Tony Crean, Independiente Records' creative and marketing director during the conception of The Man Who: "Even though we were mainly listening to demos, when we started to think about the cover, we knew the finished album was going to be mellower than Good Feeling, quite evocative and moody with an REM-meets-Echo-and-the-Bunnymen vibe. So we decided to do a Bunnymen-esque cover, something that would capture the same mystique of their covers without ripping them off.
"We also wanted to shoot it somewhere with snow--and preferably in Scotland to reaffirm the band's links with the country. So when Aviemore was suggested as one of the possible locations, we chose it straight away. Then we saw the Caterpillar ad campaign--all wide-open spaces with a sense that something's either just about happen or has just happened--and decided to try to get the same photographer. He's normally based in San Francisco but happened to be over in London. He liked the band and was willing to do the shoot for less than he'd normally charge. So it all came together."
Anthony McGee, marketing manager at Independiente: "Then we went up to Aviemore in January, thinking there'd be tons of snow, and not only was there no snow, but there was rain and 70 mph wind. And it was all outdoor shots! We finished for the day knowing that we hadn't got what we needed but that out of all the locations we visited, the one with the telegraph poles was ideal.
"Because the band were still working on the album at this point, they had to fly straight back to London the next morning, so we aimed to get up at 5:30 a.m. to try again. When we opened the curtains, it had snowed, and everything looked serene and perfect. The only thing was that Dougie was wearing this jacket with a big fur collar that was a little too Bunnymen retro, so I persuaded him to try on my coat for the last few frames, and we got the shot.
"We mocked up some of the previous day's shots as covers, but they just looked windy and wet, and the idea wasn't to imply that Travis were a soggy, miserable band, so we went back to the snow. Then there were discussions along the lines of 'But the album's coming out in May,' so we just said, 'That's OK. In the summer, it's sand; in the winter, it's snow.'"
