Travis are a Scottish alternative rock band from Glasgow, comprising Fran Healy (lead vocals, guitar, piano, banjo), Dougie Payne (bass guitar, backing vocals), Andy Dunlop (lead guitar, banjo, keyboards, backing vocals) and Neil Primrose (drums, percussion). Travis have twice been awarded British album of the year at the annual BRIT Awards, and are often credited with having paved the way for bands such as Coldplay, Keane and Snow Patrol. They have released six studio albums, beginning with their debut, Good Feeling, in 1997. Their latest album, Ode to J. Smith, was released in September 2008, to positive reviews.
History
Formation and early years (1990–1996)
The band that would become Travis (initially called "Running Red", and later, "Glass Onion") was formed by brothers Chris and Geoff Martyn. It is rumored that the band is named after a friend of theirs, Travis Prest. Andy Dunlop, a school friend at Lenzie Academy, was drafted in on guitar, followed soon after by Neil Primrose on drums. The line-up was completed by a female vocalist, Catherine Maxwell, and the band's name then changed to "Glass Onion" (which is the name of a Beatles song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney). After parting company with their singer in the spring of 1991, they auditioned for a new vocalist. Having met each other through Primrose pouring him a pint, a musically untrained art student, Fran Healy, then joined after being invited to audition by Primrose. Healy joined the band on the day he enrolled at The Glasgow School of Art, in the autumn of 1991. Two years later, with the option of music holding more appeal, Healy dropped out of art school, and inspired by song writers such as Joni Mitchell, shortly after, assumed songwriting responsibilities. With brothers Chris and Geoff Martyn on bass and keyboards, in 1993, the fivesome released a privately made CD, The Glass Onion EP, featuring the tracks "Dream On", "The Day Before", "Free Soul" and "Whenever She Comes Round". 500 copies of the EP were made and were recently valued at £1000 each. Other songs they recorded but were left off are "She's So Strange" and "Not About to Change". Eventually, the band was renamed once more, becoming "Travis" — when Fran asked his younger cousin who her favorite band was, she said Travis, who were a band performing in Uddingston at the time and he decided to change their name to this.
The band won a talent contest organized by the "Music in Scotland Trust", who promised £2,000 so that Travis could deal-hunt at a new music seminar in New York. Two weeks before they were due to leave, however, the prize was instead given to the "Music in Scotland Trust Directory". When sent a copy of the directory, the band noticed that it seemed to feature every single band in Scotland — except for them. While on a visit to Scotland, American engineer and producer Niko Bolas, a long-time Neil Young and Rolling Stones associate, tuned into a Travis session on Radio Scotland, and heard something in the band's music which instantly made him travel to Perth to see them. Healy: "He told us we were s***, took us in the studio for four days, and taught us how to play properly, like a band. He was bolshy, rude, and New York pushy. He didn't believe my lyrics and told me to write what I believed in and not tell lies. He was Mary Poppins, he sorted us out." Three years later, when Travis played New York and the band dedicated "All I Want to Do Is Rock" (the band's first single and recorded with £600 from Healy's mother) to Bolas who was in the audience: he wept.
With the sudden death of his grandfather, a grief-stricken Healy shut himself away, refusing to talk to anyone. Emerging a week later, and with a clear vision of where he now wanted Travis and their music to go, Healy dispensed with the band's management, their publicity agent, and the keyboard player, Geoff Martyn, and replaced the bassist, Geoff's brother, Chris, with best friend Dougie Payne — another art student and a Levi's shop assistant. Remarkably, Payne had not picked up a bass guitar before this. Two weeks later, with Payne having completed a crash course on bass in his bedroom, the band played together for the first time in a free space above the Horse Shoe Bar. The line-up was thus completed and has remained the same to this day.
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