The Band Who Stole The World

04/26/2000 2:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Jon Wiederhorn

You could easily be forgiven for thinking Travis's second album, The Man Who, is a reference to David Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World. After all, the band's songs are sweeping, dramatic, and filled with quavering, emotional vocals and evocative lyrics. But Travis had another man in mind.

"It's a reference to a book called The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, which was all case studies of schizophrenics and people with neurological disorders," says bassist Dougie Payne. "I think schizophrenia is an interesting area, and it's one we know something about."

Not that the members of Travis run around in deluded states of mind (although they have been accused of thinking they're Radiohead). But their music comes at the listener from many directions, seeming to be upbeat and sprightly one minute, and drifting into a melancholy haze the next. "One reason we became interested in schizophrenia," explains Payne, "is because on our first album we had a song called 'Happy,' which was very self-explanatory, and then there's a song called 'Falling Down.' And the British press said, 'Oh, you don't know what you are. You're schizophrenic. You drift between two things. You can't be both things.' And we said, 'Well, of course you can.' I've always been very suspicious of anybody who's absolutely sure of what they are. So, when it came time to title the record, we decided it was best to embrace something if it's hurting you rather than trying to push it away. If you try and push it away, it just hurts you more. It's like a boxer. If a boxer's getting the sh-t kicked out of him, he doesn't run away from the guy who's hitting him, he kind of hugs him."

Since releasing The Man Who in England in 1999 (the record just came out in America), Travis have been deluged with tons of hugs and other accolades. The buoyant single "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" became a hit worldwide, and is currently receiving showers of praise on U.S. shores. In addition, Travis received Best Band and Best Album kudos at the Brits 2000 Awards. The group's music will likely spread far beyond Europe by the time Travis complete their current U.S. tour opening for Oasis.

As pleased as they are with success, the band members don't consider music a popularity contest. "It's not about us getting famous or getting massive as people," explains Payne. "It's about getting songs out to people, and that's the only thing that matters to us. Once a song arrives from wherever it arrives from, you sign an invisible contract with it where it's the boss and you are a slave to it, and you have to get it out to as many people as possible, because that's where it belongs. So this is a chance to do that. A band, the radio, TV, interviews. It's all just fuel to get the song out there."

Which may explain why Travis sometimes cover the Britney Spears song "Baby One More Time" in concert. "It's a gorgeous song," insists Payne. "It's just one of those cases where Britney Spears, or whoever is doing a song, can stand in the way of it. You're distracted by the pigtails and the school uniform, but it's a good song. What you have to remember is the guy who wrote that song, Max Martin, sat strumming an acoustic guitar in exactly the same way as Thom Yorke [from Radiohead] would sit and write 'Fake Plastic Trees' or Noel Gallagher [from Oasis] would write 'Wonderwall'--staring at his knees, pouring his heart out. It's just that a lot of pop artists get in the way of their work, and that's not what it's about. It's like if a painter put on a show and ran around the gallery standing in front of all his paintings saying, 'Look at me! Look at me! I did this! Aren't I great!' You'd be like, 'F--king get out of the way, I can't see what you've done. I can't see your paintings.'"