As he blows out the candles on his 50th birthday today, Fran Healy will be reflective on the incredible successes of his half century so far and wishing for more still to come.
Having fronted Travis for over half his life, he’s provided a soundtrack to many Scots’ lives, played on some of the world’s biggest stages and worked with some of its best musicians.
But there’s always more, and the band have been locked away in the studio working on new music and chomping at the bit for their next gig.
“50 years on the planet, it’s cool,” Healy said, chatting over Zoom from his home in Venice, Los Angeles. “I’m happy to be 50. I’m not done yet. I feel like I have unfinished business with the band, and still got a big record in me.
“It’s funny, I was talking to a mate last night about being half a century old. In my grandparents’ day it was oh, 30, 40, or whatever. I think we still live a little bit in that shadow, but the longer you live, the main thing isn’t age anymore, it’s how healthy you are.
“Can I go a seven mile run and recover within three minutes? I can, and I think as long as you keep exercising, eat and drink well and don’t drink too much alcohol, you’re gonna be as healthy as you can be.”
The band are in good health music-wise too. While constantly looking to the future and working on new music (Fran has the mic ready to record some vocals after this call) reaching the milestone of 50 is another opportunity to look back.
Our first single from The Invisible Band LIVE!! Flowers In The Window 💐
Written back in 1998, we’re so lucky we still get to play these songs.
Recorded at the Glasgow hometown show last year, one of our favourite tours ever! Let us know what you think!https://t.co/krBsRJNFkp pic.twitter.com/9iHyDrZ0gI— Travis (@TravisBand) February 22, 2023
A recent tour celebrated Travis’s breakthrough album from 2001, The Invisible Band, proving a timely reminder of why they do what they do.
“I’m always looking in the rear view mirror, where I’m coming from,” Fran said. “Those tours were vital to the way we’re feeling at the moment.
“As with all bands, you think you might do it for three or four years. Here we are, the same guys 26 years later and still very much in love.
“It reminded us these records went deep and still resonate 20 years later. We’re still getting away with it! We’ve had an amazing run and we’re still running.”
Band of brothers
Fran doesn’t consider the rest of Travis his friends – more like brothers.
“It’s a different kind of relationship. We started as mates and that sort of grows into brotherhood. The guys are great. I love my band.”
© Nils Jorgensen/ShutterstockTheir bond becoming that of family is what’s kept them going, but what’s the spark that’s kept a love of Travis burning with fans?
Fran isn’t sure – but has some theories.
“We’re not quite like the other bands,” he said. “I think people like us because we’re normal. I don’t think we’ve ever been arrogant. People say we’re nice like it’s a bad thing!
“We play great shows and evergreen songs which people have sewn into the patchwork of their lives. When you hear them, they bring back very powerful memories of maybe better times or younger times with less cares.
“It’s nice to be that thing, because I’ve got bands like that and weirdly a lot of my songs soothe me as well. When you’re singing them you’re where you were when you wrote it.
“We’ve still got our feet firmly on the ground and when we play the shows, it’s like everyone’s in the group together.”
The craft of song-writing
Fran has always considered his song-writing a craft, penning lyrics and melodies since his early teens.
The songs that he’s been listening to lately are old classics, including rediscovering the beauty of George Michael’s Faith album on a long drive while on holiday in New York.
He’s also got a lot of love for Kylie Minogue’s recent return hit Padam Padam, and, while he believes storytelling is absent from a lot of songs at the moment, he has high hopes for the future.
© Press Association Images“I think it’s just a phase, storytelling’s moved somewhere else at the moment,” he said. “Maybe it’s on Twitter or something. I don’t know.
“As long as people are telling stories, I don’t really care if it’s to music. That’s one of our human things. Sometimes it’s on a grand scale like Star Wars or something but mostly it’s your nana or grandda telling you a really great story at Sunday dinner.
“I look at the next generation. My son is 17 and his mates are playing guitars again, playing piano, forming bands. We’ve got the rearguard coming up.
“There’s some interesting music kicking about and as long as that’s the case there’s still room for some songs to pop through every now and then. I love Kylie’s new song. It’s a great tune, it’s a dance song but it means something.”
Life in LA
Fran and his family have called California home for the best part of the last decade.
He loves living there but admits he’s counting down the days until moving away from the city that he calls a ‘coal miner’s canary for the world’.
“It’s an interesting place, a confluence of all the things that are on the tip of the media’s tongues,” he explains. “You’ve got the climate – the raging fires are starting again and when they start it really gets crazy.
“You’ve also got probably one of the biggest homeless crises in the western world happening in downtown Los Angeles. 70,000 people with nowhere to go, and amongst that a massive drug problem.
“Beside that you have the biggest concentration of billionaires on the planet; and it’s the juxtaposition of stuff that goes on here. You really pick it up in the air and, of course, everyone is sitting on a faultline that’s apparently going any second.
“When you’re walking around in Venice, they have tsunami escape route signs. When you see that you’re like oh, God, maybe I shouldn’t be living here!”
Coming home
Fran doesn’t know where he’ll settle next, with his top priority being finishing writing the record, playing gigs, and ‘doing our thing’.
He’s relishing a homecoming to play at Fringe at the Sea at the start of next month in North Berwick, and before that at Belladrum near Inverness.
📣 We’re delighted to announce we’ll be headlining @fringebythesea2 on Saturday 5th August!
It’s been along time since we’ve visited this beautiful part of the country and we can’t wait!Tickets are on sale now! https://t.co/aMoWVk4bBi pic.twitter.com/RZxWixmTz7
— Travis (@TravisBand) March 6, 2023
“Travis have played everywhere,” he said. “The smaller, boutique festivals are great because they’re much more intimate and the crowd that go are maybe a little bit different as well. I’m really looking forward to it.”
There’s likely to be more than a few singalongs – but perhaps not one quite as big as the mass rendition of Why Does It Always Rain on Me at Hampden last month.
As torrential rain stopped play in Scotland’s Euro qualifier against Georgia, the Tartan Army struck up a chorus of the Travis classic and word of it spread to LA.
“Why does it always rain on me?” 🌧️🎶
Top tier patter from the Hampden DJ 👏😂
Scottish football fans are unrivalled 💙🏴
🎥 credit: @AlanJZycinskipic.twitter.com/AoSx5VXAny
— Football Scotland ⚽️🏴 (@Football_Scot) June 20, 2023
“I got lots of texts that day,” Fran laughs. “That is kind of the dream, right? I wrote that sitting on the edge of my bed about it raining on holiday almost 30 years ago.
“When a song goes in like that, wow. And then you think, The Beatles have got 200 like that! I’m still trying to notch up a few more. It was a super cool moment – and Scotland won!”
Fringe by the Sea, North Berwick, August 4-13, fringebythesea.com
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