Musical beginnings (1993–1998) After graduating from Fontana High School, Barker worked as a trash man in
Laguna Beach and played with the punk rock band Snot and Feeble, a Fontana-based band where he met
Chad Larson. Larson went on to join the
ska punk group
the Aquabats in 1994. After local shows and demo tapes, the band recruited Barker through Larson's connection. After the October 1997 release of
The Fury of the Aquabats!, the group toured nationwide with
San Diego–based
Blink-182, who had recently completed their second album
Dude Ranch. The trio's drummer,
Scott Raynor, announced to his fellow members that he would depart following the
SnoCore Tour in February 1998. The ensemble enlisted Barker to fill in for Raynor. Barker, who did not have time to prepare or practice with the duo, learned the drum tracks for the 20-song setlist in only 45 minutes before the first show and performed them flawlessly thereafter. Raynor returned that May, but arguments only grew worse. and the band recruited Barker once more. "I remember Travis rehearsing backstage for an hour or two, then playing with them during sound-check", recalled Aquabats member
Adam Deibert. "A few of us were standing by the stage and I vividly remember the feeling of
this is the new Blink. We should have looked for a new drummer right then because it was so obvious what band he belonged in." The addition of Barker inspired DeLonge and Hoppus to "play better" and keep up with their new member, whom DeLonge called "perfect". Barker continued playing with Blink-182 throughout 1998 and stepped in to play with
the Vandals, where he filled in for
Josh Freese as the year closed.
Mainstream success (1999–2004) Barker's first album with Blink—
Enema of the State—was released in June 1999 and catapulted the trio to stardom, becoming the biggest pop punk band of the era. Three singles were released from the record—"
What's My Age Again?", "
All the Small Things", and "
Adam's Song"—that crossed over into Top 40 radio format and experienced major commercial success. "All the Small Things" became a number-one hit on the
Modern Rock Tracks chart, but also became a
crossover hit and peaked at number 6 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. Its video parodied
boy bands and pop music videos and won a Moon Man for Best Group Video at the
2000 MTV Video Music Awards. The album has sold over 15 million copies worldwide and had a considerable effect on pop punk music. The band's success did great things for Barker. "Four years ago, I couldn't afford to feed myself," he said in an interview at the time. "But now I can buy art, work on old
Cadillacs, and live in comfort. I can finally buy a dog and afford to feed him." He began dating Melissa Kennedy and purchased a rehearsal studio. Barker also began offering drum lessons and added
Guitar Center drum clinics to his list of activities. The band began its first arena tour in the fall of 1999, but Barker missed much of the 2000
Mark, Tom and Travis Show tour after he broke his finger. In 2001, Barker married Melissa Kennedy, but the two divorced in August 2002 after nine months of marriage. Following a cancelled European tour, DeLonge went back to San Diego to record an album he deemed an experiment in ideas he felt weren't suited to Blink-182. DeLonge, not wanting to pay for a studio drummer, simply asked Barker to step in and perform on the record, called
Box Car Racer. The experiment became a full-time band and toured in 2002, which led to strained relations between DeLonge and Hoppus. Through a connection with Jerry Finn,
Rancid vocalist
Tim Armstrong contacted Barker in the summer of 2002 to record tracks for a rap/rock collaboration called the
Transplants. For his role on the
Transplants record,
Rolling Stone called Barker "punk rock's first superstar drummer". He also began appearing in music videos, including
Puff Daddy's "
Bad Boy for Life", as well as adding to his collection of vintage Cadillacs. Blink-182 released their fifth, untitled album in 2003, which marked a more mature direction. Shortly before the album's completion, Barker's girlfriend, ex-
Miss USA Shanna Moakler, gave birth to their son,
Landon Asher, in October 2003.
The Kinison, who supported Blink-182 on their tour dates, impressed Barker and were the first group signed to
LaSalle Records, a record label Barker officially set up in 2004. He injured his foot at a
Melbourne, Australia show in 2004 but performed the next night using his left foot for the
kick-drum; he was in so much pain afterward that the tour had to be canceled. Barker's doctor informed him that not only did he break his foot, but he tore
tendons and
ligaments—described by Hoppus as "the type of injury that people get in motorcycle accidents." In the meantime, Barker purchased a
Wahoo's Fish Taco franchise in
Norco, California, and began work on a new Transplants record. The year for Blink-182 rounded off with a European tour that was soured by division in the band. In February 2005, the band issued a press statement announcing their "indefinite hiatus".
Reality television star and collaborations (2005–2008) After a
Nightmare Before Christmas-inspired wedding in October 2004, Barker starred in the MTV
reality series Meet the Barkers with wife
Shanna Moakler. The series followed Barker and his new family through his daily life, including Blink-182's final tour and the new Transplants album. The new Transplants album,
Haunted Cities (2005), was completed in the aftermath of the Blink-182 "hiatus" and released in mid-2005. Meanwhile, Hoppus and Barker continued recording music together and began working on electronic demos, which they called
+44. Barker began another new project in 2005 called
Expensive Taste, featuring
Paul Wall and
Skinhead Rob—the project would be more traditionally hip-hop. Barker also turned his direction to producing, working with artists such as
Bun B and
T.I. The +44 project came to a turning point when Hoppus and Barker purchased their own studio in October 2005, named Opra Music.
When Your Heart Stops Beating, the debut of +44, was greeted by less-than-stellar reviews and little commercial success. Barker filed for divorce from Moakler that August; both used their
MySpace blogs to comment on the situation. Their breakup and the drama surrounding it made them tabloid favorites. After he and Moakler split up in 2006, he was frequently spotted at nightclubs—and photographed necking with
Paris Hilton. According to Barker, he was trying to blot out the guilt of giving his children a broken home, and consumed "excessive amounts" of
prescription painkillers, marijuana and alcohol. The painkiller usage eventually developed into a full-fledged addiction over 2007. In early 2007, Barker began to work on hip-hop remixes and production techniques for many artists, preparing some loops and beats for
Juelz Santana and looking to open two new
boutiques, one in Los Angeles named Fast Life and one in
Venice Beach by the name of Rogue Status. He kept busy drumming for
Idiot Pilot ("Elephant") and
the Federation ("Black Roses"), as well as creating well-received remixes of
Rihanna's "
Umbrella" and "
Crank That (Soulja Boy)". After a stint on the
Honda Civic Tour with
Fall Out Boy and
Cobra Starship, +44 began work on a second studio album that October. Barker continued releasing hip-hop remixes in 2008; a well-received remix of
Flo Rida's "
Low" followed the "Crank That" rendition. The videos of Barker playing the revamped tracks grew heavily in popularity on
YouTube. Barker hoped to collate his growing arsenal of remixes with a bunch of new tracks on which he was working. It began to germinate into the idea of making a solo album, producing it all himself. Guests who recorded with Barker included
Young Dro,
E-40,
Willie Nelson, and
Damian Marley. He began performing with
DJ AM (Adam Goldstein) in June 2008 in a collaboration called
TRV$DJAM. Essentially, DJ AM would mix a set of classic songs (which ranged from
classic rock to dance) live with two turntables, then Barker would "enhance AM's groove" with live drums. with the group announcing their return at the February
2009 Grammy Awards. Barker continued to produce remixes throughout 2009, including a remix of "
3 a.m." by
Eminem; he also collaborated with
Guns N' Roses guitarist
Slash. In the midst of the band's reunion tour in August 2009, DJ AM was found dead by a friend in his New York apartment. Though Goldstein had been prescribed medication for pain following the crash, the medical examiner reported that he died from "acute intoxication" listing several prescription drugs and
cocaine. The plane crash led Barker to make some lifestyle changes; he began running and swimming each day, and went
vegan since leaving the hospital, although he had already been vegetarian for 17 years. He has also overcome a painkiller addiction he had for years prior to the plane crash. "I didn't even take any pain medication after I got out of the hospital. They told me I'd be on some of the medicine for the rest of my life, but I got off all of them," said Barker. "They made me a completely different person." Barker didn't fly again until 2021, traveling by himself on his bus—and taking a boat when touring in Europe. After more than two years of setbacks and delays, Barker finally released his long-in-the-works solo debut,
Give the Drummer Some, in March 2011. The record features collaborations with artists from
Lil Wayne to
Slipknot's
Corey Taylor.
Neighborhoods, Blink's sixth studio album, was released in September 2011 and peaked at number two on the
Billboard 200. Barker continued his collaborations, working with
Chester French,
LL Cool J,
Cypress Hill and producing an entire
EP of collaboration,
Psycho White, with rapper
Yelawolf. Barker was unable to attend Blink-182's Australian tour in 2013;
Brooks Wackerman filled in. On July 1, 2016, Blink released their seventh studio album
California to critical and commercial success. To complete the project, Blink members Hoppus and Barker were forced to replace Blink co-founder Tom DeLonge with vocalist/guitarist
Matt Skiba of
Alkaline Trio. Barker has joined Hoppus in citing DeLonge as the principal cause of the replacement. Citing DeLonge's alleged unwillingness to commit to working on new Blink projects, Barker revealed. "We always covered up for [DeLonge] before. It was always, 'We're going to record an album,' then 'Tom refuses to get into the studio without a record deal.' So everyone does hella amounts of work to get a record deal and now Tom isn't part of Blink-182. It's hard to cover for someone who's disrespectful and ungrateful… Everyone should know what the story is with him and it's been years with it." He is currently producing his second solo album. Barker has written a memoir entitled
Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums, which was released on October 20, 2015. He appeared in the 2016
Grammy-nominated documentary film about American DJ and producer
Steve Aoki, titled ''
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead''. In 2018, Travis Barker appeared on the trap-metal musician
Ghostemane's track, "D(r)ead". He also features on
XXXTentacion's posthumous album "
Skins", playing drums on the track "
One Minute" featuring
Kanye West. In 2018 Travis Barker also joined The Aquabats for a 20th anniversary show celebrating their second album
The Fury of the Aquabats at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles, California. In 2019, Barker teamed up with popular New Orleans alternative hip hop duo
$uicideboy$ to announce
Live Fast Die Whenever, a collaborative EP. Prior to the project's release, the singles "nothingleftnothingleft" (a rapid-fire hardcore punk song) and "Aliens Are Ghosts" (which samples music critic
Anthony Fantano's review of
$uicideboy$' debut album) were released. The EP was released on May 24. Along with the lead singles, the EP also included the songs "Killing 2 Birds with 22 Stones", "Sour Grapes", "Don't Trust Anyone!" (stylized in
all caps), and "Individuality Was So Last Year". Several tracks on the EP also featured
James Shaffer of
Korn on guitar. On July 12, 2019, Travis remixed Lil Peep & XXXTentacion's posthumous track "Falling Down". On April 24, 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic, Barker was featured as the drummer during
Post Malone's well-received
Nirvana tribute show and fundraiser for the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. In May 2020, Barker signed American musician and
TikTok personality
Jxdn to his label
DTA Records, making Jxdn the first artist on the label. In September 2020, Barker was on a collaboration project with
Machine Gun Kelly on Kelly's album
Tickets to My Downfall. He was also heavily featured in the movie adaptation of this album,
Downfalls High. Barker played on the
Willow Smith pop-punk track "
Transparent Soul", released April 27, 2021. In February 2021, he launched a line of
cannabinoid-infused products called Barker Wellness. The next month, on March 15, 2021, Barker was a featured artist in the Atreyu song "Warrior" on the album "Baptize". In July 2021, Barker signed an exclusive worldwide publishing administration deal with
Warner Chappell Music. In November 2021, Barker signed former
BMG artist
Avril Lavigne to DTA Records, with releases due to be handled by Warner Music Group's Elektra Records. In 2022, Travis Barker executive produced Machine Gun Kelly's eighth studio album. Barker and Kelly announced the album name,
Born with Horns, by getting matching tattoos of the album name on their arms. Kelly later changed the album title to
Mainstream Sellout. In June 2023, Travis Barker met with
Alex Etheridge, a 13-year-old Phoenix musician suffering from
bone cancer who was a particular fan of Barker's drumming. Alex met Barker backstage at Blink-182's June 14, 2023, concert in Phoenix, and Alex and his family sat in the front row for the concert later. The two spent more than an hour together, talking and playing drums, including an introduction to Barker's wife
Kourtney Kardashian via FaceTime. The meeting was set up by Australian social-media influencer Samuel Weidenhofer, who traveled from Melbourne to help arrange it. Weidenhofer recorded the meeting and released it later as a TikTok video, which has received more than 17 million views as of July 2023. Alex died on July 19, 2023. ==Influences and favorite drummers==