Travis interview

Formed in 1990, Scottish band Travis first started to make music during the Britpop era. Their debut album, came 7 years later, but it was their second album, 1999’s The Man Who, that gained them international attention, thanks to songs like “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” and “Turn.” Their next album, The Invisible Band, included one of their signature songs, “Sing.”

The band continued recording, and last year they released the album LA Times. Recently, Ben had a conversation with two members of the band, singer Fran Healy and Dougie Payne. Among other topics they covered rap music, the origin of the band’s name, their love for R.E.M. and the Beatles, and one of their most recent songs, “Raze the Bar.”

Below are highlights from Ben’s interview with Fran and Dougie of Travis.

Ben: You released your album LA Times last year, and when I listened to it, the title track stood out to me. Fran, what inspired you to rap in that song?

Fran: It’s always music-led. We’d put this piece of music together, and I tried to sing over the top of it, and I couldn’t find any…so I started to go da-da-da-da-da-da, because there’s a meter on the song with the hi-hat going tch-tch-tch-tch-tch. So that’s kind of where that thing came from. I wouldn’t say it was quite a rap, I would say more of a spoken word, like a poem. That makes me feel more comfortable as a Scotsman.

Dougie: He’s been trying to rap for years.

Has rap music been an inspiration for your music? Since influence comes from all sorts of different places.

Dougie: We grew up when Grandmaster Flash and all that…when breakdancing and all that stuff started to hit the UK. Living in Glasgow in the ’80s was like living in New Zealand. Everything gets there really a long time after it happens in America. But we managed to get rap there, when was it? The 2000s.

Fran: Grandmaster Flash and Meryl Melton, Sugarhill Gang, and all that. I’ve got older sisters, and they were buying those records in 1980 or ’81. So it was kind if you were a pop fan, it was just that was the pop music at the time.

Speaking LA Times, I know you guys recruited Chris Martin of Coldplay and Brandon Flowers of the Killers for your song “Raze the Bar.” What was it like working with them?

Dougie: I’ve known Chris and Brandon for a long, long, long, long time. I’d asked Chris to help me with the running order of the album, because I couldn’t hear it anymore. It was getting really hard to hear. So we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway for an hour or two. The song “Raze the Bar,” he kept stopping at it and asking, “Oh, can I hear that again? Can I hear that again?” So of course I obliged. Then when we got back to his house, he was straight to the piano and started playing, and he’d remember the words. A couple of days later, I called him up and said, “Hey man, do you want to sing on it?” He’s like, “Sure.” He suggested getting more people on it and I was like, “That’s a great idea. So I only know one other person and that’s Brandon.”

I’m sure you’ve been asked, but how did you come up with the band named Travis? Was it from the movie Paris, Texas, the character Travis Henderson?

Dougie: No, there was a DJ in the UK called Dave Lee Travis, and that was the big kickback when I suggested the name. The band were like, “No, no, no, Dave Lee Travis.” Then we changed the name to Red Telephone Box for a while.

Ben: Red Telephone Box?

Dougie: Then we changed it back because it seemed like a bit…it’s a funny name. You get used to your name, but every band name’s just what it is.

Fran: Travis seemed like a cool name to us. We didn’t realize it was quite a common name really in America. It’s like calling your band Dave or something.

Fran, I know that you were not the original lead singer of the band. How did that end up coming about?

Fran: [Originally] there was a girl singer, and Neil the drummer asked me to join the band. Neil worked in a bar, I drank in the bar. Neil worked with Dougie at the time in a shoe shop as well. He asked me to join the band, I turned up for an audition because she had left. There was another singer already accepted, and I went into the rehearsal space and him, “Can I just come in and watch you?” As soon as the guy started singing, he was rubbish. I tapped the keyboard player on the shoulder and I’m like, “Mate, listen, I’m not really, really good, but I’m better than this guy. You’ve got to give me an audition.” And they did, and I got in.

So Dougie, how did you end up becoming a member of the band?

Dougie: Well, we were all mates – me, Andy, Fran, and Neil. I was at art school with Fran and Andy. So from 1990 we were pals, and the band was going on until I graduated, basically ’95. It was the five guys: it was Jeff and Chris on bass and keyboards. Then Fran decided he wanted to change everything. He needed to change something because the band was ticking along and going. He asked me to join and I said no for while. Then after a few weeks he persuaded [me]. He’s quite a persuasive character. I was working in the Levi store at the time, and he came in one lunchtime and was like, “Let’s go for a walk.” We walked around the block, and by the time I got back to the shop I was in the band.

What are some other passions that you guys have outside of music? What would you be doing if you weren’t professional musicians?

Dougie: I’d be probably trying to be a sculptor. I like writing, so I might have a goal of being an author. I mean, that’s a big ambition, that’s a big undertaking. But there’d be something creative, I guess. It’s like the art school doesn’t leave you. So probably be trying to be a sculptor, trying to be an artist of some description.

Fran: I don’t know what I would be. Maybe I’d be a teacher of some description.

Dougie: You’d probably make films.

Fran: No, that’s the thing, the passageway for art school for me was so narrow that I’d got into that sort of thing. I didn’t really get exposed to any stuff like arty things. But in the end, I ended up in art school. If I had, I probably would do filmmaking because I love being behind the camera. Really don’t like being in front of the camera like most people.

Is that an issue for you when you guys shoot music videos? Are you not good in front of the camera?

Dougie: Oh, I hate making videos.

Fran: Every band hates making videos. Every single band I talk to. It’s harder now because I direct all our videos, so directing and being in it’s like, “Yeah, I’m directing … Oh no, I’ve got to be in it.”

Dougie: Yeah, it is always just the longest day. Especially now, because at least you used to end up with a full four minutes of a video and it would have a little story or something would go on. But now everybody just wants 30 second clips or 45 second clips, so it doesn’t feel like you’re really invested in it.

Who are you listening to right now?

Dougie: I’m listening to a guy called Hamish Hawk. It’s his name and the band name. They’re from Edinburgh in Scotland. They are fantastic. They were supporting us in December on the UK tour. Their new album, A Firmer Hand, is sensational.

Fran: I’ve been listening to lots of old stuff. New stuff, not so much. I mean, in March last year I got a whiff of McGee before everybody else. I spoke with him in April last year, and then he kind of blew up at the end of the year. He’s brilliant. I’m curious to see where he goes.

We broadcast at 105.5 FM, so I always ask in my interviews, what band would you drive 105.5 miles to see? Or to use the metric system for you guys, what band would you drive 169.7 kilometers to see?

Fran: I would drive 105.5 miles to go to the Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1960 to see the Beatles.

Dougie: I would go then to see R.E.M playing anywhere roundabout Fables of the Reconstruction, on that tour.

Travis performs Wed., Feb. 5 at the Summit in Denver.