Travis

Travis are an indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy, Dougie Payne, Andy Dunlop and Nei

Travis are an indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy, Dougie Payne, Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose. Travis have twice been awarded British album of the year at the annual Brit awards, and are often credited as having paved the way for British bands such as Coldplay and Keane. They have released four studio albums, beginning with Good Feeling in 1997. A fifth studio album, The Boy with No Name, their first since 2003's 12 Memories is due for release on May 7, 2007.

The band that would become Travis (initially called "Running Red", and later, "Glass Onion") was initially formed by brothers Chris and Geoff Martyn. Andy Dunlop, a school friend at Lenzie Academy, was drafted in on guitar, followed soon after by Neil Primrose on drums. The line-up was completed by a female vocalist, and the band's name then changed to "Glass Onion" ("Glass Onion" is the name of a Beatles song written and sung by John Lennon). After parting company with their singer in the spring of 1991, they auditioned for a new vocalist. Having met each other through Primrose pouring him a pint, a musically untrained art student, Fran Healy, then joined after being invited to audition by Primrose. Healy joined the band on the day he enrolled at The Glasgow School Of Art, in the autumn of 1991. Two years later, with the option of music holding more appeal, Healy dropped out of art school, and inspired by song writers such as Joni Mitchell, shortly after, assumed songwriting responsibilities. With brothers Chris and Geoff Martyn on bass and keyboards, in 1993, the fivesome released a privately made CD, "The Glass Onion EP," featuring the tracks "Dream On", "The Day Before," "Free Soul" and "Whenever She Comes Round." 500 copies of the EP were made and were recently valued at £1000 each. Eventually, the band was renamed once more, becoming "Travis" – after the character played by Harry Dean Stanton in the movie "Paris, Texas" directed by Wim Wenders.