Travis Barker: Interview

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Gigwise flew out to LA last month to get a behind the scenes look at the new Lucozade sport advert featuring Tinie Tempah, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and Amateur World Boxing Champion Katie Taylor.

The trio filmed over two days to perform a special Lucozade remix of Tempah's 'Simply Unstoppable', which includes a drum part by Barker.

Gigwise was granted an exclusive interview with the Blink-182 star to chat about his new solo album 'Give The Drummer Some' and his forthcoming album with the band.

What have you been up to recently?

“I’ve kind of been finished with the solo record for a while now so I’ve just been doing small things here and there. I’ve been doing some work with Cyprus and wrote some stuff for that and this Tinie collaboration.”

How did you get involved with this campaign?

“I think it was probably the last time I was in Europe and they put the idea to me and of course it’s always good to promote the stuff you actually like and drink.”

Had you heard of Tinie Tempah or the track before?

“No I hadn’t heard this track before but yeah I’d heard of him before. He’s pretty big over in the UK. I played on the track about a week ago and got to hear it for the first time.”

Your debut solo album ‘Give The Drummer Some’ is out in the UK this month – how long had that album been in the process?

“It’s been a long time. I had two songs completed; ‘Can The Drummer Get Some’ and ‘Fuck The World Or Just Chill’ before my plane crash and then after my accident that kind of derailed the project. I then got back into it and finished it all in the last year; it was hard because I was on Blink tours and I’d be at the back of the bus or trying to get everybody’s versus together for the album.”

You’ve got a lot of collaborations on the album – how did you decide who was going to be on it?

“Originally it was going to be a remix record; with all my remixes and then I decided it should be originals instead. And since I’m not a singer or a rapper I just wanted to get all my favourite musicians, guitar players and rappers on the record; that makes it more fun that way.”

Do you enjoy all the collaborations you do?

“I just love creating music. I love doing collaborations with other especially ones that you don’t get to do every day that’s always fun.”

Did you have a set idea of how you wanted the solo album to sound?

“The album is sort of routed in hip hop. I didn’t want to do anything that I do with Blink or that I do with Transplants. I wanted to offer something different; not just come up with solo part that could fit in easily with those two bands. I found the process of making the album and the sound really natural – I wasn’t in Blink or The Transplants. It was just AM and I doing our own thing and bringing all this great stuff to the table. After we’d laid down a few mixes I actually thought to myself, ‘Sh*t I’m actually going to do this and put out a solo record’. I was having too much fun with it not to. I didn’t care if I was making money out of it; it was just something I really loved to do.”

Did the mix tapes you did with AM have a big impact on the album?

“Without a doubt; what I did with AM or anything musically really helped shape up my album. We just blended so well musically and he had a massive impact on my life and my music.”

You work a lot in the hip hop circles – did you have a strong hip hop connection growing up?

“Yeah since I was young; when I started listening to music. Besides like Elvis and the Beatles when I was really young from what my mum and dad played my first records and the bands I was really into was Van Halen, Beastie Boys, Run DMC. All the old school stuff really shouted out to me. At the same time I was still listening to Metallica and Slayer but I was always exposed to everything as I had so many different types of friends growing up.”

You’ve got a tour coming up with Lil Wayne – looking forward to that?

“It’s in the next week. I’m really looking forward to it – it’s gonna run over seven weeks in the US and then in Canada for a week. I’ve worked with Lil Wayne for years now so again it’s nice just get out there and have a good time with collaborations that I do.”

How’s the Blink 182 stuff going for the new album?

“It’s going really well. I haven’t recorded a Blink album in six years, which has gone really fast. We were on a hiatus or broke up and then it was Tom who made the first move when I was recovering in hospital from my crash he wrote a letter and called me and we all started reconnecting after that. We kind of saw that we weren’t really fighting and not being in a band for a really good reason and I think everybody just wanted to get back into it again.”

How was the transitional period of getting back with Blink?

“At first it felt like we were getting straight back into it because we just started touring and there weren’t any new songs. Now that there’s new material it all feels really exciting and new again.”

How far along are you with the new album?

“It’s hard to say because even with my album when I came back from Europe after I got off the boat and I just wrote constantly for two months and four or five songs from that period ended up on my album. So you never know how the process for the Blink album will go from here.

“The sound of the record I think will be kind of the same stuff as past Blink albums so it won’t be anything that people will be shocked by what we’re writing in the studio at the moment. If I was to disconnect myself from it and kind of take myself out of it and be a fan it feels like songs that have progressed from the last album.”

Are you looking forward to your UK arena tour at the end of the year?

“We have like three or four weeks over in the UK. I love the UK, well besides getting over there, but I kind of enjoyed travelling over there last time. It took the Queen Mary over which took six days but it was the coolest thing; it was a nice wind down before the busy tour.”

Do you enjoy festivals?

“Are you kidding me? Reading and Leeds last year was so much fun. There was no festival that I was disappointed with last year, I had such a good time. My kids came with me which was the coolest thing and they loved it. It was cool to be on the side of the stage with them when you’re watching NOFX.”

Do you have your sights set on any more collaborations? How was it working on the new Britney album?

“Yeah I did the drums on a song for Rodney Jenkins who is an amazing producer for Britney. I’ve only really heard her new single. I like to do a healthy balance in the morning I listen to a lot of my music but then I think I am showing the kids too much. They know Lil Wayne versus and at the same time they know songs from Led Zeppelin. In the morning they’ll be like ‘dad just turn on the Disney channel’ and Britney Spears will come on and it’s not the type of music I’m known for but playing on it was cool. She lives on the same street as me but we never see each other as were both really busy.”