Shirtless, heavily tattooed drummer playing drums with drumsticks raised, performing on a concert stage with pink lighting.
Frazer Harrison / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
Gossip

Travis Barker Learned Every Blink-182 Song in About an Hour Backstage, Then Filled in for Their Missing Drummer That Same Night

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There was no drum kit to practice on, so he sat in a room with Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge, listened, and air-drummed the whole set. That night he pulled it off cold, and it turned into the job he still has.

The year was 1998, and Blink-182’s drummer had bailed off the tour. Barker was there playing with The Aquabats, and the band asked him to cover the gap with almost no runway.

Tattooed man in a blue beanie and sleeveless shirt leaning over a drum kit surrounded by cymbals in a large arena rehearsal setting.
Travis Barker leans over his drum kit during rehearsals for the Buck Owens tribute at the Academy of Country Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 22, 2006. Photo by Kevin Winter / Getty Images.
Shirtless tattooed drummer with a mohawk playing a drum kit on stage under pink and purple lights, drumsticks raised in both hands.
Arms raised with drumsticks mid-performance, Travis Barker plays shirtless under vivid stage lighting at the PlayStation BANDtogether benefit at Smashbox Studios in Culver City on December 10, 2005. Photo by Frazer Harrison / Getty Images.
Three men standing together in front of MTV Icon The Cure branded backdrops; the middle man has a mohawk and neck tattoos.
Blink-182 gather for a portrait backstage at MTV Icon 2004 — The Cure, held at Old Billingsgate Market in London on September 17, 2004. Photo by Bruno Vincent / Getty Images.

He didn’t cram at a kit. He jammed with the guys in a room, watched everything, and air-drummed the parts until he had them. “So dialed in,” is how he describes the show that followed, “so in a zone to like pull this off.”

Tattooed man in a backwards navy cap smoking a cigarette at a branded event backdrop, wearing a black FSAS hoodie and gold chain.
At the Gumball 3000 Playboy Mansion Party in Los Angeles on May 7, 2006, Travis Barker — in a navy cap and FSAS hoodie — smokes a cigarette on the step-and-repeat. Photo by Stephen Shugerman / Getty Images.

He traces that readiness to a habit he built after his mom died when he was a teenager: not to get ready, but to stay ready for exactly this kind of moment. He was scared going out there, and he says a “good kind of scared” still hits him before every show.

Close-up of a young man with blue eyes, nose and lip piercings, and extensive neck tattoos, looking upward against a blurred colorful background.
A close-up portrait of a heavily tattooed man with a septum and lip piercing during an appearance on MTV’s Total Request Live in New York City on April 6, 2005. Photo by Peter Kramer / Getty Images.

The fill-in ran several nights, the chemistry stuck, and later that year the band made it permanent. Enema of the State landed in 1999.

Shirtless tattooed man with sunglasses and a mohawk holding drumsticks backstage at an outdoor concert, full-body tattoos visible.
Backstage at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, California, Travis Barker grips a pair of drumsticks, his tattooed, shirtless torso visible during the KROQ Weenie Roast on May 21, 2005. Photo by Karl Walter / Getty Images.

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Tattooed man in a blue beanie and sleeveless shirt leaning over a drum kit surrounded by cymbals in a large arena rehearsal setting.
Travis Barker leans over his drum kit during rehearsals for the Buck Owens tribute at the Academy of Country Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 22, 2006. Photo by Kevin Winter Getty Images.
Shirtless tattooed drummer with a mohawk playing a drum kit on stage under pink and purple lights, drumsticks raised in both hands.
Arms raised with drumsticks mid-performance, Travis Barker plays shirtless under vivid stage lighting at the PlayStation BANDtogether benefit at Smashbox Studios in Culver City on December 10, 2005. Photo by Frazer Harrison Getty Images.
Three men standing together in front of MTV Icon The Cure branded backdrops; the middle man has a mohawk and neck tattoos.
Blink-182 gather for a portrait backstage at MTV Icon 2004 — The Cure, held at Old Billingsgate Market in London on September 17, 2004. Photo by Bruno Vincent Getty Images.
Tattooed man in a backwards navy cap smoking a cigarette at a branded event backdrop, wearing a black FSAS hoodie and gold chain.
At the Gumball 3000 Playboy Mansion Party in Los Angeles on May 7, 2006, Travis Barker — in a navy cap and FSAS hoodie — smokes a cigarette on the step-and-repeat. Photo by Stephen Shugerman Getty Images.
Close-up of a young man with blue eyes, nose and lip piercings, and extensive neck tattoos, looking upward against a blurred colorful background.
A close-up portrait of a heavily tattooed man with a septum and lip piercing during an appearance on MTV's Total Request Live in New York City on April 6, 2005. Photo by Peter Kramer Getty Images.
Shirtless tattooed man with sunglasses and a mohawk holding drumsticks backstage at an outdoor concert, full-body tattoos visible.
Backstage at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, California, Travis Barker grips a pair of drumsticks, his tattooed, shirtless torso visible during the KROQ Weenie Roast on May 21, 2005. Photo by Karl Walter Getty Images.
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About the author

Nadia Santiago

Nadia Santiago is a writer who lives between the clouds and the coastline, and writes about all the things your heart knows but your mouth can never quite say.