Scottish rock legends Travis will play the soundtrack to many fans’ lives when recreating hit album The Invisible Band, insists bassist Dougie Payne.
Travis will headline The Music Hall in Aberdeen on Saturday September 24 as part of the True North festival.
They will play 2001 chart topping album The Invisible Band in its entirety before returning after a brief interval to perform a mix of smash hits.
More than 20 years on from the album’s release Dougie believes the songs still sound fresh because they remain part of the fabric of many fans’ lives.
Fans have danced to the upbeat pop tracks on memorable nights… and found solace within the introspective songs during darker times.
Dougie, 49, said: “The songs from The Invisible Band still feel really fresh. That’s because once songs are out there in the public domain they are no longer ours. They are your songs.
“And if you like them and listen to them they soundtrack your life in the same way the record soundtracked our lives. That’s what keeps it fresh, that it’s not really ours.”
‘Music is like a time-machine’
The Invisible Band was recorded at Ocean Way studios in Los Angeles with legendary producer Nigel Godrich who is renowned for his work with Radiohead.
Released on June 11, 2001 the album sold more than one million copies in the United Kingdom alone and spent four weeks at number one. It also broke into the USA top 40.
When Dougie takes to the stage in Aberdeen to play the album he says it will be like a ‘time machine’ transporting him back more than two decades.
He said: “Songs we haven’t played that much such as Last Train really take me back to being at Ocean Way in LA with Nigel. I am almost back in the studio recording it.
“It’s a very atmosphere song that had a lovely feel when we were recording it.
“We were all sitting down on rugs playing it. Our friend Jason Falkner also played keyboards on that.
“Music is bizarre. It’s like magic, like a time machine sometimes.”
Remembering The Invisible Band
The Invisible Band produced hit singles Sing, Flowers in the Window and Side.
Such was the popularity of Travis at the turn of the century they won Best Band at the Brit Awards in 2000 and 2002.
Travis had not played some of the tracks from The Invisible Band live for two decades until this year.
Dougie said: “I think The Invisible Band works so well live due to the way it runs.
“It is a good, well-paced record where all the songs have a lot going for them.
“This show is a good one to play as we are doing a lot of stuff we haven’t performed for a long time.
Who’s coming to see us in Aberdeen this weekend? 💥🎸🏴
Tickets: https://t.co/YZksQkkopI pic.twitter.com/3GngvylbiV
— Travis (@TravisBand) September 20, 2022
“There are songs like The Cage and Dear Diary along with some of the more quiet, delicate tracks that we hadn’t played since touring The Invisible Band when it came out.
“We had to do a bit of studying to remember how they went. There are two sides to us, there always has been.
“The pop side which on The Invisible Band is songs like Sing, Flowers in the Window and Side, which are very up and pop.
“Then there are darker things like The Cage, Dear Diary and Last Train.
“We have always done that naturally. It is nice to have that breadth of atmosphere.
“After we play The Invisible Band we then come back on and do a mini-set of hits so we can pick and choose what we can play.”
Fran Healy at Music Hall opening
It is a welcome return to the Granite City for the band who have racked up eight top 10 albums in the UK.
Singer Fran Healy played as part of the celebrations to reopen the Music Hall in 2018 following an extensive £9 million revamp.
Fran performed Travis hit Sing with the Aberdeen Performing Arts Community Choir.
Dougie said: “We are really excited about the Aberdeen show.
“We have had great shows in Aberdeen in the past and are absolutely delighted to be back.
“The last time we did anything up in Aberdeen was when Fran was up on his own to re-open The Music Hall.”
Next stop – the ‘jet lag’ tour
Aberdeen is the final show in the UK before Travis embark on a series of worldwide concerts that Dougie terms the “jet lag tour”.
Regardless of how gruelling a world tour can be Dougie is embracing playing live after being denied that pleasure during the coronavirus lockdown.
After so long without shows he admits to fears performing live again would be ‘completely alien’.
Thankfully it wasn’t and the band clicked back into live mode immediately.
Dougie said: “Like everyone, we had two years of no shows and did stuff by zoom.
“It got to the point where we were thinking ‘are we going to be able to do this after such a long time? Is it going to be completely alien to us?
“But once we started back it was ‘here we are again’. We see everyone in Aberdeen then we have about a week before we leave in October for the jet-lag tour.
“We’re going round the world the other way to what we usually do. We go from here to Mexico first where we have three shows.
“Then we go right round the other side to Japan for a week. After that, we have shows in Turkey and Dubai. It is right around the world, but anti-clockwise.”
Work set to begin on new album
Travis may be celebrating the enduring legacy of The Invisible Band but they are not living in the past.
Dougie confirmed they aim to start work on a follow-up to 2020 album 10 Songs, with new material hopefully released next year.
He said: “We started to try to put things together and will hopefully be going into the studio in the new year. “That is the rough plan.
“We would like to get some new stuff done in the early part of the year. That will be our 10th album which is bizarre when you think about it.
“Hopefully we will get new stuff out in the first part of next year.”
For more information on True North go to aberdeenperformingarts.com
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