A lot of people think that punk rock musicians don't know what they're doing.
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.
And I played in jazz band as well during all three years in school.
And I was in another band called Flash In The Pan, which was soca, Latin music, down in Laguna Beach.
And when I was little, when I took jazz lessons, it was like I had to practice before I could go out and skate board.
Bill Stevenson of The Descendants is really good, too.
But really, anytime, I play on a practice pad as much as I can.
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.
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.
I had an instructor in drum line named Perry Hall. He had us playing three or four hours a day for the high school drum line.
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 like Steve Gadd, everything he did with Steely Dan. There's so many. I like everything.
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 play Orange County drums. I love those guys. I've got a four piece kit.
I practice every day, I warm up before I play.
I took lessons when I was little, I caught on pretty quick. I learned how to read really well, and I was just into everything.
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 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 was already playing drums. They started me when I was ten. They pushed it on me.
I was in a band called Hooker for a while.
I was playing with the Aquabats, and then I quit to join a band called Suicide Machine in Detroit.
I was taking lessons from this jazz guy named Ed Will, and I studied with him for a couple of years. I just wasn't into it.
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'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.
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.
I've always liked Dennis Chambers, he's real flashy.
I've been touring since I was 17.
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.
My chops are still up, even though I'm not still in high school.
My mom listened to the Beatles and Elvis, a lot of different types of music.
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.
Oh, I was super serious about practicing and rudiments, and still am. I still have all my books.
On tour, you never have a home, you don't get used to anything, and you're always super busy.
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.
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.
We all write the music, and then Mark and Tom write the lyrics.
We didn't hold ourselves to a standard that said we needed a certain type of song because that's the type we had on the last album.
We just wanted to write a bunch of songs that we thought were good songs.
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 never worry about the big things, just the small things.
We were concerned with having good songs, not just songs that go two hundred miles per hour.
When I was little, all I did was take lessons from this guy that was a full jazz cat.
Travis appears as a playable character in the video game Tony Hawk's Project 8.
Travis' trade marks are performing topless and his tattoos.
Travis appears in the video "What You Know" by T.I.
He developed a shoe with DC Shoe Company called the Alias Remix.
He also has his own line of drumming product, sponsored by Zildjian, which includes: -Travis Barker Signature Drumsticks -Travis Barker Double Drumsticks (these feature a small mallet tip on the butt end of the stick) -Travis Barker Stick Bag -Travis Barker Cymbal Bag -Travis Barker Tour Drum MicKit picture
During his senior year of high school, Barker passed up drum corps tryouts to tour with a rock band.
Travis' first tattoo was the word BONES on his leg. He was 17.
According to Barker, the songs on the Plus-44 album range from straight-ahead hip-hop and retro drum breaks to material reminiscent of gauzy, early Cure tunes.
Travis has around 40-50 tattoos worth around 30 thousand dollars.
He appeared in a P Diddy video called "Bad Boys For Life" and he played drums in the video.
His favroite drummers are Stewart Copeland, Tommy Lee and Tre Cool of Green Day.
Travis' favorite cereal is Lucky Charms.
Travis played a few sessions with DJ AM, and is trademarking The Phenomenons for a new band with him.
After making two albums together called Transplants and Haunted Cities, Travis' band The Transplants isn't making new albums.
Travis appears at the "Shut Up" video by Black Eyed Peas. He has a really short appearance, only one second.
Travis often plays topless in his shows to show his tattoos. He also poses topless in his photograph sessions.
Travis is often called "Trav" by his friends and family.
Travis is one of Zildjian Cymbal Company's most important artists.
Travis' wife gave him a Cadillac for his 30th birthday. The car was very expensive: $70.000.
Travis started to learn how to play the drums when he was just 4 years old.
Travis gives drum lessons when he isn't traveling or working too much.
Even if Travis is left-handed, he plays his drums mainly with his right hand.
Travis found LaSalle Records.
Travis became the drummer of Blink 182 after the band's other drummer , Scott Raynor, quit the band wich was after the album "Dude Ranch".
Travis was married to former playmate Shanna Moalker, but they divorced. The couple had 2 children: Landon Asher Barker and Alabama Luella Barker. Travis also has an stepdaughter called Atiana Cecilia de la Hoya. He loves her and he considers her his daughter.
Travis appears in Xzibit's video "Mean Muggin".
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