A is for... All I Want To Do Is Rock

The first single release from Scotland's premier rock band Travis was All I Want To Do Is Rock in November 1996. Despite the limited edition of 750, Melody Maker thought the crowd-pleasing anthem worthy of their single of the week. The pressing was 10 inch vinyl on the Red Telephone Box label. Red Telephone Box had been the name the band had taken on their arrival in London but Ian McAndrew, their new manager, insisted they change back to the name we know and love them by, Travis, after the Harry Dean Stanton character in Wim Wenders' film Paris, Texas.

Fran Healy, charismatic singer and song writer for the band, composed the song All I Want To Do Is Rock in Millport on Greater Cumbrae, a small island in the Firth of Clyde. He had gone there especially to come up with the best song he had ever written and surprised even himself when the track was born. For the first time Fran truly believed he could achieve the standard that he wanted... The song was re-released in June 1997 and became Travis hit no 2 peaking at 39 in the British singles chart. It would later become the opening song of their first album Good Feeling...

B is for... the Horse Shoe Bar

The Horse Shoe Bar in Drury Street, a short alley just around the corner from Glasgow's Central Station is one of the Scottish city's oldest bars, and certainly one that has retained its wood and mirror finish while all the bars around wax and wane with the latest theme. The original proprieter was John W White in the early 1900s and his name can still be seen etched in the bar's stained glass windows. Neil Primrose, Travis' drummer, worked there and at the School of Art's student bar when he first met the three guys who would later be his band mates. Fran first saw Neil and guitarist Andy Dunlop play in the Horse Shoe with their female fronted band Running Red. Soon after, Fran joined the band which was renamed Glass Onion without their female lead. With the Martyn brothers on keyboards and bass, the fivesome released a privately made CD The Glass Onion EP in 1993 featuring the tracks Dream On, The Day Before, Free Soul and Whenever She Comes Round. Only 500 were made and they were recently valued at £500 each...

Around this time Fran's grandfather died, and he shut himself away grief-stricken refusing to talk to anyone. Emerging a week later he made drastic changes to the group which by this time had taken the name Travis. The Martyn brothers were dropped, as was the band's management and publicity agency. Although he had never played bass, band friend Dougie Payne was pressganged into learning the instrument and becoming the band's fourth member. For a year they rehearsed in a spare room above the Horse Shoe...

C is for... Coming Around

While the band are away in the US playing the early summer festival circuit, they show they haven't forgotten their European fans by releasing a single not from their million selling The Man Who album. Coming Around is out on June 5th in Britain. With melancholic vocals and lyrics, the mid-tempo song is evocative of the sixties US group, the Byrds. The video features an Egg-man, convinced by his girlfriend to attend a concert, wandering the city trying to get to the gig. It's sad, funny and inevitable... As usual both CDs of the song have previously unreleased material. CD1 features Just The Faces Change and The Connection on which Fran manages to sound like a cross between Roy Orbison and k d lang while Andy plays a wonderful Shadow-style accompaniment. CD2 has Rock 'N' (Salad) Roll, a New York punk style rocker and The Weight, a song originally a hit for The Band in 1968. The latter is a great song but I doubt the lads can sing the chorus without raising a smirk...

D to Z are... Under Construction