Painkillers wouldn't work for drummer Travis Barker after fiery plane crash

Blink 182 Drummer Travis Barker talks about his living hell after a plane crash in 2008. Photo / Getty

Blink 182 rocker Travis Barker said illegal drug use prevented painkillers from working following a fiery plane crash in 2008.

He required multiple life-saving surgeries and skin grafts and was forced to go through much of it without relief.

His body was unable process painkillers properly during the ordeal because of his past illicit drug use.

The Blink-182 star almost burned to death when the plane on which he was flying back to Los Angeles from a gig in South Carolina burst into flames during take-off.

Barker and bandmate Adam 'DJ AM' Goldstein survived, but the drummer's friend and bodyguard perished in the inferno.

He underwent 27 surgeries over the course of four months, waking up in the middle of some of them.

"You're so prone to infection," he told Access Hollywood Live. "I had, like, 65 per cent of my body was basically burned or, like, an open wound, so every couple of days they would scrub you ... It was the worst.

"And then my medication wasn't right, because I was self-medicating so much before the accident that I'd wake up during surgeries. It was such a painful experience.

"I think it took them a while to figure out like, 'OK, this guy was a drug addict, and that's the reason none of these medications are working'."

It was a time of deep depression for Barker, who wasn't allowed visitors because they posed a risk of infection.

"It was, like, a living nightmare," he said.

- AAP