Travis Barker

“My mom passed away a day before high school started, and her dream was for me to be a full rock and roll guy, and play drums in a band.”

“I listened a little to punk when I was younger, but it was straight edge punk. It was nothing like what is going on now, like poppy punk.”

“Then I tried out for the Fontana High School drum line, in Riverside, and I did really well. I got second chair, and played snare in that drum line for three years.”

“A lot of people think that punk rock musicians don't know what they're doing.”

“I was a kid, and I wasn't even sure if I wanted to play the drums, you know? All I wanted to do was skateboard, but I was still learning and taking it in, so it was good.”

“I was told once if I kept breaking things on my legs, that I wasn't going to be able to walk soon, you know? I wanted to be a pro skateboarder, but it was too hard. I was trying, but it wasn...”

“All I wanted to do was ride skateboards - I wanted to be a professional skateboarder. But I had this problem. I kept breaking half of my body skateboarding.”

“I'm a freak, everything has to be totally flat when I play. Ed Will, my jazz teacher, set up everything completely flat, and then you'd tilt your snare drum away from you, so I do that too....”

“I need protein from food rather than just protein supplements. I changed my diet.”

“But there's actually a lot of punk bands out there that go out of the norm, use odd time signatures, or a lot of different tempo changes in a song.”

“Once in a while, I'll slip and get off my vegan diet and have egg whites in the morning, that's a good source of protein while I'm out on the road. If I can feel my body starting to tire, th...”