The Band Who

Not Radiohead. Not Coldplay. Not Oasis. Just Travis, and that's fine.

Comments (0) By Melanie Haupt Thursday, Feb 5 2004

Part of being a grown-up means having to deal with competition, even if it's against some of the biggest bands in the world. This does not faze Travis.

"Once you're out in the marketplace, I suppose that you're kind of...not competitive, but ambitious for the record to get to people," Payne says. "Looking back on The Man Who selling 3 million copies in Britain alone is just amazing, and it's so exciting and gratifying to see so many people getting the record and enjoying it. A lot of people really loved that record, and the same thing with The Invisible Band. So when we put this record out, of course you don't want it to be, you know, a thousand people and that's it. You want it to get to as many folks as possible. I don't think you're necessarily in competition with other bands. I think if you're ambitious with your record, perhaps you're in competition creatively with your own last record. You want to make a better thing."

Scarlet Page

"We all felt while making the record that we're living in frightening times with frightening leaders," says Travis bassist Dougie Payne, far left.

Details

Travis performs February 5 at the Granada Theater, with Jason Faulkner.

More About

So the blokes in Travis aren't really bothered by the fact that Coldplay, effectively Travis' little brothers on the international music scene, have catapulted themselves to astronomical professional heights while Travis has been playing Scrabble on the Isle of Mull (the tiny Scottish island where 12 Memories was recorded)?

"There are certain things that I would very much like for us to do, like play Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl. Seeing Coldplay do that, I was like, 'Oh, you fuckin' bastards!' But they've worked their balls off to get there, and they've done it. We've just got to try and get there."