Dougie took some time out from the band's 2001 October tour of the US to speak with Travisonline.
Text Transcript: Dougie Payne: DP and Elliott Atkins: EA
EA You've been out in the United States for about a month, which means you came out at the end of September, a couple of weeks after the September 11th attacks. In light of those events, did you consider cancelling or suspending the tour?
DP We certainly discussed it amongst ourselves, and with Ian and Colin (Travis' managers) as well, whether it would be appropriate to come out. There wasn't any kind of fear of flying or anything like that, but just whether it would be appropriate and whether people wanted us to come.
The message board (at travisonline.com) was very important at making our minds up with whether we would continue with the tour. We wanted to come as we felt at times like this, entertainment and music is a valuable thing in pulling people together in big groups.
It sounds daft, but I was talking to my mum about it and she was saying how important entertainers were during World War II. We definitely paid attention to peoples thoughts on the message board, and it seemed that people wanted us to come out and wanted us to continue with the tour as planned, so that's what we did.
I think it was definitely the right decision, by the response from people we meet and the crowds each night. There's been a kind of gratitude that we came over, which has been really nice. We just went on, business as usual.
EA So the first shows that you did in the states were Washington and New York, which were the two most affected cities….
DP Yeah, Washington, New York, Boston then Pittsburg, which were the four cities that were affected that day. Washington was bizarre, it was like a ghost town, there was just nobody on the streets - it was just very eerie.
We drove past the Pentagon, which looked fine because we were on the other side of it, but that was very strange having seen it on the news for the two weeks previous. A few of the shows have been quite emotional - that one certainly was, and so was New York….
EA The New York show was at Radio City Music Hall wasn't it?
DP Yeah, and that's one of those things when you're in a band and you hear you've sold out Radio City Music Hall, it's a legendary venue, it's like "wow".
And then to go and do that show under the circumstances was a very confusing night, and very bizarre. It was very emotional - New York is one of the bands favourite cities in the world, and to see this pillar of strength just completely bruised was quite quite tragic.
For me, the strange part was standing on stage and seeing 6000 people in the audience and then half way through the set realising that that's the number of people who had died in the disasters.
You felt an incredible sense of absence, suddenly imagining all those people not being there. Again, we were glad we did it, and we were happy to be there because at times like this you feel helpless. Whatever you can do, you want to do, and we did what we can do which is play music. I don't know whether it helped to help or not, but it seemed to.
EA So after that, you continued to tour around the country. From what I've heard
Dallas was an "interesting" gig?
DP (laughs) Dallas was bizarre - when we arrived, it was one of the smallest venues on the tour, less than a thousand people. We were playing in a place called "The Red Jacket", which sounds fairly innocuous.
It had a fairly high, round, raised stage, and cages on the walls and we went "aaaah, it's that kind of place". Then we went downstairs and found some fantastic go-go outfits and wigs - blond bobs - pretty impressive!.
It was actually a nightmare for the crew loading in all the equipment, because it was such a wee place, but it was one of the best shows of the tour - just a real kind of "heads down" rocker. "Back In Black" and "All I Wanna Do Is Rock" came out in the encore, and "Baby One More Time" made a rare appearance with me and Franny in the blond bobbed wigs, which I quite enjoyed.
Then Neil came on with a red beehive wig, and Andy was dressed in a midget's outfit, which was spectacular and totally blew me away. It was like Mick Ronson in the Spiders from Mars, but with Andy Warhols hair! It was quite a good night...
EA Being on the road for so long, and being away from home for so long, is there anything that you miss? Apart from the obvious - friends and family and suchlike - are there things that you just take for granted in the UK?
DP Yes, of course, but we've been away so much we've stopped taking things for granted when we're at home and just enjoy every minute of it. We haven't had the luxury of taking things for granted at home for a long time, so you just miss the person that you love - a lot.
EA Who copes best on the road, out of the band, the crew etc?
DP I think everyone copes in various levels of badness. Everybody copes as much as you can, you've just got to get your head down and get on with it. We've had various tours where one of us has been the "tour moan", and that just makes it hard for everyone else. You've just got to get on with it. This has been fine.
EA Remy Zero are supporting, this is the third time that you've been on tour together. Are they getting better?
DP They're absolutely amazing - they've always been a brilliant band. We did the first tour with them in Britain strangely enough, and they've always been fantastic. It's the same as anything, the more you do it, the better you get. Their new album, "The Golden Hum" is absolutely brilliant.
EA So what's next for Travis?
DP We go back to Blighty for a week, and then in November we do a European tour for a month, then back to Britain for a tour in December, and then some time off after Christmas, which will be nice! Then there's an arena tour, February/March in Britain. It's the first time we've ever done that - we always said we'd never do it, but everybody does…
EA How do you feel about playing big venues?
DP I'm really excited about it actually. I think it's gonna be good, as it's going to be a big production and we're going to try and put on a good show. I'm looking forward to it - we might fall flat on our arses, but you've got to give these things a shot.
EA Everywhere I've been with you over the last few days, fans have given you presents. What's the best present you've had on the tour, and what's the worst?
DP Well, there's no such thing as a bad present! As for best present, well, I got a Garfield watch, which I was very pleased with. I used to love Garfield as a wee boy. "The Groovy Dougie Fan Club" did a fantastic package for me - Kris did a great job. I got a book called "Just For One Day" or something, which is the story behind all the Bowie songs, which was very good - it passed a few hours on the tour bus.
Recorded:23/10/01
Location: Universal Amphitheatre. |
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