‘It’s a live record — we were in a room together where everything was live,’ he says of collaboration with Wu-Tang’s RZA.
By Kyle Anderson
Travis Barker
Photo: MTV News
Travis Barker is a busy man. He just announced his new collaboration with DJ A-Trak (a tour that will kick off in Hollywood on March 9), a new Blink-182 album is on the horizon and he has his ongoing session and remix work.
But his most immediate project is a long-in-the-works solo album. Barker told MTV News back in November that he wanted to have the album out “in January or February,” and though he’s blown that deadline, the next one is set in stone. “We just got a new date for June,” Barker said. “That’s when I have to turn it in. It can’t change, it can’t move — that’s the time!”
The yet-untitled album promises to be a collection that leaps across genres and features a who’s who of musical luminaries, including Slash, Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington and the aforementioned A-Trak. More recently he scored himself collaborations with Wu-Tang Clan mastermind RZA and Slipknot singer Corey Taylor (though not on the same track).
Barker says the track that features Taylor on guitar and vocals is “on the heavier side — not as heavy as Slipknot, but heavier than any rock stuff I’ve done. We recorded the whole thing in an hour or two.”
As for his team-up with RZA, it allowed the rapper/producer to spread his wings a bit. “RZA plays guitar on the track that will be on my record,” Barker says. “It’s a live record — we were in a room together where everything was live. It reminds me of old Beastie Boys, like Check Your Head when they all started playing instruments again.”
In the meantime, fans itching for Barker’s work will soon be able to enjoy his remix of Snoop Dogg’s hit “I Wanna Rock.” “It’s done,” Barker said. “I hope people like it.”
