Travis have discussed the recording process of their new album, and revealed that the piano used on the single ‘Gaslight’ was the same that The Beatles used on ‘Lady Madonna’.
The discussion arose during a new interview with band members Fran Healy and Dougie Payne, who both joined Chris Moyles on his Radio X show.
During the interview, they opened up about their latest record ‘LA Times’, which arrived last week. It marked their ninth studio album, and first since their 2016 release ‘Everything At Once’.
News of the LP was first shared in March, when the band confirmed new material and dropped the lead single ‘Gaslight’. Now, in the latest interview with Radio X, the members have shared that the piano heard on the track is the same as used by Liverpool legends The Beatles on their 1970 track ‘Lady Madonna’.
“It sounds amazing on the radio, it really does. Because on the record it sounds a certain way, but when you get that FM compression, it does something to certain songs,” Fran Healy explained, recalling how the album was recorded in a place called ‘Dave’s Room’.
“That piano there – That was from a very famous jazz club in Chicago. The person who owned the studio was called Dave Bianco, and he worked with Tom Petty and various kinds of like rock and roll bands. And he’d just go and find all these amazing things. So, they’d ship this in, it’s a very famous piano. It sounds great,” he added, before clarifying that this wasn’t the one used on the lead single.
“Do you know what that is? That’s the piano from Abbey Road,” he said. “It’s the same piano as ‘Lady Madonna’ was played on… It’s a plug-in. They recorded that piano at Abbey Road, they sampled it all [as] a demo, and Tony [Hoffer, producer] was like, ‘It sounds brilliant, let’s just use that.’ And I was like, ‘Really, are you sure?’”
Check out the interview above, and both the tracks to feature the tack piano below.
The interview comes just hours before the band are set to hold an exclusive live performance on the streets of London today (July 18), where they’ll be entertaining city dwellers on their lunch break with plans to busk in the centre.
The special one-off show is set to take place at FOPP record store, 1 Earlham St, London, WC2H 9LL, and will begin at 12:30pm. Afterwards, the Glasgow quartet will be around to sign records and take photos with fans.
It comes after the band surprised fans in their hometown last week by busking on a vintage double-decker bus in Glasgow City Centre. The bus had previously featured in the music video for the single ‘Bus’, which was also directed by frontman Fran Healy.
In other Travis news, the band recently spoke to NME about their opening for The Killers on their UK/EU tour.
“We’ve been friends for years and years now and Ronnie [Vannucci Jr.] and Brandon [Flowers] are the sweetest guys,” Healy told us. “It’s nice to be a support band again too. I love being a support band. It reminds me of when we supported Oasis [on the ‘Be Here Now’ Tour in 1997].
“We went on every single night to blow them off the stage which is what a good support band should be doing. You go on, the other band watch you from the wings going, ‘Fuck’. And then they come on and do a better show because of it.”
Last month, Travis announced a UK headline tour, set to take place at the end of the year. Dates include a stop at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London on December 13, as well as shows in Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Margate, Bristol, Eastbourne, Sheffield, Newcastle and Glasgow. Visit here for remaining tickets.
