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Travis Barker
(July 2005 Issue)
Not Just
A Punk Drummer
 Most of our favorite
drummers could go days, weeks, or months without being stopped
and
recognized in public. Often, they sit behind the kit, shielded by
cymbals and toms, barely making themselves visible to
any camera lens.
Such is not the case with Blink-182's Travis Barker.
Alongside bandmates Tom Delonge
(guitar/vocals) and Mark
Hoppus (bass/vocals), Barker's heavily tattoo-covered, boxer
shorts-clad body (a spoof of the
controversial Calvin Klein underwear
ad campaign) was featured on posters, advertisements, and in magazines
around the
world, largely in promotion of the band's huge 1999 MCA
Records release, Enema Of The State. Suddenly, people began
to
recognize Barker's appearance, and connected his image with the massive
airplay from the album's pop-punk
singles "Adam's Song" and "What's My
Age Again?" Life was great for the drummer, yet also
disturbingly
difficult.
"I had stalkers," Barker explains. "I had people climbing up
on my balcony and leaving me flowers.
These people climbed two stories
high and had to get past my two rottweilers! I really don't go anywhere
anymore. I
don't go to the mall, I don't go out to eat. I only go to
drive-thrus and use Homegrocer.com."
Barker is the
drummer for an unusual band, as Blink-182's
subject matter and demeanor are rarely serious and their fanbase
consists
primarily of kids in their early to late teens. Tom and Mark
are notorious for being the kings of potty humor during their
live
sets. Barker, however, doesn't join the zany circus of which his
bandmates share ringmaster duty. "When I was in
high school I was
exactly like Mark and Tom," Barker points out, "with the same kind of
jokes, except ten times worse. But I
just kind of snapped out of it."
And be careful about how you label Barker. Although he's best
known for his
work with Blink-182, he's quick to shoot down the tag of
being strictly a punk rock drummer. "Someone just sent me
something in
the mail that said I was the best punk drummer of the year - and I
scraped the work "punk" off," he laughs.
"Don't you dare put punk right
next to my name! I don't think of myself as a punk drummer."
Yet it's
hard to look past those loose, carefree attitudes,
especially through the jokes, laughs, and snotty music. Still, the
band
realized they had a serious matter at hand - following up the huge
success of Enema Of The State. At the time of this
interview, Barker
had just finished tracking their new album, Take Off Your Pants And
Jacket (due out June 12) and recently
moved into a brand-new home in
Corona, California. Based on Blink-182's previous success, the insanity
that began a
couple of years ago is poised to strike all over
again.
Waleed Rashidi
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