Travis Barker

willskate4food said:

After reading this forum, I came to the conclusion that the people who rag on travis are just jerks.

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You should read the posts carefully before making posts like this (especially your FIRST post). Most of us aren't ragging on Travis. I have merely pointed out, with song examples, and video comments that he isn't nearly as good as his "fans" think he is. If anything, most of us are "ragging" on the posts like yours.

how many people in here can say that at age 30 you had chops like that

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Well we could start with me and about a billion other drummers out there. If you actually breakdown Barker, he doesn't have tremendous chops. He has a unique sound, yet, but we should all have our own 'sound'. I don't have great chops either, but it hasn't kept me from being an extremely musical drummer who plays within the boundaries of my abilities.

i don't have his chops, but i am half his age, and i think i will definately have them at age thirty if i keep at it. it's not his chops i like. i like his grooves and beats. such as the previously mentioned "adam's song" and whaever track 5 is on TOYPAJ

what are we comparing travis barker to? and are we more or less debating his musicality? just a thought.. we've heard him play pop music, ehhh.. and we've heard him play ska (he was a lot more interesting to hear back then). but are we assuming he's just another generic drummer because that's all he can play or because we've never heard him play any other style of music. maybe he can wail it out on jazz and prog and death metal... maybe he isn't 'trying' to sound interesting because he doesnt care about making that kind of music.

it could be his skill, his ego, or just... modesty. or maybe he's just controlling his 'talented playing'. i've played among excellent drummers for years.. and it was almost impossible for some of them to cover a weezer song note for note, beat for beat. they just COULD NOT play that simple until people kept ragging on them day after day. maybe travis barker gets in a lot of arguements with producers and band mates who insist on him toning it down.

we just.. really dont know what he's capable of doing. it's easy to say he's not very capable, only because we can play, without flaw, 99.99999999% of the music we hear him pump out.

just a long and well considered thought,

anthony

ok, I don't know if you noticed, but most successful rock bands' drummers lay down a simple version of the songs for recording. When they preform live, they have more intrecute (sp?) fills and they will usually have a solo. Travis did just that, and thats what I do. It makes the track better and the live preformance more exiting to watch.
Even weezer does this. I went to a live preformance of theirs. It blew me away when the drummer actually did a rundown on the toms. so yes, they do flaunt their stuff at times.
there are travis barker solos on the site tho. cheak them out. (we can make fun of him all we want, but he's still married to a miss america! lol)

larrylover said:

ok, I don't know if you noticed, but most successful rock bands' drummers lay down a simple version of the songs for recording. When they preform live, they have more intrecute (sp?) fills and they will usually have a solo. Travis did just that, and thats what I do. It makes the track better and the live preformance more exiting to watch.
Even weezer does this. I went to a live preformance of theirs. It blew me away when the drummer actually did a rundown on the toms. so yes, they do flaunt their stuff at times.
there are travis barker solos on the site tho. cheak them out. (we can make fun of him all we want, but he's still married to a miss america! lol)

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haha larrylover, i was going to mention the same thing about Pat Wilson, but my post was already too long.

im still wating for someone to post these songs hes performed that claim to be out of time... so speak up..

IMO hes very creative, fast, has great chops, and fun to watch... these are things that can not be denied, yet people are still doing so.. is it envy that creates hatred of travis?, is it his money?, or popularity? there are so many untalented drummers out there and Travis barker def has talent that is clear to see, yet he is picked on more than others...

beatsMcGee said:

im still wating for someone to post these songs hes performed that claim to be out of time... so speak up..

IMO hes very creative, fast, has great chops, and fun to watch... these are things that can not be denied, yet people are still doing so.. is it envy that creates hatred of travis?, is it his money?, or popularity? there are so many untalented drummers out there and Travis barker def has talent that is clear to see, yet he is picked on more than others...

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well said. Maybe he was out of time on his first band's recording or something. lol

I reckon Stu was referring to Blink's first couple of albums - if he has them (Cheshire Cat, Dude Ranch), on which 'Scott Raynor', Blink's first drummer played. Even he wasn't really that out of time, just not as interesting a player as Travis.

And on the contrary to what Stu said, Travis has a great pocket, just listen to his grooving with the transplants. His timing is never off, unless intentional, to provide an organic, vertigo-inducing sense of velocity as in the beginning of Stockholm Syndrone (Syndrome?).

But come on people, why are we complaining of him playing too many notes? This is punk music (no matter how poppy) we're dealing with here. How can you not expect there to be a certain explosive energy in the player's performances? It is synonymous with the genre.

There are tons of punk drummers that play less notes and it sounds great!

I posted a list of 5 or so Blink songs with obvious tempo problems, but for the life of me, can't find it anywhere. Must have been in a locked/removed thread or something.

"I'm lost without you" is one I remember having a laughably bad tempo. I think that one fluctuates almost 10 bpm or something...it just keeps getting slooooower, and sloooooooower. Normally though, the songs just fluctuate, fast, slow, fast, slow, like so many of my beginner students, lol! Yes, and I've heard that Raynor was the drummer on an album, but I don't know which one.

A friend at work who plays trumpet asked me why one of the radio singles do the drums rush so badly? Can't remember which tune, but I do recall a couple radio singles having a horribly unequal tempo (ran the old metronome test against them awhile back, and yep, really bad timing).

There plenty of room for tempo fluctuations, but it shouldn't be overtly obvious to the ear. With the amount of refinement these labels require now and the sheer amout of pro-tooling that goes on, I'm always amazed to hear a flat note or bad tempo.

well some of there radio singles were: first date, stay together for the kids, rock show (that is a fast tempo maybe the one your friend is refering too or possibly first date), adams song, whats my age again, feeling this (this song has a cool cow bell brake down)

so maybe you could check those out and see if they are off, cuz i dont hear it.. maybe its me..

another cool song to check out is dumpweed, i love the drums in that song.... the fill he does at 192 tempo is awesome to me.

Yeah, dumpweed (and even more so, 'Anthem') has some wickedly fast bass drum doubles in there, and bear in mind they probably play the whole thing about 30 BPM faster live - and Travis will spice up the drum part even more.

Stu, if you're gonna coment on 'I'm lost without you' (which is a terrible Blink song, by the way), at least mention the duelling snare outro!! Yes it was overdubbed, but it shows great rhythmic creativity and must have been a nightmare to record - a testament to Barker's time-keeping abilities. Travis plays along to a click, and really, I don't see any noticeable tempo changes.

There are also tonnes of punk drummers that play as many, if not more notes than Travis, such as Jordan Burns and Dave Ruan, but I'll concede one guy who bases his playing a bit more on 'feel' and does less while sounding equally good is Derek Grant of Alkaline Trio.

Well in all fairness, repetition is good for one's opinion about Travis. His "tinkering" fills, with the little off-beat cymbal bell hits and stuff is kind of infectious. The more you listen the more you like.

I like Greenday and Bowling for Soup type punk drumming better (simpler, less busy).

That snare outro thing on "lost without you" doesn't do anything for me. I've never been a big rudimental snare fan anyway, so....

Again, my sole problem with his playing is just differences in taste, and people's tendancy to idolize him.

I wonder what he's gonna do next (now that blink is dead) and how his drumming style will fit into it?

my opion on Travis Barker is that he is an amazing drummer really, I love his speed. I use to be a big fan of blink but not really anymore. I don't no what he's doing with blink in the first place. Travis was one of the drummers i looked up too when i just started drumming. He is very popular even non-drummers know who Barker is. Anyways, I think he is really a great drummer in theory.

Stu_Strib said:

That snare outro thing on "lost without you" doesn't do anything for me. I've never been a big rudimental snare fan anyway, so....

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Yeah, I agree, this is a rare slip up by Travis, and the whole song is a pathetic attempt at a ballad. Blink are better when they're more energetic. As for where Travis will go next, he's in plus 44, 'Mark Hoppus's' new band. These guys are shaping up to be better than 'Angels and Airwaves' (Tom's new band). He is deceptively versatile, and can groove with the best of them, as 'the transplant's' various albums have proven.

Dill X said:

I can't believe how he gets such a bad rap from drummers here. Most of you just see people ragging on him and jump on the bandwaggen, leaving little room for any actual thought or research put into your post.

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i never bashed him (or any other drummer) but you can understand the backlash. there are so many teen drummers obsessed with him. personally from the videos i've seen, i'm not really impressed, that's just my opinion.. i'm not surprised people talk trash. i actually think chad sexton is a much much better drummer, but i hardly ever hear about him. by the way i don't like either band, but i'll acknowledge a good drummer when i hear one.

Jookbox said:

i never bashed him (or any other drummer) but you can understand the backlash. there are so many teen drummers obsessed with him. personally from the videos i've seen, i'm not really impressed, that's just my opinion.. i'm not surprised people talk trash. i actually think chad sexton is a much much better drummer, but i hardly ever hear about him. by the way i don't like either band, but i'll acknowledge a good drummer when i hear one.

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heres a good video for you to gander at, keep in mind that hes improving! and this is a live performance at the 2006 guitar center drum off in california, took place january 17th, the person keeping the bass beats and such in the background is adrian young of no doubt.
i personally loved this video ever since i got my hands on it.

http://www.youtube.com/w/Drum-Off-2006?v=qeCR952bfN4



i love the hip hopish type beat hes doing.. this video shows barkers chops and his creativity excellently..

http://www.youtube.com/w/drum-off-2006?v=snZD5s3ks30&search=travis barker

here is another one (same event) this time hes on the kit...

check out his style and playing movments (another reason why i love to watch this man play) !

hope you all enjoy

You guys should spend less time harping on the guy, and more time practicing. And for someone to try to rank him just by listening to his music and the 4 videos on this website is stupid, how do you know what he is really capable off when he's playing a music style that calls for less. Im sure he's put 10x the amount of practice, and time into his playing than half this board has. And to justify your oppinion on why he is not a great drummer is rediculous.

lunchladysrcool said:

And to justify your oppinion on why he is not a great drummer is rediculous.

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(Ah, first post. Welcome to DW, enjoy your stay)
Well, any of us disagree with your assessment. To say he is the greatest thing ever and then NOT justify it is rediculous.

How do we know what he's capable of? Well, he has a 10-year discography for one. I've seen more Travis Barker videos than probably any other drummer ever (and I've been watching drummer vids for 22 years).

My question to you is "How do YOU know how much WE practice"? Again (103rd time I've asked this), what does my skill have to do with a thread about Travis Barker?

So I click on the 2006 Drumoff and see a very uninspiring battery of double stroke rolls on a marching snare. (If that is even really him). If it is him and Adrian Young, than wouldn't that be a Zildjian event, and not a GC event?

The point is it is all relative. Did anyone see the DCI videos and those crazy good guys that play in the drumlines? THAT is "awesome". That 2006 Drumoff video is a celebrity who has skills, but nothing like the DCI guys.

I like what Finn said once about people who post things with no perspective, like the kid who thinks he discovered a great new guitarist named "Jimmi" something.

Re: Travis Barker's Wife Is Hot

All I have to say is............remember when some of you were really young/naive and didn't know jack squat about music? You'll probably say "yes" and then remember that you were praising drummers like Peter Criss, Nick Mason and Bill Ward (Black Sabbath) back when you were a wee little lad and now thinking to yourself "Wow.......I was way off." Well, kids are still doing the same thing today.

The videos that beatsMcGee posted were entertaining, nothing mind-blowing, but then again is that what he's trying to do? Somehow I doubt it. When your fanbase is mostly young teenage girls, you could sit there and do triplets all day and they'll spill blood for it. However, the solo vid on this site of him coming up from the floor is just embarrassing. I think that should be removed. It's cool he uses electronic samples in that, but he should probably ask Mr. Peart or Jimbo (if you don't know then leave this site now) how to really use them.

Barker is a great punk drummer, there's no doubt about that. I enjoy his playing on that Boxcar Racer cd the most. He gets really creative in some of his parts, especially since.....hello!!!! It's punk music for God's sake.....not Zappa or Benny Goodman. I give him kudos for not just playing fast crap beats.

Is he the best drummer in the history of music? No, but y'know what? He's the most popular now, so of course you're going to get all the naive people following that schtick of "omg dude he's on MTV all the time. he's the best drummer ever. like like, he's awesome."

I don't like a Blink 182 persay, but I I think his drumming is fantastic, especially his newer stuff that seems to be on the radio all the time.
A lot of people here seem to blow off most drumming that isn't in the Steve Gadd, Buddy Rich genre, or the freaks like Thomas Lang and Dennis Chambers.
I hear people on this forum dis Virgil Donati quite a bit, too. So If you are a fan of The drummers like Travis Barker and Joey Jordison, don't take their opinions too seriously. They are good drummers, or they wouldn't be where they are today!