Travis - Select, July 1999

Glastonbury 1999

Travis
Time: 4:30 p.m., Saturday
It was late afternoon in the Select Signing Tent. Travis had just finished signing untold tracts and artefacts for hundreds of beaming admirers and were getting ready to play a triumphant set on The Other Stage.
Dougie: We got some nice gifts at our wee singing. Some beautifully woven friendship bracelets. And frisbees.
Fran: We're bringing the rain with us--as it says in our song, "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" They're gonna love us when we play that, aren't they? After our set, we'll be sticking around for the rest of the day. Then I'm going up to a wee island on the west coast of Scotland.
Dougie: And I'm off to LA for a week...which is nice.
Fran: Nah, we're not camping this year. Andy McDonald [Travis's label boss] is, though. He's got this lovely dodecahedron tent plated with gold. In fact, it's plated with gold discs, and we're really proud because with our new album, we've been able to add to the collection of gold discs on Andy's lovely gold tent.
Dougie: I know about camping 'cos I was in the Scouts as a lad.
Andy: I was in the Beavers, just because they had such a good name.
Dougie: I got my camping badge, and I'm still proficient in all camping skills. I'm a total backwoodsman. I can skin rabbits. I remember skinning rabbits and sticking skewers up their bottom. We had to survive out in the night with only a rabbit.
Andy: We just played in Sweden at this festival which had a mobile peepshow. That's the kind of bohemian sophistication you just don't get at British festivals. Though I hear they're having a mobile Razzle stand at Reading this year.
Fran: There was some good feet-fighting, as well. Some guys have a big scrap, but using only feet, no fists. An interesting little tableau.
Andy: There was also a guy dressed up as a priest. He looked like Father Jack, he was even in a wheelchair. He was doing big spiritual rants. and then suddenly James Brown came on and started doing "Sex Machine," and his two wheelchair attendants just abandoned him and started dancing. The priest guy was just destitute.
Fran: I love doing these signing things. You get to see people's faces who you recognized from the shows. It's good to see people, even if it's just for two seconds. It's cool.
Dougie: It's good for harmonious relations with the world of rock. Plus, we get to practice writing, which is something you can easily forget when you're out on the road.
Select
Glastonbury 1999 supplement

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