Ode To J. Smith encapsulates Travis' 12 years of experience
Sophie Bruce2008-09-19
Pre-release, Travis tipped their sixth studio album to be their ''loudest and edgiest yet'', their ''rockiest since their debut''. In the past, they've swung both ways, from the happy, wistful band of Driftwood to the more serious boys of Repeat Offender. But that was then and this is now – with more than a decade in the spotlight, copies of an early EP estimated at £1,000 a pop and an international status necessitating US, German and Japanese microsites.
Ode To J. Smith is certainly rockier than ever before – recorded in just two weeks, it's the first album to be written on electric guitar since their 1997 debut. However it's also more than rock - this is an eclectic, experimental mix.
Singer Fran Healy's voice is incongruously upbeat on lamenting album opener, Chinese Blues, almost-title-track, J. Smith, starts brightly before switching into rock via an unexpected choral interlude, while if Healy's voice was more Cobain-like, then the effortlessly stylish Broken Mirror would be black as Nirvana's darkest night.
Along with Broken Mirror, recent single, Something Anything, is another of the album's highlights - a sing-along chorus with riffy guitars that's reminiscent of their superfans, Oasis. Last Words is more of a country ditty with Travis' old pal the banjo tiptoeing amongst the electric guitars. While the opening chords of Friends sound eerily similar to the Rolling Stones' epic, Gimme Shelter.
Ode To J. Smith encapsulates Travis' 12 years of experience, from the peaks of BRIT Awards and celebrity cameos (think Ben Stiller in their promo for Closer as well as the band'’s recent appearance in Son Of Rambow) to the troughs of the pressures of mega fame and drummer Neil Primrose's almost-fatal neck break.
The band speak of their ''need to make an amazing record'', of a ''rush of creative urgency''. This album is certainly a rush. Their re-embrace of rock is a move forward, rather than a step back – a return to form. Travis say the album title is a tribute to its key track, while J. Smith is ''about just another nameless character''. But any namesakes would do right to feel pretty chuffed with a dedication like this.
TUTS- The new album Ode To J. Smith was recorded in a really short period of time, in 2 weeks, and there are reviews calling it the best Travis record and the album of Travis' career, what do you think about that?
FH- I don't understand how a reviewer who has listened to an album once can call it a bands best album... we live in a time of ridiculous hype... not even we escape it... I think Ode is a solid piece of work. I would remove Get Up from the running order. I was cajoled into including it on the record and should have listened to my instinct. Maybe i'll take it off still.
TUTS- We really like the cover art how did it come about, we read that you designed it?
FH- The cover was stolen from a Penguin book by Roald Dahl. We saw the image and loved it and I spent 3 months chasing it down, finally striking a licencing deal directly with the graphic designer who made it in 1970's... The album is a musical book, so it seems apt.
TUTS- Also during that short period of time you split from your record label and released Ode To J. Smith on your own label Red Telephone Box, were you scared at all to be kind of doing it on your own?
FH- Not scared. We are happy to be on our own. I would not rule out doing it with a label again though... We had to make this record by ourselves. We would never have been allowed to make it had we been with a major label.
TUTS- So there have been a lot of really big new releases this year, Keane, Kaiser Chiefs, Oasis, just to name a few, have you been listening to any of them at all?
FH- I have listened to them. I was disappointed when the Keane record came and went, and The Kaisers who had one of my favourite pop songs of 2008 in Never Miss A Beat. Alot of bands stumbled in the release stampeed at the end of 2008. Only The Kings of Leon have reigned. A well deserved success story.
TUTS- Any new bands that have caught your interest?
FH- My friends Little Joy released an album at the end of 2008 on Rough Trade. It hasn't left my playlist. I heard Band Of Horses today... He has a sumptuous range.
TUTS- You live in Berlin, what's the difference between the German fans and the UK fans?
FH- German fans love the sausage. British fans prefer steak and kidney pie.
TUTS- How does Germany receive your music?
FH- We have been lucky to have had alot of German success. We are recieved like fine bavarian bratwurst.
TUTS- What about american fans, how does the american market react to you?
FH- I think America is my favourite place to tour. Because we never "crossed over" in the states, our fan base is still keen and concentrated from the front row to the back. I also love to sprawl out on the tour bus on long distance drives. I plan at some stage to go across the US in a wini with maybe Andy and play the same kind of show I did at the book store in New York... just take 3 or 4 weeks out and make a road trip out of it... and write an album during the trip too.
TUTS- We've noticed that you go on your message board a lot, and so I asked some people on the message boards if they had any questions and here are a few:
Silvella asked 1. When will be the next Germany tour?
FH- The next german tour is in Feb and is on sale now.
2. Could you imagine to write (sing) some german words in a song, now that Fran lives in Germany?
FH- I had entertained the idea but my friend Wolfgang would never speak to me again (he is german)
TheBoyWithAName 1. Is there any of your own songs that you think arent very good?
FH- There are loads of songs I write which aren't any good... but they never make it on an album... my least favourite that is on a record is Get Up. I really want to remove it.
Akanksha If you could spend one hour talking to any one musician, who is dead, who would it be?
FH- Ummm...I would talk to Warren zevon. He was a fine song writer, a thoughtful cynic.
Gladsadmad What are your own personal 3 favourite Travis b-sides of all time, and will a b-side album be out next year after this album is done with please?
FH- No plans for a b side record, this is a matter for our old label. Umm... My 3 favourites would be 20, The Connection, and Me Beside You.
Debbie in France. Are they much happier now playing more intimate venues rather than the big arena gigs they've done in the past?
FH- I like playing all sizes. I take what I am given and make the most of it. From Busking to Stadiums, there is something cool to be experienced from it all.
Benfilbert How do songs normally come to you? And how excited are you when you write a new song or discover a new melody?
FH- Songs arrive as little unthought melodies while i play about on my guitar... then they are rolled out...some never get past the initial little melody...some write themselves in 10 minutes...these are the ones that make me feel excited. It feels like you are just notating.
Turtleneck What makes a show great (or not so great) from the band's perspective?
FH- The fans make shows great or not great. If the room decides they are going to have a good night then it takes off. Sometimes a crowd can be shy... they find it hard to loosen up... We just get up and play through it. Those shows could be compared to playing tennis with a person who doesn't return the ball... However as we have grown as a band I have realised that there are certain things a band can do to relax the room and then build the atmosphere...We have gotten better at this in recent tours.
Minnmess What do Travis think of us boardies? Do they think we are totally crazy, what with our endless posting, polls, covers, pics, etc?
FH- Yes. Nut jobs the lot of you. But we love you.
Hoje eu finalmente atualizei os links deste blog. Estavam todos quebrados, já que os respectivos evaporaram!
O primeiro e um dos raros sites que haviam na web lá pelos idos de 2001, o Travis Brasil, saiu do ar há muito tempo. Eu não entendo como até hoje ninguém fez um site brasileiro para a banda?!?! Cadê os fãs meu povo???
Entrem neste blog aí The man Who, é em inglês, mas é bem melhor que o meu :)
"Normalmente, eu componho várias músicas por ano, e então, nós gravamos cada parte juntos. Mas nesse disco veio de um ímpeto de criatividade de urgência, uma necessidade para gravar, e foi maravilhoso. Talvez seja o porquê do álbum ser mais coeso que nós já fizemos", contou Fran Healy, líder do grupo.
Esta é uma entrevista bastante longa do ano de 2001. Comecei a traduzir meses atrás, porém não tive mais tempo de continuar, então a maioria dela está em inglês, sorry.
Not Invisible For Long
LAUNCH: Qual a diferença do novo disco, comparado a The man who?
FRAN: Eu não sei exatamente o que mudou, mas nós crescemos, exatamente como uma criança cresce.Você não força, você cresce naturalmente, e eu acho que é igual a uma banda.Nós estamos juntos há 10 anos e lançamos 3 discos, é bem assim.
LAUNCH: Uma das coisas que as pessoas sempre mencionam sobre as músicas do Travis é que são músicas alegres.Isto se aplica ao novo álbum?
FRAN: Um, I think all music is uplifting. I don't think you can specifically put that down to Travis. Whether it's Limp Bizkit, whether it's Radiohead, whether it's Jacques Brel or Scott Walker or Chopin, whatever, any kind of music, it's a celebration. When you open your mouth to sing--whether you're singing about someone who's committed suicide or whether you're singing, "The hills are alive with the sound of music"--it's all a celebration, and it's all very uplifting. I think words and subject matter came to obscure what is actually good about music. Music is based on melody and rhythm, and I think everything that comes after that--the musical part, the lyrics, the production, all that kind of stuff--is just there to frame the original magic of the melody and the rhythm. Those things happen usually by accident--having spoken to many great songwriters, I realize I'm not alone when I say that. I'm talking about people like Paul McCartney, Bowie, some of the greatest songwriters ever of our generation--they all talk about how it seems to come out of nothing, accidentally, and they just happen to be there. And then you just have to add things to it without obscuring the original magic. So I think all music's uplifting, so I would say yes! [laughs]
LAUNCH: Many artists say songwriting is almost like catching lightning. Do you think that the process itself is a pleasing or happy process, or is it something that's difficult for you?
FRAN: It's a real tough process, because it's like going into a dark room: There's no light source anywhere, your eyes can't see anything. It's like going into a dark room the size of an American football patch, or a stadium, and being asked to find a tiny, tiny pin amongst the darkness. It's almost like you have to do the Jedi mind trick and use the force--it usually finds you, rather than youfinding it. It's an interesting thing, but to get your head and your mind and your body and your soul into that state is difficult--I still don't know how I do it! Generally, it takes a while. There's no rules, really, so it's kind of scary, because you don't know how to do it! I still don't know how I write songs, but I just sit down and try to let it happen.
LAUNCH: Where does all this positivity come from? It's not the norm in rock music.
FRAN: It is the norm in rock music! I saw Linkin Park and Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit the other week, and it was fantastic--the most joyful, brilliant show. Big explosions going off, people punching the air and have a great night! People just enjoying themselves. And that's uplifting and positive! That's positivity. That's why I think all music is positive. Whether it's a downbeat song or an upbeat song or a downbeat song, all of this type of language is on the surface, the tip of the iceberg. What lies beneath in music--the invisible part of music--you can't talk about it. It's indescribable. So you just feel it. The song will go into your ear and travel to this point in your brain that'll--poof!--zap your ego and make you feel totally humiliated and humble and yet fantastic at the same time! In our music, there's certainly a melancholic side to it, and I think the positive side of that comes out of the fact that if you're feeling down and you hear a melancholic song that is appealing to how you're feeling at that particular moment, you don't feel alone anymore. You kind of go, "Ah! Someone else felt this way as well." Some Joni Mitchell and Neil Young songs and certain lines of certain songs--"Imagine" by John Lennon is a classic--everyone has that thought, and we need to feel like we're together. We're told by the governments that we all have to be apart, you're an individual and all that, but we're not. We all share the same mass unconscious, and music and art and sports all tap into that, and make us feel like we're together. Even though we've got our walls between ourselves.
LAUNCH: It's true. Tonight's The Night by Neil Young is not the happiest album in the world, but I listen to it, and I feel great!
FRAN: Yeah, because there's something about it. For me, if a song was a house, the actual house itself, the foundation of it, would be the melody and the rhythm, and the words embellishes that original melody and rhythm. They're like the doors and the windows into that house. They allow you inside, and then you go to a place that you've never been before. I think that's what music does. But maybe musicologists would disagree with that! but that's what it does to me.
LAUNCH: You mentioned the word "invisible" before--tell me about the album title The Invisible Band. Obviously there's some deeper meaning to it...
FRAN: Well, at the time I thought, "What a great title for a record!" That was the first and foremost thing about it--just a memorable, mysterious kind of title, very memorable because it already exists in popular culture with the Invisible Man. But as an afterthought, I think it harks back to a time when we didn't have MTV, we didn't even have television, all we had was radio. And I think now, all music has is radio, because I think just how a blockbuster film can sometimes compromise the words of a classic novel and the imagery that a classic novel creates, MTV and television can compromise some of the greatest music--not ruin it, but certainly distract from what is really important, which is how that music itself makes you feel. If the video was made at exactly the same time as the song, then fantastic, but it's not--a song is there by itself from the start. I think an invisible thing like music hits you about 90 percent under the surface, where you can't talk about it, you can't explain it. It can humiliate you, go straight to the point where it somehow targets your ego and targets your unconscious mind. It vaporizes the ego and it. does all these cool sort of things. And it's invisible! Ten percent of it is visible, stuff you can talk about, like, "Whoa, Bob Dylan's words are so cool," or "The melodies of the Beatles, are they so blah blah blah." But there's something else, something that's unexplainable, and it's the magic--that's invisible. And the fact that we've sold 4 million records and people still don't know what the hell we look like, is another kind of more direct reference of the title! [laughs]
LAUNCH: I understand that the first single, "Sing," was written in part for your fiancée?
FRAN: It was written while watching MTV with the sound down. There was a thing on about swing beat. So I started singing this song--I was writing at the time, I was watching the telly and playing the guitar and humming along--and I got this cool little melody, and when it naturally got to a sort of chorus-y part, I started singing, "Swing...If you swing, swing, swing, swing." And I was imagining someone pushing someone on a swing. It was just that feeling when you're a child on a swing--it's the coolest feeling! And so, I played to the guys the next in the studio and everyone played along, and we recorded it as a little outtake, just to get the idea down. During that, it changed from "swing, swing, swing" to "sing, sing, sing" halfway through the chorus. It was half and half. When I got it back that night and was listening to it in the house, I was like, "F--k, man, I'm saying, 'Sing'!" It was a song about singing, and I thought it was really cute, kinda charming. So the words in the verse I kind of directed at Nora, my fiancée, and she's so reluctant to sing whenever we're together--she's like, "Oh no, I can't sing, I've got a sh-t voice," and I'm like, "For f--k's sake, shut up! Just sing!" Because if you love someone, then you should be able to sing in front of them! That sort of thing. But she sings now, which is great! It worked! [laughs]
LAUNCH: So, does she sing Travis songs now?
FRAN: Yeah, she sings along when the album's playing, and she raps along with all of her own hip-hop that she listens to--Guru and all that kind of stuff. She likes Dr. Dre. But yeah, she's singing pretty much to everything now. It's cool!
LAUNCH: It must feel good to know your song had that effect on her.
FRAN: Yeah, you know, "Sing"--you could replace that word with "Dance" or "Cry" or "Laugh" or just "Let Go." 'Cause as an expression, when you're a child, you sing all the time. And then when you get older, you don't--you just go, "I don't want to, my voice is crap." But when you're a kid, you don't care! And I think that's what you should always have--a little bit of that still in you. People look at people in the street that sing like they're mad, like, "What are you singing for?" But it's about having fun and feeling good and all that stuff.
LAUNCH: It seems you spent a lot of time in America over the last couple of years. Has that been an inspiration behind this album? Has America made a tangible impact?
FRAN: Well, I think America needs Travis, I really do, having been there and spent a lot of time there. I think we're a proper band, and we're a touring band just like U2 and R.E.M., and America's kinda made for the road, you know? You can tour and tour and tour and tour and never, ever play the same place twice. But I definitely think some of America has rubbed off. About over half the record was written while we were on the road in America. "The Humpty Dumpty Love Song" was written in Seattle; "Indefinitely" was written I don't know where exactly, but somewhere near New York; "The Cage" was written in New York. So all that stuff is bound to affect the melody or something, I really don't know how. What I do know is I do like playing in the States; I just love the idea of the old open road. It's very sort of attractive to bands, the old sort of rock 'n' roll "don't make a fuss, just get on the bus." [laughs]
LAUNCH: So I guess you enjoy being in America?
FRAN: Coming over is great, because we're fresh and it's new and we're starting all over again. These moments are the best moments, 'cause when we were playing all the toilets in Britain, no one knows you, and it's a fight, you know? We're in a very happy place at the moment. Happy to be back on the road with a whole new record and new songs to sing, and a lot more people to sing them to.
LAUNCH:One thing I don't think Americans understand is your huge popularity back home. What's it like for you guys in the United Kingdom?
FRAN: Honestly, it's weird, I don't know. I never pay attention to that, because you could end up becoming very self-conscious. It's pretty calm, actually. I mean, yeah, we sold 2.5 million copies and it seemed like everyone had a copy of that record [The Man Who]. But it seemed like people were saying, "These are our songs," y'know? That was our intent. It's a very traditional, old-fashioned band. It maybe harks back to a golden age when your carpenter would do stuff during the week, the baker would bake the bread, people would do all their business, and then at the weekend the band would play these songs and allow everyone to let their hair down. It was a service. And so, we're like one of the public services in Britain! There's the ambulance, there's the Automobile Association, and then there's Travis. I think the boys in the band are very down-to-earth people, so I think people see a lot of themselves or whatever in the music. It's quite cool. I just think people like us, you know? They like the music. It's like, we all know who the Beatles are, but we know far more about the music than we do about them. A million and one people have sung "Yesterday" on a karaoke machine and know all the words. It's all about songs, and it's all about people. It's far less about bands.
LAUNCH: Is the notorious U.K. music press something difficult for you guys to deal with?
FRAN: I don't read the press. That's how I deal with it. I never read the press, ever. I don't read books, either. I'm not a reader; I'm a looker. I like looking at pictures, I like watching TV...I'm a TV kid, the TV generation. I'm every English teacher's nightmare! But actually, I had some great English teachers who noticed that, "Hey, this kid doesn't like reading, but he's got a talent for writing." And I think if you've got one or the other, that's great. I'd rather have a talent for writing than for reading. I can't really do much with someone else's words.
LAUNCH: Speaking of other people's words, you did a cover of "Killer Queen." How on earth did that come about, and will it ever be released in the U.S?
FRAN: It should maybe come out in the United States. It exists on a B-side right now; you should be able to get it on Napster or one of these download things. I was writing one night at the studio, at Ocean Way [in Los Angeles], and the boys were all leaving, and just as they were leaving, I started playing an E minor in a sort of stabbing, jing-jing-jing-jing way, and I just started singing it for a laugh. I didn't really know the words or anything, but I was going, in a Homer Simpson kind of style [sings in dopey voice], "She keeps Möet et Chandon in her pretty cabinet..." And then Andy picked a guitar up and played along with it. So like, two weeks later, Andy and Dougie were out late and they'd gone out and bought Queen's best-of, and they learned all the chords to it. So we decided to try to record that as a B-side. As an exercise, it was amazing, fantastic. We had great fun doing it. And we got a little help from a friend of ours, Jason Falkner--he came down and played the piano on it. All the music on it--apart from the vocals and the guitar solo, because the guitar solo is multi-tracked, there's maybe five different guitars doing things on it--even the little triangle that was dangling from the microphone stand, it's all live! And it did take as long as we thought. It was actually very, very easy, and it made us thing, "Jesus, if we can do 'Killer Queen,' then we can pretty much do anything!" We've been playing together for such a long time now, it's easy enough for us to pick up any sort of song and give it a good go. It's funny, it's so unfaithful to the original--because you can't get any better than the Queen version--it just sounds like a little Scottish version of it. Slightly Scottish.
LAUNCH: Is it something that might end up in your live show?
FRAN: You know, I believe Queen never played it live. So I don't think we'll be attempting it!
Scottish rockers Travis chose movie star Ben Stiller to appear in the video for their new single Closer, because no one else was "uptight" enough to play the role. The group needed someone to play a stressed and uptight supermarket manager for their latest video, and couldn't think of anyone else who could do a better job.
Bassist Douglas Payne says, "(Stiller) is a lovely friend, and when we got the treatment for the video there was this part for an uptight wound-up guy.
"We just thought, 'Who do we know that is uptight and wound-up?' So Fran (lead singer) emailed Ben and sure enough he had the day off and it was great, we all went off to LA and started shooting."
Algumas coisas mudaram para os escoceses do Travis desde o último álbum. Uma delas é que a banda saiu da gravadora para fundar seu prórpio selo, o Red Telephone Box. Mas o que influenciou a banda a produzir um álbum tão bom quanto “Ode to J. Smith” deve ter sido outra coisa.
A banda já vinha testando novas composições em shows no início deste ano. Mas foi o contato com Geoff Emerick, engenheiro de som dos Beatles, quando participaram do programa da BBC que celebrava o 40º aniversário do álbum “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, que trouxe novos ares ao Travis.
Foi dessa experiência que a banda tirou a inspiração para finalizar “Ode to J. Smith” - o álbum foi gravado em apenas duas semanas. As 11 faixas apresentam um rock bem feito, ótimos ‘riffs’ e melodias cativantes, como atestam “Quite Free”, “Song to Self” e “Something Anything”.
As experimentações também têm lugar no álbum e o ápice parece ser a faixa “J. Smith”, que traz um coral totalmente inusitado para as canções do Travis. Sobre o estranho título, Fran Healy deu declarações de que as canções foram feitas sobre e para pessoas sem nome. A tradução seria algo como “Ode a João da Silva”.
“Ode to J. Smith” é muito melhor que seus antecessores. Não que eles fossem ruins, mas parecia lhes faltar algo que sobra em “Ode to J. Smith”. Embora o desempenho do álbum nos ‘charts’ britânicos tenha sido fraco, “Ode to J. Smith” é na certa o melhor álbum da banda até agora.
Faixas:
01. Chinese Blues 02. J. Smith 03. Something Anything 04. Long Way Down 05. Broken Mirror 06. Last Words 07. Quite Free 08. Get Up 09. Friends 10. Song to Self 11. Before You Were Young
Escrito por Veridiana às 08h49
Fran: "Tô até tristinho."
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