Travis Barker

I'm sure he can't control the degree of publicity he gets... but then he's hardly working to shun it either. And why would he? The reality is that Travis is the latest incarnation of the "pop star drummer" syndrome. He's a drummer, and he's also a pop star who is well known as a celebrity rather than just being a musician.

That's not a bad thing. It's those guys (Ringo, Bonham, Stewart Copeland, Tommy Lee, Dave Grohl, Danny Carey etc) who get people into playing the drums. Some will be remembered for all time because of this inspiration factor - Ringo was a great drummer for the Beatles, but he was no Tony Williams. Yet he doubtless inspired more people to take up drumming than Tony did, and many of them later caught on to other things going on in the world of drumming. Ringo was inspirational and I love to listen to his playing, but he didn't represent the state of the art. Ditto Dave Grohl. Tommy Lee hasn't lasted very long in this respect, mostly because his image as a public figure overtook any possible claims he might have on the world of drumming: like Bonham or Moon he was certainly a larger-than-life figure, but he didn't have the claim that Bonham has to completely changing an entire style of playing. As such he gets remembered as a celebrity more than a drummer. He wasn't a bad player, but he wasn't good enough to be memorable as anything other than the guy who married Pam Anderson (etc).

And some of theses guys have really stood the test of time. Bonham certainly has. So has Stewart Copeland, who despite being in a band that sold something like 80m records has managed to forge himself a memorable place in music as both a very innovative drummer and as basically the only "name" rock drummer to cross over into being primarily employed as a composer. And I personally think Danny Carey is a really, really great drummer who will be remembered for a long time.

What Travis will get remembered for is still up for grabs. He's certainly got a lot of facility, and he could go a long way with it. But I think most of the objection to him as a player that comes up in this thread is down to the fact that a lot of people are making unrealistic claims for his abilities as a musician. He's a good drummer - no argument there. I'm sure he's a nice guy, too. But he's quite objectively not a patch on somebody like Vinnie Colaiuta, which is where the issues arise. He's certainly not hall-of-fame type material yet, and whether he gets to be I suppose will be decided by which he's more attached to - the pop-punk image or the drums. Punk will eventually become uncool, just like Motley Crue became uncool and just like 70s arena rock became uncool. The question is, will Travis outlast the style that he's become famous as a figurehead for? If not he could be the next Tommy Lee. If so he could be the next Josh Freese. But the latter would probably require a lot more versitility and dedication to being appropriate than he's displayed so far in his career. That's all. Nothing against the guy. I'd love to be where he's at today, but if I was him I'd probably be rather embarassed about people claiming I was the best thing since the paradiddle was invented...
 
Hey Finn, with those last three posts, you have effectively allowed the admins to remove about 25 of my posts.

Well said. Let's just hope the kids actually read what you wrote now.
 
i agree with what you wrote totally. i just want to hold some people up on the fact that travis can be someones favorite drummer, even though you know the fact hes not the best, and you dont claim he is, but you still choose him as a fav b/c he is what you looked up to when you started, which is the case for me b/c i like his style alot, his chops are pretty good, and hes creative for his genre. maybe its just me and im reading posts wrong, but people seem to be posting some what (not straigt up insulting) demening posts. im hating the word "kids" to discribe fans of barker (which im not a kid but a big fan of barker).. while many fans are kids, the conotation attacthed to the word seems degrading. im not tring to strike up a frenzy of defending posts but just a warning that some people, besides me, im sure are interpreting your posts that way...again maybe its just that i have an aversion to the word but.... yea...
 
beatsMcGee said:
i agree with what you wrote totally. i just want to hold some people up on the fact that travis can be someones favorite drummer, even though you know the fact hes not the best, and you dont claim he is, but you still choose him as a fav b/c he is what you looked up to when you started

Here's the thing: You're allowed to have favourite drummers who you don't think are the best drummers in the world. I do. I absolutely love Matt Chamberlain. Is he the best drummer ever? No way. He does one thing - a certain style of groove material - extremely well and a bunch of other things well. But what he does really hits me in the right place creatively. Good stuff.

Is he as good as Vinnie Colaiuta or Dave Weckl? Doubt it. Those guys are insane. But on the other hand, most of the stuff they do leaves me pretty cold. I'd much prefer to listen to Matt's solo album than any of the stuff that Dave or Vinnie have done. I don't think that taking that position is disrespectful to either Matt or Vinnie or Dave. They're all great players and while I can respect what Vinnie and Dave have in terms of facility I enjoy what Matt does with his chops a whole lot more, personally.

So if you want to say Travis Barker is your favourite player because of how much he inspired you to take up playing then I think that's great. I'm only inclined to get riled when people say things like "...cant get much more skilled than travis as far as drums go." - ahem. I mean seriously. You can't get more skilled than that? Way to set the bar low, folks! There's a whole world of skill beyond what Travis has done on record so far. That's not to say you have to enjoy any of it, but denying it is there is rather rude to the people who have spent their lives developing it, no?
 
exactly. i don't like the term "best drummer" at all. travis is good, yeah, and maybe he can do some things that taylor hawkins can't, but i prefer hawkins' style. so neither win.
more advanced example. steve smith is really good at complicated patterns for sure, but i prefer the often simpler steve gadd because of his style.
matter of taste. after a certain stage, there is no better or worse, only preference.
 
finnhiggins said:
Here's the thing: You're allowed to have favourite drummers who you don't think are the best drummers in the world. I do. I absolutely love Matt Chamberlain. Is he the best drummer ever? No way. He does one thing - a certain style of groove material - extremely well and a bunch of other things well. But what he does really hits me in the right place creatively. Good stuff.

Is he as good as Vinnie Colaiuta or Dave Weckl? Doubt it. Those guys are insane. But on the other hand, most of the stuff they do leaves me pretty cold. I'd much prefer to listen to Matt's solo album than any of the stuff that Dave or Vinnie have done. I don't think that taking that position is disrespectful to either Matt or Vinnie or Dave. They're all great players and while I can respect what Vinnie and Dave have in terms of facility I enjoy what Matt does with his chops a whole lot more, personally.

So if you want to say Travis Barker is your favourite player because of how much he inspired you to take up playing then I think that's great. I'm only inclined to get riled when people say things like "...cant get much more skilled than travis as far as drums go." - ahem. I mean seriously. You can't get more skilled than that? Way to set the bar low, folks! There's a whole world of skill beyond what Travis has done on record so far. That's not to say you have to enjoy any of it, but denying it is there is rather rude to the people who have spent their lives developing it, no?


agreed....... ... .....
 
Hey Beats,

Sorry to sound demeaning when I say "kids". It is more poking fun at my own age (like old men sitting around griping about kids these days). I like Blink-182 and Box Car Racer... I just don't pretend it is anything other than what it is. Too many people on here assume that if I have a criticism of the guy, that I automatically think he is bad.

You can't deny that the Barker's antics appeal primarily to younger fans (i.e. 'kids'). In those videos, you don't hear 42 year old men hollering "Yeah! Go Barker!" You hear thousands of teen-aged girls (and probably some guys too).

The only negative conotation involved here is that when you are a young kid, perhaps your judgment isn't as great as it could be. I think using "kids" in this thread is a pretty safe assumption and you are the exception. Sorry if I insulted you.
 
Who cares if he's not trying to shun his popularity. What do you want him to do? Go on TV and tell the media to stop giving him publicity? Thats rediculous man.... He's good.. that's a fact... he's only 30.. there's another brain twisting fact for you too... 5-10 years he will be amazing. THERES ANOTHER FACT!!
 
the ONE and ONLY reason i like travis barker is that he doesnt use drum mics at all. if you see his videos for his live performances, you dont see any drum mics at all. that is the only reason i like travis barker. other than that, he is pretty has a lot of rythmn and he is fast.
 
the ONE and ONLY reason i like travis barker is that he doesnt use drum mics at all. if you see his videos for his live performances, you dont see any drum mics at all. that is the only reason i like travis barker. other than that, he is pretty has a lot of rythmn and he is fast.
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dude. i'm sorry to shoot you in the foot but he does use drum mics. do you honestly believe that a drummer can play an arena gig without mics?
what have you got against mics?
how does not using them raise him in your eyes?

if you cannot seemics it might be because they are inside the drums.

j

ps; here are some pics of his kits WITH mics.
travisbarker99.jpg


Travisbarker10.jpg

Travis-barker-LR-20.jpg
 
Yeah... I don't see how not using drum mics makes you cool. Travis uses drum mics... and so does every drummer that wants to be heard over thousands of people...
 
Hey Nutha, those pictures reminded me to say something nice about TB. He definitely has his technique right (look at the good fulcrum, and how he isn't way back on the stick like most guys are).
 
yea his techniques is nice, i see most drummers holding the stick way at the back. i never understood that. seems like if you gain to much speed it will just pop out your hand.
 
Just wondering if anyone knows what technique he uses (Moeller, french,german, etc). He plays a lot of one handed stuff, for example the boost mobile commercial. If anyone could get back to me I would greatly appreciate it, thanks.
 
yea there aer really good examples of his work on www.blink182.com i think you have to make a screen name but it has some good underground behind the scene drumming he did for his records... you can really see his speed and power in those vids.. also he does this one vid where hes doing a really cool groove.....um where else can you find travis stuff.. there is a real cool version of "miss you" they did live in austrailia on a show called rove i think... he does some interesting stuff in that version like some type of broken triplet one handed roll thingy. its plenty more interesting than the original version. see ifyou can find it on youtube. if i can ill post it. thanks


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e5ayGQ_9sA&search=travis barker rove

there is the miss you song... enjoy

p.s -- GHOST NOTES in this song are sweet
 
This has probably been mentioned before, sorry if it has (I haven't read the whole thread) Didn't Travis get an audition with Drum line or something?
 
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