Travis (band)

Travis is a British alternative rock band from Glasgow, Scotland, consisting of Francis Healy, Andy Dunlop, Dougie Payne and Neil Primrose.

Travis has twice been awarded album of the year at the Brit Awards and are often credited with being the band that paved the way for other British bands, like Coldplay and Keane. The group has released nine studio albums: Good Feeling (1997), The Man Who (1999), The Invisible Band (2001), 12 Memories (2003), The Boy with No Name (2007), Ode to J. Smith (2008), Where You Stand (2013), Everything At Once (2016) and 10 Songs (2020). He also released a live album: Live in Glastonbury 99 (2019), a compilation with previously unpublished songs: Singles (2004)

History

Formation and early years (1990-1995)

The band that would become Travis (initially called "Running Red", and later, "Glass Onion") was initially formed by brothers Chris and Geoff Martyn. Andy Dunlop, a school friend, was put on guitar, followed by Neil Primrose on drums. The band's lineup was completed by a female vocalist, and the band then changed its name to "Glass Onion" ('Glass Onion' is the name of a Beatles song written and sung by John Lennon.)

After their singer was fired, the band held an audition for a new vocalist. He first met Francis Healy, an art student, and invited him to auditions. Healy joined the band the same day he entered the Glasgow School of Art, in the fall of 1991. After two years Healy withdrew from the School of Art to pursue his career as a musician full-time. The first songs written by Healy were inspired by songs by Joni Mitchell. With brothers Chris and Geoff Martyn on bass and keyboards, in 1993 the band released "The Glass Onion EP". 500 copies were made and can be found today for over £1000 each. After the release of their first EP, the band changed names again, finally calling themselves "Travis" - in homage to the role of Harry Dean Stanton in the film "Paris, Texas".

Good Feeling (1996-1998)

In October 1996, Travis recorded his EP "All I Want to Do Is Rock" followed by his first album: Good Feeling . "Good Feeling" introduced Travis in a fresh and entertaining way, featuring iconic songs from the record like "All I Want to Do Is Rock", "More Than Us", "U16 Girls" or "Tied to the 90s" among other.

Probably the only song on the album that presaged how Travis would sound on his next material was "More Than Us", a melodic and romantic ballad that appeared towards the end and broke with the carefree sound and almost even danceable from the rest of the album.

The band gained notable popularity with the release of this album, managed to capture the attention of numerous British listeners and artists who were on the rise at the time, such as the guitarist of the English band Oasis, Noel Gallagher, who invited the band to join his tour with the role of opening act.

The Man Who (1999-2000)

Two years later, in 1999, Travis would return to the music scene with his second album, The Man Who. Critically lauded, the album brought to itself several best-sellers, including: "Writing to Reach You", "Driftwood", "Why Does It Always Rain On Me ?&#3. 4; (this went on to be at number 1 on the British popular songs) and "Turn".

This album contained such famous singles as "Why does it always rain on me?" (which could be said to be her first famous single) or & # 34; Turn & # 34;. Unlike its predecessor Good Feeling, The Man Who manifests an important musical evolution, leaving the immaturity and simplicity of the songs on their first album for softer and more elaborate sounds and more mature lyrics. Travis was mainly influenced by Oasis, Radiohead and The Beatles for the making of this album, which increased his popularity in the United Kingdom as it was an album with a large number of copies sold.

As a finishing touch, the album had a hidden song called "Blue Flashing Light", which could be heard a couple of minutes after the album was officially finished, and which was not included on the album. for being a remarkably raw and noisy song, which touches on issues as serious and important as domestic abuse, but which did not fit with the melodic and meek line of The Man Who songs.

The Invisible Band (2001-2002)

In 2000, as an interim release between 'The Man Who' and Travis's next album, the band released the single "Coming Around", which shows Travis with his sound intact from his previous work. This single was only released in the UK.

The title of Travis' next album, The Invisible Band (2001), again produced by Nigel Godrich, reflects the band's genuine belief that their music - the song - is more important than the song. band behind her. Appearing songs like "Sing" (the most played song on UK radio that summer), "Side", "Flowers in the Window", "Indefinitely", "Pipe Dreams&# 3. 4; and "The Cage", and recorded at Ocean Ways Studios in Los Angeles, the album reached number 1 on the UK charts.

In 2001, after finishing the tour featuring 'The Man Who', Travis returned to the studio to work on what would become his third album, 'The Invisible Band'; (whose name refers to the fact that, despite having successes in the British media, Travis remained an "unknown" band). This record is a continuation of his previous record work, with some interesting touches of optimism and naturalness in his melodies and lyrics. Songs such as "Sing", "Side", "Flowers in the window", "Safe", " Follow the Light" or "Pipe Dreams". On this album, Travis risks using a more varied instrumentation (for example: using the banjo on two songs) and other sounds more related to nature.

The main success of this album, without a doubt, was the song "Sing", the first single from it, which toured several countries reaching the top positions in the lists of some of them, but without achieve the same success as 'Why Does It Always Rain On Me?'. The album was harshly criticized by the British press, since it did not present considerable changes in terms of its sound and sounded very similar to its predecessor 'The Man Who'.

This gave the opportunity to new bands at that time to make themselves known, like Coldplay or others, notably influenced by the Scottish quartet. Even so, 'The Invisible Band' was commercially successful, reaching number one on the UK charts with singles such as "Sing", "Side" and " Flowers in the Window".

As a result of his successful tour to present "The invisible band", Travis released a DVD called "More than us - Live in Glasgow", which documents a historic performance in his hometown as the headlining band at the 2001 Glasgow Green festival.

12 Memories (2003) and Singles (2005)

After the tour in which Travis presented his third album, the band entered a state of exhaustion since for 6 years they had not stopped their live performances and recordings. The upcoming release of what would have been the fourth single from "The Invisible Band", "Pipe Dreams", was planned, when the accident of one of the band members made those plans abandon. The band's drummer, Neil Primrose, was found in a hotel pool in France with three broken neck vertebrae. Primrose's condition was serious, medical reports indicated that the drummer would be paralyzed for life, the band's vocalist, Fran Healy, admitted to the media that the band would disappear if Primrose did not recover from the accident. As good news for the band, after his operation, Primrose evolved favorably and shortly after he returned to rehearsals.

After a while, in 2002, the band decided to move away from the city to reflect on its current state and claim as such. Indeed, the Primrose accident caused the band to renew their sound and leave behind the sound of 'The Man Who'. The product of this state of isolation and months of recording in different studios, but which maintained that state, was his fourth album, "12 Memories" (2003). Artistically, this album is for some the main "competition" for the album 'The Man Who', as this is also a major evolution in the band's sound. Among the most outstanding songs on the album are: "Re-Offender", "Quicksand", "The Beautiful Occupation", "How Many Hearts", "Happy to Hang Around" or "Peace the Fuck Out".

The album presents a more modern and electric sound than the previous ones (including 'Good Feeling'), as well as a darker and more depressive sound accompanied by lyrics that accentuate this state of mind (clearly influenced by for the Primrose accident). It is also the first album in which Travis presents his position on the war and on the state of the world at the time. Songs like "The Beautiful Occupation" or "Peace the Fuck Out" They are an example of the influence that the war had on the band's vocalist, Fran Healy, as well as on its other members. Even though this album was a great step for the Scottish band (artistically), the album did not have the same commercial success as its predecessors "The Man Who" and 'The Invisible Band', reaching number 4 in the British record charts. The singles taken from the album '12 Memories' were: "Re-Offender", "The Beautiful Occupation" and "Love Will Come Through". '12 Memories' is important in Travis's story as it gave him enough popularity to visit places they had never been.

In 2005, Travis closed a musical stage by releasing his fifth album, "Singles", a compilation of all the singles released to date. The album also features two new songs: "Walking in the Sun" which was released as a single before the release of 'Singles', and an additional song called 'The Distance', which would not be released as a single and in which bassist Douglas Payne takes the lead. vocalist place. 'Walking in the Sun' appears to be a return for Travis to the sound of 'The Man Who' and 'The Invisible Band'. 'The Distance' It's a great song on the record, totally up there with the singles themselves, and it also shows Travis' return to his old sound.

This compilation was criticized negatively and positively by the press, since some think that it shows the loss of creativity in Travis and others believe that it is only a compact aimed at fans and those who want to know the band.

The Boy with No Name (2007)

On May 7, 2007, Travis's fifth studio album, The Boy With No Name, was released, with its highlights being Closer and My eyes. This new work was recorded at Rak studios in London, with Nigel Godrich in production and contains a duet with the Scottish singer KT Tunstall and another with Brian Eno.

The presentation of the album in Spain took place on June 12 at the Movistar tent in Barcelona. Later, they returned to the city of Barcelona on September 23, where they played outdoors for the Mercè festivities. Both concerts were very similar. A few days later, they returned to Spain, specifically to Córdoba, Madrid and Zaragoza. The concert in Madrid was held on October 5, 2007 in the Riviera room. There the Scots played songs from all their albums. They also played songs like "Hit Me Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears or the "Back in Black" of AC/DC with which they closed the concert.

In November 2007, they performed, along with The Killers and Starsailor in Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina, respectively, in massive concerts within the framework of the "Fénix" (Chile) and "Yeah" (Argentina), with a very good response from the public, which came not only from Chile and Argentina, but also from other South American countries. They also appeared as the opening act for R.E.M. in Lima (Peru) in November 2008 in a tremendous concert.

Ode to J. Smith (2008)

Francis Healy and his crew have named their sixth work Ode To J. Smith, which was published on September 29, 2008 and was the second they published just twelve months apart from compared to the previous one, after spending four years without publishing unpublished material. During those four years, the singer Francis Healy had a son and traveled to Africa as an aid worker. In November 2008 they returned to South America performing with R.E.M. at festivals in Peru and Venezuela.
The first Single from Ode To J. Smith was called Something Anything and could be heard along with the title track on his MySpace.
The single Something Anything was released on CD, 7" and in digital format, on September 15, 2008. His second single, Ode to J.Smith, was released shortly after. The singles chart was completed shortly after with Song to Self, the band's third.

Where You Stand (2013)

The pre-single "Another Guy" The band's upcoming seventh album was released as a free download from the band's official website on March 20, 2013. On April 25, 2013, it was revealed that the new album Where You Stand released on August 19, 2013, and that the first single of the same name "Where You Stand", was released on April 30.

10 Songs (2020)

The album debuted with the single “A Ghost,” the first track released on June 3, 2020. The album is out October 9, 2020. It is co-produced by Fran Healy and Robin Baynton, and recorded at RAK Studios over Christmas 2019. “10 Songs” is an album about the way life comes to love and what love does to overcome different challenges. It features collaborations such as Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles on vocals, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy synths and Greg Leisz on lap steel.[1]

Members of the band

• Fran Healy – main voice, rhythmic guitar (1990–present)
• Andy Dunlop – guitar, banjo, choirs (1990–present)
• Dougie Payne – bass, choirs (1994-present)
• Neil Primrose – drums, percussion (1990–present)

Former members

• Geoff Martyn – keyboards (1990–1994)
• Chris Martyn – bass guitar (1990–1994)

Discography

Studio albums:

• Good Feeling (1997)
• The Man Who (1999)
• The Invisible Band (2001)
• 12 Memories (2003)
• The Boy with No Name (2007)
• Ode to J. Smith (2008)
• Where You Stand (2013)
• Everything at Once (2016)
• Live in Glastonbury 99 (2019)
• 10 Songs (2020)