Travis Barker’s “Give The Drummer Some” – 2011′s Best Album So Far

It’s rare that a drummer releases an album. When one does, we don’t necessarily expect it to be good. Travis Barker, has definitely broken the mold.

“ A masterpiece... The best album of 2011 by far.
” KROQ's Bean Today marks the release of “Give The Drummer Some,” and we here at KROQ couldn’t be more stoked! Bean went as far as to say that it’s “a masterpiece,” and “the best album of 2011 by far.”

The album was three years in the making, which began before the plane crash that he’d survived along with his close friend and collaborator, the late DJ AM. Barker had a couple of tracks completed at that point, but the project was put on hold for about a year. After his recovery, he once again hit the road with Blink-182 while trying to complete his album.

Kevin & Bean’s interview with Travis

***

Travis Barker at Epicenter 2010 // Photo: Cale Glendening

Some of the top recording acts are packed onto this album, many of which Travis got to know while working on remixes during his days with DJ AM. This gave him an impressive Rolodex of artists to pull from when the time came to complete the project. Travis stated that “whoever I did a remix for, they would trade me a verse. Or I would just have an opportunity to play original beats I was working on, and then next thing you know,  I have 30 songs compiled.”

While most bands start with music like guitar or piano, Travis took a different approach and started most tracks with his drum beats. “Saturday Night,” done with The Transplants and Slash, came about in roughly 5-10 minutes, beginning with the beat and then just messing around with the rest of the song in the studio. Other collaborators tracked files separately due to busy touring schedules and were then pieced together in production.

“Saturday Night” (featuring The Transplants & Slash)

***

Give The Drummer Some features  artists such as Lil Wayne, Pharrell w/the Neptunes producing that particular track, Tom Morello, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Cypress Hill, Corey Taylor, and Paul Wall… just to name a few.

Travis also talked about the bonus track on the album’s deluxe edition, which features his kids, Landon and Bama, making “their own Give The Drummer Some song.” He was able to record them and include it on the album.

This is such a solid album by an extremely talented musician. Do yourself a favor and pick it up as soon as you can. You can also listen to it on MySpace.