Travis Barker Talks Drug Abuse and His Children While on Tour for 'California' with Blink-182

While on tour for Blink-182’s new album, California, Travis Barker is reminiscing about the past, and has always been open in the press about the fact that he had a rough one. In a new interview, the drummer is talking about his past drug abuse and how his children helped him finally get clean and sober.

“I was probably one of the most unhealthy human beings, from what I ate to what I put in my body,” Barker told People about his time with Blink-182 in the ‘90s, when the band was first starting to achieve success. “There have been so many hardships in my life. Now I know how to handle them… I just feel so blessed.”

He further said on his drug abuse, “It just goes to show it’s really about how you carry yourself and treat yourself, and I definitely made a lifestyle change years ago that made me 100 percent better,” who admits that he was wild in his younger years.

Barker also spoke on having his children, Landon and Alabama, with ex-wife Shanna Moakler and how that changed his outlook. “I started running, I boxed every day -- it’s just something that made me want to be the best parent I could be.”

While the drummer wasn’t completely sober after having kids, he credits the 2008 plane crash he was in with finally making him clean up his act. The crash, which killed four of the six people on board, left Barker with 65 percent of his body burned. He credits his children with pushing him to undergo the 30 surgeries that were needed to recover from the accident.

Blink-182 has undergone a switch-up for their tour in support of California, and let go of original member Tom DeLonge in 2015, who was replaced by Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio. Their tour additionally features fellow pop-punk bands All Time Low, A Day to Remember, and All-American Rejects. The tour begins July 7 in Winnipeg following an appearance at Firefly music festival, where they played amongst the likes of Death Cab For Cutie, Ellie Goulding and Major Lazer.

This past May (May 18) the band released a 14-second song entitled “Built This Pool” on their YouTube page. Calfornia is set to be released in full this upcoming Friday (July 1).

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Travis Barker, Blink-182