Travis Barker is undoubtedly a big name in the music scene, but he’s been through a lot throughout his life. Among his struggles, Travis had to undergo thirty surgeries as the result of being on a plane that crashed and caught fire in 2008. His mother also passed away when he was young, and one of the ways he worked his way through his grief was by getting heavily into playing the drums.
Looking back today, the Blink-182 drummer now uses his struggles to fuel his determination to succeed in his craft, pouring everything he can into every song, every performance, and every moment he spends on the stage.
Travis Talking About His Shifted Mindset
GettyTravis spoke to ‘Popcast’ about how his “aggressive” music style where he pours so much energy into performing and it requires a high level of endurance, and how his commitment to achieving the level needed to play drums and go all out heightened as he experienced more losses in his life.
The musician shared: “It’s like when you see a fighter and he just goes for broke the first round. There’s sometimes where I just feel like that. Something just takes over my body. Every loss I had, or every everything I took to the chin, it made me stronger. Plan B was only making Plan A work. There was no Plan B.”
Travis also noted how he believes “scars are cool” and he’s accumulated many from playing heavy music. He added: “Scars are cool. I’ve never left a show when my hands are a mess and I think, ‘I wish I didn’t play the way I did.”
Travis Surviving The Plane Crash
Today Travis’ new documentary, “Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear”, premiered, and in the program the musician bravely revisits one of the most horrific chapters of his life when he was in a plane crash.
The crash took place on September 19, 2008 and resulted in multiple deaths. Though Travis made it out alive, it’s incredibly emotional for him to look back on and speak about.
Travis noted how he had an uneasy feeling boarding the plane and even contacted his dad about the anxiety. Speaking in the documentary, Travis shared: “I said, ‘If something happens, make sure everything’s cool with the kids,” as per The Daily Mail. “That was definitely emotional for whatever reason. I just said, ‘I have a weird feeling.”
It was soon after that Travis’ fears were realized and the plane started to make loud gunshot-like noises while trying to take off. He continued to share: “The plane attempted to take off and go into the air, and then we’d go down, go into the air, go down, and we end up hitting an embankment. Just fire and chaos everywhere.
“I’m running, and the fire won’t go out. I stop, drop and roll, and AM came out, and he patted my feet off fire. 10 seconds later the plane blows up.”
Travis managed to escape from the plane in the nick of time through an emergency exit.
