Most musicians when they are asked who turned them on to music, they will say one of the musical giants did. Well Travis Barker gave The Red Bulletin an answer that no one has ever given, and I wish more would. The Blink 182 drummer said, “I was 4. Animal on ‘The Muppet Show’ started it all for me. I saw him and I was sold. I wanted to be a drummer. Then I saw Alex Van Halen, Tommy Lee, great jazz drummers like Buddy Rich. I saw Buddy Rich battle Animal – crazy stuff. I battled Animal two months ago. I was trippin’.” You might not have pictured his inspiration to come from a kids’ show that we all watched, but he concluded his answer with something I never saw coming when he said, “When this is all said and done, in 10 or 15 years, I would love to play in a big-band jazz band and kick ass. I grew up playing jazz. I was in jazz band my whole life in high school and junior high. They didn’t have Rock Band 101 in school. I can read music, and I played jazz for six, seven years. I’d like to do that again.†I think he will be the first jazz drummer to be inked from head to toe and you know what if anyone can make it work, It’s him.
There are so many interesting things in the article like how his plane crash changed the way he tours, that you will want to pick up the magazine on Friday and read all about it. I know I was blown away by how candid he was with the magazine.
