“Something Anything“
from the album Ode to J. Smith
2008
iTunes
If the opening chords of new single “Something Anything” suggest Travis have gone in a new, edgy, scuzzy-rock direction, then the song “J. Smith” confirms this.
Epic, orchestral rock — suffused with tough beats — is not how you would ever imagine Travis’ music defined, but this is what they have achieved on their new album, set for release at the end of September.
The album Ode to J. Smith will be the Scottish band’s sixth studio offering, but unlike previous offering The Boy with No Name, it was recorded in a mere 14 days, something drummer Neil Primrose allows himself to sound reasonably chuffed about when he speaks to the Limerick Leader.
“It was a reaction to spending two years making the last album, and being caught up in the machinations of record companies and media and marketing, which unfortunately — along with the celebrity crap we live in today — seems to dominate our society,” says the Scot.
Songs for the album were written in two writing sessions and then toured live to gauge the response to them, before they were recorded in a “rush of creative energy” that Neil says he enjoyed.
“It was far more enjoyable, because it was instantaneous,” he explains. “I’m quite hyperactive, I get bored easily, I don’t like sitting about in recording studios. The songs were all ready, so when it came to the studio, when we pressed record, we basically had most of the songs in the second or first take.”
Neil stresses that unlike most other bands of today, Travis recorded this offering on tape as opposed to digital format, and almost entirely live, playing together in the same room. The result is a brash and edgy album that is most un-Travis like, which might see them escape the category they have been pegged in for much of their later career, often dismissed as melodic pop-rockers responsible merely for spawning the likes of Coldplay and Keane.
Neil recognises just how different this album will be for the band. “There is a lot more variety,” he explains. “There are two or three mellow tunes, one is really dark — it has a real, dare I say, Twin Peaks sound to it — some are more poppy, while others are more epic. I think ‘J. Smith’ is the most ambitious, but the album still has a real cohesive element in terms of the sound and there is something there for everyone, but generally it is a lot heavier and a lot more in your face.”
This album will be released by the band themselves, through their own record label. “We got to the point where we were at a crossroads and had done our five albums that we were contracted to do, so we took control.
It is the way it has to be until the music industry sorts itself out, the only way that you will get anything done is to do it yourself.
“It’s a pretty good place to be in, it does create more work and we do have to take more responsibility and pay for more things ourselves, but ultimately, what is coming out is a far more concentrated version.”