Travis Barker is certainly busy these days, and the drummer’s already hectic schedule will be even more frantic for the remainder of 2011.

Barker and the boys in blink-182 are finishing up the band’s long-awaited return album, his other band, The Transplants, with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, is 16 songs into a new record, and Barker was asked by Lil’ Wayne to be the opening act on his I Am Music II tour, which makes a stop at the Toyota Center on Saturday.

“At the time, Yelawolf and I were planning on doing a tour where we’d hit small skate parks and then play some shows at night, so when they asked me do ( the Lil’ Wayne tour) I was so excited,” Barker said. “It is basically me and Mix Master Mike from the Beastie Boys and we go up and play mash-ups and stuff off my album and remixes.”

Travis Barker tattooed his body at a young age so playing music would be his only career option.: Steve Ruark/Associated Press

Barker recently released his debut solo record, Give The Drummer Some, which is a compilation of Barker collaborations with hip-hop heavyweights like Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, Paul Wall, Clipse and guitar work from rock’s Tom Morello, Slash and Armstrong. The album came to fruition after years of Barker doing popular rock remixes to some of hip-hop’s most popular songs.

“When blink broke up I was playing with DJ AM and I was doing a good handful of remixes for guys like Busta Rhymes and I spent a lot of time playing live drums for Eminem, Lil Wayne and Jamie Fox and that is how I was spending most of my time drumming. I went from being in a band to not being in any of my bands — not being in Transplants or blink — just playing with DJ AM,” said Barker.

His affinity for hip-hop music made Barker an easy choice to work with the genre’s best. Bringing live rock drums to hip-hop also had an instant appeal for fans and artists.

“I think it is really refreshing hearing any rap group that comes out with a live band backing them. You can’t deny it when you go see Eminem or Jay-Z or even Kanye, and they have a cool band that is jamming,” Barker said. “For years the drum machine was the voice, as far as production goes, for a lot of hip-hop music. Even as a child I was listening to metal, punk rock, country all at the same time and rap music was the only kind of music that didn’t involve a live drummer. Years later, I’m remixing the stuff. I was never like ‘I want to find my place in hip-hop’, it was just really exciting. There were all these songs that had minimal production and left it open for live drums.

Travis Barker spends an average of 8 hours a day in the studio.: Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

The heavily inked drummer’s dedication to playing music was never more evident than last summer. After surviving a horrifying plane crash in 2008 that killed his friends Charles Still and ‘Little’ Chris Baker, Barker vowed never to fly again.

When blink-182 took their successful reunion tour overseas last summer, Barker boarded a bus from Los Angeles to New York where he took a cruise ship to Europe for the tour.

“For me, it is my only way to travel overseas. I spent a lot of time working on my album on the ship. I got a room designated to become a little production room,” Barker said.

Blink-182 is also working on the follow up to 2003’s self titled record, an album that stretched the parameters of how a pop-punk band can successfully take things to the next level. But Barker isn’t the only member of blink-182 busy in side projects. Bassist Mark Hoppus has his show on Fuse, Hoppus on Music and guitarist Tom Delonge’s other musical venture, Angels and Airwaves, is gearing up for a new record and feature film, LOVE. The progress has been slow but Barker insists the record is coming soon.

“They (Hoppus and Delonge) are working on the album,” said Barker. “I’ve done a bunch of stuff on the album before I left (to tour) and it gives Mark and Tom a lot of time to just write with each other. I’ll come back and mess everything up when I get home and change things around.”

And Barker expects to be back in full swing with blink-182 just in time for summer.

“We can’t wait to turn out the album and it should come out late summer,” said Barker. “We hope to be seeing everyone on tour this summer, too.”

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Barker playing on the deck of a cruise ship on the way to Europe during last summer's blink-182 tour.

More with Barker:

29-95: What made you decide to make an album and release it under as a solo moniker?

BARKER: My goal was I don’t want to try to find a new band or get four people who think like me and want to tour and record the same time I wanted to. The freedom playing with a DJ gave me, and playing with hip-hop artists was a lot of fun. During that time before my plane crash when blink reunited, I started Give The Drummer Some, which was basically started because they ( the label) wanted to do a remix album with some of the originals I was doing and that is how the whole concept of Give The Drummer Some came about.

29-95: Besides hip-hop, any new rock or punk bands you’ve gotten into recently?

BARKER:: I tend to listen to old rock. I love Led Zeppelin. I love Deep Purple. I love the Who. I love Jimmy Hendrix. I’ll buy like a new Slayer album when it comes out, but as far as straight up rock music you’d hear on the radio, I’m not really into it.

29-95: How is the new Transplants’ record coming?

BARKER: Transplants album is 16 songs deep right now. We have been doing the Transplants project about a month before blink entered the studio. Rob and Tim live like 15 miles of each other so it is really for us to get together. We have something called ‘Transplants Tuesdays’ where we get together every Tuesday for like three months and man, Transplants album is crazy. We’ll probably end up writing 30 songs and pick the best 12 to 15.

29-95: What can fans expect on the new blink-182 record and can you share any song titles besides Up All Night and Ghosts on the Dance floor ( which is rumored to be about the deaths of lost friends like DJ AM and longtime punk-rock producer Jerry Finn) ?

BARKER:: Wow. How do you guys even know (about) Ghosts on the Dance floor ? I don’t know exactly what Mark and Tom wrote about it, but for me it definitely brings back memories of Lil Chris, AM and Jerry. It is an awesome song, really cool. But with everything else, they are working titles.

TRAVIS BARKER
with Lil’ Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross and Beastie Boys DJ Mix Master Mike
7 p.m. Saturday
Toyota Center, 1510 Polk.
Tickets $55.75-$115.75; 866-446-8849 or houstontoyota center.com

CONCERT AFTER-PARTY
Featuring Travis Barker and Mix Master Mike
Rich’s Houston, 2401 San Jacinto St.