Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker is opening up about the 2008 plane crash that nearly killed him in a new documentary, Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear, which began streaming on Hulu and Disney+ on August 13.
The film, co-directed by Justin Krook and Michael Dwyer, traces Barker's life and career alongside the 2008 crash that left him with third-degree burns covering 65 percent of his body and requiring 27 surgeries, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Barker's assistant and bodyguard were killed in the crash along with the pilot and co-pilot, while Barker and his close friend Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein were the only survivors.
In the trailer, Barker tearfully asks, "Why am I here when everyone else isn't?" - a question that has shaped much of his life since. The crash left him with PTSD and a fear of flying so severe he did not board another plane for 13 years.
Barker has long pointed to something beyond himself for pulling him through. He's been open about being raised Catholic, saying he still prays and believes in God, and he's taught his own children to pray as well. In the years after the crash, his friend and spokesman for his clothing line put it simply: making it out of a wreck of that magnitude suggested someone was watching over him.
The documentary also features Barker's Blink-182 bandmates Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge, the late Taylor Hawkins, and his wife Kourtney Kardashian, chronicling not just the crash but the addiction and grief that followed - and the road back.
For a drummer who once wondered why he survived when others didn't, Louder Than Fear is his most public answer yet.
