“My intake of music over the last 3 years has been voluminous,” Travis frontman Fran Healy tells us. “To pick out 10 bands or songs is difficult!” We asked Healy to pick 10 artists, songs or albums that influenced Travis’ 10th album, L.A. Times, which is out today. Fran’s list includes De La Soul, Nick Drake, Van Morrison, R.E.M., Beck and more, and Fran tells us how all of them tie into the album. It’s a very entertaining, informative read that makes nice reading while listening to L.A. Times. Check that out below.
Travis made L.A. Times with producer Tony Hoffer, whose credits include Beck’s Midnight Vultures, Phoenix’s Alphabetical, M83’s Hurry Up We’re Dreaming, and Belle & Sebastian’s The Life Pursuit. “L.A. Times is our most personal album since The Man Who,” says Healy. “There was a lot of big stuff to write about back then, the tectonic plates had shifted in my life. I was 22 when I was writing those songs. They were my therapy. Over 20 years later and the plates have shifted again. There’s a lot to talk about.” Listen below.
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TRAVIS’ FRAN HEALY – 10 INFLUENCES ON ‘L.A. TIMES’
Fontaines D.C. – “Roman Holiday”
Clay (my son) and I learned this song together on guitar. I played rhythm and sang and he played lead. FDC has been wafting through our house and blaring in the car pre-drivers license for a couple of years. I like the way the singer delivers his lyrics. There’s a part sung part spoken looseness that nods to Mark E Smith and Steve Malkmus. Grian’s vocal style absolutely informed my decision to speak rather than sing and to do so in my Glaswegian accent on the title track L.A. Times.
De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising / “Eye Know”
The long overdue reissue of this seminal record is soaked up completely on our track “Home.” I ate, slept and prayed this album when it first came out when I was 15. It’s bubble gum positivity belying deeper messages between the beats left an indelible mark on me.
Nick Drake – “Pink Moon”
I read a review of a Nick Drake biography in The Guardian a while ago, taken from personal encounters with this somewhat misunderstood singer. The book tried to dispel the quiet, shy, introvert, pushed by many. The article also spoke a little of his final album. I revisited Pink Moon after reading this. There are a few songs which seem to begin and end very quickly. It inspired me to keep some songs on L.A. Times as short as they asked to be kept. If you listen, songs tell you what they need. The duration of a piece of music is the most arbitrary yet important aspect of its characteristics. There are many two-minute tunes which are being played on repeat decades later so they’re 50 and 60 years long.
Sam Cooke – One Night Stand at the Harlem Square Club
Dougie played this album to me many years ago. It’s as live as you get. Travis are a live four piece band in the mold of this and the hundreds of live shows we’ve seen over the years. In a world of ever-expanding backing track stadium experiences, more and more people are experiencing a “not-so-live” show when they’re paying money to watch a “live” show. Click tracks, backing tracks that include pre recorded vocals and huge amounts of pre recorded music seem to be more and more commonplace. This live Sam Cooke album is a ground zero live record and we always listen to it before we record. Try to capture as much of the band as possible. That’s where great recordings are at.
Peter Gabriel – So / “Sledgehammer”
Hiring Tony Hoffer to produce L.A. Times was a dream that took us 17 years to realise. I wanted us to make a record that was immediate. I wanted to make a record that jumped out of the speakers, “So” has a lot of different songs which are treated individually. I feel we are in a similar zone with this record.
R.E.M. – Green
Stipe, Mills, Buck and Berry released this album in 1988. They and The Band are the template for Travis. Green was my entry into the house of R.E.M. It was their sixth album. It brims with imagination and a musical freedom few bands have realized. We did a cover of ”You Are the Everything” remotely during the pandemic. We covered a load of songs actually during this time. Something to keep us occupied There’s a longing on that song in particular which grabbed me at the time and still grabs me.
Paul Simon – “The Boy in the Bubble”
Most artists don’t make compelling music past their ’40s. Paul Simon’s Graceland turned this on its head. I always feel like there are still great melodies and lyrics to be unearthed and when I’m contemplating giving up, I listen to this album a few times. It’s more than the songs. The energy is fresh. It fizzes. I wanted to make an album filled to the gills with a similar evanescence.
Beck – Odelay
Another record that has been playing in our house. Beck and the Dust Brothers took Mellow Gold and pushed it one step further. A few folk mentioning the DNA on “I Hope You Spontaneously Combust” belonging to Beck. It’s not deliberate, though this was never off our CD players when we moved to London in 1996. I feel like albums come around again and now Clay is playing it in his room. it feels as original as it did 27 years ago.
Jackson Browne – “Late For the Sky”
I’ve known this song for a very long time. It’s like a little sparrow that comes and sits on top of my head for a few days each year. This year was no different. Triggered by a flutter, “Late for the Sky” has a tone of its own. It feels played because it IS played. It’s a band playing together in a room. Likely few overdubs. There are certain songs which possess a gentle intensity that any band should try to get close to when the red light is on. I hear a bit of that in our track “Naked in New York City,” mostly likely because it is a single live take with no overdubs.
Van Morrison – “And it Stoned Me”
Another perennial which swoops into the field from time to time. If I were to boil Travis down to 3 core values it would be Art, Mischief and Storytelling. “And it Stoned Me” is Van remembering a day is one of the most vivid stories told within the confines of a song. It’s about a day in the life of his younger self and registering how the simple things back then blew his mind the same way as music does now. There’s a bit of Van’s DNA in Raze the Bar… possibly with a couple of drips of Piano Man by Billy Joel.
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Travis will tour North America in early 2025, including a NYC show at Webster Hall on Valentine’s Day (2/14). Well before that, Travis will be playing a very intimate acoustic duo show at Mercury Lounge on August 2.
All dates:
TRAVIS – 2024/2025 TOUR DATES
02 August Mercury Lounge, NYC
26 August Paradiso, Amsterdam
28 August Razzmatazz, Barcelona
29 August Sala La Riviera, Madrid
31 August Bierhübeli, Switzerland
1 September Le Trianon, Paris
3 September Live Music Hall, Cologne
4 September Huxley’s Neue Welt, Berlin
5 September Docks, Hamburg
5 December O2 Academy, Leeds
6 December Albert Hall, Manchester
8 December Olympia, Liverpool
9 December The Halls, Wolverhampton
10 December Rock City, Nottingham
11 December Dreamland, Margate
13 December O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London
15 December Beacon, Bristol
17 December Winter Gardens, Eastbourne
18 December Octagon, Sheffield
19 December City Hall, Newcastle
21 December OVO Hydro, Glasgow
21 January The Ritz, Raleigh, NC
22 January Buckhead Theatre, Atlanta, GA
24 January Factory at Deep Ellum, Dallas, TX
25 January Moody Theatre, Austin, TX
27 January Van Buren, Phoenix, AZ
28 January Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA
29 January Fox Oakland, San Francisco, CA
31 January Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR
1 February Commodore, Vancouver, BC
2 February Showbox, Seattle, WA
4 February The Depot, Salt Lake City, UT
5 February Summit Denver, CO
7 February Varsity Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
8 February Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL
10 February Royal Oak Music Theatre, Royal Oak, MI
11 February Agora, Cleveland, OH
12 February Concert Hall, Toronto, ON
14 February Webster Hall, New York, NY
15 February Royale, Boston, MA
16 February District Music Hall, Norwalk, CT
18 February Keswick Theatre, Philadelphia, PA
19 February 9:30 Club, Washington, DC