Fran Healy considers Travis’ inception, imagining a bay of little sailboats “with all the bands and artists sitting in them, waiting on that freak gust of wind to blow them to fame and fortune.” For some it never comes. For Travis, it would yield a run of hits including modern standards such as Sing, Why Does It Always Rain On Me, Driftwood, and lift them to unimaginable heights. At various points along the trajectory, Travis have sold millions of albums (The Man Who is 9x Platinum certified in the UK alone); secured multiple wins at the BRITs, Ivor Novello and Q Awards; and acclaim from the likes of Paul McCartney, Elton John and Graham Nash – also songwriters whose ability to divine a timeless melody out of thin air has sustained them through decades.
There’s something powerful about the fact that Travis is made up of the same four musicians who first came to prominence in 1996 with their debut EP ‘All I Want To Do Is Rock’. An unbroken line-up for an unbroken band – Fran Healy (vocals, guitar); Andy Dunlop (guitar); Dougie Payne (bass); and Neil Primrose (drums). By his own account, Travis’ new album, L.A. Times is Fran Healy’s most personal songwriting since ‘The Man Who’. Honouring the unique chemistry that first united the band in Glasgow, 5000 miles away from L.A., if you’ve heard the new single Gaslight, you’ll have been reminded that when the four members of Travis convene to make music, the resulting sound is impossible to mistake for any other band.
