Travis Barker on How blink-182's Biggest Songs Actually Got Written

Today's guest is the drummer who took punk out of the garage, put it on your radio, then on MTV, then on your body. But his real story isn't the discography. It's what he did with everything that was supposed to end him. From a four-piece kit in Fontana to the center of the album cover, Travis carries three things simultaneously that most musicians never figure out how to hold at once: the craft of writing a drum part as a hook — singing it in his head before his hands ever get there; the conviction that no genre gets to own him, and no one else gets to write his ending; and the contrarian edge to ban Auto-Tune, editing, and drum samples from his own studio at the exact moment the rest of the industry is sprinting toward machine-clean. And The Writer Is... Travis Barker! Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music. Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/andthewriteris We're giving away 4 pieces of premium recording gear on zoom on August 25th! Join Patreon for details. Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible. Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us. And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 1:51 Why the documentary sat for nine years 3:18 The producers pitch an ending: "Can you just walk onto a plane?" 4:51 Survivor's guilt: "They wouldn't want me to sit here and not fly again" 6:33 "The doc was dead to me" — and living your life like it's a movie 9:41 "I don't make beats." "Now you do. I need it in two days." 12:23 Beastie Boys, Bad Brains, Buck Owens — refusing the box 15:28 The drums are a hook, not a timekeeper 15:54 "That's not music" — the teacher who wouldn't teach him rock 17:25 How he actually writes a part: "I sing it in my head" 18:21 Learning the whole blink-182 set in an hour 21:29 Trash men in Laguna, and one store that sold their tape 22:52 The untitled album, and the day the process changed 25:57 The lyrics he wrote: "We'll have Halloween on Christmas" 27:15 "I Miss You" — the loop he had to convince them to keep 28:07 "You have to put your ego away to be a drummer who's a songwriter" 35:46 The burn center: "How am I going to play drums?" 36:25 The hand he couldn't feel, and why he told no one 43:20 "Too heavy for blink" — Boxcar Racer, and Mark 56:30 "There was no therapy for what happened" 1:10:19 What drummers should actually practice 1:19:29 AI: "I hate it" — no Auto-Tune, no editing, no samples 1:31:20 "All the Small Things" — the day Tom told him to open the valve 1:33:33 "Where's all the hits?" — the note that made Rock Show and First Date 1:35:15 "One More Time": writing about your own band breaking up Credits: Hosted by Ross Golan Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad