Travis Barker.

Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American drummer, who achieved most of his fame by drumming for the band Blink-182. He is currently the drummer for +44 and has also played for side projects Box Car Racer, Transplants and Expensive Taste.

In 1996, Barker joined his first touring band, playing drums for The Aquabats as The Baron Von Tito. He recorded one album with them, The Fury of the Aquabats!, in 1997. His career took off when he joined up with pop punk band, Blink-182 in 1998. Barker became known for his mohawk and his tendency to perform without a shirt, revealing a multitude of tattoos. Barker has since established himself as a versatile drummer, producing and guest appearing in music projects of numerous music genres including hip-hop, punk rock, alternative rock, ska, pop and even country.

He founded a clothing company, Famous Stars and Straps in 1999, LaSalle Records in 2004, as well as a Wahoo's Fish Taco restaurant in Norco, California. Companies such as DC Shoes and Zildjian cymbals have co-designed products in his name. He has used Orange County Custom Drums to create his drum kits since before he became famous.

Barker's marriage to former Miss USA, Shanna Moakler, was featured in MTV's Meet the Barkers (2005–2006). After filing for divorce in 2006, his marriage trouble and personal life have been scrutinized in the media following a public MySpace battle with his wife and a brief relationship with Hilton Hotel heiress, Paris Hilton.

He is currently pursuing legal action against Rockstar Energy Drinks who used his image without his consent.

He is a playable character in the music and rhythm game Guitar Hero World Tour.

He was born in a poverty-stricken neighborhood in Fontana, California. Barker received his first drum set at the age of four. He began taking drum and trumpet lessons at the age of five.

The day before starting his freshman year at Fontana High School, Barker's mother died. She told him before she died to continue playing the drums because that was what he was good at, and he listened to her. After her death, Barker became more serious with drumming. He joined marching band his sophomore year and made the snare line. During high school he performed at regional competitions and festivals. During his senior year of high school, Barker passed up drum corps tryouts to tour with his first band, Feeble.

After graduating from high school in 1993, Barker gained more experience as a rock drummer in a few early bands including Feeble, The Suicide Machines and The Aquabats. In the latter, he was known as Baron Von Tito.

From 1993 through 1998, Barker also worked a series of odd jobs and taught drum lessons to support himself. Though he continued to teach privately through 2002, Barker (while appearing on MTV's TRL, in 2003) mentioned that he no longer gives private drum lessons.
Blink 182
In 1998, Travis Barker began touring with The Aquabats, under the stage name "The Baron Von Tito". Blink-182 was also on the bill, and when then-drummer Scott Raynor was removed from the band, Travis was asked to fill in. This required him to learn the entire set (over 20 songs) in less than two hours and perform them at that night's show, in addition to playing a set with The Aquabats. Travis's efforts earned him much appreciation and respect, and an offer to join Blink-182, which Barker accepted.

With Barker, Blink-182 released their best selling album to date, Enema of the State (1999), followed by Take off Your Pants and Jacket (2001), and Blink-182 (2003). After 7 years of drumming with blink-182, in February 2005, the band split up.

Regarding a reunion, Barker states "I don't know [if it will happen]. You know, to be honest with you, I haven't spoken to Tom [DeLonge] in five years. I speak to Mark [Hoppus] every day, he's one of my greatest friends, so...that's the status of that. I think everyone would have to be friends, and I think we'd all have to want to do it in order for it to happen."
Side Projects
Barker says he has always been interested in many genres of music outside of punk rock, especially hip-hop. In a 2002 interview with MTV he said, "I probably listen to more hip-hop and drum'n'bass than I do punk rock music.". Not being able to explore these interests within blink-182, Barker participated in two hip-hop related side projects during that the time: Transplants and Expensive Taste.

Box Car Racer is a side project begun with Tom DeLonge of blink-182 in 2002. This project resulted in one self-titled album which was released that year. Tom said he asked Travis to play drums so that he wouldn't have to find and pay a session drummer to come in.

Transplants is a hip-hop induced punk band for which Travis partnered with Tim Armstrong of Rancid and Rob Aston (former roadie for Rancid). Transplants released two studio records as well as a remixed version of their second album which was chopped and screwed by rapper and hip-hop artist, Paul Wall. The first album released by Transplants was their self-titled album in 2002. The second Transplants record, Haunted Cities, was released by LaSalle Records in June of 2005. After the Vans Warped Tour of 2005, the members decided to disband. This was confirmed by vocalist Rob Aston in January of 2006 during an interview.

Barker has produced or worked on albums with the Black Eyed Peas, P!nk and Pharrell. He appears on Bun B's album, Trill (2005) with Skinhead Rob for the bonus track, "Late Night Creepin'". In 2006 he was a producer on T.I.'s fourth album, King. Also in 2006 he played drums for several songs on Avril Lavigne's third album.He also dueted with Rihanna on a remix of her hit "Umbrella", he also appeared in her video.

In late 2005 Travis started a new band, +44 with fellow blink-182 member Mark Hoppus and in 2006, Travis and Rob Aston joined Paul Wall in forming a new hip-hop group called Expensive Taste.

Recently, Travis Barker has made a very well received remix of Soulja Boy's "Crank That", a video that can be seen on YouTube. The song is also available for purchase on iTunes, though Barker's drumming contribution is reduced significantly from that of the YouTube version.

In a similar fashion to the Soulja Boy remix, Travis has also remixed Flo Rida's single Low that was later included within the deluxe version of Flo Rida's debut album on iTunes, with another video posted on YouTube.
Kit Setup
Travis Barker endorses Orange County Drums & Percussion (OCDP) and Zildjian. In the past, he said that he used old Ludwig-Musser drums but ever since he heard Adrian Young and Chad Sexton playing OCDP drums, he contacted OCDP and started playing OCDP drum kits.

Drums:

* 8x10" Rack Tom (Recently started using a 10" tom when recording with The Game as well as in the studio)
* 9x12" Rack Tom
* 14x16" Floor Tom
* 16x18" Floor Tom (Recently Started using a 18" floor tom in the studio)
* 22x24" Bass Drum
* 6.5x14" Black Beauty Snare or Bell Brass Snare
* 6x10" 20-ply Side Snare

Cymbals:

* 11" K Custom Hybrid Splash
* 14" A Mastersound Hi-hats
* 20" K Crash Ride
* 20" Oriental Crash of Doom
* 21" A Sweet Ride Brilliant
* 24" K Light Ride

Drumheads:

* Toms: Smooth White Emperor (currently using Black Suede Emperor) over Clear Ambassador
* Bass: Clear Powerstroke 3 over Ebony Powerstroke 3 with OCDP logo
* Snare: Coated Emperor-X (currently using Black Suede Black X) over Clear Ambassador

Drumsticks:

* Zildjian Travis Barker Signature Drumstick (currently using a black prototype of the same model)

Tattoos
Travis's first tattoo was the word "BONES" (a nickname when he was a kid) on his leg which he got when he was 17 years old. Another addition is the phrase "SELF MADE" spelled out across his knuckles which he got in 2000. Some of Travis's numerous tattoos include religious art as he says he was brought up Catholic. He has a portrait of Jesus above his left biceps, hands in prayer on the left side of his head (visible with his signature mohawk) and a Sacred Heart. He has a few tattoos that symbolize his love for cars and Cadillacs in particular - two racing flags on the side of his neck with the number 66 which symbolizes the year of his favorite Cadillac and a Cadillac emblem surrounded by mudflap girls on his chest as well as a pair of spark plugs. Another well known Cadillac tattoo is the word "Cadillac" on the side of his body.

Much of his body art is devoted to his love of music such as the phrase "Can I Say" (which is the name of Dag Nasty's first album), a microphone, and a boom box on his stomach for his love of breakdancing when he was growing up. He also has the word "HOPE" on his back because of the Descendents' song and something positive after his mother's death. He has another tribute to the Descendents on his leg - the cover art to the album, I Don't Want to Grow Up, drumsticks and musical notes on his right arm.

Travis also makes several tributes to his family with the phrase "familia" on his arm, Japanese flowers on the back of his neck with a heart that says "Mom", and another heart with "SHANNA" on the banner. He also has the name of his first wife, "Melissa," just above the racing flags on the side of his neck. He has his son's name Landon on his left wrist.

He considers his right arm his good luck arm and so has many luck emblems tattooed on that arm such as a deck of cards, dice, a dollar sign, his lucky number seven, a skull with the number 13 in the eye sockets (13 is a lucky number in the tattoo culture), and a rabbit's foot, in addition to a martini glass, his initials, a devil from Black Label Skateboards, and a spider web surrounding his elbow.

Travis also has a tattoo-quote by Henry Brooks Adams stating "Chaos Often Breeds Life, When Order Breeds Habit"; the quote is tattooed around Barker's neck, and can also be found on the spine of the Box Car Racer CD case.

In explanation of his large number of tattoos Travis has said, "I tattooed my body so I couldn't fall back on anything. I purposely did that so I couldn't get a normal job and live a normal life. I did it so I had to play music." Travis claims to have spent over $30,000 on his body art.

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