Travis Barker praises Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and Jxdn for breaking the rules of pop-punk

"You don't have to follow the rules or keep it as sterile as the record label or whatever the rollout plan may be"

Travis Barker has credited artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and Jxdn for changing what it means to be a pop-punk artist.

The Blink-182 drummer spoke to Billboard about his love of the genre and his respect for a number of rising stars in the music industry.

“I like Olivia’s album, I love everything Billie’s done. I won’t say, ‘This is pop-punk.’ I’ll say, this music that came out, let’s say like Avril’s ‘Love Sux’, let’s say Jxdn’s ‘Tell Me About Tomorrow’, and ‘Tickets To My Downfall’ [Machine Gun Kelly], were all inspired by pop-punk.

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“It doesn’t mean that it’s just pop-punk or has to be categorised like that. Olivia Rodrigo is probably going to make an album that has a little bit of pop-punk influence and some other influences too. Billie’s going to make whatever magical music she’s going to make and she’s going to be inspired by so much.

You don’t have to follow the rules or keep it as sterile as the record label or whatever the rollout plan may be.”

He also noted that he would never “outgrow” punk rock music and spoke about helping the next generation of talent via his DTA Records label.

“I wanted DTA Records to be the label that doesn’t drop you the minute it doesn’t work, or you throw it against the wall and it doesn’t stick and you’re just on your own. I don’t want the artist to go in and make an album by themselves and not have the help or the guidance from me.”

He continued: “Make sure they’re making the right decisions, make sure they’re smart with their money, make sure they have a family of people around them that are going to help them and take them on tour, answer the phone at three in the morning when whatever has happened.”

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In other Travis Barker news, the drummer recently shared a new tattoo, which was done in tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. “HAWK forever,” he captioned the Instagram post about the tattoo. The final image in the series showed Barker and Hawkins together in their earlier years.

Elsewhere, Billie Eilish announced a livestream concert last week, to take place ahead of her ‘Happier Than Ever’ UK and European tour.

The singer-songwriter will team up with her brother and collaborator Finneas at the Deutsche Telekom headquarters in Germany for the stripped-back show on June 1, which will see the pair performing tracks from Eilish’s recent album and her 2019 debut album ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’.

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