There may yet be hope for Australian Blink-182 fans who thought they had seen the band venture to our shores for the last time. Following Travis Barker’s incredible 2008 escape from the burning plane that claimed the life of everyone on board bar him and DJ Adam Goldstein, the Blink drummer spent months in recovery for severe burns and is now contemplating hypnotherapy as a means to overcome his fear of flying.
His (unsurprising) new-found fear has, he admits, seriously impedes his professional life. In an interview with Rolling Stone the heavily-tattooed one credited his children with giving him the power to push through recovery, a period which saw him on suicide watch in hospital.
His brush with death saw the disbanded Blink-182 reconnect, recently releasing Neighbourhoods – their sixth record and first since their hiatus in 2005 – which clearly meant international touring would be back on the cards.
On his recovery, Barker embraced a healthier lifestyle, kicking previous vices and saying, “Just to be given a second chance…I had to make the most of my time.” Of his inability to reboard a plane the drummer asserted his wish to work through the phobia: “It’s an obstacle. I’m working on it though. I’m trying to get hypnotized, trying to talk to a doctor who retrains your brain. Maybe he’ll help me fly again one day.”
When Rolling Stone suggested that he sail around the world on tour, Travis replied: “Yeah, but I want to go to Australia. But that would take me 31 days on a boat. I don’t know if I can do it… but I want to go there so fucking bad.”
Check out our slideshow of musicians who have met a grisly end in a plane crash
