In 1998, Travis Barker was first asked to fill in for founding drummer Scott Raynor mid-tour. Fortunately, Barker was on the same tour with his ska band, Aquabats, so he was able to learn all of Blink-182's set list in an incredibly short amount of time. On the other hand, his previous exposure to their music was not the only factor, as there are few musicians talented enough to pull off such a feat.
In an interview with Drum!, Barker recalled the tense yet exhilarating situation. "They came to me, seriously, two hours before the show and they go, 'Can you learn 21 songs and play our set with us?' I was like, 'Well, yeah, give me a tape really quick.' [...] We had been on the last six shows with them, so I kind of got an idea of what they were doing, or what songs they were playing."
Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge were clearly impressed with his performance. Barker added, "I played that show with them and they were just going, 'Wow, we're super stoked. We've never sounded this good. Would you be interested in playing with us?' I went, 'Yeah, if anything ever happens and you ever need somebody, just tell me. I'd be more than happy to. I love your music.'" When Raynor left permanently shortly after, Barker came on board — and as they say, the rest is history.
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