Travis Barker’s Musink festival brings music, tattoos and custom cars to Orange County

Blink-182, The Descendents and Lil Yachty are among the headliners slated to perform at the 11th annual Musink festival at the OC Fair & Event Center March 16 through 18.

The event combines punk rock and rap with tattoos and custom cars.

“I don’t know that there is another festival where you can see bands like these, get a tattoo and look at 25 of the illest cars,” said Travis Barker, by phone.

Barker is a festival organizer and drummer for Blink-182. The 42-year-old Los Angeles resident began producing the event in 2014 with Bill Hardie, John Reese and Sean Akhavan.

The musical lineup also includes Good Charlotte, The Adolescents, Machine Gun Kelly, Strung Out, Fear, The Interrupters, Wifisfuneral and The Fever 333.

Last year, the festival was all punk rock, but Barker said he wanted to introduce rap this time to satisfy the increasingly varied tastes of festival-goers.

“Everybody listens to everything now,” Barker said. “There’s a lot of people who listen to every style of music now and hip-hop fans are just as tatted up as punk rock fans, maybe even more so. We are trying to make the festival better every year in every aspect.”

Barker said he enjoyed growing up listening to hip-hop group, the Beastie Boys, and punk groups like Minor Threat and Dag Nasty.

“I have always loved both, the skateboard community raised me that way,” Barker said.

More than 20,000 people attended last year’s event.

The Descendents, a punk rock band spawned in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, will open the festival as headliners on March 16. Fear, Strung Out and The Adolescents will also perform that day.

Blink-182 will play the next day with Good Charlotte and The Interrupters as openers.

Lil Yachty will headline the final day with Machine Gun Kelly, Wifisfuneral and The Fever 333 also performing.

Barker said he’s excited to take the stage again at one of the festivals that marked the reemergence of Blink-182 after former guitarist and singer Tom DeLonge left the band.

Their concert at the 2015 event was one of the first with guitarist Matt Skiba, who replaced DeLonge.

Aside from the music, attendees will also have a chance to get a tattoo from some of the most talented artists in the industry.

Among the many present will be Jack Rudy, who is renowned worldwide for his black and gray tattoos, and Orange County-based black and gray tattooer Franco Vescovi.

Barker said the festival’s uniqueness lies in that organizers focus as much attention on the quality of the tattoos as the music.

Automobile enthusiasts will find interest in the festival’s Low N’ Slow Car Show, which will feature custom and classic cars and lowriders from Southern California. Each was chosen by Barker.

“Every year the cars keep getting better — we are so picky about not using the same cars as years past,” Barker said.

If You Go

What: 11th annual Musink festival

When: March 16 through 18; doors open at 3 p.m.

Where: Orange County Fair & Event Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa

Cost: Tickets start at $99 for 3-day general admission; $29.50 (GA) and $129.50 (VIP) for Friday; $49.50 (GA) and $149.50 (VIP) for Saturday and $39.50 (GA) and $129.50 (VIP) for Sunday. They can be purchased at fgtix.to/2EOS9Tk.

Information: musinkfest.com.

benjamin.brazil@latimes.com

Twitter:@benbrazilpilot