 00:11:30.009 ago is nailing every single hit, every single 00:11:30.009 --> 00:11:32.149 film perfectly. Well, according to the records, 00:11:32.289 --> 00:11:34.750 they knew immediately. Adam Deibert from the 00:11:34.750 --> 00:11:36.590 Aquabats remembers watching from the side of 00:11:36.590 --> 00:11:38.850 the stage and just thinking, this is the new 00:11:38.850 --> 00:11:42.240 Blink. It was that obvious. It was over. It was 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:44.220 over. Scott Rayner did come back for a short 00:11:44.220 --> 00:11:45.740 time after that, but the writing was on the wall. 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:49.059 He was eventually fired, and Barker was permanently 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:51.980 recruited. And doesn't Mark and Tom admit that 00:11:51.980 --> 00:11:54.399 bringing Travis in actually forced them to become 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:56.639 better musicians? Oh, they set it out right. 00:11:56.740 --> 00:11:59.399 It had to. You can't have a drummer that tight, 00:11:59.460 --> 00:12:02.460 that precise, and be a sloppy guitarist or bassist. 00:12:02.580 --> 00:12:04.879 He raised the technical floor for the entire 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:09.549 band. And that elevation. That new level of professionalism 00:12:09.549 --> 00:12:12.470 is what catapulted them into the absolute stratosphere 00:12:12.470 --> 00:12:15.830 with their next album. Enema of the State, 1999. 00:12:16.429 --> 00:12:18.549 This is the explosion. It's hard to overstate 00:12:18.549 --> 00:12:20.370 how big this album was. It was just everywhere. 00:12:20.710 --> 00:12:23.409 It sold 15 million copies worldwide. 15 million. 00:12:23.470 --> 00:12:25.629 You had these monster singles like What's My 00:12:25.629 --> 00:12:28.470 Age Again, Adam's Song, and of course, All the 00:12:28.470 --> 00:12:32.250 Small Things. All the Small Things, hit number 00:12:32.250 --> 00:12:35.610 six on the Billboard Hot 100. And that video... 00:12:35.899 --> 00:12:38.279 where they famously parodied the Backstreet Boys 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:41.620 and NSYNC and all the boy bands. A legendary 00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:45.379 video. It won a Moon Man at the VMAs. That video 00:12:45.379 --> 00:12:47.960 was inescapable. You couldn't turn on MTV without 00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:50.019 seeing it. You couldn't. And just like that, 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:52.720 Travis Barker goes from not being able to afford 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:55.940 to feed himself to buying old Cadillacs and collecting 00:12:55.940 --> 00:12:58.620 art. That's a lifestyle shift. It's absolute. 00:12:59.149 --> 00:13:01.289 He bought a rehearsal studio. He opened a retail 00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:03.730 store in Riverside for his new clothing line, 00:13:03.929 --> 00:13:06.289 Famous Stars and Straps. Everything changed overnight. 00:13:06.610 --> 00:13:08.610 But let's stick to the music for just a second 00:13:08.610 --> 00:13:10.789 more, because you mentioned his studio brain 00:13:10.789 --> 00:13:12.950 earlier. There's a quote in our source material 00:13:12.950 --> 00:13:15.149 from a producer named Dave Carlock that just, 00:13:15.169 --> 00:13:17.529 I mean, it blew my mind regarding this era. Yes, 00:13:17.629 --> 00:13:20.250 the human drum machine quote. Tell us about that. 00:13:20.809 --> 00:13:23.389 Carlock described Barker as a human drum machine. 00:13:23.570 --> 00:13:25.950 He said Travis could sit down in the studio with 00:13:25.950 --> 00:13:29.029 just a click track. No music, no guitar, just 00:13:29.029 --> 00:13:31.230 the metronome ticking in his headphones. Have 00:13:31.230 --> 00:13:33.889 the entire arrangement of the song already mapped 00:13:33.889 --> 00:13:36.629 out in his head and lay down the final perfect 00:13:36.629 --> 00:13:39.370 drum tracks in five to ten minutes. Wait, wait, 00:13:39.370 --> 00:13:41.980 just to clarify for the listener. Usually you 00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:43.679 play the drums to the guitar and the bass, right? 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:45.659 Yeah. You react to the band, you build the foundation 00:13:45.659 --> 00:13:48.320 with them. Correct. Usually the drums are the 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:51.039 reaction, they're part of the whole. But Barker 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:53.580 was laying the foundation in perfect time before 00:13:53.580 --> 00:13:56.299 the house was even built. The band would then 00:13:56.299 --> 00:13:58.559 come in and play on top of his drum tracks as 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:01.159 if he were a perfectly programmed drum machine. 00:14:01.220 --> 00:14:03.200 That is absolutely insane. And that right there, 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:05.820 that's why he's Punk's first superstar drummer. 00:14:06.059 --> 00:14:09.139 That's it, exactly. Punk rock historically is 00:14:09.139 --> 00:14:11.940 known for being a little loose, a little sloppy. 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:14.879 It's about raw energy, not precision. Right. 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:18.259 Barker brought this professional, almost mechanical 00:14:18.259 --> 00:14:20.620 tightness to the genre without ever losing that 00:14:20.620 --> 00:14:24.100 raw energy. He legitimized pop punk as a musically 00:14:24.100 --> 00:14:27.200 proficient genre. He made it OK to be a good 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:30.159 musician in a punk band. But playing that fast 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:32.320 and that hard every single night, I mean, it 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:35.120 has to take a toll. You see videos of him and 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:37.279 he's not just tapping the drums. He's absolutely 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:39.559 destroying them. The physical toll was significant. 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:44.679 The biography documents a lot of injuries. We 00:14:44.679 --> 00:14:46.759 have records of him breaking a finger during 00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:49.220 the 2000 tour and just taping it up and continuing. 00:14:49.379 --> 00:14:51.460 Of course he did. But the real testament to his 00:14:51.460 --> 00:14:54.100 resilience and maybe just his sheer stubbornness 00:14:54.100 --> 00:14:57.879 was the 2004 Australia tour. He broke his foot 00:14:57.879 --> 00:15:01.559 in Melbourne. Ouch. And for a drummer, that's 00:15:01.559 --> 00:15:03.820 a career ender, even temporarily. It's a huge 00:15:03.820 --> 00:15:06.080 deal. And it wasn't just a minor stress fracture. 00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:09.220 He tore tendons. and ligaments. His doctor told 00:15:09.220 --> 00:15:11.419 him it was the type of injury people get in serious 00:15:11.419 --> 00:15:13.940 motorcycle accidents. So that's it. Tour's over. 00:15:14.100 --> 00:15:16.620 Did he go home? Not immediately. He played the 00:15:16.620 --> 00:15:19.559 next night in Sydney. How? I'm sorry, how? You 00:15:19.559 --> 00:15:21.139 need your right foot for the kick drum. That's 00:15:21.139 --> 00:15:22.759 the heartbeat of the entire kit. Well, since 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:24.639 he couldn't use his right foot, he had the drum 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:26.820 tech rearrange the kit on stage so he could play 00:15:26.820 --> 00:15:28.840 the kick drum with his left foot. Wait, he just 00:15:29.470 --> 00:15:31.970 He just switched feet. Yeah. It's like a right 00:15:31.970 --> 00:15:33.669 -handed quarterback suddenly playing a game with 00:15:33.669 --> 00:15:35.629 his left hand because his shoulder hurts. It's 00:15:35.629 --> 00:15:37.190 a completely different set of muscle memory. 00:15:37.429 --> 00:15:40.690 Essentially, yes. It shows a level of ambidexterity 00:15:40.690 --> 00:15:42.870 and coordination that is just incredibly rare. 00:15:43.029 --> 00:15:45.889 He just rewired his brain on the fly. So did 00:15:45.889 --> 00:15:48.090 he finish the tour like that? No, eventually 00:15:48.090 --> 00:15:50.049 the pain was just too much and they had to cancel 00:15:50.049 --> 00:15:51.909 the rest of the tour. But the fact that he even 00:15:51.909 --> 00:15:54.110 attempted it and pulled it off for a full show 00:15:54.110 --> 00:15:57.029 is legendary in the drumming community. That 00:15:57.029 --> 00:15:59.909 is the absolute definition of the show must go 00:15:59.909 --> 00:16:04.230 on. But, you know, as big as Blink was, being 00:16:04.230 --> 00:16:07.149 in that one band wasn't enough for him. He seems 00:16:07.149 --> 00:16:09.090 like someone who gets bored really easily if 00:16:09.090 --> 00:16:11.240 he isn't constantly creating something new. He 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:13.220 does. He started breaking out of that punk box 00:16:13.220 --> 00:16:15.279 pretty early on. And this is where we see him 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:18.940 transitioning from just a drummer to a full -on 00:16:18.940 --> 00:16:21.720 mogul and a genre bender. It really started with 00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:24.259 Boxcar Racer in 2002. Which was the famous side 00:16:24.259 --> 00:16:27.200 project with Tom DeLonge. Right. And interestingly, 00:16:27.399 --> 00:16:30.279 the whole project started because Tom wanted 00:16:30.279 --> 00:16:33.320 to experiment with some darker, more post -hardcore 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:36.200 ideas, but didn't want to pay for a studio drummer. 00:16:36.539 --> 00:16:39.200 So he just asked his buddy Travis. He just asked 00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:42.519 Travis. What started as a little experiment in 00:16:42.519 --> 00:16:45.279 Tom's garage turned into a full band, a full 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:47.860 album, and a tour. Which, as the source material 00:16:47.860 --> 00:16:50.899 points out, actually caused a lot of drama within 00:16:50.899 --> 00:16:53.720 Blank, right? Oh, it did. It caused significant 00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:56.419 tension with Mark Hoppus, the bass player for 00:16:56.419 --> 00:16:59.139 Blank, who felt completely excluded and blindsided. 00:16:59.690 --> 00:17:02.450 It was really the first major crack in the Blink 00:17:02.450 --> 00:17:05.109 -182 armor that eventually led to their hiatus 00:17:05.109 --> 00:17:07.529 a few years later. But then he goes even further 00:17:07.529 --> 00:17:09.890 left field with the transplants. This was a collaboration 00:17:09.890 --> 00:17:12.630 with Tim Armstrong from the legendary punk band 00:17:12.630 --> 00:17:16.029 Rancid. And this project is really what cemented 00:17:16.029 --> 00:17:18.549 that superstar status outside of Blink. Because 00:17:18.549 --> 00:17:20.690 the sound was so different. So different. It 00:17:20.690 --> 00:17:23.470 was this incredible mix of punk, rap, rock, and 00:17:23.470 --> 00:17:26.170 electronic loops. It allowed Barker to really 00:17:26.170 --> 00:17:28.410 show off his deep hip -hop influence. And he's 00:17:28.410 --> 00:17:30.299 always loved... That goes all the way back to 00:17:30.299 --> 00:17:34.019 high school. Since day one. And he started seriously 00:17:34.019 --> 00:17:36.140 integrating himself into that world. He wasn't 00:17:36.140 --> 00:17:38.380 just the punk guy anymore. He was doing official 00:17:38.380 --> 00:17:40.839 remixes for Puff Daddy. The Bad Boy for Life 00:17:40.839 --> 00:17:43.339 remix. I remember that. Yep. He did a remix for 00:17:43.339 --> 00:17:46.819 Soulja Boy's Crank That. He remixed Flo Rita's 00:17:46.819 --> 00:17:50.140 Low. He even remixed Rihanna's Umbrella. I remember 00:17:50.140 --> 00:17:52.539 that Umbrella remix. It made the drums so much 00:17:52.539 --> 00:17:54.700 harder and more aggressive. It gave the song 00:17:54.700 --> 00:17:56.700 a completely different energy. He became the 00:17:56.700 --> 00:17:59.119 go -to guy in the industry. If you were a pop 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:01.380 or hip hop artist and you wanted to add a hard 00:18:01.380 --> 00:18:03.519 -hitting rock edge to your track, you called 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:05.480 Travis Barker. And then he took that idea to 00:18:05.480 --> 00:18:08.740 the stage with Tree V Jam. Tree V Jam, his project 00:18:08.740 --> 00:18:11.460 with the incredible DJ AM Adam Goldstein. They 00:18:11.460 --> 00:18:14.670 were really pioneers of that. Open format, live 00:18:14.670 --> 00:18:17.549 mashup style. Totally. DJ AM would be on the 00:18:17.549 --> 00:18:20.390 turntable spinning a mix of classic rock, hip 00:18:20.390 --> 00:18:23.190 hop, 80s pop and dance music. And Travis would 00:18:23.190 --> 00:18:25.829 be on a full drum kit playing live drums over 00:18:25.829 --> 00:18:28.730 it, reacting to the mix in real time. They performed 00:18:28.730 --> 00:18:31.609 at the VMAs. It was a huge deal. It really bridged 00:18:31.609 --> 00:18:33.529 the club world and the rock world in a way that 00:18:33.529 --> 00:18:35.430 hadn't really been done before. It was groundbreaking. 00:18:35.509 --> 00:18:38.170 And while he's doing all of this music stuff, 00:18:38.329 --> 00:18:41.009 he's also quietly building these businesses on 00:18:41.009 --> 00:18:43.269 the side. Right. You mentioned. famous stars 00:18:43.269 --> 00:18:46.009 and straps earlier, the clothing line. He founded 00:18:46.009 --> 00:18:48.910 that way back in 1999. It started in a small 00:18:48.910 --> 00:18:51.230 shop in Riverside, California, actually got shut 00:18:51.230 --> 00:18:53.289 down by the city for permit issues, but then 00:18:53.289 --> 00:18:56.190 it just exploded online and in retail. It became 00:18:56.190 --> 00:18:59.089 a staple of the skater and punk look for a decade. 00:18:59.309 --> 00:19:01.670 And he also started a record label. LaSalle Records, 00:19:01.990 --> 00:19:05.369 established in 2004. And the name is a cool little 00:19:05.369 --> 00:19:07.450 detail. He named it after his favorite model 00:19:07.450 --> 00:19:09.789 of Cadillac. I love that. And he even bought 00:19:09.789 --> 00:19:13.170 a taco franchise. He did. At one point, he purchased 00:19:13.170 --> 00:19:16.190 a Wahoos fish taco franchise in Norco, California. 00:19:16.470 --> 00:19:19.470 It's just so random. From drums to tacos. It 00:19:19.470 --> 00:19:21.890 just goes to show he was thinking about diversification 00:19:21.890 --> 00:19:24.890 and building an empire from very early on. Absolutely. 00:19:24.930 --> 00:19:26.710 And then, of course, there was the reality TV 00:19:26.710 --> 00:19:29.569 aspect of that empire. Meet the Barkers on MTV. 00:19:29.930 --> 00:19:32.690 With his then wife, Shanna Mochler. It documented 00:19:32.690 --> 00:19:34.990 their very unconventional life, their wedding, 00:19:35.150 --> 00:19:38.329 which had a full Nightmare Before Christmas theme. 00:19:38.430 --> 00:19:40.609 And it really put his personality out there for 00:19:40.609 --> 00:19:43.690 the mainstream public in a new way. He wasn't 00:19:43.690 --> 00:19:45.269 just a musician anymore. He was a full -blown 00:19:45.269 --> 00:19:48.990 celebrity. So life is good. He's rich. He's famous. 00:19:49.210 --> 00:19:52.190 He's respected in multiple genres. He has a family, 00:19:52.329 --> 00:19:54.569 multiple businesses. He's on top of the world. 00:19:54.710 --> 00:19:58.089 He is. But then we get to 2008. And everything 00:19:58.089 --> 00:20:01.589 changes September 19th, 2008. The crash. The 00:20:01.589 --> 00:20:03.890 crash. And to really understand the weight of 00:20:03.890 --> 00:20:06.309 this, you have to understand the context. Travis 00:20:06.309 --> 00:20:09.430 had a lifelong, profound fear of flying. Yeah, 00:20:09.450 --> 00:20:11.269 the source material says that as a teenager, 00:20:11.450 --> 00:20:14.710 he was sure he would die in a plane crash. Not 00:20:14.710 --> 00:20:16.289 that he was scared, but that he was sure it was 00:20:16.289 --> 00:20:18.730 how he was going to die. That is a heavy premonition 00:20:18.730 --> 00:20:20.750 to carry around. It's almost eerie. There's that 00:20:20.750 --> 00:20:23.430 story about the album art for Take Off Your Pants 00:20:23.430 --> 00:20:26.029 and Jacket. The band members each had these little 00:20:26.029 --> 00:20:28.920 icons assigned. to them, a jacket, pants and 00:20:28.920 --> 00:20:31.680 an airplane. And Travis literally begged them 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:33.980 not to give him the airplane icon. Begged them 00:20:33.980 --> 00:20:36.119 because of his phobia. But he got it anyway. 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:39.160 That just sends chills down my spine. So, OK, 00:20:39.240 --> 00:20:41.839 fast forward to September 2008. He's in Columbia, 00:20:41.980 --> 00:20:44.440 South Carolina. He had just played a free show 00:20:44.440 --> 00:20:46.839 with Perry Farrell from Jane's Addiction and 00:20:46.839 --> 00:20:50.680 Gavin DeGraw under that TRV GM banner. He was 00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:53.779 flying out on a private Learjet 60 just before 00:20:53.779 --> 00:20:56.009 midnight. And who was with him on the plane? 00:20:56.170 --> 00:20:58.990 DJ AM was there, of course. There were two pilots. 00:20:59.789 --> 00:21:02.509 And then there were two essential members of 00:21:02.509 --> 00:21:05.470 his inner circle. Chris Baker, his personal assistant, 00:21:05.589 --> 00:21:09.099 and Chase Still, his security guard. And there's 00:21:09.099 --> 00:21:11.460 a truly heartbreaking detail about Che still 00:21:11.460 --> 00:21:13.240 being on that flight, isn't there? There is. 00:21:13.339 --> 00:21:15.319 It's just devastating. It wasn't even supposed 00:21:15.319 --> 00:21:18.220 to be on that plane. Travis had originally invited 00:21:18.220 --> 00:21:20.720 his ex -wife, Shanna Moakler, but she declined 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:23.299 because she had a weird, uneasy feeling about 00:21:23.299 --> 00:21:25.720 leaving their kids that night. Wow. So Travis 00:21:25.720 --> 00:21:28.119 had a vacant seat on the jet. He called up Che 00:21:28.119 --> 00:21:30.140 last minute and invited him to come along, just 00:21:30.140 --> 00:21:31.839 thinking he'd be good company for the flight. 00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:34.279 Oh, man. The survivor's guilt from that alone 00:21:34.279 --> 00:21:36.900 must be unbearable. Just thinking, if I hadn't 00:21:36.900 --> 00:21:38.900 made that one phone call, he'd still be here. 00:21:39.059 --> 00:21:41.940 It was a massive, massive factor in his PTSD 00:21:41.940 --> 00:21:45.000 later on. It haunted him for years. So the plane 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:47.690 is on the runway taking off. What happened? As 00:21:47.690 --> 00:21:49.569 they're accelerating down the runway, the occupants 00:21:49.569 --> 00:21:51.710 hear a loud bang. It's one of the tires blowing 00:21:51.710 --> 00:21:54.289 out. And at those speeds, a tire blowout is absolutely 00:21:54.289 --> 00:21:57.730 catastrophic. It is. The pilots tried to abort 00:21:57.730 --> 00:21:59.410 the takeoff, but they were already going too 00:21:59.410 --> 00:22:02.569 fast. The plane overran the runway, smashed through 00:22:02.569 --> 00:22:05.650 the airport fence, shot across a five -lane highway, 00:22:05.930 --> 00:22:08.829 crashed into an embankment, and just exploded 00:22:08.829 --> 00:22:11.990 into a fireball. And somehow, Travis and DJ AM, 00:22:12.289 --> 00:22:15.569 they got out. It's miraculous, but it's also 00:22:15.569 --> 00:22:19.009 horrific. Travis was covered in jet fuel. He 00:22:19.009 --> 00:22:21.410 remembers waking up, the plane is on fire, he 00:22:21.410 --> 00:22:23.450 opens an emergency door, but his hands catch 00:22:23.450 --> 00:22:26.230 fire. He slides down a wing that's on fire. He 00:22:26.230 --> 00:22:28.190 was running away from the wreckage, literally 00:22:28.190 --> 00:22:30.809 engulfed in flames, desperately stripping off 00:22:30.809 --> 00:22:33.589 his burning clothes. It was DJ AM who finally 00:22:33.589 --> 00:22:35.890 managed to use his own shirt to put out the last 00:22:35.890 --> 00:22:38.490 of the fire on Travis' feet. I can't even visualize 00:22:38.490 --> 00:22:41.329 that without just shuddering. And everyone else. 00:22:41.549 --> 00:22:44.589 The two pilots died on impact. Chris Baker, his 00:22:44.589 --> 00:22:48.210 assistant, died. And she still died. Travis and 00:22:48.210 --> 00:22:50.769 DJ AM were the only survivors. The aftermath 00:22:50.769 --> 00:22:53.230 of that. I mean, physically, it must have been 00:22:53.230 --> 00:22:56.089 pure agony. He spent 11 weeks in hospitals and 00:22:56.089 --> 00:22:59.170 burn centers. He had burns on over 65 percent 00:22:59.170 --> 00:23:02.009 of his body. He had to went 16 different surgeries, 00:23:02.230 --> 00:23:05.690 countless blood transfusions, numerous painful 00:23:05.690 --> 00:23:08.490 skin grafts. At one point, there were serious 00:23:08.490 --> 00:23:10.609 discussions about amputating his foot because 00:23:10.609 --> 00:23:12.829 there simply wasn't enough healthy skin left 00:23:12.829 --> 00:23:15.960 on his body to harvest for the grafts. And mentally. 00:23:16.539 --> 00:23:19.359 You're lying there in excruciating pain and you 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:21.460 know your friends are gone. He was in a very, 00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:24.299 very dark place. The physical pain was so intense 00:23:24.299 --> 00:23:26.799 and the survivor's guilt was so heavy that he 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:28.720 was calling friends from his hospital bed and 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:31.000 offering them a million dollars to help him end 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:33.579 his life. He just wanted the pain to stop. That 00:23:33.579 --> 00:23:36.660 is just, it's so heavy. And so tragically, DJ 00:23:36.660 --> 00:23:39.519 AM, who survived the crash with him, passed away 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:42.579 less than a year later. Acute intoxication. An 00:23:42.579 --> 00:23:45.140 overdose. It was a tragic coda to the whole accident, 00:23:45.339 --> 00:23:47.680 which meant that Travis was truly the last one 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:49.980 standing from that flight. How do you come back 00:23:49.980 --> 00:23:51.700 from that? How do you ever sit behind a drum 00:23:51.700 --> 00:23:54.200 kit again after looking death in the face like 00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:56.700 that? You have to completely transform. And that's 00:23:56.700 --> 00:23:58.880 exactly what he did. He overhauled his entire 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:00.740 lifestyle, top to bottom. Yeah, this is when 00:24:00.740 --> 00:24:03.039 he went fully vegan, right? You did. There was 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:05.440 a brief period in the hospital where the doctors 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:07.740 had him eating meat because he desperately needed 00:24:07.740 --> 00:24:10.559 the protein to help heal the burns. But as soon 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:12.900 as he got out, he committed to veganism fully. 00:24:13.099 --> 00:24:16.299 But the bigger change... was sobriety. That was 00:24:16.299 --> 00:24:18.460 the biggest one. And it's important to note, 00:24:18.500 --> 00:24:21.099 he had a problem with painkillers before the 00:24:21.099 --> 00:24:23.180 crash, didn't he? He did. He's been very open 00:24:23.180 --> 00:24:25.880 about it. He struggled with an addiction to prescription 00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:28.319 painkillers even before the accident. But after 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:30.539 leaving the hospital, despite doctors telling 00:24:30.539 --> 00:24:33.119 him he would likely need powerful pain meds for 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:35.299 the rest of his life due to the severity of his 00:24:35.299 --> 00:24:38.640 injuries and the nerve damage, he refused. He 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:41.240 got off everything. Everything. He said the pain 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:44.140 meds made me a completely different person. He 00:24:44.140 --> 00:24:46.720 chose to live with the physical pain rather than 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:49.259 lose himself to the medication. Talk about willpower. 00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:51.940 Yeah. To be in that much constant physical pain 00:24:51.940 --> 00:24:54.619 and still say no to the only thing that could 00:24:54.619 --> 00:24:57.299 relieve it because you want to be present. That 00:24:57.299 --> 00:25:00.140 is a level of strength I can't comprehend. And 00:25:00.140 --> 00:25:02.420 it also, of course, completely changed how he 00:25:02.420 --> 00:25:05.359 traveled. Right. No more flying. For 13 years, 00:25:05.500 --> 00:25:08.880 from 2008 all the way to 2021, he did not step 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.980 foot on an airplane. So how did he tour? I mean, 00:25:12.019 --> 00:25:14.680 Blink -182 is an international band. Tour bus 00:25:14.680 --> 00:25:17.299 is for all U .S. tours, no matter how long the 00:25:17.299 --> 00:25:20.369 drive. And for Europe, he took the Queen Mary 00:25:20.369 --> 00:25:23.069 2 boat, a transatlantic crossing that takes about 00:25:23.069 --> 00:25:25.630 a week each way. Wow, he was committed. He was 00:25:25.630 --> 00:25:27.869 committed to playing for his fans, but he was 00:25:27.869 --> 00:25:30.710 absolutely done with flying. You know, they say 00:25:30.710 --> 00:25:32.710 that tragedy can bring people together, and it 00:25:32.710 --> 00:25:35.109 seems like the crash was actually the catalyst 00:25:35.109 --> 00:25:37.309 for Blink -182 finally getting back together. 00:25:37.490 --> 00:25:39.690 It was, absolutely. The band had been on that 00:25:39.690 --> 00:25:42.390 indefinite hiatus since 2005. They weren't really 00:25:42.390 --> 00:25:44.269 talking. There was a lot of bad blood. Especially 00:25:44.269 --> 00:25:47.630 between Tom and Mark. Right. But after the crash... 00:25:47.900 --> 00:25:50.220 Mark and Tom both reached out to him in the hospital. 00:25:50.339 --> 00:25:52.380 It put everything in perspective. All the petty 00:25:52.380 --> 00:25:54.500 squabbles and arguments just didn't matter anymore. 00:25:54.700 --> 00:25:57.400 Life is too short. Exactly. And they announced 00:25:57.400 --> 00:25:59.759 their official reunion at the Grammy Awards in 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:02.859 2009. So he's back with the band. He's sober. 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:05.740 He's recovering physically and mentally. But 00:26:05.740 --> 00:26:08.539 he enters this completely new era. I call it 00:26:08.539 --> 00:26:11.930 the Renaissance. Because from 2011 onward, he 00:26:11.930 --> 00:26:14.289 just seems to go into creative overdrive. He 00:26:14.289 --> 00:26:17.210 absolutely does. He released his first solo album, 00:26:17.410 --> 00:26:20.329 Give the Drummer Some, in 2011. And the feature 00:26:20.329 --> 00:26:23.549 list on that album is insane. Who's on it? Everyone 00:26:23.549 --> 00:26:25.990 from Lil Wayne and Rick Ross to Corey Taylor 00:26:25.990 --> 00:26:28.809 from Slipknot and Tom Morello. It was a showcase 00:26:28.809 --> 00:26:30.990 of his versatility. And he didn't stop there. 00:26:31.170 --> 00:26:33.910 Not even close. He did a full EP with the rapper 00:26:33.910 --> 00:26:36.450 Yellow Wolf called Psycho White. He did an EP 00:26:36.450 --> 00:26:39.079 with the underground rap group Koisai Boy. called 00:26:39.079 --> 00:26:41.319 Live Fast, Die Whenever. He was constantly in 00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:43.359 the studio, constantly working. But the thing 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:45.539 that really stands out to me in recent years, 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:48.059 and what the source material really highlights, 00:26:48.200 --> 00:26:50.640 is how he became the architect of modern pop 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:53.460 punk. He didn't just play the old hits. He helped 00:26:53.460 --> 00:26:55.779 create a whole new wave of the genre. Absolutely. 00:26:55.859 --> 00:26:58.259 He became the genre's godfather. Think about 00:26:58.259 --> 00:27:01.140 Machine Gun Kelly. Right. MGK was primarily a 00:27:01.140 --> 00:27:03.859 rapper. He was. And Travis executive produced 00:27:03.859 --> 00:27:06.759 his 2020 album Tickets to My Downfall and his 00:27:06.759 --> 00:27:10.440 2022 album Mainstream Sellout. And in doing so, 00:27:10.440 --> 00:27:13.079 effectively pivoted MGK into one of the biggest 00:27:13.079 --> 00:27:15.740 pop punk superstars in the world. He also signed 00:27:15.740 --> 00:27:19.160 Jexty and the TikTok star to his new label, DTA 00:27:19.160 --> 00:27:21.720 Records. And he signed Avril Lavigne. He did. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:24.440 He became the bridge. He connected the old guard 00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:27.720 of pop punk, the Blink -182 warped tour era with 00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:29.940 the new Gen Z wave. that was discovering the 00:27:29.940 --> 00:27:33.160 genre on TikTok. He validated the entire revival. 00:27:33.400 --> 00:27:35.259 If Travis Barker was drumming on your track, 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:37.460 it wasn't just a throwback or nostalgia. He was 00:27:37.460 --> 00:27:40.119 credible. He gave these new artists the stamp 00:27:40.119 --> 00:27:42.420 of approval from the king of the genre. And then, 00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:44.359 of course, the personal life takes another wild 00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:46.980 turn. You can't talk about modern Travis Barker 00:27:46.980 --> 00:27:49.019 without talking about the Kardashians. It was 00:27:49.019 --> 00:27:51.740 a headline domination. The rumors started swirling 00:27:51.740 --> 00:27:55.240 in late 2020, and by January 2021, it was confirmed 00:27:55.240 --> 00:27:57.619 that he was dating Kourtney Kardashian. And this 00:27:57.619 --> 00:28:00.140 relationship, according to him, is what led to 00:28:00.140 --> 00:28:02.980 him. finally conquering his biggest fear. That's 00:28:02.980 --> 00:28:04.559 the most significant part of the relationship 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:08.039 narrative, for sure. In August of 2021, with 00:28:08.039 --> 00:28:10.359 Courtney by his side for support, he flew again. 00:28:10.539 --> 00:28:13.799 After 13 years of buses and boats. 13 years. 00:28:13.960 --> 00:28:17.880 He got back on a plane to fly to Cabo. He credits 00:28:17.880 --> 00:28:20.079 her with giving him the strength and peace to 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:23.319 finally do it. That is love, man. Or just an 00:28:23.319 --> 00:28:25.519 incredible amount of trust. It's probably both. 00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:29.099 And they got married in 2022 in typical fashion 00:28:29.099 --> 00:28:30.960 for them. They had multiple ceremonies. Right. 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:32.700 There was the Vegas one, the courthouse one. 00:28:32.779 --> 00:28:35.220 A practice run in Las Vegas, an official one 00:28:35.220 --> 00:28:38.000 in Santa Barbara, and then a big religious ceremony 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:41.579 in a castle in Portofino, Italy. And they welcomed 00:28:41.579 --> 00:28:44.779 a son together in 2023. It's a happy ending or 00:28:44.779 --> 00:28:47.059 rather a happy new chapter to a life that's had 00:28:47.059 --> 00:28:49.660 so many dark ones. But before we wrap up, I want 00:28:49.660 --> 00:28:51.519 to highlight one more story from the source material 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:54.539 that I think really shows who he is as a human 00:28:54.539 --> 00:28:57.000 being. I know the one you mean. The story of 00:28:57.000 --> 00:28:59.759 Alex Etheridge. It's such a deeply touching story. 00:28:59.880 --> 00:29:02.720 Tell everyone about Alex. Alex was a 13 -year 00:29:02.720 --> 00:29:05.819 -old musician from Phoenix who was battling a 00:29:05.819 --> 00:29:08.579 very aggressive form of burn cancer. He was a 00:29:08.579 --> 00:29:11.500 huge fan of Travis, a drummer himself. And in 00:29:11.500 --> 00:29:14.819 June 2023, Travis met him backstage at a Blink 00:29:14.819 --> 00:29:17.420 concert. He did. And he didn't just, you know, 00:29:17.420 --> 00:29:19.720 say hi and sign a poster and take a picture. 00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:22.900 Sometimes those meet and greets can be very transactional. 00:29:22.940 --> 00:29:25.359 Right. In and out in 30 seconds. This wasn't 00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:27.329 that. They spent over an hour together. They 00:29:27.329 --> 00:29:29.309 sat down at a practice kit and played drums together. 00:29:29.809 --> 00:29:32.430 Travis treated him like a peer, like a fellow 00:29:32.430 --> 00:29:34.750 musician. And he even FaceTimed Courtney. He 00:29:34.750 --> 00:29:37.069 did. He FaceTimed Courtney so Alex could meet 00:29:37.069 --> 00:29:39.710 her. It was this incredibly genuine human connection. 00:29:40.390 --> 00:29:42.769 Alex passed away just a month after that meeting. 00:29:42.930 --> 00:29:45.329 Wow. But for Travis to take that much time to 00:29:45.329 --> 00:29:47.769 be that present, it just shows that underneath 00:29:47.769 --> 00:29:51.029 all the tattoos and the celebrity and the business 00:29:51.029 --> 00:29:54.430 empire, there is a very real empathetic person 00:29:54.430 --> 00:29:57.009 who remembers what it's like to just be a kid 00:29:57.009 --> 00:29:59.869 who loves drums. It really does. So let's try 00:29:59.869 --> 00:30:02.509 to wrap this incredible story up. We've gone 00:30:02.509 --> 00:30:05.190 from the marching band geek in Fontana to the 00:30:05.190 --> 00:30:08.049 trash man, to the punk superstar, to the plane 00:30:08.049 --> 00:30:11.190 crash survivor, and now to the Kardashian husband 00:30:11.190 --> 00:30:13.730 and music mogul. It is a life of contradictions, 00:30:13.750 --> 00:30:16.329 isn't it? He's a jazz trained punk drummer. He's 00:30:16.329 --> 00:30:19.190 a vegan who once owned a fish taco franchise. 00:30:19.309 --> 00:30:23.210 A survivor of a fiery crash who voluntarily jumps 00:30:23.210 --> 00:30:25.900 back in. to the global limelight. And a guy who, 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:28.140 at the end of the day, despite having every reason 00:30:28.140 --> 00:30:30.559 to retire and just count his money, is still 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:33.079 in the studio almost every single day creating. 00:30:33.420 --> 00:30:35.619 That's the takeaway for me. I think the final 00:30:35.619 --> 00:30:38.460 enduring image of Travis Barker isn't the red 00:30:38.460 --> 00:30:41.099 carpet photos or the reality show. It's that 00:30:41.099 --> 00:30:44.779 kid back in 1998 learning 20 songs in 45 minutes 00:30:44.779 --> 00:30:47.019 because he simply had to play. It's that drive. 00:30:47.259 --> 00:30:50.359 The music always, always comes first. So here's 00:30:50.359 --> 00:30:52.400 the final thought. If you've never really listened 00:30:52.400 --> 00:30:55.259 to what he's doing on those records, go put on 00:30:55.259 --> 00:30:57.920 a track today. Maybe something from the Transplants, 00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:00.559 like Diamonds and Guns, or even a Blink song 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:03.740 like Adam's song. And just focus on the drums. 00:31:04.539 --> 00:31:07.619 Listen for that marching band precision. Listen 00:31:07.619 --> 00:31:09.599 for the ghost notes on the snare, the little 00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:12.400 notes he plays in between the main beats. You'll 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:15.119 hear it. The snap, the control, the power. It's 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:17.299 all there. The whole story is in the rhythm. 00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:19.339 It really is. Thanks for diving in with us. We'll 00:31:19.339 --> 00:31:19.940 see you on the next one.