Travis - Select, July 1999

"It's More in Touch With Its Feminine Side"

TRAVIS's Fran Healy on diaries, dust, and oestrogen-friendly rock 'n' roll.

The album's not that rocking, is it?
No, and that's actually totally by accident. Halfway through the recording, I was thinking, "Shit man, this is all quite mellow and down." Then I though, Well, fuck it. Friends of the band--me mum and best mates and that--all say it's great because it sounds more like how we all really are. It's more in touch with its feminine side.
Is there a particular inspiration behind any of the lyrics?
It's about trying to understand matters of the heart and then accept them. You can't be totally reconciled to the fact that someone's fucked you up and pissed off and fucking left you, but you can feel like you're more on top of it by just...writing. I've kept diaries since 1985, and that's usually what goes into diaries. It's like, when I was a wee boy, my mum used to tell me, because I used to forget the number of our door, to sing it to remember it.
So it's pretty autobiographical, then?
Well, people have asked me about that song, "Why Does It Always Rain on Me." They say [adopts touchy-feely voice], "Is that because it's raining on your soul?" I'm like, No man, it's because I went to Israel, and it was pissing down with rain.
Why do you mention "Devil's Haircut," "Design for Life," and "Wonderwall" on "Slide Show?"
That's about the way that, if you're sitting in the car and you hear a song on the radio, suddenly it takes you back about ten years, and all these feelings come rushing back--to me, it's like a slide show. "Design for Life" reminds me of being on the dole in Scotland, listening to it round Dougie's house, and thinking it's lovely. I remember the color of his room and his floor...and the dust.
Select
June 1999
by Steve Lowe

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