Some Travis Barker's memoir excerpts about blink-182

I instantly became friends with Mark and Tom, who were inseparable, and spent a lot of that tour hanging out with them on their bus. Their drummer was never around—they didn’t seem to be close to him.

I finished the tour playing for both the Aquabats and Blink-182 — we did three or four more shows. When the tour was over, Mark and Tom asked me if I would be interested in joining Blink-182. I told them, “I don’t think it’s right for me to say that when you still have somebody else in the band. But if the time comes when you need a drummer, I love you guys as people and I love playing with you—give me a call.”

Mark was calling me about once a week, saying, “I think it’s going to happen this week.” It felt like I was getting a new girlfriend, one who was calling to say, “I’m going to break up with my dude — I’ll hit you as soon as he leaves.”

Christian Jacobs (lead singer, The Aquabats): “Mark and Tom were so arrogant and jocky on that tour. It felt like they were into punk because it was a fashionable way to make money. But without Travis, Mark and Tom would have been, at best, a lukewarm poser pop-punk band. A couple of hot dogs wiggling around in a bucket.”

One night, I was doing my drum solo, busting ass and really concentrating. In the middle of the solo, I felt a hand grabbing my nuts — what the fuck? It was Tom, crouched down behind me: fondling me and laughing his ass off. Nobody could see him, and I had to keep playing.

Cypress Hill had to leave that tour before it was over — they had some other dates scheduled. Their last day with us, I went into their dressing room and told them what a pleasure it was having them out on tour. “It was such a breath of fresh air — you guys were awesome.”
B-Real said, “It’s our last day, and we have to leave during your set, so let’s smoke one.”
I grabbed Tom, even though he rarely smoked weed, and said, “Come on, Tom, don’t be scared — come smoke with us.” So me, Tom, and Lil Chris smoked with Cypress Hill: two blunts, we hit a bong a couple of times, whatever. Even at the height of my smoking weed, I had never smoked right before a gig. It was always a release after the show. About fifteen minutes later, Blink went onstage. Our shows were always high-tempo, but when this one started, it felt like everything was in slow motion. My hands were moving, but it felt like I was in a totally different place. It felt like we were floating around the stage instead of playing our instruments.
Tom turned around at one point and said to me, “I want to go home.” I totally agreed. I wanted to crawl offstage, have nobody notice that I was gone, and just go home. The show felt like it lasted forever: I thought I was onstage for four hours. Tom was so stoned, he couldn’t even banter with Mark in between songs.
Eventually, Mark said, “You guys are high, huh?” I think he said it on the microphone. We were not in any shape to be onstage, and we just barely got by. But what can you do when the Cypress guys leave the tour except give them a proper farewell?

Blink-182 were doing an annual tour, heading all around the world and even headlining festivals in Europe for over a hundred thousand people. But Tom wasn’t going out of his way to make anyone feel like he wanted to be there. He’d show up just before the tour started and act introverted. Then, as we started playing shows and money started coming in, he’d get excited about blink again. Around this time, he abruptly quit the band; he emailed me and Mark saying that he was through with the band, and with us. Then the next day, he emailed us again saying that we should forget everything he just said, and he wanted Tony Robbins to do group therapy with the three of us. He even had his manager forward Tony Robbins all the emails we have been sending back and forth.

Right before the last Blink-182 tour, Tom sent me a message, saying he was going to be in LA the next day. I told him to hit me up: we ended up going to my restaurant Crossroads, and we had a really cool time. We chilled and talked about our families. Halfway through the dinner, Tom said, “Do you know I’ve never gotten to eat a dinner with you?” All those years we’ve known each other, we had never just kicked it like that. It was great to finally hang out together, not on a tour, and really connect as people again. It didn’t last.

We want to get in the studio with Matt as soon as possible. There’s legal issues to work out with Tom, but I’m excited to make new music. Last year, I was dreading these sessions, but now I’m stoked. Blink-182 isn’t the only thing I do musically, but I still love and respect the band, and when I play with Blink, I don’t try to make it sound like one of my side projects. I owe Tom a lot, starting with the day that he thought I would be a good emergency fill-in drummer. He’ll always be an important person in my life, and I hope that he finds the happiness he’s looking for.