I don't know if it's been posted before, if so I apologize! I used the search function but couldn't find anything about it.
A friend of mine went to visit another friend of ours who lives in Buxtehude, in Germany. And she was in a store in Hamburg (asking about the Song To Self single for me hehe) and found a free magazine called Piranha and Travis are on the cover!
I swear it's the first time I hold in my hands a magazine with Travis on the cover! I'm so happy! xD
It's the september issue. There's a huge Travis pic and an article on pages 8-9. I have absolutely no idea what the article says, because I don't understand more than 5 words in german and I think only one of them is used on the article :oP.
Perhaps some german boardie has it and would be so kind to tell me what it says :o)
At the bottom of the article there's a tiny pic of Ode To J. Smith's cover and next to it it says:
TRAVIS
Ode To J. Smith
Universal
VÖ: 26.09
I've got it, too! And I found another free magazine (Uncle Sally's) today with Travis on the cover. :)
The article.. "Papa, Album!" Everything's new with Travis, as it seems. The likeable Scottish rockers dare a fresh start with 'Ode to J Smith" and it takes them back to their own past of rock'n'roll. (..or something like this ;)
The neighbours must have been delighted. Since Frans Healy lives in his new home in Berlin's district 'Prenzlauer Berg', he made his profession known in a very audible way: But the lead singer and guitarist of Travis didn't strum quiet songs for his neighbours on his balcony, but grabbed his Fender Jazzmaster guitar, turned up the Vox Amp and wrote songs that are not really suitable good-night-songs for his little son Clay. "He liked them anyway", says Healy, "Clay always grinned and said 'Papa! Album!" So Fran's two-year-old got the situation right away: His dad wrote songs for a new longplayer. Without the uncles Dougie, Neil and Andy, because they didn't have a lot of time - Uncle Dougie was going to be a father, too, and announced a longer time-out. Uncle Neil however likes it dangerous: After he almost died in a tragic accident, he found his passion for motor racing and cannot be stopped since he came in fourth in the Le Mans Classic 2008. "Someday he will break his neck", Healy fears. Just Uncle Andy is really relaxed.
So Healy wrote the album between raising his son and moving to Berlin and he used electric guitars for it. After complaints from their fans, that the last albums of their Scottish favourite band were "so smooth that you could slip on them", Travis re-discover rock'n'roll. "Ode to J Smith" is loud, raw and electric, just like their liveshows. "After concerts there are so many people who came to us and say 'I never was a fan of you but this gig was fantastic. I always thought you were totally different!' Okay, I know that we always seem to be a bit too gentle on our albums."
So Healy remembered the time when rock'n'roll was invented. The BBC's invitation on the occasion of the 40-year-anniversary of the Beatles' album 'Sergeant Pepper' just came at the right moment. Travis re-recorded the Fab Four classic 'Lovely Rita' and knew that they wanted to record their new songs just the way they did record 'Lovely Rita': live, recorded analogical (?! xD) - with old microphones and audio tapes. That's the way songs like 'Chinese Blues and 'Song to self' developed to be rock anthems of a stunning greatness in the style of U2, Coldplay or Snow Patrol. Travis rock their way through eleven new songs with pressure, energy and vehemence they didn't have in a long time, and Healy glows with passion when he sings - although a certain man called J. Smith is talking in the lyrics this time. "I wrote five albums about me so I thought it would be appropriate to let someone else do the talking. I read about this guy in the USA who tried to kill himself, but fortunately didn't - and then died in an accident. Tragic, isn't it? I just wanted to let that guy a bit of fun."
After "12 Memories", Healy's diary set to music, and "The Boy With No Name" which dealt with the 'circle of life' after his father's death and the birth of his son, Healy's 'alter ego' of course doesn't tell any 'party stories' but expresses deep thoughts, like 'Song to self'. "It's about the wish to do something on your own, just for yourself. But in the end there's the realization that no matter how important the experience is, it's even better to share it with someone." For example with your children - Fran's son Clay is probably just as excited about the new album as his daddy's fans.
--
So, I hope you can understand most of it, some of it was hard to translate, but did what I could in my short time, haha :)
Thanks!!! Vielen Dank! The german magazines seem to like Travis in these days... And I know how hard it is to translate these "Umgangssprache" in english. The same problems like from english to german... We wrote my translations at the same time as you, mine in the thread "Album review musikexpress...". Maybe you could read over it and help me to translate for example the word "losgehirscht"??
I don't know if it's been posted before, if so I apologize! I used the search function but couldn't find anything about it.
A friend of mine went to visit another friend of ours who lives in Buxtehude, in Germany. And she was in a store in Hamburg (asking about the Song To Self single for me hehe) and found a free magazine called Piranha and Travis are on the cover!
I swear it's the first time I hold in my hands a magazine with Travis on the cover! I'm so happy! xD
It's the september issue. There's a huge Travis pic and an article on pages 8-9. I have absolutely no idea what the article says, because I don't understand more than 5 words in german and I think only one of them is used on the article :oP.
Perhaps some german boardie has it and would be so kind to tell me what it says :o)
At the bottom of the article there's a tiny pic of Ode To J. Smith's cover and next to it it says:
TRAVIS
Ode To J. Smith
Universal
VÖ: 26.09
Oh, I just read that you would like to have a translation of a the article! Maybe you can scan or photograph it and I (try to...) translate (or summarize) it for you. That's surely not a problem because it's a free magazine. "Universal" is the label, and "VÖ" is short for "Veröffentlichung" what means release date - but that wasn't really difficult. Some more words unclear?
Oh, I just read that you would like to have a translation of a the article! Maybe you can scan or photograph it and I (try to...) translate (or summarize) it for you. That's surely not a problem because it's a free magazine. "Universal" is the label, and "VÖ" is short for "Veröffentlichung" what means release date - but that wasn't really difficult. Some more words unclear?
Thank you very much for your offer, Silvella! :o)
Not-the-same has the magazine and just translated it a few posts above. :o)
Perhaps some german boardie has it and would be so kind to tell me what it says :o)
Oh, I will look for the magazine tomorrow - if I get it I'll post a summary for you. Or (as silvella said) you scan the article for us - that'd be faster ;)
If you know some German but don't understand a few words: www.leo.org has the best English-German online dictionary I know.
