Travis is returning this summer with the new album L.A. Times. They've already shared lead single "Gaslight," and now they're back with another new track featuring some big names.
"Raze the Bar" is a fictional story about a night in New York City's legendary East Village bar Black and White, which closed during the pandemic. Coldplay's Chris Martin and the Killers' Brandon Flowers help out with additional vocals, and you can listen to the song below.
"There was a great bar in New York City. 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," lead singer Fran Healy explains in a press release. "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.
"During the pandemic, their landlord refused to negotiate a reduced rent and they had to close. So, in the middle of the night, they turned up with a truck and removed every single trace and fixture of the bar. Then they white washed the whole space so it could never be repeated. ‘Raze the Bar’ is a song about a fictional last night in the bar. Johnny is in there, Jack, Richard and Johnny’s brother and bar co-owner Chris. The cameos were almost an afterthought! I just called Chris Martin in a bit of a panic because I couldn’t figure out what the track sequence should be. When Chris heard it, he was like, ‘That song is the best thing you’ve ever written!’ And because he and Brandon Flowers both live quite near…"
The bar's original owners are immortalized on the single artwork for "Raze the Bar."
New York City's legendary East Village bar Black and White closed during the pandemic.
Healy wrote L.A. Times in his studio on the edge of Skid Row, Los Angeles, where he has lived for the last decade, and recorded it with producer Tony Hoffer.
“L.A. Times is our most personal album since The Man Who," he says. "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.”
The record comes is out July 12 via BMG, and you can pre-order it here.
The record comes is out July 12 via BMG.
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Travis will head out on tour with the Killers in June, which will be followed by their first headlining European tour since 2016 and more U.K. dates.
Here are the dates for their 16-show U.K. arena tour with the Killers:
14 June 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland
15 June 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland
18 June Co-op Live Arena, Manchester, UK
19 June Co-op Live Arena, Manchester, UK
21 June Co-op Live Arena, Manchester, UK
22 June Co-op Live Arena, Manchester, UK
25 June OVO Hydro, Glasgow, UK
26 June OVO Hydro, Glasgow, UK
27 June OVO Hydro, Glasgow, UK
4 July O2 Arena, London, UK
5 July O2 Arena, London, UK
7 July O2 Arena, London, UK
8 July O2 Arena, London, UK
10 July O2 Arena, London, UK
11 July O2 Arena, London, UK
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