Ahead of his new documentary Louder Than Fear, blink-182 drummer Travis Barker has opened up about how he rebuilt his life following a 2008 plane crash, and how it prompted him to quit drugs.
Travis Barker’s been revisiting the story of how he rebuilt his life after the plane crash he survived in 2008 ahead of his new documentary Louder Than Fear, and he’s explained how the experience pushed him to quit drugs for good.
In a new trailer for the documentary released earlier this week, the blink-182 drummer mentions that his addiction to prescription drugs was at one point so severe that he had a security guard whose job was to watch him sleep and check he was breathing. The plane crash, which left him with PTSD and burns on 65 per cent of his body, ended up becoming a turning point.
“I mean, my story's interesting. I'd like to say I would've figured out a way or I would've made the decision. I think I'm pretty confident I would have with the way my life panned out with all my beautiful children and my family and stuff,” Travis tells Zane Lowe in a new interview on Apple Music. “But my getting sober and my rehab was my plane crash, being in a burn center for six months.”
Travis’ heavy use of the drugs ended up causing him problems when he received medical treatment for his burns, making an already demanding process even harder.
“I think I went from doing a lot of drugs recreationally to being in a burn center where they couldn't even get my medication right because I had recreationally taken painkillers for so long,” Travis says. “I struggled. I was awake every surgery. I woke up swinging on doctors that were saving my life. I had no control over it.
“So after that experience, when I got out, I never wanted to do drugs again. It was just the last thing I wanted to think about. I couldn't even take my medication. I didn't want to take ... It felt like I was taking anything it had to go. And all my doctors were very supportive about ... And tried to talk me into saying, ‘There's nothing wrong with taking these meds,’ whatever, but, yet pain meds, bipolar meds, anything, because I was struggling a lot with survivor's guilt and all this other stuff and just the trauma of the accident.
“But I stopped everything and I just did post-traumatic therapy, and worked out a lot, and played drums, most importantly, after I got to a place where I could, but, yeah. From then on it was, like, ‘I'm just done.’”
Travis Barker’s been revisiting the story of how he rebuilt his life after the plane crash he survived in 2008 ahead of his new documentary Louder Than Fear, and he’s explained how the experience pushed him to quit drugs for good.
In a new trailer for the documentary released earlier this week, the blink-182 drummer mentions that his addiction to prescription drugs was at one point so severe that he had a security guard whose job was to watch him sleep and check he was breathing. The plane crash, which left him with PTSD and burns on 65 per cent of his body, ended up becoming a turning point.
“I mean, my story's interesting. I'd like to say I would've figured out a way or I would've made the decision. I think I'm pretty confident I would have with the way my life panned out with all my beautiful children and my family and stuff,” Travis tells Zane Lowe in a new interview on Apple Music. “But my getting sober and my rehab was my plane crash, being in a burn center for six months.”
Travis’ heavy use of the drugs ended up causing him problems when he received medical treatment for his burns, making an already demanding process even harder.
“I think I went from doing a lot of drugs recreationally to being in a burn center where they couldn't even get my medication right because I had recreationally taken painkillers for so long,” Travis says. “I struggled. I was awake every surgery. I woke up swinging on doctors that were saving my life. I had no control over it.
“So after that experience, when I got out, I never wanted to do drugs again. It was just the last thing I wanted to think about. I couldn't even take my medication. I didn't want to take ... It felt like I was taking anything it had to go. And all my doctors were very supportive about ... And tried to talk me into saying, ‘There's nothing wrong with taking these meds,’ whatever, but, yet pain meds, bipolar meds, anything, because I was struggling a lot with survivor's guilt and all this other stuff and just the trauma of the accident.
“But I stopped everything and I just did post-traumatic therapy, and worked out a lot, and played drums, most importantly, after I got to a place where I could, but, yeah. From then on it was, like, ‘I'm just done.’”
Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear is out now on Hulu and Disney+. It's got a host of famous faces weighing in on Travis' artistry and career, including bandmates Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge, as well as Questlove, Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and the late Taylor Hawkins.
Read this next:
Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear is out now on Hulu and Disney+. It's got a host of famous faces weighing in on Travis' artistry and career, including bandmates Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge, as well as Questlove, Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and the late Taylor Hawkins.
Read this next:
