Theo Travis - On The Road

also diaries for :
GONG WEEKEND 2008 - GONG UNCONVENTION 2006 - ON THE ROAD 2006 - TANGENT TOUR 2005 - WEEK AT RONNIE SCOTTS 2004 - SCOTLAND 2002

On the Road Apologies for my not updating this message page in a while but since mid May and for most of June 2006 I have been on the road, touring with three different bands. I thought I'd fill you in on some of the happenings. May 25 Soft Machine Legacy - France Flew to Marseille for the first foreign Soft Machine Legacy gig at the Prog Sud festival. I flew from London Gatwick with John Etheridge at the unusual hour of 8.30 pm (as opposed to the normal 6 am type of thing). Wow -how civilised. The airport was practically empty and we casually walked through check in, security and to the departure lounge. When we got to Marseille the weather was rather hot - it had been cold and rainy in London. The gig itself was in a small hall in a place that seemed like the middle of nowhere - just surrounded by dusty empty fields. Mikl and Delphine came along from Nice and it was great to catch up. I first met them in 2001 when they organised some Gong gigs in the South of France and we have kept in touch ever since. The gig went very well and the promoter was happy May 27,28 The Tangent - Germany The next day I had to get up early as I had to fly to Frankfurt for the first gig of 2006 with the Tangent. It was a tricky journey as it involved a bus, a plane, a train or two and a cab. I had to get to a rehearsal room in Aschaffenberg (near Frankfurt) by 2pm for a rehearsal. Unfortunately they had to leave the rehearsal room by 4 pm - so the timing was tight. Now the Tangent music is very complicated. Intricate arrangements and long songs. The band is led by Andy Tillison (pictured left with Theo) who writes most of the material plays keyboards and sings. I know he had been preparing for this gig for some time as there is lots to learn and a technological nightmare getting all the keyboards to play all the right sounds in all the right places. Between Andy and Sam Baine who also plays keys and piano in the band there must be at least 10 different types of keyboard or keyboard sounds/modules in the set. Much computer programming ensures the right sound appears in the right bits of songs. Anyway Andy and Sam had been preparing for weeks. The rest of the band only had 2 days to rehearse for this gig. I had 2 hours! This was the first gig the band was playing tracks from its new and successful album A Place in the Queue - including one 20 min track and the 25 min title track. This is a big progressive rock festival. The head of the record label (Inside Out)was coming too. So much rode on this. Anyway my Marseille to Frankfurt logistical nightmre all turned out fine and I got to Frankfurt in time to be picked up by the others and taken to the ..err...cosy rehearsal room. We managed to play through about 60% of the set once including all the new ones before having to leave the rehearsal room. Amazingly it went fine. I had transcribed my parts from the CD, so I knew what I was supposed to do - subject to slight changes, which we discussed at the rehearsal. After the rehearsal we checked in the hotel (nice) and went off to a German pub for dinner. It is important for the band to get time to relax and socialise together outside the pressure of rehearsing and performing. It is all part of the band vibe thang, that can make a real difference to how everything goes, how people get on, how productive the band can be and how enjoyable (or not) the whole experience can be. Anyway - we had a great laugh, fine food, a few beers and even some almost acceptable English tea! The promoter took his progressive rock very seriously and wanted to know how many points out of ten each of us would give for each album by Yes! Wot a larf.. The next day involved the gig and as always on occasions such as these - a lot of sitting around - waiting...To cut to the chase - the gig went very well including the new songs. I think the band suffered slightly as before the Tangent went onstage, the audience had already been listening to about 4 hours of intense and complicated progressive rock, so their ears were probably tired and a little weary. However we did it. Andy seemed happy so all was good. The next morning I got to the station and took the train to Frankfurt, then the plane to Marseille and waited a few hours then a flight to Gatwick, a train to London Victoria and finally an underground train home - phew... Mon 29 May - Soft Machine Legacy - Coventry Monday morning headed off to Coventry for a gig at the Coventry Jazz Festival in the atmospheric ruins of the Cathedral with the Soft Machine Legacy. Our gig followed Richard Sinclair, playing with Tony Coe (a particularly wonderful musician), David Rees Williams (pno) and Mark Fletcher (drms). They sounded in fine form and we did our thing, as we do... May 31 to June 10 Theo Travis Quartet - Scotland I dedided not to keep a full tour diary on this tour as I did one on my quartet's 2002 Scottish tour which is still posted on this web site (Scotland diary). On this tour we visited the Scottish Highlands but not Islands, and did travel up and down both the east and west coasts. We played in : Ambleside Zefferelli's; Edinburgh the Lot; Achmore Village Hall; Aultebea Village Hall; Lochinver Village Hall; Ullapool the Ceilidh Place; Beauly Phipps Hall; Aberdeen The Blue Lamp and the Stirling Tollbooth. The line up with me was Simon Colam piano, Alex keen bass and Marc Parnell drums (pictured right). It was the first time I have toured Scotland in the summer and I have to say the weather was absolutely glorious. This tour featured more flute than I have previously played with the quartet - including the new piece Mr Clear Plan, and several tracks from Earth to Ether. We had played many of the venues before but Zefferellis was new to us and is a fantastic place deep in the Lake District. The Beauly gig was a new one and the promoter took a chance on it, but a good crowd turned up and were absolutely fantastic - one of the most enthusiastic of the tour. The night in Aberdeen was a blast too - not just a great vibey club with lovely people and a great sounding gig, but a fun night including late night curry at the Gourmet Karma Sutra (original, good but expensive), and a good laugh too. The set largely remained the same on the gigs with just a few changes here and there. For the first time we played "Eat that Phonebook (coda)" by Gong most nights, as well as "Glad" by Steve Winwood a couple of times. I did an extended solo alto flute loops track "Sleep" that then blended into Full Moon Rising pt2 which was always fun, and the difficult Things Change and Mr Clear Plan got better and better as the tour went on. We travelled in Alex's van and my car, and was relieved that both vehicles behaved themselves fully. The tour seemed to centre round Ullapool as we stayed there on one night off, played there one night and kept passing through it as we drove up and down the Highlands. Every time we were there we would go to the amazing "Celidh Place" for tea - which was almost like base camp. What a fab place. On Sun 11 June, got back after a 10 hrs 30 min drive from Stirling All in all a great tour - good music, fun times, beautiful places and made a profit too!. June 15 to 20 - Soft Machine Legacy - Japan Alarm set for 7 am. Goes off as planned and got ready for my 7.45 am cab. At 7.30 am I see the driver walking up our path and open the door as I don't want him knocking and waking everyone up. I say "hello" and that the cab is booked for 7.45 . The driver replies "I wasn't told a time". So I guess he just turned up when he felt like it - just in case it coincided with my plane time??? Err...right. I get in the cab at 7.45 am and he says "Where to?" Did I book this cab, or did he just land from Jupiter outside my house? Check in queue at Heathrow is not long but the lady behind the check in desk is extreeeeemely slow. 5 mins before the final cut off time for checking in I am still standing there. Then they open a second desk and I check in. The man behind the counter misreads my ticket and asks what I am doing spending a night in Paris and does that mean I should collect my case in Paris. I say there is a 45 min transfer and my case needs to go straight through. I'm not staying overnight at all. Good job I stopped him! So I get through and onto the plane where I meet the others - Hugh and the two Johns - who all breathe a sigh of relief. Plane then sits on the runway for 25 mins so when we get to Paris we nearly miss the connection. Mad dashes and panics but we do make it, and get on our flight ready for 11 hours 30 mins of cramped legs, no sleep and questionable food. Actually it is a bit of a laugh. John Etheridge is the life and soul of the party and we have a good time and the hours tick away. Watch films "Firewall" and "King Kong" and listen to my new ipod too. I can't tell you how confused I get by the international time changes. We were in France which was 1 hour different from London then are going to Japan which is 8 hours different from the UK. I decide to leave my watch on UK time for a few days but this gets ridiculous in a few days when Hugh says in the middle of a gig "What time did we go on? How long have we played ?" and I crumble in confusion! So change to Japanese time just in time to leave. So we get out of the plane at half past midnight which in Japan is 8.30 am and everyone is starting their day. I am knackered. We are then met by the lovely Amy and driven 2 hours to the hotel. I had assumed it was going to be very hot and packed accordingly, but we arrive on a grey rainy morning and are told "the rainy season has just started". Gawd... So we arrive at the hotel at 10.30 am (2.30 am in my head) and the rooms are not ready yet, so they suggest a brunch while we wait. Now I like Japanese food, but 3.30 am is not the best time for me to start eating raw fish.....but we do anyway. Finally get into our rooms at noon (my 4 am!) for a few hours nap before a production meeting later that afternoon. Sleep. Hurrah! The production meeting is well organised and efficient, but also a chance to meet the team ie. the representative of the promoter, the record label people, the technical team, stage manager etc. It is also a time for me to meet the famous and most excellent Leonardo - the Soft Machine Legacy manager and agent (well sort of - or maybe "facilitator" as his job title is the subject of discussion!) Then time for a meal out. We wander about in Roppongi and find a little sushi bar that looks cool. We can't understand the menu but point at the picture that looks like a reasonable meal and all have the same. It turns out to be most tasty. When it comes to Japanese food I like a lot of it, but I have two particular thresholds - a rubbery threshold, and an alien threshold. When the seafood starts to get real rubbery (or if there are suckers about, or if it moves...), then I pass. Some of the most sophisticated dishes look like dissected aliens from the Ridley Scott movie - dripping clear blood, serated edges and multi layered mouths - and very slimy. Basically that's a no no for me. With me and sushi, there is a particular moment when "Mmm... this is delicous and sooooo fresh" turns to "If I have just one more tiny bit of seafood I'll be completely sick..." But till then - I love it! And I do love that wasabi horseradish, and the fresh ginger. I knew that the first night in Japan, because of the time difference means you go to bed and lie wide awake till 7 am when you finally get to sleep (it would be 11pm in the UK), and then need to get up soon after. Well - that is exactly what happened. So I watched TV, listened to my new ipod, counted sheep and tried to sleep. The last thing I remembered was seeing the alarm clock say 6.58 am, then I must have fallen asleep. Got up at 11.30 am and off to gig for soundcheck etc. We arrived and there was a marvelous buffet all set out so we got to work! The sound check was very smooth. Everything in place, everything working, everything fast and efficient. Of course 1 pm was 5 am on our English body clocks so we are all totally tired. The gig was great. We played a new arrangement of Slightly all the time (from Third), which involved setting up sax loops while changing to flute and playing a flute solo over the 11/4 chord changes, then setting up flute loops while changing back to sax for the tune. We added some freeform improvisations to the set which went well and were interesting and fun. It is one of the things this band does extremely well - free improvs with no safety net. We always get into some great areas and often very different and contrasting textures with harmonic and melodic ideas flying about. Everyone seems to tune in to each other and be sympathetic and follow ideas but suggest new paths and have much to contribute themselves. Hard to describe the process, but you know when it is "happening", and it often seems to work with this band. It takes a very particular sort of musical character to do this successfully. The gig lasts just over 2 hours and was very well received by the audience of 400 or so. The band is ushered upstairs for a "meet and greet" session. A table is set out with our pre ordered drinks and 2 indelible pens each, and in an orderly fashion, a single line of smiling and bowing Japanese men (mostly) file in and ask for autographs. All very appreciative. Today I have a new plan for the jet lag. It is simple. Drink lots of warm saki, so when it is bed time I'll be sloshed and will fall straight to sleep! It's a long shot, but it might just work. So I get started during the signing. When all is done, the lovely Amy takes us out first to a cool old style Japanese bar called Quienquiera, then to a fantastic restaurant called Gonpachi. It inspired Quentin Tarrantino for that big scene in Kill Bill where the 5678s play and there is the balcony around the top and a big fight round the room. Apparently Tarrantino loved the resaturant so much he had it recreated in Hollywood. The food is fabulous and we have a good laugh - and plenty of saki. A great night out and when it is time for bed, I'm zonked and crash out. My plan worked! or nearly - as at 4 am I am wide awake again. Harumph... Then spent much time checking out sounds on my ipod of CDs I have recorded but not listened to - eg Gnidrolog (prog with lots of recorders, flutes, crumhorns and other such woodwind), Gentle Giant (some amazing tracks on Octopus), Glen Miller (Moonlight serenade may be a cliche, but it is beautiful), Transatlantic (about the best of the new prog (apart from the Tangent of course!). Good to catch up on some listening. I never seem to have time at home. Up at noon and off to venue for ace buffet - Camonbert (how on earth do you spell that), Croissants, Chinese chicken and cashews, Sushi, Fruit, coffee, cakes etc etc. I do a one hour interview for the Japanese Euro Rock Press - a very glossy affair. It goes well and there is a helpful translator. The interviewer has done his homework and knows everything I have done and is very interested. He seems particularly interested in my work with Cipher and our soundtracks to the 1920's silent films. Also about my contribution to the Nine Horses Snow Bourne Sorrow album (superb album!). Sound check goes fine and gig is good. Probably better than the previous night. Great band improv' on "As if" from Soft Machine 5. "Slightly all the time" is getting even better and the band improv', now called Kawasaki Jam (the venue is in Kawasaki), is great too. We play a track called "Facelift" from "Third" , and in the studio they reversed the tape so after the last melody, you hear the whole thing backwards. I thought I could do this live with the reverse function on my looping pedals. So I set it to record before playing the melody at the end of the track and just as I finish playing it reverse it, so you get it backwards plus whatever else from the band has gone into my microphone. It works a treat and the others like it too. Hugh later said that a French band had actually learnt how to play this tune backwards. John Marshall is wonderful on the gig. He is a very special drummer - amazingly creative, melodic, strong but sympathetic and very subtle, great groove and swing but always shifting and searching, and explosive when taste calls for it! Leonardo mentioned that John is his favourite drummer in the whole world. We do another meet and greet and one fan says it is the best concert he has ever been to in his whole life. Wow!!..(though the cynic in me wonders if he has been to any others!). Tonight we are whisked off to a Shabu Shabu restaurant. We all sit round a low table and in the middle of the table is a large pan of boiling water. Plates of raw beef, seafood and vegetables are passed round and you pick them up with chop sticks, waft them in the boiling water while saying shabu shabu! 10 seconds later they are cooked. You dip them in either sesame sauce or soy sauce and Bob is, as they say, your uncle. Actually it was delicious. Very fresh, tasty, succulent. Fab'. Tonight Tokyo is full of people in blue shirts. Japan is playing tonight in the world cup. I think there was a nil nil draw. At the end of the evening John Etheridge and I go off in search of a bar to have a drink and chill out. We eventually find a cool little place upstairs where we have a few drinks and chat for a while. Apart from being a fantastic guitarist with a wealth of experience, he is a great guy to hang out with. So many stories about his times with Stephane Grappelli, Dizzy Gillespie, Miroslav Vitous, Pat Metheney, Nigel Kennedy, Andy Summers and Jimi Hendrix and touring all over the place. One of life's astute observers of human nature too - so always interesting and entertaining too. On our last day we don't need to go to the airport till 6 pm, so we are taken round some amazing parts of Tokyo :- one of the old districts with lots of temples (Yanaka?) ; the incredibe Rikugien Gardens, with its poetry garden, lake with huge carp and dozens of turtles, beautiful tea house, hills bridges and gates ; the noisy but buzzing Big Camera store - 7 floors of the latest technology ; some cool shops and sushi bars ; and different areas. Finally we go to the airport for the long haul home - including a rather dull 2 hour wait in Paris at 4 am. We arrive in London 7 am and I share a cab home with John E. All in all a great trip. Looking forward to the next one. Italy in about 10 days. Onward and upwards! playlist - Keith Jarrett - Belonging Kenny Garrett - Standard of Language Nine Horses - Snow Bourne Sorrow Robert Fripp - Love Cannot Bear Herbie Hancock - Headhunters Norma Winstone - Well Kept Secret Charlie Haden - Now is the Hour Cheers