Travis Barker Details His Final Conversation With Taylor Hawkins, ‘I’m Not Practicing’

Ahead of Blink-182’s upcoming world tour, supporting the new album ‘One More Time…,’ Travis Barker shared the last conversation he had with Taylor Hawkins before his passing on March 25, 2022, with the Los Angeles Times.

At the time, as they both lived in the same area of San Fernando Valley, Hawkins suggested mountain riding with Barker for exercise, while the Blink-182 member also offered drumming for fun. Upon that, the talk between them went:

“[Hawkins] was like, ‘I’m not practicing. I’m already as good as I’m ever gonna get.’ Like, not f**king true. I told him, ‘You’re already a beast, and you’re just gonna keep getting better.’”

The Two’s Friendship

The two had a long-standing friendship, going back to the early years of Barker’s career. At some point, their bands even toured together in Australia, which Dave Grohl mentioned while talking about their relationship at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Show in London.

Sharing Hawkins’ thoughts about Barker’s drumming skills, Grohl said:

“Apparently, Taylor met this guy when this guy was a f**ing garbage man in Taylor’s neighborhood, and Taylor started going to see his band play when he was a young kid. Taylor would always tell him, ‘You’re gonna be a star, man. You’re gonna be a star.’ Years later, we wound up on tour with his band, and now he’s gonna sit in with us to play a couple songs.”

Barker’s Tributes To The Late Drummer

Taylor Hawkins died at the age of 50 in his hotel room shortly before Foo Fighters’ performance in Bogotá, Colombia. Following his death, Travis Barker posted a message on Instagram, reflecting on their friendship:

“I’ll never forget Laguna Beach days when I was a trash man playing in a punk rock band, and you were playing with Alanis [Morissette]. You’d come watch me play in dive bars and be like, ‘Kid, you’re a star.’ And I thought you were crazy, but you gave me so much hope and determination.”

Recalling Blink-182’s Australian tour with Foo Fighters by noting he had ‘the best memories of smoking cigarettes in the restroom of flights we were on together and watching your set every night,’ he went on:

“To say I’ll miss you, my friend, isn’t enough. Till the next time we talk drums and smoke in the boys’ room … Rest In Peace.”