EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,011 words- 0:00 – 0:02
Intro
- SPSpeaker
[upbeat music]
- 0:02 – 1:06
Fatherhood, bonding, and what kids change in you
- SPSpeaker
Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out.
- JRJoe Rogan
The Joe Rogan Experience.
- SPSpeaker
Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night. All day. [upbeat music]
- JRJoe Rogan
What up? What's up? Ah, it's good to see you, brother.
- TBTravis Barker
Oh.
- JRJoe Rogan
What's cracking?
- TBTravis Barker
Good to be seen, man. Stoked to be here.
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh, I'm stoked to have you, man.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And what a fucking cute kid you have, dude. [laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
Oh, thank you. Thank you. He's the best, man. I'm so blessed.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, he loves you.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
When you're trying to put him down, he's like, "No."
- TBTravis Barker
I think it's 'cause I just spent... We just went to, uh, Utah, and I had three or five days with him, just like a lot of time-
- JRJoe Rogan
Ah
- TBTravis Barker
... time with him, and he has separation anxiety from me. A- as I do with him. I'm like, "It's the best, man."
- JRJoe Rogan
I know. People that don't have kids, it's like you don't understand the level of love that you have for them.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's, it's really crazy.
- TBTravis Barker
Or people who have kids and don't hang out with their kids like that, I just, I don't get it. I don't-
- JRJoe Rogan
I don't get it either.
- TBTravis Barker
I'll spend every second I can with my kids.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, it's weird. It's weird that people... Uh, uh, maybe it's something that happened to them when they were young or something. I don't know. But-
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
So what's cracking? What's, what's the latest?
- 1:06 – 2:46
Documentary release and the missing ending: fear of flying after the crash
- TBTravis Barker
Uh, I mean, my doc came out today.
- JRJoe Rogan
Today?
- TBTravis Barker
So yeah. Yep. Long time coming.
- JRJoe Rogan
What was that experience like?
- TBTravis Barker
Well, the beginning of it was, was shortly after my book came out, so I kinda understood why people wanted a doc from me at that point. And, um, I was, I was honored, and I was flattered, and I was, you know, going down the journey of, of filming this doc, but it, it didn't really have an ending. Um, I guess the light at the end of the tunnel during that time, around 2017, was that I was sober and I survived a plane crash, but really, I was struggling with ever flying again, uh, struggling with survivor's guilt, struggling with a lot of stuff. Uh, and at the time, the directors had mentioned to me, like, "Can you just look at a plane or act like you're gonna go fly in a plane or walk towards a plane?" I was like, "Fuck no. I would never. I can't even consider it. I can't even do it for you for, for, like, fantasy purposes for the end of this doc," you know? Um, and I think that set in after a while, where I had to acknowledge and, and, and just understand I was, I was afraid to ever fly again. And, and this thing had huge power over me to the point where it, you know, it dictated how I got on tour, how many days I'd travel on bus to New York, how many days I'd be on the Queen Mary 2 going to England.
- 2:46 – 5:00
Touring without planes: buses, ocean crossings, and storms on the Queen Mary 2
- JRJoe Rogan
How long would that take?
- TBTravis Barker
Oh, dude, so long. It-
- JRJoe Rogan
The England one's crazy.
- TBTravis Barker
Comfortably on the bus from here to New York, probably six or seven days if you wanna stop at hotels and at... You know, I toured with my kids, you know, their whole life, so stopping and doing some cool stuff for them, six, seven days, and then a 10-day boat ride from, from New York to the Hamptons.
- JRJoe Rogan
Fuck.
- TBTravis Barker
It's crazy. Yeah. So yeah, my band would leave. They'd be in England in 10 hours, whatever. It would take me three weeks. [laughs]
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
It sucked. And then sometimes I'd be on the Queen Mary 2, and we'd have wild weather, uh, 30-foot waves, 170 mile per hour winds, and I was like, "But is this any better than being on a plane?" But-
- JRJoe Rogan
Do you... The ocean freaks me out.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah. It, it started to.
- JRJoe Rogan
The big waves in particular, they freak me out.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah, we got into a couple storms-
- JRJoe Rogan
Ugh
- TBTravis Barker
... on one of the transatlantic crossings that... Yeah, believe me. I, like, something was festering inside where I, I had this urge to, to, to try to figure out what had this power over me, which was flying, and, um, yeah, it-
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, it's totally understandable.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah, I'd think about it every day a- after a certain point, and then... Plus my kids, you know, they grew up not flying. They, they grew up associating a plane, uh, to a, a metal container where people die, I think, you know, unfortunately-
- JRJoe Rogan
[exhales]
- TBTravis Barker
... because that's what happened, you know, to m- my two best friends and the two pilots who were on my plane. Uh, so yeah, it was, it was, it was hard. And then I knew the day I did it, I could show them that they could also do it, and it would probably break the, the trauma and the spell that my, my accident caused however many years ago. And yeah, I, I think after my accident and that whole process, I just... Ev- everything people said I couldn't do, after that I would just check them off one by one. "Oh, you're not gonna run again. Oh, you're not gonna play the drums again. Oh, you're not, you're not gonna do this again." And, uh, and the one that I gave myself, the, the restriction I gave myself is I'd never fly again, you know? And I, I broke it, and I fly again, and-
- 5:00 – 9:23
Breaking the 20-year rule: first flight back and reframing survivor’s guilt
- JRJoe Rogan
How many years did it take you before you got on a plane again?
- TBTravis Barker
20.
- JRJoe Rogan
[exhales]
- TBTravis Barker
And I even think back to that, I'm like, "20 years. I lost 20 years with this thing having power over me." But it just, it was like a monster. It kept getting bigger and bigger, and I was like, "I gotta-"
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, you gotta look at it, like, in terms of the odds.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
You survived a plane crash, which is, the odds of that are astronomical. The odds of you getting in another plane crash are super low.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
I know nobody thinks about it like that because it's the opposite, because you've actually experienced it, so you know what it is. Like, "Oh my God, this is a real possibility."
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah. I, I can see that now 'cause my, my, my son who's 22, he doesn't love to fly, and I always say, like... We just were in Utah, and I took a flight, you know. Uh, he ended up driving, and I was like, "Son, it, that's way more dangerous. Like, fly with me. I'm never gonna put you on a plane that I think is unsafe." I'm so adamant about making sure the pilot's great, the, the plane's had maintenance, whatever else.
- JRJoe Rogan
How do you check all that stuff?
- TBTravis Barker
Well, just if we're flying private, you're, you're able to, like- ... you know, really make sure it's a great plane. Uh, sometimes even we'll fly on, like, someone's plane that we know. So that makes me feel better, but yeah, he just, he just drove 16 hours round trip.
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
I was like, "Son, that's way more dangerous."
- JRJoe Rogan
It is. [laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
Um, but yeah, that's what I tell myself, and I just gotta have faith and, um, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
What was the first plane trip like after 20 years?
- TBTravis Barker
It was nothing like I'd imagined it. Uh, I, I made a deal with my wife, and I just said, "Hey, if there's ever somewhere we can't go..." 'Cause she was a champ, man. She was, she was on tour buses with me. She was on w- whatever, just, you know, going kinda close by for trips that we'd go on. And I said, "If there's ever a trip that you want us to go on that I'd need to fly, just don't tell me and, uh, tell me the night before. And let's leave in the morning, and I'm gonna do it." So that's what it was, and the flight was awesome, had... contained none of the awful nightmares that I had fabricated in my head that it would be like, uh, over the years. And yeah, I, I think I just needed a positive experience to cancel out the, the last bad one that I had.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
You know? Um, yeah, th- that helped a lot, and I think, I think also coming to terms with being so close to my godson, who was my assistant's son, who passed away in my plane crash, and, uh, and his mom and Che's mom, and just knowing, uh, that, that there was no, there was no hard feelings. And, and the survivor's guilt I was feeling was, was my own. And to just think about them, and if the roles were reversed, w- would, would they want me to really just sit around and not fly again or have this thing have power over me? Um, or if I was in their shoes, would I want that for them? Like, of course not.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. It's a, it's an experience that so few people ever have. I, I mean, I can't imagine what it's like, especially losing your friends.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And just the, the trauma of the actual impact, the whole thing just stuck in your head.
- TBTravis Barker
It's... Yeah. I mean, to this day, I always... Like, my wife's a great flyer. My band, they're all good flying, you know? I think they can... My wife can probably envision a trip, plan a trip, envision how rad it's gonna be, how cool it's gonna be doing rock climbing or whatever we're gonna do. All I can think about until I get there is like, "Am I gonna make it? Is, is this gonna... You know, I did this once, and I almost died." So, you know, I had, I had to just stop that pattern of thinking, uh, to the best of my ability. It still happens a little bit, but I still can't... I have trouble booking planes. I have trouble booking flights, um, without thinking of those things, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, I can only imagine. Well, it's awesome that you got through it and got over it and did it publicly so that other people can get inspiration from that-
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah
- JRJoe Rogan
... and, and just realize like, hey, may- you know, maybe for them it was a car accident or a bus acci- or whatever it is. Like, you can keep moving.
- 9:23 – 21:49
Finding “someone like me”: connection with another crash survivor and Sully encounter
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah, for sure. And I, uh, at the time, you know, AM, AM survived with me, and then he lived for another year and passed away of a drug overdose. But during that time where, after I'd gotten out of the burn center and did most of my recovery, it was hard to find anyone who had been in a plane crash that was severely burnt, like, you know, and lost people. There was a lot of, there was a lot of groups and a lot of people that, uh, like support systems for people who had, were grieving and lost someone in a plane crash, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
So I, it was kind of, uh, just lonely trying to navigate, figure it out. Just recently, just like a few days ago, before my doc came out, I... someone kept tagging me, and I saw it, and it's this, this young lady named Reva. She had a similar experience where she was in a plane crash, 50% of her body was burnt, and she lost her mom in the plane crash. So I was like, "This is really similar to me, and I've never met anyone that had even remotely kind of the same experience." So I flew her out, and she was at my premiere, and it was just, it was just cool. And I said, uh, "You know, it's, it's just as cool for me to meet you as for you to meet me. Like, this is... I, I don't, I don't see anyone or meet anyone like you, you know?"
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
So yeah. It's, it's cool.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's a very cool human experience.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
You know, just share it with somebody and realize, like, you both been through something pretty horrible, but you came out on the other side and-
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah
- JRJoe Rogan
... found comfort in each other.
- TBTravis Barker
I think the closest thing that I came to that was right after my accident, and I was out to dinner. The guy who flew the, the plane and landed in the river-
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh-huh
- TBTravis Barker
... remember that?
- JRJoe Rogan
Sully? Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah, he came up and shook my hand at dinner. Didn't say a word to me, but I was like-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, wow
- TBTravis Barker
... "Oh, that's awesome," you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, that's-
- TBTravis Barker
But-
- JRJoe Rogan
That story's fucking crazy.
- TBTravis Barker
Dude. Crazy.
- JRJoe Rogan
Birds.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Birds took the plane down.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah. That, that would-
- JRJoe Rogan
You would think they would've figured that out by now.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah, the smallest error-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah
- TBTravis Barker
... you know? It's insane.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Um, flying's weird, but I prefer it over the boat.
- 21:49 – 27:55
Burn center reality: 30 surgeries, pain, addiction history, and rehab by catastrophe
- JRJoe Rogan
But even you, when you were recovering from your burns, you started eating meat.
- TBTravis Barker
Well, because I had doctors that were super old-school in the, in the, in the hospital with me-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm
- TBTravis Barker
... that figured out I wasn't eating because they were trying to feed me a bunch of meat, and they stuck a hose down my throat, and that just sucked, so.
- JRJoe Rogan
They stuck a hose down your throat?
- TBTravis Barker
Mm-hmm, to, like, feed you like that because I was, like, secretly just eating kinda, like, what I wanted, but not eating a bunch of the meat because I told them, "Hey, I, I don't, I don't really eat meat." Um, so there was, like, a miscommunication where they just put a h- a hose down my throat and were, were feeding me like that. And then during that time, my, my, uh, one of my nurses was super cool, and he started making me bags of beef jerky. So I would eat beef jerky in the hospital to get whatever protein that they wanted me to have, and then down a Peanut Butter Blast smoothie from, what is that? Is it Roebucks or something like that? Like, one of those, and it's 3,000 calories. So I was, I was averaging... I, I basically, I had a s- I had a 6 to 7,000 calorie diet I needed to hit every day-
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow
- TBTravis Barker
... uh, in order to heal 'cause I, I had just had 30 surgeries in six months.
- JRJoe Rogan
Psh.
- TBTravis Barker
So it was just, just trying to, to get enough.
- JRJoe Rogan
Just, just 30 times being anesthetized for six months is fucking hard on your body.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah. It was... Uh, I was so out of it, I didn't really know until towards the end, you know? But, but yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Jeez, man. Did you ever try using a hyperbaric chamber?
- TBTravis Barker
I couldn't do it. After, you know, my, my, my, uh, my best friend that was in the, the accident with me, AM, he was, he was a, I think 6% of his body was burnt, and he went in the hyperbaric, and I think he had a l- a small graft on the back of his head. He was out of the hospital in a week and a half. Uh, but I had 70% of my body burnt, so there was no way I was getting out of the hospital, no matter how much I did it or didn't do it. I tried doing it, and I was just in such a awful place after my, my accident where I was, I had so much trauma, uh, with, like, losing my, my best friends, and I was, I was definitely, uh, my reaction was much different than, than, uh, Adam's. Uh, and I couldn't, I couldn't go in the small tube. There's, there was no way. I think at the time it reminded me too much of the inside of the plane.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really?
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah. I just felt really claustrophobic and, and I was also having a hell of a time s- uh, AM was sober, sober for 15 years when it happened. I was, I was a drug addict, you know, before my plane crash. And you take a, a person who's self-medicating, put him through 30 surgeries, give him a bunch of pain meds, and they're not working.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- TBTravis Barker
That was me. So I was waking up every surgery screaming, swinging on doctors-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, Jesus Christ
- TBTravis Barker
... a complete madman, you know? Um.
- JRJoe Rogan
[sighs]
- TBTravis Barker
Until, until they weaned me off and by the, by the time I got out of there, I was... I never wanted to put anything in my body again. And, uh, had a great relationship with all my doctors and Dr. Grossman, who owns the burn center, the Grossman Burn Center. It was, uh, yeah, it was full circle.
- JRJoe Rogan
But that's a crazy trial by fire to get off drugs.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah, that was my, that was my, that was my rehab.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- TBTravis Barker
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
Fuck, dude. That has to be... I mean, you're confined to a bed, you're stuck, they're giving you pain medications, you're going through 30 surgeries, you have 70% of your body burnt, your friends just died, and you're in this hospital by yourself.
- TBTravis Barker
Huge wake-up call.
- JRJoe Rogan
What a fucking-
- TBTravis Barker
You know?
- 27:55 – 39:33
Finishing the documentary: grief triggers, childhood hardship, and resilience as a message
- JRJoe Rogan
Fuck, dude. What... Now, when you're doing this documentary, are you... Does it relive all this stuff for you?
- TBTravis Barker
Every time. Yeah, I was so excited to come on, on this with you, 'cause I'm like, "I'm gonna talk fights with Joe. I'm gonna talk whatever-"
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
"... cars, whatever." [laughs] Um.
- JRJoe Rogan
We can do that, man.
- TBTravis Barker
But some, some of, some of them have been, uh... I mean, they've all been great, but I mean, to tell the truth, I think since... I, I'm not sure why, but maybe since I was a kid, you know, I lost my mom at a young age, like 13. Like, I could, a stranger could come up to me outside this place and be like, "Dude, I just lost my dad," and I'd probably start bawling, 'cause it's sensitive to me. It, like, triggers something to me.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- TBTravis Barker
Um, so yeah. It's like talking about certain parts of the doc is like gutting me with a knife, you know? Um.
- JRJoe Rogan
Were you conflicted as to whether or not you wanted to go through with this and relive all that stuff?
- TBTravis Barker
Um, I, I think I was already far past it. It was, it was, it was to the point where my doc was done in 2017, but I'm like, "There's no ending. The ending sucks. I won't look at a plane. I won't do anything." And then fast-forward, you know, that was their dream ending, just stare at a fucking plane for me, right?
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
And I'm like, "Nah." You know? Um, so and then fast-forward to now, 2024 or whatever it was when I flew, or 2025, it was like, "Yo, I fly. I fly again. My kids fly. Uh, I'm married." Um, there, like so many things have changed, and that kinda triggered me to finish it, because there was a, a huge light at the end of the tunnel now, right? It was like-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah
- TBTravis Barker
... yeah, I had this thing that had power over me for 20 years, but I fly again. And, uh, and, and I, I think the other parts of the doc, like, uh, an amazing, like, rough relationship with my dad when, when I was younger turned into s- something, like, beautiful, where he's, like, my best friend. Um.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, that's awesome.
- TBTravis Barker
I wasn't, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I grew up, you know, not... We didn't even have, like, running hot water in my house. Uh, so I, it wasn't like my dad was in the music industry and my mom was a, an agent. It was like, nah, I, I fucking didn't know how I was gonna get out of where I, where I grew up. And I just played every day, and I was relentless. And I joined every band, and I played with everyone, and I practiced two to five hours a day, you know? So just even giving some kid hope knowing that he can do the same thing was, was, like, a, a big part of my documentary that I felt like could help a lot of people.
- JRJoe Rogan
For sure.
- TBTravis Barker
And then just to see me get knocked down and, um, and just have to fight, you know, over and over again when fucked up things happen to me and- Just watching me have these things just make me stronger and stronger, and unbreakable. I think that's the resilience. I think, like, that, that is something for, for people to see.
- JRJoe Rogan
Fucking yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
You know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, there's two great messages in there. The big one is that you can overcome, that no matter how fucked up things are, if you keep going and if you keep... You stay positive, you do the right thing, you trust the process, at the end of it you'll come out better.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And then your, the formula for success is the same formula almost everyone has that is really awesome at something. Become obsessed, become driven, and just throw everything you have in that thing, and you come out better.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And y- y- you eventually get to where you wanna be or get to where you are. It's, it's, it's an undeniable formula.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And p- kids need to hear that.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Especially kids in this world, where everybody thinks everything comes quick and everybody wants a... You know, it's a TikTok mindset, and everybody wants a pill to lose weight, and everybody wants... It, it's all... The process is the most important thing, and just get, become, becoming obsessed and in love with the process.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah. And, and so many people, I don't know, they... There's not a lot of balance, right? Like, I've, I've found more balance now, but it's like, no, you've gotta be fucking obsessed, and you gotta be relentless, and you gotta... While all your homies are out doing whatever, you should be practicing. You know what I mean?
- 39:33 – 47:49
Austin’s “get after it” culture: fitness energy, jiu-jitsu boom, and comedy explosion
- TBTravis Barker
I ran, what is it called? Lake Austin?
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh-huh. Lady Bird, Lady Bird Lake.
- TBTravis Barker
I, I ran it today. Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's dope.
- TBTravis Barker
So nice.
- JRJoe Rogan
Isn't it beautiful?
- TBTravis Barker
So beautiful.
- JRJoe Rogan
This is such a great place.
- TBTravis Barker
If I lived here, I would be out there every day, and tons of people running.
- JRJoe Rogan
I know.
- TBTravis Barker
So cool.
- JRJoe Rogan
There's a lot of healthy people in this town.
- TBTravis Barker
And I, I didn't... My goal was to just wake up and walk. I went to, like, this good espresso spot that has, like, cortados, had a coffee, and then, uh, I have, like, long shorts on, like sweatshorts, cutoff sweats, Suicidal Tendencies sweats-
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
... and high socks and just regular shoes. And where I come from, where I grew up, was called the Inland Empire. Like, and I'm like, "Oh my God, I look so Inland Empire right here."
- JRJoe Rogan
Totally. [laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
Like, no shirt-
- JRJoe Rogan
Suicidal Tendencies
- TBTravis Barker
... long-ass sweat. Suicidal Tendencies. People are like, "He's not from here," you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
But I'm like, "Hey, I'm here with you guys." You know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, but you blend right in. Everybody blends in here. This is a very blend-in town.
- TBTravis Barker
I lo- I love Austin.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's great.
- TBTravis Barker
It's cool.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. But that lake is, uh, a really fun spot, and a- again, very inspirational too because there's a lot of people getting after it.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
A lot of people that look good. They look healthy.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah, it was like... I don't know. Honestly, I was surprised.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really?
- 47:49 – 56:14
Training for performance: functional strength, tempo workouts, and avoiding ‘slow muscle’
- JRJoe Rogan
What do you do for strength training?
- TBTravis Barker
It's tricky. I, I used to just work out. If I, if I was here, I'd find someone, I'd work out with them, or have, have friends I'd work out with, or trainers back home. But a lot of people see me and they're like, "Bro, let's get, let's get you jacked."
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
Well, that, that's not, that's not functional for me.
- JRJoe Rogan
Not functional for drums.
- TBTravis Barker
I need to be fucking fast.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- TBTravis Barker
And I need to be, um, fluid, and-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right
- TBTravis Barker
... yeah, so a lot of people... I, I figured out after years, and years, and years of, of working out with different people, what's best for me is, is fast twitch and lots of reps, uh, lots of sprints, quick, explosive energy.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- TBTravis Barker
I love boxing, love jump roping. Um, and then a few days is more, like, slow strength training.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- TBTravis Barker
But only followed by, like, I have to finish with something fast, whether it's- 10 rounds on the bag or whatever else, or I literally... I remember there was a tour and I was working out with someone, and, um, we hadn't yet figured it out. We work out still together, and we do, we do something called tempo training. So whatever music is on, you're doing it to the tempo, and you're doing it for the length of the song. So it's much longer than you would normally do something, and it's much quicker than you'd normally do something. But that's how I play the drums, and that's gonna, that's gonna, um, help me once I go back to what I do, and it's functional for what I do.
- JRJoe Rogan
I like that.
- TBTravis Barker
But when I wasn't doing that and I was just throwing around heavy weights and I was putting on muscle, I was... I got behind a kit, and I remember I hadn't really tested it out, and it was the worst feeling in the world. I was so tight. I was so slow.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- TBTravis Barker
I didn't look like this, but I felt like this, you know? [laughs]
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
It was terrible. I was like, "Oh my gosh, this isn't me. I need to be ba," you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right, right.
- TBTravis Barker
Like, and my goal, my only goal is to be able to think something and do it, execute, uh, stamina-wise, endurance-wise, and skill-wise. So I'm always practicing, and my stamina's always on point, so.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, drumming is like sprinting with your arms.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
I mean, you're just like-
- TBTravis Barker
It, it-
- JRJoe Rogan
... long-term fast running with your arms.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah, it's like-
- JRJoe Rogan
You know?
- TBTravis Barker
... volume punches, right?
- 56:14 – 1:44:25
Fighter mindset and MMA deep dive: dominance, damage, and when to retire
- JRJoe Rogan
And you, when, then if you watch fights, you really appreciate what's going on 'cause you've tried to do that, and you know.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, 'cause a lot of people get very delusional when they watch fights. Like, oh, well-
- TBTravis Barker
They get pissed when they go to the ground
- JRJoe Rogan
... I'd get in there.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
I'll fucking, I'd fuck these guys up.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, you have this d- Most men have a very delusional understanding of, or belief in their ability to fight.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
So doing it gives you like, "Oh, this is fucking really hard." And then you watch people at an elite level. You know, you watch Sugar Sean O'Malley or someone like that, and you're like, "Oh, fuck, that's hard to do what he just did. That's crazy."
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
It, like, gives you a real true appreciation of the amount of effort and the amount of dis- discipline and intensity that this guy's put in over years and years and years to achieve this level, where you're watching something spectacular in front of 15,000 people and millions of people on television.
- TBTravis Barker
Dude, I couldn't imagine. Yeah, I was with Dom one time, and, uh, me and Dom Cruz. He was just like, "Try to sleep me."
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
And I'm like, "Okay." And you know how fast he is and how, like, I swing, and he's over here. You know? [laughs]
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
It was like, oh, it was so humiliating. But, um, and then he just was just grappling me and not letting me move, and he's like, he's like, "Don't ever, don't ever when you're in a fight be like, 'Do something, do something.' This is what it feels like." You know? [laughs]
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
He was just keeping me there, and I'm like, "Oh, I have much more respect for just..." Yeah, when someone's even just holding someone against the fence, that, that feels awful.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
You know? Uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
And it drains you
- TBTravis Barker
... it drained me, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
And then to start a fresh round where I'm trying to sleep him was, it was, it was impossible.
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
It was impossible to begin with, but it was even more impossible, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
His footwork is ridiculous.
- TBTravis Barker
Dude, so good.
- 1:44:25 – 2:01:32
Medicine, recovery tech, and Travis’s clotting disorder (Factor V)
- JRJoe Rogan
The back thing-
- TBTravis Barker
Right
- JRJoe Rogan
... scares me though when people get surgery, because there's a lot of options other than surgery that are probably gonna be better for most people.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah. You know-
- JRJoe Rogan
Depending upon the situation, of course
- TBTravis Barker
... I broke my back in four places in my accident.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, Jesus.
- TBTravis Barker
And I didn't know about it, 'cause I was laid out in a burn center for six months, and I never got any surgeries. Like, my doctor exactly said what you just said. He's like, "You healed perfect. Like, it's, me doing surgery, I can't guarantee you'd be in a better place than you are now."
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
So.
- JRJoe Rogan
I have friends that have had back surgery, and they have gotten better because of the back surgery, but I also have a lot of friends that got back surgery, and they never were the same again.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And they had to get another back surgery, and then another one, and they have nerve damage, then their arms go numb, and then they have atrophy in their limbs, and...
- TBTravis Barker
Surgery's sketch. Uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, it can be, but there's other ways around it when it comes to, like, disc issues, and this is one of the things that I try to highlight to people. There's PRP, there's, there's, uh, a place in, uh, LA in Santa Monica called, uh, Lifecycle. Is that it? They, but they do something called Regenokine. And Regenokine is, uh, a type of... I've gone to them a bunch of times. How can I not remember the name of it? Isn't it Lifecycle? Lifecycle Santa Monica?
- TBTravis Barker
Lifespan.
- JRJoe Rogan
What's that? Lifespan. Lifespan, sorry. Lifespan Santa Monica. Lifespan Medicine. Phenomenal place. Uh, shout out to Moshe, my friend there. Um, but they, uh, do PRP, but it's a different kind of P- it's called Regenokine, and what they do is they take your blood, uh, they pull it out of your body, they spin it in a centrifuge and do some sort of process to it, and then they reinject it into you the next day, into the discs. And it's an insanely potent anti-inflammatory agent. And it was the first thing that I did that ever fixed my bulging discs, where I had bulging discs in my neck to the point where, um, I was getting numbness in my fingers.
- TBTravis Barker
Oh.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, all from jujitsu.
- TBTravis Barker
Damn.
- JRJoe Rogan
And, uh, it was really b- getting me to the point where I was like, "I don't think I can train anymore." Like, every time I train, I'm in agony. Like, I, and it keeps getting worse. And I would go to a chiropractor, and he, he was full of shit, and they, they weren't helping me at all. And then, uh, this Regenokine thing and, like, within a week I started feeling better. Two weeks later, no more numbness, no more tingling in my fingers, and then within a couple of months after that, I was fully healed. I got another MRI. My disc had come completely gone back in place.
- TBTravis Barker
Wow, that's game changing.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Because it was pulling... It was pushing out and pressing against the nerve, and it was causing pain, like, nerve pain in my elbow, and in my... It was the ulnar nerve, same nerve that you were talking about the other-
- TBTravis Barker
Scary, right?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
When you start getting-
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh-huh
- TBTravis Barker
... like, tingly feelings in your fingers and you can't feel them.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. It was also-
- TBTravis Barker
It's the worst
- 2:01:32 – 2:16:10
Veganism, performance nutrition, and why rigid tribes backfire
- JRJoe Rogan
So for you, is the vegan thing just all animals? It's a, an animal love thing?
- TBTravis Barker
Uh, nah, it wasn't even... It, it, it is, it is that. Like, I, I am kind of under the, the, the thought process of if I love one a- if I have a dog and I love a dog, I love, I kind of love all animals, right? Like, I, I love all animals the same. I'm not like, "I'm gonna eat that one. I'm gonna shoot that one, but I love my dog."
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- TBTravis Barker
It's a little contradicting to me, you know? But, uh, but I, I didn't even know any of these things. At a young age, I remember food would be put in front of me, and there would be ham, whatever, and I would just naturally put the ham in my, ham in my pocket and eat, like, the mac and cheese or whatever else-
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
... the spinach. And, 'cause my dad had this rule, he's like, "You eat everything, or you don't get up from the fucking table. Straight up. I don't care if you're there for three hours." That, that's what it was, 'cause your mom spent time making the food. You gotta eat the food, or you don't leave the table. So I'd pocket it-
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
... and then my mom, my mom would find it when she'd go wash clothes.
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
So it started like that, and then next was, oh, ham is actually this. Hot dog is actually this. Hamburger is this. And I'm like, "Whoa, I just thought a hamburger was a hamburger." I didn't really know-
- JRJoe Rogan
You didn't realize it was cow meat.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
So I just naturally didn't li- I was already, like, not liking the taste or the texture, right? So it was like, okay, whatever. And so vegetarian from the time I was a kid- All the way up until my accident, and then after my accident, vegan.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- TBTravis Barker
So it wasn't really about animals. It was just at that time it was like I just, I wasn't drawn to eat that stuff.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- TBTravis Barker
It's not, it's not what I was into.
- JRJoe Rogan
What about eggs?
- TBTravis Barker
I loved, I loved bean and cheese burritos. I grew up on bean and cheese burritos from Baker's.
- JRJoe Rogan
I love a good bean and cheese burrito.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah, from where I grew up, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
Um, I loved-
- JRJoe Rogan
Good bean and cheese burrito-
- TBTravis Barker
... Mexican food
- JRJoe Rogan
... with hot sauce.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah, you can't beat it. So that's kinda like what I was raised on.
- JRJoe Rogan
But there's cheese in bean and cheese burritos.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah, so I wasn't vegan until-
- 2:16:10 – 2:27:13
Haters, punk identity, and skate culture’s influence on style and music
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah. Luckily, like, the hate, the hate... Like, I get the weird, I, I get the weirdest hate. It's not even really hate, but it's just something like, they know they're, like, throwing darts from across the room at me as like, "Oh, bro, he's like a Kardashian now," or-
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
... "He married a Kardashian." I'm like, motherfucker, that's the most punk thing I could do, is marry a Kardashian and just say, "Fuck you." You know what I mean?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- TBTravis Barker
It's about, like, the, like, that even shows you I clearly don't give a fuck.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- TBTravis Barker
You know what I mean? Like, and, and my, my wife isn't, like, a, a... I can't label her like that. She's my wife. She's my, my, my soulmate, right? I love her to death. But to think, like, have you seen me change? Like, have you seen-
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, that's, not at all. No
- TBTravis Barker
... have you seen me, like, dressed di-
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
Dog, I dre- I dress so different, obviously, than my wife or her family. Like, I'm, I've continued to be my own person s- I, I look the same. I've wore the same Dickies pants, the same band shoes. I've had the same tattoos that stop me from getting a real job since I was 16 years old. Fuck you.
- JRJoe Rogan
[laughs]
- TBTravis Barker
You know what I mean? Straight up, fuck you. And, uh, and that's why, uh, I mean, punk rock is not about music either. It's about, like, you don't, you don't care what anyone thinks.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
Right? As long as you're going through this world-
- JRJoe Rogan
You are who you are
- TBTravis Barker
... you're doing... Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- TBTravis Barker
You are who you are and you're not hurting anybody, that, that's punk rock, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
I think a lot of people thought it was cool that you guys got together.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, look at this, two people from totally different worlds that love each other.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's cool.
- TBTravis Barker
Oh, it's the be- it's the best. It's just only a hater would, would think that other way, though-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah
- TBTravis Barker
... right? You know, um, but uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
But if you started getting all your tattoos lasered off-
- TBTravis Barker
But it's the one that I see
- JRJoe Rogan
... and you started wearing-
- 2:27:13 – 2:28:49
Wrap-up: where to watch the film and trailer highlights
- JRJoe Rogan
Should we wrap this up?
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah. It was amazing.
- JRJoe Rogan
Brother, always good to see you, man.
- TBTravis Barker
Yeah, so good to see you.
- JRJoe Rogan
Always good to see you. Um, this documentary, when can people watch it?
- TBTravis Barker
It's out on Hulu right now.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right here, and we're looking at the-
- TBTravis Barker
It's The Crash
- SPSpeaker
And when I think about it, I have the worst flashbacks.
- SPSpeaker
I've got two on the ground with burns over here. [tense music] Get a [censored] ambulance, man. [sirens wailing]
- SPSpeaker
The last thing my mom said to me is, "Just play drums."
- JRJoe Rogan
The drums are literally the heartbeat of the musical body. A lot of people came just to watch him.
- TBTravis Barker
He just had this, "Oh, you're gonna get picked up by a band, and you will be a star attraction."
- SPSpeaker
I told him, "You better get yourself a job, boy." And he said, "No, Dad."
- SPSpeaker
I'm gonna go play in a punk rock band, and I won't have a plan B. It's [censored] rad. [laughs] Mark and Tom come up to me and said, "Our drummer just left. Would you consider playing? The show starts in an hour"
- JRJoe Rogan
It felt effortless.
- TBTravis Barker
Things were just exploding. That was quite a wild ride.
- SPSpeaker
I was touring with Blink nonstop. I was taking so many pills that I had a security guard whose only job was to watch me sleep and make sure I was breathing. It was all a blur. And then came the crash. Just fire and chaos everywhere. 65% of my body was burnt. 27 surgeries.
Episode duration: 2:30:21
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Transcript of episode 9iENvZ2siTo
