November 14, 2008

Travis Barker Is 'Healing Incredibly Well,' +44 Bandmate Mark Hoppus Says

By James Montgomery, with reporting by Tim Kash (MTV.com)

Mark Hoppus has had plenty on his mind in recent weeks, so you'll forgive him if he's not exactly brimming with information about his band, +44.

Ever since the September 19 plane crash that killed four and left his best friend (and +44 mate) Travis Barker with second- and third-degree burns over his torso and lower body, Hoppus has had little time to focus on making music. Rather, he's been spending every day just being thankful that Barker is alive and on the road to recovery.

"Travis is home healing, so right now we're just totally on a break, waiting for him to heal up," Hoppus told MTV News backstage at the mtvU Woodie Awards in New York. "I've been writing a bunch of stuff and getting a lot of songs together. We'll just have to see what happens over the next few months."

Hoppus said that he speaks to Barker frequently and that he's "doing as well as anyone can under such awful circumstances." He added that the former Blink-182 drummer is positively itching to get back behind the kit.

"He's home right now with his family, and he's healing and trying to stay as positive as he can. He's always been one of the most musically driven people I've ever known in my entire life, and he's still the same way," Hoppus said. "He can't wait to get back on the drums. He can't wait to get back in the studio, you know? I can't even imagine what he's had to go through these past weeks, and he's just trying to stay positive and get back in the studio and do good work."

And though the status of +44's follow-up to their 2006 debut When Your Heart Stops Beating is currently unknown, Hoppus seems confident that Barker will soon be healthy enough to rejoin him in the studio. And it may be sooner than most people ever would've thought.

"He can't not drum, you know? The man was born to sit behind a drum kit and do his thing," Hoppus laughed. "He's healing incredibly well. He's healing very quickly. The doctors are saying that his body is really healing in a positive way. So hopefully, in the next couple months we'll see him behind the kit, I pray. No matter what I work on, Travis will be part of, for sure."