PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
With a 37 year career and at least 30 major releases behind him, influential guitarist Pat Travers knows a few things about music, guitar, and ‘the business’. PlanetMosh’s Iris North was delighted to have the opportunity to pick his brain, regarding his fantastic new album Can Do, his upcoming tour, and other fun topics…
Iris: Thanks for choosing to grant this interview, because you’re an icon and you can pick your battles.
PT: (laughs) Well, at the moment, I’m happy to be talking to just about anybody I can, about our new album. I feel very confident, very strongly about it. So, I don’t mind. I’m happy to be doing this.
Iris: I’m thrilled to be talking to you!
PT: Okay, great!
I’ve been a fan since, maybe 2008? It’s not a long time, compared to some of your fans.
They’ve been around a while. But we are starting to see some ‘newer models’ at the shows. So, it’s great.
That is cool. You were a reluctant social media entrant, but you’re a pro now, and I love the “musical prescriptions” that you and Monica put up almost every day.
Thank you! I’ve been so busy the last few days, doing some promo. We were in Mexico the week before, and then I was on tour with Edgar Winter, and Rick Derringer, and Canned Heat and Ten Years After for a month. So, it was difficult for me to (post). It was a bus tour, so I was mostly on the bus a lot. So, I need to get back in the groove and start doing it every day, which I will.
She was putting up the prescriptions for a while. They’re usually really, really good. They’ve got nice stories attached to them.
Originally, my wife had set up the Facebook page, and I just kind-of looked over her shoulder, and didn’t really pay much attention. But then, I started to get in to it, and it started to be difficult to think of something new to post every day. So, I got this idea of just coming up with a song, from days gone by, or even a new song, or anything that I might have a story to tell with it. And that way, I would only have to post once a day, and it would be a pretty good post. So that’s how that started.
The fans seem to love it. She sometimes will switch the profile picture.
Oh, I know, she’s awesome! We put up this one little comic yesterday, and I think over 220,000 people saw it. So, it’s crazy!
You mentioned that you were writing a book…
I started. Last time we were in Europe, I read Neil Young‘s book, and I was really inspired by it, ’cause he wrote it himself. So I thought, ‘maybe I could do this.’ And I did start, and I was doing it every day, and it was fun, and then I got distracted when I got back home. So, I haven’t really looked at it for a while. It takes quite a bit of focus. Plus, I really need to talk to some people I used to know, years ago, to kind of refresh my memory about things, ’cause I can’t remember all the details, or even the people… I’ve just done so many things in my life, it’s hard to remember the beginning, you know.
Yeah… You’ve got a lot of really cool stories for that.
Oh, I know! It would make a very interesting book; I do have some fantastic stories. I’ve been so fortunate in getting to meet, and hang out, and play with the musicians that first inspired me when I was really young – when I was 12, 14, 15. And I ended up like knowing, and playing with these guys… it’s awesome. So, I love to tell those stories, ’cause they’re fun.
The tale of ‘snortin’ whiskey and drinkin’ cocaine’ is worth the cover price alone.
(laughs) Ah… that was Pat Thrall, who was my other guitar player at the time. This was, I think, in ’79, and we were rehearsing in North Miami at a rehearsal studio there, for the Crash & Burn album. And, rehearsals started at approximately 2 o’clock every afternoon, but that wasn’t hard and fast, ’cause I was usually working on something anyway. So, 3 o’clock came, and Pat wasn’t there… 4 o’clock, and still no Pat… 5, no Pat… About 5:30 pm, the big studio door gets kicked open, and here comes Pat and his girlfriend, and they’re looking a little rough, y’know? And I said “what have you been doing!” and he said “snortin’ whiskey and drinkin’ cocaine.” I went “well, that sounds like a song” and I already had the guitar riff, so I wrote that in about 7 minutes. It came late! in the recording as well. I was happy it did, because we needed that kind of song on the album, and here, it just popped outta nowhere. Needless to say, rehearsal wasn’t very good that day, though. (laughs) I don’t know what happened after that. I think everybody probably went home early. (laughs)
So you’ve got this new album out, Can Do… what sparked that really creative period that eventually became the album?
I wish I knew, because I’d put myself in that mode all the time, whenever I needed to be. At the beginning of 2012, I’d just gotten my falsetto voice back – my head voice. That voice – I’d lost it for like 25 years, and all of the sudden, it just came back. So, I had some new range in my vocals, and I started writing some really good songs, and just prior to recording a new album, I recorded an album of old songs from the 1920’s. I think researching all of that helped me in my songwriting – it gave me some new ways to write songs. I had a good period of being creative, and had the time to work on the album. I wasn’t rushed. And… we had good songs, good performances, and a great production. So, you know, the stars were aligned, and the planets, and everything worked for us.
Can Do‘s reviews (including mine) have been really positive.
You know – I’m getting the best reviews of my career on this album. It’s amazing. Really.
They’re good, solid rock tunes! Do you have a favorite, and does the crowd have a favorite?
I’m not sure about the crowd’s favorite yet. We’ve only just recently been playing four new songs, and they go for all of them. My personal favorite is “Diamond Girl”. I think it’s just sort of a great pop song, and I love the production, and I think it’s just a fun little tune. So that’s one of my favorites.
I like how that song’s easygoing, kind of mellow…
Yeah, as soon as it starts, it’s got a kind of a nice, easy groove to it. It’s nice.
It sounds like you had a lot of fun exploring ‘tone’, and there were a lot of different nuances.
Well, Sean Shannon, my co-producer and engineer, has a lot to do with that. Basically, we just used good guitars, through good guitar amps, through good microphones, and tried to play ‘good’ too. (laughs) So, I think that’s it. That’s what we sound like.
And it does sound pretty fresh.
Yeah, I think, it sounds like ‘me’. I mean, it sounds like something I’ve always done, ’cause I worked in a way that I did before. With just pretty much myself and Sean, and I would have the backing track, then I would layer on these guitars, then do the vocals and harmonies, and just kind of do a lot of work by myself. You know, trying different things out.
Lyrically, what did you try to cover?
Well, I was just thinking about the state of life, really, for the most of it. There’s a couple of songs that are just sort of fun little songs I made up. “Armed And Dangerous” is one, and “Redneck Boogie”, definitely is just a silly little redneck boogie song. I think for the most part, my muse was my wife. As corny as that sounds, whenever I would get stuck, somehow or another, I’d think of her, and I’d come up with the right line. She helped me out even when she didn’t know she was helping me out.
The songs have wide interpretation and appeal. ‘Can Do’, the phrase in itself, is optimistic and forward-looking. You weren’t aiming for one of those common, hate-filled records; what a relief!
No. I was aware of that when I was writing. I didn’t want to appear to be whining. I wanted to kind of observe my experience in life, but as we say, try to have a bit of a positive spin on things. Because that’s all you can really do in life.
You’ve got a pretty extensive tour coming up. Without spoilers, how many tunes from Can Do do you have worked up for being included in a live set?
We have four, right now. Of course, as we go along, we’ll add more: what people want to hear. But I think we’ve got four good ones, that represent the album really well.
They’ll be excited to hear that.
Oh, yeah! We played a show last week and we showcased two of the four new songs, and they went down great.
It’s par-for-the-course that your bandmates (Rodney, Kirk, and Sandy) are fantastic musicians.
Yeah, they’re fantastic musicians, and they’re great guys, too. I mean, we get along really, really well. And that’s super important, ’cause it’s not always ‘easy going’ – there’s some tough times travelling, and some gigs that maybe aren’t so good, or whatever, or hotel accomodations… flights getting screwed up, that sort of thing. So you’ve got to have guys with a good sense of humor.
Easygoing and able to roll with that…
Exactly. (laughs)
What I’ve noticed about them is that they’re also very active: they’re kinetic, and really lively onstage.
Oh, yeah, yeah – everybody’s in to it. It’s great. I love it.
You guys seem to have a great ‘good photo ratio’: you get a lot of ‘action shots’.
Yeah, I’ve noticed that! It looks really good. I’m glad to see some of these photos coming out, ’cause people sure have taken a lot of ’em, and it seems like we never get to see them in a promo context. So, this is good. I’m happy.
You seem to have embraced working on a live show in it’s own right. None of you ‘just stand there’.
Oh, no, no, I could never do that. I’ve just never been able to do that. To get it out, you’ve got to pump yourself up, and sometimes, that means making a face, or I call it, ‘throwing a shape’: when you make a pose or something. It’s not ’cause you’re trying to look cool, it’s ’cause it’s the only way to get the sound out of the guitar or something.
Could you talk about your live set a bit?
We try to do the songs from past albums that we think people like to hear. We also do kind of a blues section, that goes down really, really well, that I play slide guitar on – that’s something I love to do. And now we’re lucky enough to be having these great new songs that we’re going to be able to play live. So, the live show, I’m really looking forward to playing. We’ve got some great songs in it, and it’s a wonderful set.
I’m looking forward to seeing some of it on YouTube!
Okay. That’s our next thing – to get some more YouTube stuff, that’s more ‘good quality’, out there.
And you got to hang out with Edgar Winter…
Oh, it was so much fun! I’ve known Edgar for quite some time now, but whenever we’re together, usually it’s just to play a show. So you never really get to just sit around for any extended period of time, and talk about stuff. So, on this last tour, ’cause we were on the same coach together, we traveled together. So, we had quite a bit of time to listen to music, and talk about what we did when we were kids, and things like that. And it was a real pleasure to get to know him better.
Regarding ‘touring today’: It seems like you guys, at least in the USA, get to do nontraditional things, like play for a week and then be home for a week. You don’t have to do the 2 month drag in a van or on a bus.
Yeah. That’s the way we’ve been doing it. I mean, I usually go out on a weekend, like a Thursday, and come back on a Sunday or a Monday. But we’re going to the UK for two weeks, and then we’re back for about a week, and then we’re in Europe for a month, so we still have those extended times away from home, which… there’s no other way to do it.
It would be cost-prohibitive.
Yes… and probably take up too much time, flying back and forth.
What’s interesting to me is that record labels still give direction. ‘Hey Pat, please make an album that could be a natural successor to Crash & Burn‘…
Of course, they did say that, and I did say I could make a record like that. But I had no idea how to do that. Most of the reason why those albums sounded the way they did, is environmental. I mean, we were young, and in a new studio, and learning new stuff. Then, once again it depended on where we were… I just wrote the songs I liked, and played the way I liked, and it all worked out ‘good’ for me. So, I’m happy.
It’s almost like being commissioned to do a painting.
I know what you mean. I’ve felt like that on other occasions, but I didn’t feel like that with this one, because, as I said, I didn’t take it seriously when they requested that, and I said I could do that. I promptly forgot about it. I knew there was no way I could try to use a blueprint from 30 years ago to make a record today. It just wouldn’t work, you know? So I just did what I’m good at, and that’s just working in the studio, and putting on new parts, and seeing what works, and what doesn’t work.
Well, it certainly sounds like you got everything together that works!
Yeah, I’m very happy with that, believe me. Most albums, if I’m lucky, I’m about 70% happy with it. This one, I’m about 80% or 90%, which is pretty good.
How did you select the Eurhythmics cover tune? Did you think the fans would love it, or did you love it, or…?
We loved it. We were driving in the car, and it came on the radio, and then I was singing along, and I suddenly realized that it was in my vocal range; that I could sing it in that key. So, a friend of mine had loaned me a really nice Taylor acoustic nylon string guitar. So, I went in and recorded a little backing track with the nylon string and a drum machine, and then put a bass guitar on it, and then I put a vocal on it. And I moved on to something else. Then, it was about a month later, I was searching for a CD with a rough mix of something on it, and I put the CD in, and that came up. And I’d forgotten about it. I went ‘wow, that sounds really good’. But I knew I needed to have a female voice on it – fortunately, my wife Monica is also a great singer. So, I had her come over, and we stood eyeball to eyeball and sang that song together. And it just sounded great, so… There was a little resistance, initially, from the record company, when I handed it in. I didn’t realize – I guess that song’s been covered many, many times. But I’ve never heard another cover, and… I just did it my own way anyway. They were going ‘maybe we shouldn’t put this on here’ and I said ‘everybody I play this for loves it, so I think you should reconsider.’ Which they did, and I’m glad they did, because everybody likes that one.
That’s good. It’s fortunate that you found it on the recording…
Yeah, it’s just, once again, one of those organic things that happens.
What happened to the tunes that didn’t end up on the album? Did those go on to the collector’s EP Dogs & Guitars?
No. I don’t know… I haven’t heard them in a while. Kirk McKim will have the copies, then he’ll give them to me the next time I’ve got to start working on a new record. There’s some really cool stuff, that I just couldn’t seem to come up with a lyric for, or find a song to go with the music, so they kind of got left behind. But there weren’t many of them – there’s maybe only three or four.
That will be a nice base for you to start with next time.
Yeah. I’ll probably just start all over again, from the top, though. That’s what I usually do. (laughs) I don’t like to go back too far with things; I like to move forward.
And you said a lot of the process is environmental.
Exactly. You’re so right. I mean, it really is. It’s where you’re at, what you’re doing. That determines what you’re going to play, and what you’re going to do that day.
We love to talk about what’s different between this-and-that. Regarding ‘the music business’, what has stayed ‘pretty much the same’, across your career?
Oh, I don’t know. I suppose… Every time I have to make an album. I mean, there’s this initial enthusiasm and excitement, and ‘I’ve got a bunch of good songs’, and everything’s going great. And then, it’s always this dread, of not being able to come up with the material. That’s always sort of looming over top of me. So, I don’t think that’s ever changed. It’s a weird feeling, like not having your homework done or something. Other then that, everything is different then it used to be. We just try to adapt, and move on, and don’t lament that we’re not where things used to be. We’re where we are now, and we need to deal with it.
Plus, where you’re at right now… it’s fine. It’s good.
It’s coming along, I’ve got to tell ya. The last few years have not been easy. Business has been pretty bad. But now, with this new album, we’re getting a lot of our social media skills together, and we’ve got some tours in place, and we’ve got some other ideas too, that we want to work on… I feel like we have a chance to keep on going. You know, beyond even this album, and make some more new music too. So, I’m excited about that.
Are you looking forward to the UK tour?
Very much so.
Thank you, Pat, for talking to me!
Thank you. It was a real pleasure chatting with you.
Links:
Official Band Website
Official Band Facebook Page
