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Fran Healy really wants you to write that song.
Weneedit, he tells me several times over a call in early October.
(I am legally obligated to remind you thatTravis directly inspired Coldplay.)
The bands new album, appropriately titled10 Songs, is top-tier late-career Travis.
These are my best songs, Healy says.
Thats just the law of rock and roll.
Your sell-by date only lasts until youre 26 to 30, then youre fucked.
He doesnt like what he sees, and hes not surprised.
He also has hope.
Songs are cultural things that make us feel better, he muses.
Ive read that youve written songs on the piano, yet10 Songsfeels like Traviss first piano record.
It feels like the legacy album you make when youre deep into your career.
Its deliberately that way.
I write on guitar; I know the guitar so well.
Im not really a technical player, but Im a very good guitarist.
I have very good timing, Im told.
But when you write on a piano, I have no idea.
To me, the piano is like French.
I cant speak French, but I like to hear with a piano.
Is this because you wanted to challenge yourself, or you just feel stuck?
Heres a good analogy.
Have you seenThere Will Be Blood?
This is how I feel as a songwriter, as a melody hunter.
Im looking for melody.
Im looking for that little, tiny bit of gold that I can crush down and turn into something.
I think with guitar; its almost like my pickax is just not doing the thing anymore.
I just changed my pickax.
Now I can break away this rock.
Its not any better than a guitar.
Its just not worn away.
Dont get me wrong.
I fucking hate it.
Ninety-five percent of the act of songwriting is not creative at all.
Its just pure chipping away and mundane, and theres no brief.
Youre just stabbing in the dark, and you dont know whats gonna end up on your fork.
Probably nothing for a while.
There Will Be Blooddidnt have the best ending for Daniel, so I wish you luck.
Hopefully, no one drinks my milkshake.
Still, your guitar sound is such a vital part of Traviss success.
Do you think fans will take that pivot away well?
I dont care about how things sound.
I just care about the top line.
I dont give a shit.
I care about melody; thats the most important bit.
It can sound like anything.
And he said, I find melody embarrassing.
I found that to be quite interesting.
I think hes one of the best melody writers of his generation.
As a melody writer, I know what hes talking about.
When you write a really good melody, its like finding a new element in the periodic table.
The feeling that Thom is talking about is writing a shit melody.
You have to write hundreds of shit melodies so you can get one that is a new element.
Right now, thats what we need.
We need the truth.
Complexity is looked upon in the music as being somehow lofty.
Music is the only discipline where complexity is actually thought of as being somehow great.
You two are still the ones going at it today.
In the end, you and Thom both grew beards and moved to L.A.
Were living parallel lives.
Im living Thoms Paul McCartney alter ego.
Whether its Radiohead or Travis, there are a few bands that are just We are us.
But like you said, we were outside of it.
Why would you follow fashion?
I didnt get the Britannia thing because, you know, fuck that.
In the U.K., if youre working class, generally you dont have time to mope about anything.
Thats what was great about Oasis.
When I think of Britpop, I think of a few bands.
I think of the Las.
The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays.
They were part of British popular culture, but maybe it needs a revision.
I dont see many bands reaching those heights in Britain.
I havent really seen them for a while.
Its just not a thing at the moment.
Maybe it will be.
Britains a conservative country.
America is a conservative country.
What is fucking happening to your country?
Ive lived here for three years.
I look around and I see a lot of unhappy people.
People dont have time for love.
People do not have time for their kids.
Kids grow up feeling more depressed.
America seems to be in this horrible feedback loop, and look where you are now.
You got the flu, that metaphorical flu, and Trump is the symptom.
Hes the achy neck or the sore throat.
Hes not the cause.
Getting rid of him is not going to make it go away.
And I love America, absolutely.
Its the place where everythings possible.
You went to the moon.
You put a Black man in the White House.
Sadly, Trump also is possible in America.
How are you feeling as an American?
I dont know whats going to happen.
Theres a really interesting book calledWhy Love Matters.
Heres someone whos never received love.
That guys a walking poster boy for pure neglect.
Whatever happened to him created this persona of narcissism and feeling like hes got no shame.
But hes an amazing con man.
Hes the fucking con man of all time.
Hes very good at what he does, but hes absolutely completely empty.
And look at who hes appealing to.
Everyone slags them off.
Have a bit of fucking compassion for these people because theyre not as lucky as you and me.
Hes not giving them love, though.
Hes not capable of that.
I think this election is going to be Americas IQ test.
I think youre going to get flying colors.
Youre going to pass it because people have woken up, and not just woke, middle-class liberals.
I admire your optimism.
I placed a bet on Trump becoming the president 18 months before he even said he was running.
I just saw it coming.
I put a bet on it this time that you guys are gonna be fine.
The pendulum swings one way, and it will swing another way.
But when it swings back the other way, hopefully people put things in place.
Its an interesting time in America.
As a young boy, I looked at your country and it was the castle on the hill.
All your movies and all your art and music and everything was so cool.
You guys were so smart and clever, and you just got the flu.
Youre just on your back right now.
I think thats bound to happen if you let it.
I think good things are gonna happen.
I have a good feeling.
I hope you win your bet.
Just try and be good.
Its okay, especially now, to be nice.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
