Travis Barker explains how The Police shaped his style
Although a new generation of fans might know him as the husband of Kourtney Kardashian or the kingmaker behind Machine Gun Kelly’s segue from rap into pop-punk, before all else, Travis Barker is a drummer — and a fine one at that.
Besides his work as a solo act, Barker has worked with The Aquabats, Yelawolf and Kenny Hoopla — but his most significant work comes with the world-famous pop-punk trio, Blink-182. Having recently reunited with frontman and guitarist Tom DeLonge, who returns to the fold after his brief hiatus scouring the globe on a government-funded hunt for aliens, Blink is well and truly back on the rise.
Adding to the excitement surrounding the classic lineup of the band getting back together is that co-frontman and bassist, Mark Hoppus, has overcome a cancer diagnosis. As the energy contained in their new single ‘EDGING’ suggests, he is back with more zest than ever.
With regards to Barker, fans of Blink-182 are aware that he had a significant hand in improving the group when he joined in 1998. His first record arrived in the shape of the uber-successful Enema of the State, and what ensued was their most fruitful period in both the artistic and commercial senses.
Barker brought dynamism, dexterity and genuine individualism to the fold, helping DeLonge and Hoppus to explore their wide array of influences more than ever before. They pushed the confines of the pop-punk genre to its absolute limits, drawing on everything from new wave to post-hardcore, with a little bit of goth sprinkled in for good measure.
This is the interesting aspect of Barker’s style; people often associate him with the pop-punk genre, and if not, that of hip-hop – per the rest of his oeuvre. However, there’s an argument to be made that he’s actually indefinable, as his discography is as varied as they come, the result of having a style that is so fluid.
Bolstering this point is that, like his Blink-182 bandmates, Barker also has varied taste in music and cites a range of acts as his heroes. One of the most intriguing is his love for new wavers, The Police, who boasted their own drumming hero in Stewart Copeland. When listing seven albums that every drummer should own for DRUM! Magazine, Barker discussed his love for the trio, with special mention for Copeland, and named Greatest Hits as his pick.
He explained: “I grew up loving Steve Gadd, Buddy Rich, and Elvin Jones, but when it came to rock music, I wanted to see a drummer hit his drums hard, and Stewart Copeland always beat the hell out of his drums. I loved him for all his hi-hat work and his unexpected parts on Police songs. ‘Message In A Bottle’ would have been so different played by a ‘normal’ drummer. The way he incorporated ska and reggae into rock music was just so refreshing. I was in a ska band before I was in Blink, and he was my eyes and ears for everything I was learning back then.”
