TRAVIS frontman Fran Healy has revealed how two huge pop stars ended up singing on his band’s new single.
The beloved British group are back with laid back yet insanely catchy anthem Raze the Bar, which exudes the warmth of a Los Angeles evening.
It was on a coastal California drive that Fran drafted in a famous mate to lend his voice to the song.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin listened to the band’s upcoming L.A. Times album in its entirety and felt Raze the Bar was a standout.
Fran told the NME: “I called up Chris, I was having a moment of ‘I f**king don’t know how to order the record’. I’d listened to it too much. I had a running order but I needed some fresh ears so I called Chris and we drove up the Pacific Coast highway and listened to it.
“He had lots and lots of comments to make and he picked out that particular song. He was like ‘Oh My God it’s f***ing amazing’.
“So we go back to the house and he goes to the piano and he starts playing it. I was like, ‘You should sing on it’. He was like, ‘Yeah I’ll sing but you should get more people to sing on it as well’.”
When Chris Martin offers music advice you’d be foolish not to take it and Fran duly did.
Drawing on yet another big name friend, he picked up the phone and asked The Killers’ Brandon Flower to join them.
He said: “They’re barely audible but it was more the spirit of the thing. It has like a big chorus with a big gang of people. It’s a really, really nice song.”
Indeed, Fran is calling L.A. Times the band’s “most personal” album since their smash hit The Man Who.
That record featured iconic songs like Why Does It Always Rain On Me?, Driftwood and Turn.
He said: “There was a lot of big stuff to write about back then, the tectonic plates had shifted in my life. I was 22 when I was writing those songs. They were my therapy. Over 20 years later and the plates have shifted again. There’s a lot to talk about.”
Their latest single was inspired by a nameless bar with a great vibe in New York City.
He said: “It didn’t have a name but everyone called it Black and White on account of the black and white striped awning that hung over the entrance. They had poetry nights, great DJs, open mic nights.
“If you played a show at Irving Plaza or Webster Hall, chances are you ended up at Black and White till the wee small hours. One of the owners, Johnny T, looked after so many artists and bands over the years. If that bar could talk, what a story it would tell.”
Fans will get the chance to hear it live when the band supports The Killers on their upcoming UK tour.
