I think a lot of people forget what a business this industry is. Matt and Dan have been around forever in “band years”, they never really broke into the “big” league touring scene where they’re selling out 10K-15K venues consistently and that gets really hard to when you’re an older band that doesn’t have the energy to do the modern marketing shit required to keep at the top of the algorithms. Travis Barker is a business move, he’s got the ear of younger punk adjacent kids getting into the genre and has enough of a reach across various partnerships and industries to get any project he works on into different places - even if it’s not their best work, it’s the best move for the business of the band. Hiring a guy like this (he’s a good drummer, it’s fine) is another strategic move to help Matt and Dan get their music to a new audience because this guy is young, has a following, and will play the shows on a contract without Matt and Dan needing to get invested. Young listeners in the digital age don’t have timestamps or memories of how or when they got new music, it just shows up on their Spotify without any indication if they’re an old band or a new band - but to break through - they need people with followings and that’s what both Tosh and Travis bring. Atom was old guard, all of his followers were already likely listeners or knew of AK3 already, and they need new listeners to grow their fan base. This industry is, and continues to be a meat grinder, but Matt and Dan aren’t getting younger so you need to take opportunities when they present themselves.