Britpop Spears

>> The trials and travails of Glasgow's Travis

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

"Most bands, although they say they want to be the best and all that show of bravado, don't realize the amount of work you have to put in. You don't get it for nothing, d'ya know what I mean? Bands generally are quite evasive when it comes to hard work."

As a member of one of Britain's hardest-working bands, Travis drummer Neil Primrose is nothing if not dedicated. Travis, a four-piece from Glasgow, Scotland, who took their name from the main character in Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas, scored the number-one best-selling album in Britain last year with their sophomore effort The Man Who, a melodic, radio-friendly pop-rocker. It also garnered them two major Brit Awards and endless heaps of praise.

These accolades came after much slaving over hot instruments and constant touring, which took their toll, Radiohead-style, on Travis' singer/songwriter Fran Healy last year (if you're to believe the U.K. music press' cover cries of "Breakdown!" next to Healy's boyish face and mannish hairline).

"It's hard for Fran 'cause he's kinda the captain of our boat," says Primrose. "You've got to walk a really fine line when you're trying to achieve something big with your music. We love each other a lot, we've been together for 10 years, and our friendship and our sanity come before success."

Travis' success in the U.K., and impending "break" in North America, comes at a time when alternative music is at its most random, lacking the pervasiveness and cohesion of the mid-'90s Britpop phenomenon.

"That Britpop thing, that America still seems to be totally absorbed by, died fuckin' four years ago," says Primrose. "People don't listen anymore. At the end of the day, you buy something 'cause it's cool, we're all guilty of that, and music's gone way too far down that road."

Citing Coldplay and Grandaddy as two of the only new U.K. bands worth a listen, Primrose doesn't rate America's musical offerings either. "North America is caught in the grip of fuckin' jump-up-and-down rock and on the other side you've got boy bands, which is alright, but there seems to be no soul in the middle."

And speaking of no soul, the boys of Travis recently recorded a straight-faced cover of Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time."

"We all kinda liked the song when it came out," admits Primrose. "It's quite a funny video and sexy and all that shit, but the lyrics are quite meaningful and if you get an acoustic guitar and sit by a campfire with a few beers and a joint and just sing it, it's actually quite a good song."

With a sigh, Primrose rejects the "ironic or post-'90s" pretensions adopted by the kind of band who would normally do so-called cheesy covers. "You get bands who are a little bit 'ooh' and a little bit 'ahh,' but we're straight down the line and we're serious about what we do. It's good to have a laugh and that's all it is. The whole rock 'n' roll, 'fuck you, fuck this, I'm the greatest' thing--we're not like that as a band. People need to stop thinking about themselves, get together in a big room and let it all out. That's where Travis come in."

With Remy Zero at the Spectrum on Sunday, Sept. 10, 8pm, $24.50