- This topic has 17 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 6 days, 3 hours ago by .
-
Posts
-
-
I’m quite curious about the old “Travis flat” project – I’m not 100% sure if my translation is right, but I think that’s what it was called.
Was it something that happened more than once? What was it all about? If anyone who was there would like to share a bit of the story, I‘d really love to hear it.
No pressure at all – just trying to understand a bit of the fans’ history.
Thanks!
-
It was ‘Flat Travis’, so you pretty much got it right 😊
It started from the board, I think it was Nikki who started it, but I’m not sure. We just signed up to get it and bring it around the world with us, even to gigs and stuff, and then shipped it (or passed it on in person) to the next person in line. It was super fun to see it appear in pictures everywhere. I think in the end it was given to the band to keep. -
Some boardies (I think it was Turtleneck) had the idea of making an image of the band (flat because it didn’t have volume dimensions), and let it travel around the world. We sent it by mail (I had my chance too) to the next person on the list. We usually make a little video of the flat lads enjoying our city/country. At the end of the list, it was returned to the origin and handed to the band.
I think the boardies that had the original idea can explain it better 🤔
-
-
Salute to whoever started this board – such a cool idea. 👍
It reminds me of a Japanese mobile game, Travel Frog (Tabi Kaeru, by Hit-Point). You pack your frog’s little bag, send it off, later it sends back travel photos. That‘s the same lovely, wandering feeling this board gives me.
Huge thanks to @Sirius for sharing the board story, and to @almond for the memories – too bad the video link didn’t work🥺Appreciate you both!
-
Ahhh I had possession of Flat Travis for a while! I took them to a show in about 2007, plus a tour of the Kent region! I remember taking a drive down to Folkestone specifically to show Flat Travis around… I totally forgot that we made videos though! It must exist on some corner of the internet still, feels like a lifetime ago!
-
I seem to remember that Flat Travis had something to do with the Flat Stanley books too – a boy gets crushed by a notice board while sleeping and ends up flat, he then realises he can travel the world by being folded up and posted… Man kids stories are wild! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Stanley
-
That’s right! I just couldn’t remember the name of the boy, hehe. I agree, sometimes children books are crazy, good thing is they build imagination and creativity.
-
-
I had the chance to received them! I don’t remember who made it but I still have some pics when I had it!
Do you think if there’s any chance to made a Travis Flat 2.0???
-
I had flat travis for a while in Scotland. They toured St Andrews with me. It was a fun project.
-
If you look on YouTube and search for flat travis a lot of the videos we all made are still there.
-
The scary thing about doing that is that YouTube says the videos were posted 17 years ago! That can’t be right, surely?! Time flies…
-
-
When weird mom from Austin put the flu mask on them I guess she predicted covid ….just saying
-
I just saw this. I started the Flat Travis Project (Turtleneck/Kayte). The idea came from the book Flat Stanley. We had a “flat” version of the band that was mailed from country to country and each boardie took Travis on adventures in their area and made a video. It was just a fun way to connect with each other and see lots of different parts of the world. I was looking at my Facebook memories today and the Flat Travis Project ended 14 years ago today! I put them into a book along with a map and all the accessories they collected along the way and gave it to Fran at a gig in Boston. Since Nikki and I live near each other we collaborated on our video. Flat Travis in Detroit! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_0VR8aUWSA
There are still lots of videos up on YouTube! Maybe I’ll make a separate post and link all the ones I can find so we’ll have them all together. -
A long time has passed since this post, and I’m only just replying now; I didn’t use to have the confidence to speak up, and it’s only recently that I’ve started participating in the forum. I find it incredibly absurd—no offense intended; I actually liked the Travis Flat idea—to realize that a piece of cardboard has traveled more than I have and has toured some cities better than I’ve even explored my own! 😂😂 But I think it would be awesome if we did a Travis Flat again today.
-
I’ve also only been a fan for a relatively short time, so I didn’t experience that era as a Travis fan; when I discovered the “Travis Flat” concept, I thought the idea was absolutely brilliant—in a good way.
-
I hosted Flat Travis in Helsinki, it was fun!
Most hosts added postcards and some made clothes for the paper doll like foursome. I think the whole project was presented to the band in the end. -
Ooh, I found Flat Travis story document on my computer:
Breakfast was ready. ‘I will go and wake the band” Kayte said to her friend, Nikki. Just then, the band’s keyboard player, Claes, called from the studio he shared with his band mates, Travis, in their New York home. ‘Hey! Come and Look! Hey!’ Nikki and Kayte were both very much in favour of politeness and careful speech. ‘Hay is for horses, Claes, not people,’ Nikki said as they entered the studio. ‘Try to remember that.’ ‘Excuse me.’ Claes said.’ ‘But look!’ He pointed to Neil’s drum kit. Across it lay the enormous gong that the band had received Christmas ago, so that they could add extra drama to one of their songs. It had fallen, during recording, on top of Travis. But Travis were not hurt. In fact they would have still been playing if they had not been interrupted by Claes’ shout. ‘What’s going on here?’ Fran called out cheerfully from beneath the enormous gong. Kayte and Nikki hurried to lift it from the drums. ‘Heavens!’ said Kayte. ‘Gosh!’ said Claes. ‘Travis are flat!’ ‘As pancakes,’ said Nikki. ‘Strangest thing I’ve ever seen.’ ‘Let’s all have breakfast,’ Kayte said. ‘Then Travis and I will go and see Doctor Dan and hear what he has to say.’ The examination was almost over. ‘How do you feel?’ Doctor Dan asked. ‘Does it hurt very much?’ ‘We felt sort of tickly for a while after we got up,’ Travis said, ‘but we feel fine now.’ ‘Well, that’s mostly how it is with these cases,’ said Doctor Dan. ‘We’ll just have to keep an eye on these young fellows,’ he said when he had finished the examination. ’Sometimes we doctors, despite all our years of training and experience, can only marvel at how little we really know.’ Kayte said she thought that Travis’ clothes would have to be altered by the tailor now, so Doctor Dan told his nurse to take the band’s measurements. Kayte wrote them down. Travis were 7 inches high, about 11 inches wide, and a millimetre thick. When Travis got used to being flat, they quite enjoyed it. They could go in and out of rooms, even when the door was closed, just by lying down and sliding through the crack at the bottom. Nikki and Kayte said it was silly, but they were quite proud of them. Claes got jealous and tried to slide under a door, but he just banged his head. Being flat could also be helpful, Travis found. They were taking a walk with Kayte one afternoon when her favourite ring fell from her finger. The ring rolled across the pavement and down between the bars of a grating that covered a dark, deep shaft. Kayte began to cry. ‘I have an idea,’ Dougie said. He took the laces out of the band member’s shoes and an extra pair out of his pocket and tied them all together to make one long lace. Then he tied the end of that to the back of his belt and gave the other end to Kayte. ‘Lower us,’ he said, ‘and we will look for the ring.’ ‘Thank you, Travis,’ Kayte said. She lowered them between the bars and moved them from side to side, so that they could search the whole floor of the shaft. Two policemen came by and stared at Kayte as she stood holding the long lace that ran down through the grating. She pretended not to notice them. ‘What’s the matter, lady?’ the first policeman asked. ‘Is your yo-yo stuck?’ ‘I am not playing with a yo-yo!’ Kayte said sharply. ‘My band is at the other end of this lace, if you must know.’ ‘Humour her, Harry,’ said the second policeman. ‘The poor soul’s dotty as can be!’ Just then, down in the shaft, Andy cried out, ‘Hooray!’ ‘Kayte pulled Travis up and saw that they had the ring. ‘Good for you, Travis,’ she said. Then she turned angrily to the policemen. ‘Dotty indeed!’ she said. ‘Shame!’ The policemen apologised. ‘We didn’t get it, lady,’ they said. ‘We have been hasty. We see that now.’ ‘People should think twice before making rude remarks,’ said Kayte. ‘And then not make them at all.’ The policemen realised that was a good rule and said they would try to remember it. One day Nikki and Kayte decided to send Flat Travis on tour. ‘Oh boy!’ Travis said. ‘We would love to go!’ Nikki sighed. ‘A tour schedule and bus is very expensive,’ she said. ‘We shall have to think of some cheaper way.’ When Nikki came home from work that evening, she brought with her an enormous envelope. ‘Now then Travis,’ she said ’Try this for size.’ The envelope fitted Travis very well. There was even room left over Kayte discovered, for a large yellow folder so that everyone on the tour could sign it. Once they had arranged the transport, Nikki and Kayte took Travis out on their first tour. The next person who offered to show Travis around their home town was Megg. Kayte and Nikki had to put a great many stamps on the envelope to pay for both airmail and insurance, but it was still much less than a tour bus would have been. The next day Kayte and Nikki slid Travis into their envelope, along with the folder, and mailed them from the box on the corner. The envelope had to be folded to fit through the slot, but Travis were a limber band and inside the box they straightened up again. Kayte was nervous because Travis had never been away from home alone before. She rapped on the box. ‘Can you hear me, Fran Dougie, Neil, Andy?’ she called. ‘Are you all alright?’ Neil’s voice came quite clearly. ‘We’re fine.’ Nikki and Kayte cried out ‘Good-bye, good-bye!’ and went home.
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Forgotten your password? Reset it here.