Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker is curator of the eighth annual Musink Tattoo Convention and Music Festival set for Friday-Sunday in Costa Mesa.
Travis Barker’s entire life revolves around creating music, getting tattooed and being immersed in Southern California’s classic car culture. All of which are why the 39-year-old, heavily inked drummer is the ideal curator for the Musink Tattoo Convention and Music Festival in Orange County.
Held each year at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, Musink, which returns for its eighth installment Friday-Sunday, will feature more than 300 local, national and world-renowned tattoo artists, a classic car show with a variety of models 70 years or older, and concerts each night. Headlining acts this year include Rancid, Bad Religion and Barker’s main band, Blink-182, performing with Alkaline Trio guitarist Matt Skiba.
When the show’s lineup and official event poster was revealed in late January, controversy overshadowed the announcement. Music and social media sites erupted over Blink-182’s decision to perform without founding guitarist Tom DeLonge. After numerous he-said-they-said interviews, the end result is that DeLonge is out, at least for now, and Barker, along with Blink bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, will headline the final evening of Musink.
STILL MAKING HIS MARK
In late 2013, Barker was approached with the idea of curating Musink, working alongside promoters Bill Hardie and Goldenvoice, during a meeting at his Famous Stars and Straps clothing company. It was a real “no duh” moment, he recalled as we sat in the dining room of his Los Angeles home last month.
Though he came in late to the project that year, Barker managed to pull it off by commissioning some of his favorite tattoo artists and inviting some of his music idols to perform, including punk rockers the Descendents and the Vandals, hardcore acts the Gorilla Biscuits, Strife and H20 and hip-hop acts like Tech N9ne and Rittz alongside Barker’s rap/punk super group, the Transplants.
“It just makes sense … look at me,” he continued sarcastically, shrugging. “It’s music. It’s tattoos. It’s all the things I love anyway. When they asked me, I was like, ‘Are you serious? No, that idea is absurd!’ Come on! This whole thing was easy to say yes to. Last year, I kind of just did it for the love of it, but I’m fully committed to it now because it’s such a cool opportunity.”
Orange County is the ideal place, Barker said, to host the annual fest, which debuted in 2008 with tattoo artist and TV personality Kat Von D as the curator. Barker was born and raised in Fontana and grew up with an appreciation for classic cars, hip-hop and punk rock music and elaborate body art. He got his first tattoo at 16.
After high school, he joined the band Feeble and moved to Laguna Beach, taking a job as a trash man and living in a studio apartment off Pacific Coast Highway with three friends. In 1996, he joined O.C. superhero ska band the Aquabats under the pseudonym the Baron von Tito, and just two years later, he was anchoring pop punk trio Blink-182.
His love of music, however, is equaled by his love of ink. He’s covered most of his body, including areas on his legs where he underwent painful skin grafts after surviving a Learjet crash in 2008. The accident burned off his very first tattoo, but it hasn’t deterred him from getting new artwork or touching up some of the damage. He recently got the words “Live & Learn” redone on his hands, something he had originally finished a week before the plane crash.
One of his most ambitious collections is his head, minus most of his face, which was done over several sittings and totaled about 35 hours by three of his favorite artists: Mister Cartoon (Mark Machado), Franco Vescovi and Chuey Quintanar. Barker might even leave the fairgrounds with a brand new tattoo on whatever square inch of space he has left.
“I’m always down to get tattooed real quick,” he said with a grin. “I never say never to that kind of stuff. I might get a tattoo (at Musink), but I hate getting one and then sweating like a dog and being gross on stage. I like to take care of them and I’m always cutting my hands open or something when we play. But, if I get the itch, I’ll just do it.”
LOOKING AHEAD
There’s no such thing as downtime in Barker’s world. When he’s not hanging out with his two young kids, son Landon and daughter Alabama, he’s working on new projects. Topping his to-do list is the follow-up to his 2011 solo album, “Give the Drummer Some,” which he’s been working on with Wiz Khalifa, Kid Ink, Ty Dolla Sign, Tyga and Run the Jewels. However, he’s in no hurry to rush the release. But when it finally drops, he promises: “It’s going to be … awesome.”
There’s plenty on his plate in the meantime. He’ll soon be releasing an album of covers with the Transplants. He also produced San Diego-based “cholo gothic” duo Prayers’ forthcoming EP, “Young Gods,” and collaborated with Yelawolf on his album “Love Story,” which will be out next month.
As for Blink-182, the future is still murky. Barker said the rehearsals leading into Musink with Skiba have been refreshing and that the guys have been giddy, reluctantly refraining from recording new song ideas or covers at this point and instead trying to focus on nailing down a solid 25-song set for the upcoming show.
“There’s an energy in the rehearsal space that we haven’t had in forever,” he said. “Matt is just killing it, and I was sweetly surprised. When everything happened, when the (Musink) show was booked and we were about to announce, Mark and I were like ‘How the (heck) are we going to do this without Tom?’ In that same breath though, I said, ‘Matt Skiba’ and Mark said, ‘You’re absolutely right.’”
“Everything right now is positive and I’m excited for this and I think when kids hear it, they’re going to trip out. There’s honestly no bad blood here. I wish the best for Tom and obviously the best for us, too.”
Contact the writer: 714-796-3570 or kfadroski@ocregister.com
