Waukster Online

I’ve split some of the sections here at Waukster Online to accomodate a few other topics that I would also like to write about every now and then. Starting today, this section will cover Cosplay AND Music. That means that I can write about my favorite songs, artists, or whatnot here. To kick things off, I’d like to talk about the latest internet craze on Youtube - Travis Barker’s version of Soulja Boy. It has 14,000,000 hits and I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t perform this at the MTV Music Awards or Grammy’s in the future. Here’s the video, enjoy!

So what did you think? Grabe noh? Ang lakas ng hampas niya. Hehe. Personally I never liked that song but now I have this version on my iPod and I listen to it mostly in the morning to wake me up while I drive to work. Note that Travis also did a remix for Umbrella and Low.

Here’s a biography on Travis Barker from Wikipedia:

Early life
He was born in a poverty-stricken neighborhood in Fontana, California. Barker received his first drum set at the age of four. He began taking drum and trumpet lessons at the age of five.

The day before starting his freshman year at Fontana High School, Barker’s mother died. She told him before she died to continue playing the drums because that was what he was good at, and he listened to her. After her death, Barker became more serious with drumming. He joined marching band his sophomore year and made the snare line. During high school he performed at regional competitions and festivals. During his senior year of high school, Barker passed up drum corps tryouts to tour with his first band, Feeble.

After graduating from high school in 1993, Barker gained more experience as a rock drummer in a few early bands including Feeble, The Suicide Machines and The Aquabats. In the latter, he was known as Baron Von Tito.

From 1993 through 1998, Barker also worked a series of odd jobs and taught drum lessons to support himself. Though he continued to teach privately through 2002, Barker (while appearing on MTV’s TRL, in 2003) mentioned that he no longer gives private drum lessons.

Blink-182, 1998–2005
In 1998, Travis Barker began touring with The Aquabats, under the stage name “The Baron Von Tito”. blink-182 was also on the bill, and when then-drummer Scott Raynor was removed from the band, Travis was asked to fill in. This required him to learn the entire set (over 20 songs) in less than two hours and perform them at that night’s show, in addition to playing a set with The Aquabats. Travis’s efforts earned him much appreciation and respect, and an offer to join blink-182, which Barker accepted.

With Barker, blink-182 released their best selling album to date, Enema of the State (1999), followed by Take off Your Pants and Jacket (2001), and Blink-182 (2003). After 7 years of drumming with blink-182, in February 2005, the band split up. He now mainly drums for the band +44, with former blink-182 band mate Mark Hoppus

Side projects, 2002–present
Barker says he has always been interested in many genres of music outside of punk rock, especially hip-hop. In a 2002 interview with MTV he says, “I probably listen to more hip-hop and drum’n'bass than I do punk rock music, and same with Tim and Rob..”.[4] Not being able to explore these interests within blink-182, Barker participated in several side projects during the time he was playing for blink-182 including Box Car Racer, Transplants, and Expensive Taste.

Box Car Racer is a side project begun with Tom DeLonge of blink-182 in 2002. This project resulted in one self-titled album which was released that year. Tom said he asked Travis to play drums so that he wouldn’t have to find and pay a session drummer to come in. This throw away comment was the catalyst for the eventual friendship breakdown between the two.

Transplants is a hip-hop induced punk band for which Travis partnered with Tim Armstrong of Rancid and Rob Aston (former roadie for Rancid). Transplants released two studio records as well as a remixed version of their second album which was chopped and screwed by rapper and hip-hop artist, Paul Wall.[5] The first album released by Transplants was their self-titled album in 2002. The second Transplants record, Haunted Cities, was released by LaSalle Records in June of 2005. After the Vans Warped Tour of 2005, the band members decided to call it quits. This was confirmed by vocalist Rob Aston in January of 2006 during an interview.[citation needed]

Barker has produced or worked on albums with the Black Eyed Peas, P!nk and Pharrell Williams. He appears on Bun B’s album, Trill (2005) with Skinhead Rob for the bonus track, “Late night creepin”. In 2006 he was a producer on T.I.’s fourth album, King. Also in 2006 he played drums for several songs on Avril Lavigne’s third album.[6]He also dueted with Rihanna on a remix of her hit “Umbrella”, he also appeared in her video.

In late 2005 Travis started a new band, +44 with fellow blink-182 member Mark Hoppus and in 2006, Travis and Rob Aston joined Paul Wall in forming a new hip-hop group called Expensive Taste.

Recently, Travis Barker has made a very well received remix of Soulja Boy’s “Crank That”, a video that can be seen on YouTube. The song is also available for purchase on itunes, however Barker’s drumming is reduced significantly from the YouTube version.

In a similar fashion, Travis has also remixed Flo-Rida’s single Low that was later included within the delux version of Flo Rida’s debut album on iTunes, with another video posted on YouTube.