Anyone over 40 will know Travis Barker as the guy from Blink-182. The Instagramati, however, have fallen for his newer act: the very heavy-petting husband of Kourtney Kardashian.
He has cultivated a particularly tough-looking exterior, covered to his prominent cheekbone, which reads Blessed, in tattoos. He also ensures his 8.2 million Instagram followers are kept up to date with the ever-deteriorating state of his bloodied and blistered post-gig hands. It is amusing, then, to see the calloused knuckles in person fondling a smiley-faced, sushi shaped cuddly toy. “It’s so nice,” he coos, in one of Selfridges’ plush VIP shopping suites. “My wife will be so happy.”
Barker, 47, was in the store to check in on his new clothing label, and in London for the ongoing Blink-182 world Rock Hard Tour, which saw him play two sell-out shows at the O2. The hardness of said rocking has been tempered this year; in the coming weeks he will welcome a newborn son, his fourth child and first with Kardashian, 44. “I am so excited [for the baby to arrive]. But it’s difficult travelling,” Barker says, leaning into a deep, cream sofa in his signature overly-studded leather jacket and skull-hugging beanie. He is surprisingly delicately spoken. “We didn’t plan that we were going to have a baby, it just happened. Timing wise it was like, wow: I leave on tour in three months.”
This 30th anniversary tour, which started on May 4 in Minnesota, has been a logistical test involving stadium hopping and pit stops at the couple’s $14.5 million mansion in Carpinteria, California, for medical appointments and emergencies. Kardashian shared on September 6 that she had undergone urgent foetal surgery. “It’s been a challenge being so far away from her when she is eight months’ pregnant,” he says.
Barker’s late September visit wrought further havoc. “I had this little nine day break, and I flew home and tested positive for Covid,” he says. “Then four days later she [Kourtney] tested positive, and her and the baby got it really bad.” During this period, they hosted a Disney-themed baby shower, where some photographs show Barker wearing a mask. It promises to be a panic-stricken episode of reality show The Kardashians, in which Barker features heavily. “Of course, nine days home and I’m sick the whole time. Having Covid is kind of cool, too, though, because you end up just laying in bed. You get that time in,” he says.
Now, he is gearing up for paternity leave. “I’m going to take a break from touring for the rest of the year, and just spend time with the baby, the family and my wife,” he says. “And maybe start a couple of albums by the end of the year.” Before that, a few more hurdles. Blink-182 released their ninth album, One More Time, on Friday. And Barker cannot contain his excitement when discussing his performances in the UK. “I love London, from the first time I came over to play a club here in the early 2000s. There were like 400 people and we were in a van, and the crowds were on fire. To have two sold out O2s [now] is pretty f***ing massive.”
The resurgence of interest in the band, which Barker joined in 1998 after founding drummer Scott Raynor was dismissed, signals pop music’s imminent demise, he predicts. “I think it’s coming. I think it’s time. I kind of saw it when we played Coachella [in April] — which I played with a broken finger, it was the biggest mind f***. We were the only people there with just bass guitar, guitar and drums. To see people’s reaction — they went wild,” he says. “We’ve had a long time where pop has ruled the radio and everything pop culture. Now, I think we are seeing the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll again — of punk rock and bands coming back.”
For what it’s worth, Barker always looks to have been torn from a page of a “How to look like skate punk rocker” guide book. “I’ve always loved Vans and Dickies. Once I discovered Monkey Boots and Doc Martens my style was a little elevated. I definitely have a uniform; nothing beats an old white T-shirt or a vintage shirt that’s softer than anything.”
Much hysteria ensued when Kardashian, whom he met in the Noughties as Paris Hilton’s boyfriend, underwent a very public and thorough style overhaul after they began publicly dating in January 2021. The pair married with no less than three ceremonies, peaking with a bells-and-Dolce-&- Gabbana-whistles Portofino ceremony in July last year. Out were the crystal Balmain army suits, in favour a “rock chick” smoothie of Barker-esque fetishistic latex, leather bustiers and micro-minis.
Their in-sync red carpet and paparazzi shots became something of a daily phenomenon, yet he recoils at the words “couple dressing”. “My wife and I will accidentally do it sometimes, but the truth is she’s wearing my sweatshirt,” he says. “If we are going to the Grammys or something, she will just ask me: ‘hey, what colour are you wearing?’ And I’ll say, I’m wearing black or a pink Raf Simons trench coat. Then she figures it out. We don’t sit and plan anything.”
His wardrobe is as popular with his children, from his previous marriage (2004-08) with American actress Shanna Moakler, as it is online. “I had to put locks on my closet because my son Landon [20] will just take everything. Same with my daughter Alabama [17], or my oldest daughter Atiana [24]. It’s all of them… But I love the age gap that I have with my kids. We all listen to the same music, and we’re all into the same thing fashion wise,” he says. “Well, Landon may be a little dressier than me.”
They will be the first to celebrate Barker’s new fashion brand Don’t Trust Anyone (DTA), a debut collection which launched in Selfridges this month. “It was like working on an album for three and a half years, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.” Of the name, he says: “So many people tell me unfortunate stories, and I’m like — don’t trust anyone! The harsh reality of the world is that there’s very few people you can trust. I know a lot of people don’t want to hear that, but it’s f***ing true.”
The products are cut in his image. Hangers in the Oxford Street store hold skull splashed tees and hoodies, tracksuit shorts and tops in bright-patchworks of vintage band flyers and Dickies trousers, with technical zips to adjust the fit of the leg. It’s not cheap: at the top end, studded and painted leather jackets will set you back £9,520, a black, ripped T-shirt which reads “dream big, die young”, which he models today, is £395, and caps with DTA Records patches, after his 2019-established music label, are £290.
“It is really rooted in punk rock, and where I came from,” he says, of a southern Californian upbringing with his father Randy, a mechanic, and mother Gloria, who bought him his first drum kit at four years old, and passed away when he was 13 having been diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome three months prior. “This was very, very rooted in stuff I grew up on and loved. I almost think, you got to get this out of your system to move onto the next thing.”
Does he know that Don’t Trust Anyone’s launch might inspire eye-rolls about celebrity brands? “I’d rather not be a celebrity, and DTA is not a celebrity-owned fashion brand,” he says. “I’m not that. I’m just like you. I grew up playing the drums, skateboarding, going to punk rock shows, being an absolute terror. That’s what I am." What makes a celebrity in Barker’s book, then? “I don’t know. I think that’s how people classify certain people who are famous. Me? I’m just a drummer.”
