All I know is that stating your taste says more about you than about us. /
Challenge me if you dare :)
Ok, a wee challenge right back at you....
Fran, fans are organic too, and we evolve and are at different stages of our lives every time you release new music. Just like you change, and your music reflects that, and you don't know where the next step will be, so it is the same for the fans. And the place that they are in, by definition, will impact on how they "receive" the music.
I know that a few here have agreed with your every word, but I don't think this is an accurate reflection of your overall(very loyal) fan base. It's in human nature to compare, but that doesn't undermine their loyalty, or appreciation of your music. Surely HOW we enjoy it, whether via general love of the lyrics and melodies, or via capturing your heartbeat in each note, is up to us!!!
So, I can't fall in entirely with what you're saying, because, as I mentioned before, I hear the organic nature of the music, rather than the heartbeat you describe.
Having said that, the one area where I do agree is in live performance, which I differently from the albums. The shows we get treated to are worth every penny of the ticket money, and prove the amount of yourselves that go into the music - like 150%!!!
I love the music, and have done for a decade. I can't see that changing. I do hope you'll forgive my wish to debate! :)
Travis are an organic band. These records decide for themselves what they will be. They come to us out of the blue. We will always endeavor to make timeless music. My message is either get on the bus or get off because this bus is moving. Where? We don't know... But that's the best part.
All I know is that stating your taste says more about you than about us. I'm glad you enjoyed one of our records. Cherish it.
However if you can hear some difference in albums and songs then you are not listening closely enough... Since the very first song we recorded together till the last one, if you listen close enough you will hear our hearts pounding with every note played. That is what a hard core fan hears. I am happy to state this is what I am. I don't hear music any more. I hear heart and soul. I hear blood rushing.
I am the number 1 Travis fan.
Challenge me if you dare :)
What a great post, Fran! :) This is quite touching. I do adore and respect lots your passion. I think music style or something like that doesn't matter much. Well, for example, in my opinion, Ode to J. Smith is pretty much different from TBWNN, but we love both of them, don't we? As Fran and everyone say, passion is the most essential and important thing.
Travis are an organic band. These records decide for themselves what they will be. They come to us out of the blue. We will always endeavor to make timeless music. My message is either get on the bus or get off because this bus is moving. Where? We don't know... But that's the best part.
All I know is that stating your taste says more about you than about us. I'm glad you enjoyed one of our records. Cherish it.
However if you can hear some difference in albums and songs then you are not listening closely enough... Since the very first song we recorded together till the last one, if you listen close enough you will hear our hearts pounding with every note played. That is what a hard core fan hears. I am happy to state this is what I am. I don't hear music any more. I hear heart and soul. I hear blood rushing.
I am the number 1 Travis fan.
Challenge me if you dare :)
I wouldn't dare challenge you Fran but....
Regardless of the heart and soul that one can sense in all Travis songs, as fans we all bring our own experience to the songs, and they are creating a mood within us. These moods fluctuate from song to song, album to album, but they are what define our own experiences.
A certain lyric, a melody, a rhythm, a hook. The heart and soul is there in every second of a Travis song, but some elements sometimes penetrate deeper. It's the icing on an already delicious cake. And everyone's icing is different, whether it's Neil's DOBBER vocal on No Cigar or that soaring final chorus in Something Anything.
I taste more icing from The Boy With No Name than from Ode To J Smith, but I'll certainly never refuse a cake without icing.
Travis are an organic band. These records decide for themselves what they will be. They come to us out of the blue. We will always endeavor to make timeless music. My message is either get on the bus or get off because this bus is moving. Where? We don't know... But that's the best part.
All I know is that stating your taste says more about you than about us. I'm glad you enjoyed one of our records. Cherish it.
However if you can hear some difference in albums and songs then you are not listening closely enough... Since the very first song we recorded together till the last one, if you listen close enough you will hear our hearts pounding with every note played. That is what a hard core fan hears. I am happy to state this is what I am. I don't hear music any more. I hear heart and soul. I hear blood rushing.
I am the number 1 Travis fan.
Challenge me if you dare :)
That alone would replenish anyones faith in the music industry :)
I think the exact opposite, to me, TBWNN sounds like Travis trying to be Travis whereas Ode sounds like Travis having fun and producing some great moments. I think Quite Free sounds like it's dropped straight out of TIB times :D
This is precisely what I also thought and felt (still I totally love 3x and you lose, New Amsterdam and the songs hidden after that -New Amsterdam probably one of my favorite Travis songs).
Ode is just Travis at its climax so far, unaffected by anything and totally and fully inhabited by what and where they want to be right now. A pure classic and cult album which will not age I'm convinced.
Travis are an organic band. These records decide for themselves what they will be. They come to us out of the blue. We will always endeavor to make timeless music. My message is either get on the bus or get off because this bus is moving. Where? We don't know... But that's the best part.
All I know is that stating your taste says more about you than about us. I'm glad you enjoyed one of our records. Cherish it.
However if you can hear some difference in albums and songs then you are not listening closely enough... Since the very first song we recorded together till the last one, if you listen close enough you will hear our hearts pounding with every note played. That is what a hard core fan hears. I am happy to state this is what I am. I don't hear music any more. I hear heart and soul. I hear blood rushing.
I am the number 1 Travis fan.
Challenge me if you dare :)
I dare...cause really...you ask for it!
There is nothing to disagree with what you wrote Fran. It all stands perfectly and solid for itself as it's coming from YOU. Nobody else than you can feel, hear, mean and say what you're saying, and all that is just right. Yet I feel things could be added or questionned.
You say that you're Travis N°1 fan and all of us (i guess) will agree because it is purely felt and said and unarguable given who you are.
Yet you are IN Travis, you are a part of Travis, you are Travis. Making Travis doesn't make YOU Travis...same for the albums and songs of course. Let's not go on too long, the idea is simply that since YOU ARE IN something and therefore NOT OUT (pedantic innit!!) can you really be a fan? I mean JUST a fan?
What is a Fan? Can a fan be in what's being 'adored'? Must a fan be out to be a fan? Can one split himself and have a capacity to observe, feel and hear music with enough distance to see it from a REAL fan's point of view while having produced the music himself? If one feels blood rushing and heartpounding while listening to music has he got the right distance to hear it? Isn't a hardcore fan one that can feel and hear both ways, with a distance and with his heart blood soul? Can a member of Travis by nature comply to this?
This is about terminology (what is a fan?) and point of views. I agree with everything you say Fran but will add that yes you can feel and say that you are Travis N°1 fan and that point is totally right to you. But it is not a fan's point of view it is Fran Healy's point of view, the point of view of the lead singer and the author of the music and band we're discussing. You are one with what you produce and by nature this is making it impossible to you to be a "just a fan". When I say just, I mean only a fan, isolating the position.
I hope this pedantic post will have bored as much as interested.xxx
PS : there is also a disucssion to have on love stories here...too long to start now!
Good replies IMO - a post like that of Fran's should be debated, not taken at face value.
It's pretty obvious that fans will not be in the same place as the band every time they release new material and to tell people to get on or off the bus ... well, I won't say what I really wanna say ...
Can't a fan be a 'floating' fan, if you like? Why do fans have to be hard core or nothing at all? During the long periods of time when Travis weren't recording there were still fans here and to be completely honest those people who are called hard core fans NOW weren't there THEN - they probably jumped on the Keane/Coldplay bandwagon. So, they're like really hard core, aren't they?
I like the early stuff and can take or leave most of the late stuff ... if that makes me less of a fan then, well to coin a phrase, am i bovvered?
Good replies IMO - a post like that of Fran's should be debated, not taken at face value.
Thanks Kristy. It was partly in frustration at the sycophantic posts that popped up, as they always do, in the immediate aftermath of Fran's.
But also, because I didn't entirely agree with Fran's comments, and as Fran is a self confessed Travis fan just like the rest of us, I came back to him with a response between equals! :)
I'm sure that you are right when you say that Fran wanted us to debate with him! :)
I also think that your opinion of the albums is every bit as worthy as any other offered in this forum, and it's great that you're honest enough to own up to how you feel.
I like the early stuff and can take or leave most of the late stuff ... if that makes me less of a fan then, well to coin a phrase, am i bovvered?
I think that one of the worst things about music forums is that there can be a superior attitude amongst online fans, like if they want a competition or gig for boardies. Yes, it would be fun, but other fans are just as worthy but don't want to join messageboards. Also it's natural for fans to like or dislike new directions, so long as they don't complain excessively, there is nothing wrong with that.
Anyway, I like the changing of direction though of course at some point I won't like it as much as at others. If bands stayed the same it would be very dull.
Thanks mates for the discussion, really interesting and worth it and i agree with you. Discussions are challenging because the balance between discussion and argument is fragile.
Since I have 5 minutes let's jump on my PS.
Are we/you in a long lasting relationship with Travis? I mean a love story really!
Once upon a time I/you/we fell in love with a band called Travis. It started then and has not ended yet. This is a love story and since for a lot of us here and there it's a long and lasting one...it is not stable.
Love stories : how many of us have been lucky enough to be in one? Or more than one? Love stories from what I know of them are not constant...and if they last enough to be a long and lasting love story...then hohoho rock the boat, battleships...it's just another day in love. Little fights, big wars, grow appart, meet again, great discussions, tolerance, arguments, understanding, patience and above love forgiving...because there always is that light, a radiant ray bright and flashing and it's before and after and beyond everything. Let's call it L O V E.
I am very happy to be that 'in love' with the new album, more than for the last one although (I love repeating myself!) some of the songs in TBWNN are amongst my favorites songs. I stayed on the bus because I really love Travis and I know we are in a love story together. I disapoint like Travis disapoints, at moments I love less like anybody loves less, and right now we're on the high and that's just a blessing to be cherished and treasured. That is what I call a long lasting love story.
In our world we value fidelity. We consider that it's a major element to long lasting love stories (not to mention mariage!). There are lots of different ways to be faithful, pick your favorite, and in my opinion the best way is honesty. To yourself and to the 'subject of love'.
Thanks mates for the discussion, really interesting and worth it and i agree with you. Discussions are challenging because the balance between discussion and argument is fragile.
Since I have 5 minutes let's jump on my PS.
Are we/you in a long lasting relationship with Travis? I mean a love story really!
Once upon a time I/you/we fell in love with a band called Travis. It started then and has not ended yet. This is a love story and since for a lot of us here and there it's a long and lasting one...it is not stable.
Love stories : how many of us have been lucky enough to be in one? Or more than one? Love stories from what I know of them are not constant...and if they last enough to be a long and lasting love story...then hohoho rock the boat, battleships...it's just another day in love. Little fights, big wars, grow appart, meet again, great discussions, tolerance, arguments, understanding, patience and above love forgiving...because there always is that light, a radiant ray bright and flashing and it's before and after and beyond everything. Let's call it L O V E.
I am very happy to be that 'in love' with the new album, more than for the last one although (I love repeating myself!) some of the songs in TBWNN are amongst my favorites songs. I stayed on the bus because I really love Travis and I know we are in a love story together. I disapoint like Travis disapoints, at moments I love less like anybody loves less, and right now we're on the high and that's just a blessing to be cherished and treasured. That is what I call a long lasting love story.
In our world we value fidelity. We consider that it's a major element to long lasting love stories (not to mention mariage!). There are lots of different ways to be faithful, pick your favorite, and in my opinion the best way is honesty. To yourself and to the 'subject of love'.
Ode to j.smith is just as good as the boy with no name, and it shows that the band have not abandoned thier roots of good feeling, only one small criticism about the new album- thers not enough acoustic songs like closer turn or even pipe dreams, lets hope for more of that next time
I think that one of the worst things about music forums is that there can be a superior attitude amongst online fans, like if they want a competition or gig for boardies. Yes, it would be fun, but other fans are just as worthy but don't want to join messageboards.
Unfortunately, this is true. But I think it's too early to compare albums--you have to live with it for a while, like 6 mos or so and then see. Also it's unfair to compare anything to TMW--that record has a life of its own now.
