Pat Travers is definitely one of rock’s great journeymen and survivors. Early on in his career, the Canadian guitarist and singer caught the eye of the great Ronnie Hawkins, and eventually landed in London, where he played any number of bands and emerging musicians. After four solo albums, Travers finally hit pay dirt with Live! Go For What You Know. And the rest, as they say, is open to interpretation.
Of course, Traver’s studio album from 1980, Crash And Burn, was massive and throughout the rest of the 80s and into 90s and 00s, he continued to make records and tour regularly. He’s seen it all and played with nearly everyone. And he is reaping the respect from peers and fans alike for his diligence, his work ethics and his ability to adapt to the changing tide of the music business. And now, with Can Do, his 2013 studio album on Frontiers Records, it’s as if he’s come full circle.
I had the chance to speak with Travers a couple days before he was scheduled to be in Las Vegas for the opening night of this summer’s Rock ‘n Blues Fest, which also features Edgar, Winter, Rick Derringer, Canned Heat and Ten Years After. Mostly, we talked about the new album because it’s the best record he’s made in years. But we also got into his upcoming gigs, a few historical tidbits, people he’s worked with and people he’s met, and, of course, what’s next. If it’s anything like Can Do, I can hardly wait.
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Let’s talk about Can Do. Now it’s my understanding that Frontiers Records sort of gave you free reign on this one to just go in and make a record old-school, like you did in 1979. Is that about right?
Yeah, that’s about it. Initially, when we first started talking, they asked if I do an album similar in style to the first four or five records. I, of course, said, “Yes,” but I really had no idea how to do that. Most of the reason why those albums sound the way they do is environmental. We were at a certain time at a certain place, you know. But, because they weren’t pressuring me … actually, I was putting myself under a lot of pressure to come up with really, really good songs. And I got lucky at the beginning of the year; I had a pretty good songwriting period there. I think that’s really the key — good songs, good performance and great production.
Absolutely. Right out of the gate, the title track — that pretty much sets the tone. It must be frustrating to write such a kick-ass song and not be able to get it on the radio like in the old days.
Yeah, it’s too bad. There was a time when FM radio ruled the way, and even better than that, there were different areas. It wasn’t just one song across the entire nation. They would play a different song in one area, so it was interesting. But we have to do things differently today, you know, find different ways. It’s still possible to have that. I assume as soon as we get a cool video or something up on YouTube or do a TV show or something, we’ll achieve the same thing.
That would probably work. The title track would have been great on the radio in the 70s, and then something like “Diamond Girl,” I could hear in the 80s.
Yeah, well we’ve been playing both those songs live and boy it sure is fun. “Can Do,” to be able to play kind of a high-powered new tune is a lot of fun for me. It has a lot of power in it and really rocks live. And “Diamond Girl,” I just love to death. It’s my favorite song on the album.
That’s a good one. You’ve also got a got a song on there called “Wanted (That Was Then, This Is Now” with some pretty intense lyrics. Can you tell me a little bit about that one?
You know, it was one of those where the music popped into my head. I didn’t even have a guitar on — the chords were in my head. I ran to the studio and recorded kind of a rough version of it. I just had the music and I brought it back home and was listening to a rough mix of this rough tape, and the word “wanted” popped into my head. I started thinking about a past-his-prime heavyweight boxer. So that was what I had in mind. So yeah, I think that’s a great, powerful tune too. It’s got kind of a current of emotion running through it that most people can probably relate to, you know.
You covered the Eurythmics’ “Here Comes the Rain Again,” which is an interesting choice and I think you did a great job on it. And your wife, Monica, sings the backgrounds on it. How did you decide to do that one?
I was just driving in the car and it came on the radio, XM or satellite or whatever, and I was singing along with it and went, “Wow, we sing in the same range.” And so a friend of mine had loaned me this really beautiful Taylor classical nylon string acoustic guitar. I started putting the two together, and went in and just sort of put a rough acoustic guitar down with a drum machine and a bass guitar and put a vocal on it, and I kind of forgot about it for a little while because I was working on something else. I was working on another CD for another rock mix and went, “Wow, this is really good.” And I said, “I bet if I had Monica sing with me, it’ll sound great.” So I dragged her into the studio and we just sang it eyeball-to-eyeball on two different mics. It was cool. It came out really good.
Yeah it did. Have you been in touch with Dave Stewart or Annie Lennox about it?
No, it would be fun though. I’d love to hear what Annie Lennox thinks if she’ll ever get a chance to hear it. Yeah, that’d be kind of cool. I don’t think they’d complain.
Not at all. Now on the album, you have a few blues numbers — and you released an all-blues record last year, Blues On Fire. So obviously the blues is a big part of your repertoire, I would say. Is that right?
Yeah, I’m kind of lucky in a way. I have this real bluesy side to me, but the songs that I write aren’t necessarily blues. There’s a lot of blues in them, they’re all 1-4-5s. They’re just disguised very carefully with a lot of different chords and stuff. So, for a while there I did a lot of blues only because I didn’t have the opportunity to record the album that I wanted to make. I knew that I would require some time, and also, I didn’t want to make the mistake of taking all this time on an album and then giving it to a record company that wasn’t going to do anything with it. So Frontiers was a good choice and they have great distribution and they do good promotion so people will hear about the album.
You have some dates with the Rock ‘N’ Blues Fest. Are you going to be playing a lot of blues on those shows, or a lot of stuff from Can Do, or are you going to mix it up? What can we expect?
I’m going to mix it up. It’s not going to be easy. We don’t have the longest set — I think I’ve got about 25, 30 minutes, so only about five songs. But I’m definitely going to do at least one tune from the new album every night. And of course, we’ll do some heavy-duty blues as well; we’ve got a couple in mind. And then, you know, “Boom Boom” and I guess “Snortin’ Whiskey” to round it out, you know, so everybody’s happy.
And you’ve got Edgar Winter and Rick Derringer and Ten Years After without Alvin Lee, of course.
On my Facebook page, there’s been so many comments about, “I’m not going to see Ten Years After without Alvin Lee,” but Alvin Lee hasn’t played with Ten Years After since 1974, you know. Well, I think they got together again for one album in 1983. But he hasn’t been with that band forever, for most of their existence, so it’s just funny that people are angry. “I’m not going to waste money if Alvin’s not there.” It’s really weird.
Kind of hard to do it when he’s not around.
I’ll tell you what, I wouldn’t want to be the poor geezer trying to replace him in that band.
I interviewed Leo Lyons a few years ago when they did a record with the new guitarist and I spoke to Alvin Lee about six months before he passed away and he was doing new stuff as well. He said he was never going to get together with those guys again but he wished them well and everything was cool. He had moved on and was living in Spain at the time.
Yeah, he lived near Barcelona.
And he did put out a really nice record last year, kind of a follow-up to his first solo record, On The Road To Freedom.
When I lived in England — this was probably ’77n I think — (and was) at the Reading Festival outside of London and Thin Lizzy were playing, and I was on the side of the stage. And there was this tall geezer standing next to me, and it was Alvin Lee. He just kind of looked at me and I looked at him, but the music was so loud we couldn’t really talk, so I never introduced myself. But we stood side-by-side for about 15 minutes without saying anything. It was weird.
You’ve played with so many different people over the years. Let’s talk about, for example, Pat Thrall, who you co-wrote some of your biggest songs with. Is Pat still around? I don’t hear much from him anymore.
Yeah, Pat’s more than around. He was into digital recording with pro tools way, way back in New York. And now he’s in Las Vegas at the Palms Hotel recording studio. He’s been there several years. He’s worked on some big albums as a producer and an engineer too. I hope to see him this weekend. We’re starting the Rock ‘N’ Blues tour in Las Vegas.
So you guys are still in touch? That’s great.
Oh, yeah.
I read something about him being the inspiration, as well as the co-writer on “Snortin’ Whiskey.” Is that true? How did that come together?
He came up with the title (laughs). He was two-and-a half hours late to rehearsal and when he finally showed up and kicked open the big studio doors to the rehearsal studio, he was looking a little worse for wear. I said, “What have you been doing?” and he went, “Snortin’ whiskey and drinking cocaine.” And well, that sounds like a song, and I already had the music written, so it took me about five minutes to finish that song. So yeah, he got a writer’s credit and doesn’t even really remember. Oh no, he did tell me once that he did mean to say it the other way around, but it came out upside down.
It seemed to have worked out pretty well. You’ve also done three records with Carmine Appice, who just released a record on Frontiers with King Kobra. I interviewed him recently. What was it like for you working with Carmine? I mean, obviously you did three records, so it must have been a good experience.
Ah yeah, Carmine is such a brother. I’ve known him for quite some time. Just great energy — he always wants to be doing something. He’s always in such a great mood. So it’s fun to be around him and we talk on the phone quite a bit. If we can find a hole in our schedules that matches up, I’m sure we’ll do something again.
He’s just so busy, he’s got about 10 different things going at once.
Oh, I know.
You’ve released records on various labels in recent years, and I think you even self-released an album — it’s a lot different than the old days, wouldn’t you agree in that respect?
Absolutely, but I think it’s better. Because in the quote, unquote “old days,” you had to have that major record deal and that was akin to winning the lottery. Because it wasn’t fairly distributed; it didn’t matter how good you were — and it’s still like that. But, with social media and being able to promote yourself, not just regionally but worldwide, it’s possible to build up a fan base, which is so much better to have than just appearing out of nowhere. Then you can have a career because once you’ve got a solid fan base, then when you’re up you’re out, but when you’re down you’re still up, you know what I mean? You’re not out. So I think it’s better. Then, of course, as you start doing some big numbers on your social media, like you have a YouTube video that’s getting a couple hundred thousand hits, someone’s gonna come snooping around anyway, you know, to see how they can exploit you.
I’d heard you’re totally up to speed with social media and the Internet. And of course, there is a strong argument that artists do have more control over their careers. Do you still feel there’s something missing from today’s music business that made it so cool during the ’70s and ’80s?
Well, sure, but you know, you can only lament that so much. And there was so many different things happening that allowed the cool music business. But maybe it wasn’t all that fair either. Because, once again, there were a lot of rock gods, but there were a lot of people that were probably just as good that didn’t get the kind attention they should have gotten. I think things ultimately for music are better now because there’s just more of a fair platform. Anybody has the opportunity to put themselves out there and find an audience. You’ll sink or swim on your own talent.
One of the cool things that did come out of the 70s was the live album, and you released a major one in 1979 with Live! Go For What You Know. You had a few records in the can at that point, but that one was definitely the game-changer. At the time that you made that record and put it out, did it feel like it was the one that was going to put you over the top?
No, absolutely not. It was strange because we recorded the live album because I wanted to take some time to record the next studio album as opposed to just finishing a tour and then rushing into writing and rehearsals and doing it. I said, “No, I want to take a little time on this one.” So, the plan was to record the live album and release that to give us some more time to work on the studio album. We recorded the last four or five shows of the tour that lasted about four months, so I was pretty burned out on the material and just burned out on playing and listening to music in general — or listening to loud music anyway. So they wanted me to get it wrapped up right away, so I had to basically go right into the studio and listen to this stuff and sift through it. I was like, “Oh, this is torture.” You know, I just didn’t want to hear it anymore.
So we picked one show, which I think was from Gainesville, Florida, and then grabbed “Boom Boom (Out go the Lights)” from here in Orlando, where I live now. I wasn’t there very much for the mixing or anything, and it is what it is. I didn’t fix anything up. And when it was done, I kind of forgot about it and started working on the next studio album. And then, three or four months later, it’s like, “Oh guess what, you’ve got to go back out on the road. You’ve got a radio hit with ‘Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights)’.” And I’m like, “You’re kidding.” So it was all a big surprise to me, you know. And it worked out well because then we had a big build-up to the next studio album, which was really good too. So we were well on our way at that point.
I think it’s time you do another one. What do you think?
Another live album? We’ve got one in the can. It’s really, really good. We recorded it at the Iridium in New York City and that’s in the can. So I’m not sure when Frontiers is going to release that, but that one’s really good.
Do you plan on doing another studio record with Frontiers? Any talk of that?
With this one just being released and after working on it for the better part of last year, I’m not saying I’m not writing new songs and stuff — I sort of am — but I really just want to push and promote this new album for a while before I start thinking about that again. It’s kind of like giving birth, I guess. Not that you don’t want to do it again later, but right now it’s not uppermost in your mind.
Well, I think it’s a fantastic record and a follow-up would be awesome. After the Rock ‘N’ Blues Fest, are you going to be coming back to Los Angeles for any other gigs?
We’ve got to go to the UK in October, and then Europe after that. I’m sure in December we’re going to be doing some shows around there, at least we better be. We’re working on that right now.
