Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker says he almost died

Travis Barker, the drummer in the rock band Blink-182, told the Associated Press in a video interview published August 10 that he almost died. AP's own headline quotes him directly: "I almost died." The publisher did not release further detail of the remark beyond the video itself.

AP's own description of the interview, conducted by music writer Maria Sherman, said the accompanying documentary spans 2017 to 2026 and captures Barker's journey "from a drumming prodigy to a music icon." In the conversation, Barker discussed early influences including Animal, the wild drummer from The Muppets, and described drumming as a form of therapy, including after his mother's death.

Barker has spoken before about surviving a 2008 plane crash that killed his assistant, his bodyguard, and the pilot and co-pilot, leaving him with third-degree burns on 65 percent of his body and 27 surgeries over three months in hospital, according to NME. The crash is the subject of his own documentary, Louder Than Fear, which premiered at the Tribeca Festival this summer.

The trailer for that documentary, released the same week as the AP interview, shows Barker describing the addiction to painkillers that followed the crash: "I was taking so many pills that I had a security guard whose only job was to watch me sleep." He has said the crash ultimately pushed him off prescription drugs entirely, calling it "my rehab."

The AP interview landed the same week NME published the trailer for that documentary, which features Barker's Blink-182 bandmates and the late Taylor Hawkins reflecting on his recovery. Hawkins, who died in 2022, appears in an older interview clip praising Barker's talent behind the kit.

Barker's assistant, Chris "Lil Chris" Baker, and his bodyguard, Charles "Che" Still, were killed in the crash alongside the pilot and co-pilot; fellow survivor Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein died a year later of an accidental drug overdose. "Che and Chris were like brothers to me," Barker said in the trailer, adding: "Why am I here, when everyone else isn't?" He has said he overcame his resulting fear of flying, taking his first flight in 13 years in 2021 with his now-wife, Kourtney Kardashian.

AP did not say whether the remark in its interview referred to the 2008 crash or to something more recent, and Barker has not clarified further.