Can I Say, the Memoir by Travis Barker, the Hottest Punk Rock Drummer, Reveals Many Secrets

travis barker can i say

Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums – Travis Barker

My health is recovering day by day but I’m still spending most of my time in my apartment.
I haven’t been out much in 2 months now.
It really sucks that I can’t go outside because the weather in Tokyo has been awesome these few months.
But it’s not all bad! (this is positive thinking kicking in)
There are some things that you can get done when you’re at home all the time.

Like reading books that I had bought but never got around to read.

The book that I finished reading just yesterday was a good read so I am introducing it today.
It’s the memoir by Travis Barker, the drummer of Blink 182: Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums!

The cover is amazing!

travis barker can i say cover

 

Who is Travis Barker?

The hottest punk rock drummer

Travis Barker is best recognized as the drummer of the punk band, Blink 182.

Blink 182 is one of the most (along with Green Day etc.) famous mega punk bands in the world.
They’re one of my favorite bands too.

I’m going to introduce two of my favorite Blink songs to you.

The first song is called “First Date” and Tom Delonge who plays guitar, takes the main vocals on this song.
I had liked Blink 182 prior to hearing this song, but this is the song that made me love Blink 182.

The second song is called “The Rock Show” and Mark Hoppus who plays the bass is main vocals on this song.

One of the special things about Blink 182 is that Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus, who are very different types of singers, take turns singing songs.
To summarize the characteristics of Blink 182 songs in three points:

  • catchy melodies
  • catchy guitar and bass riffs
  • super drums

The perfect balance between these three factors make Blink 182 special.

First Date and Rock Show are both super catchy songs, but listen to them focusing on the drums.
You’ll hear the super fast fills in the background and it’ll make you smile because it’s soooo gooood.

Travis Barker kills it with hip hop too.

I like it when Travis goes crazy, but the Travis video that I like most is the one where he does his marching band stuff.

In my view, Travis Barker’s most significant appeal as a drummer is his perfect balance between

technique and visual.

There are drummers that are technically superior than Travis.
But there aren’t many drummers that make it look so cool.

I went to a Blink 182 concert at Zepp Tokyo in the past when Travis had a broken leg and a cast.
Regardless of his broken leg, he went crazy and was banging on the drums and I remember feeling pure lunacy.
It was epic.

The way Travis plays the drums is so cool to watch (I like the way Yoshiki from X Japan plays too).

 

Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums reveals many secrets

I am a fan of Blink 182 and Travis but I never got beyond listening to CDs, watching music videos and going to concerts when they were in Japan.
I didn’t know much about the history of the band or how the members came to be.
All I knew was that they were crazy guys from the west coast who joked around all the time.

Can I Say taught me a lot about the band
Over the course of 400 pages, it looks back at the childhood days of Travis Barker up till present.travis barker can i say pictures

It’s pretty long at 400 pages but it’s an interesting and easy read so I was able to finish it in three days.

The contents are mainly distributed as such:

  • 5 sex
  • 2.5 drums
  • 2.5 band

There’s a lot on sex.
I didn’t know Travis was such a womanizer!
I Can Say has a lot of stuff on his ex-wives, Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian etc.

Since I’m a Blink 182 fan, I liked reading about the time Travis was invited to join Blink 182 and behind the scenes of album recordings.

Can I Say includes many comments from people close to Travis so it’s interesting to know how people around Travis were viewing him.

travis barker can i say inside

Reading comments by Tom and Mark was the highlight for me because it gave me a feeling of how they thought about each other when they were playing together.

 

Three things I didn’t know about Travis Barker before reading Can I Say

1. Travis was in a band called Aquabats before joining Blink 182

His style doesn’t’ change! Pure Travis.

 

2. Travis was a womanizer

He was going out with Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian and many others.
I used to be in a band myself so I know that it’s not the singer, it’s not the guitarist, it’s not the bassist, but the drummer who gets the girls.

 

3. Travis almost died in a plane accident

I knew that he got in an plane accident, but I didn’t know that 4 out of the 6 people on that plane died and that Travis was hospitalized for months from burns all over his body and that he almost died.
Can I Say includes photos of the plane and Travis’s injuries and it’s very real.

 

Can I Say got me motivated

I have been staying inside my apartment for nearly two months because of health issues (fever, rashes on the face etc).
I was really bummed out that I couldn’t go outside.

After reading about how Travis spent months recovering mentally and physically from the plane accident and how he is now back making music again, it motivated me to think positive about my situation!

At this point, there isn’t a Japanese version of Can I Say, but this is a book that I can definitely recommend to Travis Barker and Blink 182 fans.
Even if you’re not a fan, it’s a very exciting book which lets you peek into the life of a punk rock super star!

 

 

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