Chandler Travis is on tour. This is not at all unusual, as he has been a traveling “writer/song-singer” (his words) for the better part of 30 years, with varying levels of success. He’s slipped in and out of various bands and guises, from the Incredible Casuals’ straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll to the eclectic, experimental Chandler Travis Philharmonic, and his more subdued though no less peculiar solo recordings. It can all get a bit confusing to the newcomer, but there are a few accessible entry points. Travis recommends Let’s Have a Pancake, the Chandler Travis Philharmonic’s first record.
“There’s something about a band in its honeymoon period that is always special,” he says. “My favorite Casuals record is probably That’s That, again the first one.” He is in this regard absolutely right, as Let’s Have a Pancake is a minor classic, featuring many of Travis’ strongest songs played by a skilled band more than willing to follow him down whatever twisted paths he chooses. There are moments of Latin rhythm backed by Dixieland horns, accordion-based ballads that open with funereal horns, and plenty of the off-kilter humor that informs Travis’ best work.
Over his lifetime in the music business (in addition to the bands helpfully listed above, Travis runs his own record company, Sonic Trout), Travis has lived through to the seismic shifts we’ve all observed from the sidelines. What is the biggest single change he’s noticed? “Records disappearing comes to mind,” he says. “When I was growing up, we went through Elvis then the Beatles. Everyone was on the same page. In the ’60s, when ‘Satisfaction’ or ‘Lady Madonna’ or ‘Sunny Afternoon’ by the Kinks came out, everyone was buying that record. Now, it’s much more segmented. It’s great for variety, but something about the communal vibe is gone from it.”
These days, he says, it’s easier than ever to put your music in front of masses of people, but considerably harder to get anyone to care. “Music seems to be much less a central part of people’s lives. When I was young, if you went to a store you didn’t necessarily hear music there. Now if you enter a restaurant or an airport, there’s music. They’re throwing music at you at all times, and I think it devalues music in general.” But Travis keeps on toiling against that apathy, largely because he can’t seem to stop. “If you need to do this because it gives you joy, you stick with it. It’s a tough way to make a living, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Most of the world is doing some occupation that means nothing to them, so it’s an honor and a joy to do what you love. But if you want to raise a family, good luck.”
Travis and his longtime partner Steve Shook performed under the Travis Shook and Club Wow moniker for the better part of the ’70s and ’80s, opening for George Carlin for a decade. “We did that for so long, you get into a little routine,” Travis says. “When we first met George we were all young, doing the crazy stuff that people did in the early ’70s, but we worked through that. We opened for him for 10 years exclusively. You meet a lot of comedians who are doing their act all the time, even offstage, and George wasn’t that. We shared a lot of interest in record collecting. He was an easy person to be around, a straight shooter.” In an age where comedy and music are intersecting in more and more fascinating ways —see David Cross’ Let America Laugh, The Best Show on WFMU, or the Comedians of Comedy for the modern incarnation — it’s interesting that these guys were blending absurdist comedy and rock n’ roll 30 years ago.
These days, Travis keeps busy with yet more side projects. His garage rock project, the Catbirds, has a solid EP under its belt and a long-player scheduled for release soon after the current Philharmonics tour comes to a close. And he continues touring. “Art is not a career designed for getting rich,” he says. “We were lucky enough that for a few decades we could make a decent living, but now it’s back to normal.”
Normal, of course, being a relative concept.
The Chandler Travis Philharmonic plays Le Bon Temps Roule on Friday night and Chickie Wah Wah on Monday.
A Spotlight On Lower Cape Personalities And Visionaries
Harwich’s Singing ‘Valet’ Fred Boak Does What He Loves Best
by Elizabeth Van Wye
Harwich resident Fred Boak has found a way to do what he loves. By day he is a computer programmer with more than 25 years in the computer software business. But when his work is done this self-styled “harmonizer-at-large” is also fulfilling a lifelong dream. He sings with the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, an Eastham-based band described by the Boston Globe as “Dixieland, pop, avant-jazz, rock.. .and fully over the top.”
Boak, who was born in Manhattan and grew up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., was an only child. His father was a Presbyterian minister and Boak grew up loving to sing. He joined the church choir at five and advanced through all the church and high school choruses, taking voice lessons along the way. Boak came by his talent honestly. Both parents sang in vocal groups and it was natural for him to join in as soon as he could “I just loved doing it,” he recalled. “I couldn’t stop!”
Boak’s musical tastes progressed from the Beatles to art rock, including the bands Genesis and Kansas, to Frank Zappa and then all the modern classical blues, doowop and more. Meanwhile, in 1980 he was doing well enough in high school to get into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Boak says that while MIT is well known for its math and science, it was also a good place for music.
He sang in the Chorallaries ofMIT, the university’s mixed vocal a capella group, and eventually became the director for two years, frequently doing vocal arrangements. The group went on a couple of tours, through the Midwest, Chicago and Florida during the January independent activities time frame. “We’d schedule a tour and stay at alumni houses along the way,” he recalls.
Meanwhile, back in the classroom at MIT, Boak was studying economics and material science, learning all about plastics and chip design. “I liked the beginning courses,” he says, “but it wasn’t what I wanted, so I Ieft in 1985.” Boak got a job at WordsWorth Books in Harvard Square and worked there for several years before a mend told him about a computer job at its sister company, WordStock, designing computer systems for book stores.
“I started out in tech support and learned programming on the job,” Boak says, add. ing, “I’ve been there 20 plus years.” In the ’90s, he moved to Harwich, where he telecommutes, continuing to program inventory control systems for bookstores.
Telecommuting is not for everyone, he says. “It takes discipline and there are good days and bad. Mostly it’s great, with flexible hours.”
It’s especially good for his music, Boak says. In 1997 he heard singer Chandler Travis perform with the Philharmonic, his nine-piece group, for the first time.
“I started out as a fan,” Boak recalls, and Travis soon asked him to start selling the merchandise, the assorted CDs, Tshirts and other band paraphernalia often available at concerts. “When he found out I could sing, I weaseled my way on stage,” Boak says with a smile. “I love it,” he adds, “I hadn’t sung in 10 years and didn’t realize how much I missed it. I love playing and singing Travis’ songs… he is fantastic. They are some of the best musicians I’ve ever seen.”
Boak performs vocals as needed with both the Philharmonic and the Three-o, a smaller group of Philharmonic musicians, occasionally adding a collapsible vuvuzuela, the South African plastic horn, into the mix. Their unique sound, including horns, a keyboard and a mandolin as well as vocals, has been called jazz, pop or omnipop and even alternative Dixie land. “He gives free range to the horns,” Boak says of Travis, adding that the music can be danceable but also quiet. John Donohue, writing for the New Yorker, has described the music as “playful original songs that mix mind-bending wordplay with jazz, shimmering rock, and horn-fueled R&B.”
The group is known for its pageantry, especially in their attire, and may perform in costumes as diverse as bathrobes, pajamas or suits. Recognizing the special nature that clothing plays in their performances, Boak assumed the persona of “Chandler Travis’ valet” and during shows he dresses in the style of a contemporary Jeeves, with black suit, white shirt, black bowler hat, pink paisley bow tie and matching handkerchief, pink sunglasses and flip flops.
The group performs year round at restaurants and other venues, both on Cape Cod and nationwide, as well as at private parties, with 12 to 15 shows every month in the summer. They also perform gigs to help out non-profits in need, like their annual Christmas show, this year at the Old Jailhouse Tavern in Orleans.
With his flexible work schedule, Boak manages to do what he loves. “When I left school I wanted to do music I loved,” he recalls. “I didn’t want to lead a band. This is the best of that for me. I get to perform songs I really like, respect and appreciate.”
CHANGING CLOTHES: The wildly garbed Chandler Travis Philharmonic will be dressed more sedately Thursday at Johnny D’s.
By Jim Sullivan / Music
“I’ve had to struggle my whole life making music that uses humor,” singer-guitarist Chandler Travis said by phone from his Cape Cod home. “So many musicians have done humor in a humorless way, like the Mothers of Invention and ‘Weird’ Al. They’re very businesslike to me.”
Not Travis.
He fronts the horn-driven Chandler Travis Philharmonic. The title of their latest CD, “The Chandler Travis Philharmonic Blows!,” is, at the least, a double entendre. The lyrics of “Fruit Bat Fun,” a catchy squawk of a song, consists of two words, “fruit” and “bat.” And there’s “You and Me, Pushing Up Daisies,” a jaunty tune about aging and death. It’s impossible not to smile.
“Our stuff is not satirical,” Travis said. “It’s just silly and blissful. We specialize in joyful stuff. Don’t get scared because the words ‘comedy’ and ‘rock’ are in the same sentence.”
CTP plays a CD release gig Thursday at Johnny D’s in Somerville. Their genre is what Travis terms “alternative Dixieland.”
“The other handle we had at one point was gospel music for atheists,” Travis said, “but I didn’t want to tick off anybody who was religious.”
The horn emphasis was something Travis never expected. It wasn’t part of his original folk-pop duo, Travis Shook & the Club Wow. And it’s not part of the rock quartet he’s led since 1980, the Incredible Casuals.
Horns came into play in 1996 when Travis was doing a gig at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge and the show’s organizer, Dinty Child, asked if he wanted additional musicians. Travis joked about a horn section. He got it. And he loved it.
“My writing is very undisciplined,” he said. “It goes where it goes and there turned out to be a whole bunch of songs I’d written that needed horns and, I later found out, keyboards.”
A prolific songwriter, Travis, 60, also is a road hog. He played about 130 gigs last year. He’s entertained in every state except Hawaii.
Alaska?
Yes, Travis said, when he opened for the late comic George Carlin, something he did for about 15 years. The two became friends back in 1971. What did they share?
“Record collecting and smoking pot,” Travis said. “We also had a similar sense of humor and saw the world the same way. We hit it off big-time.”
Travis, however, has never hit the big time. He and his bands tend to play clubs on the Cape, in Boston and New York. But he’s nothing if not perseverant.
“I’m a bulldog,” Travis said. “If there’s something I set my sights on, I’ll keep going at it.”
One thing you’ll notice Thursday: Travis will not be performing in his trademark pajamas and robe.
“I think we’ll start in suits and ties,” he said. “We’ve decided to take a break from pjs and robes this year. However, there will be at least one additional surprise clothes-wise that I can’t reveal right now, that being the nature of the word surprise. I will only say that I haven’t seen the full band since Christmas, and I have presents for them that will alter their appearances in a special way.”
The Chandler Travis Philharmonic at Johnny D’s, Somerville, Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $10; 617-776-2004. (The band also plays a Wednesday residency at the Lizard Lounge in February.)
On our recent swing through New York and Western Massachusetts, we stopped by the studios of WRSI (The River – 93.9FM in Northampton, MA). Host Joan Holliday of Live on the Riversound Cafe interviewed Chandler and we played a couple of songs.
We also recorded some short promos – “93 9 The River” sung a capella with no predetermined plan or starting pitch – be sure to listen for us on the station.
There are pictures of us in the studio and an archive of our performance here (scroll down about half way or so – we should be there).
Chandler was interviewed by Sarah LaDuke for WAMC‘s program “The Roundtable” to help promote our recent show at The Linda in Albany, NY. The interview was broadcast on November 19.
An archived copy of the interview is available here.
From the new kids on the block to the New England band from another universe: the Chandler Travis Philharmonic swings in from the outer reaches (of Cape Cod) for a big show at the Iron Horse on Friday at 10 p.m.
The CTP is related to NRBQ not just in personnel (both bands share members with The Incredible Casuals, plus satellite member Keith Spring was in the ‘Q’s Whole Wheat Horns) but also in attitude: good music is good, so throw labels and categories out the window with a hearty heave-ho.
That leaves Travis and his band using the term “omnipop” to try and describe its indescribable sound; reviewers drop words like “cracked” and “skewed.” The nine-member Philharmonic plays a quirky smorgasbord of rock, blues, boogie-woogie, dixieland and some free-jazz zing here and there. Sort of like NRBQ crossed with a circus in the middle of a just-exploded thrift store. Expect a test-pattern rainbow of pajama robes, fez and other headgear, checks and stripes and leopard print and polka dots. One of the nine members is a “singing valet.” And holding it all together is the super-swinging backbeat of transgender drummer Rikki Bates.
“The Chandler Philharmonic Blows” is the group’s new record, another all-over-the-map affair, showing that under the loud-patterned mismatched clothes is pure, unadorned heart. The chorus to one affecting, bucolic, Kinks-ish song (co-written with David Greenberger) goes “We’ll grow old by not being lazy / our hearts will beat until they stop / bury us close but leave room at the top / for you and me, pushing up daisies.”
“Graciously” is another of the album’s highlights. Starting with a piano riff so classic you can’t believe it hasn’t been used before, the band members jive around until Travis sings “Soon there will be a chorus / so fine, you will adore us / graciously / then you all on the dance floor/ will get everything you came for / eventually” and the song breaks out into a Mardi Gras party of cacophonous horns, funky second-line drums and joyous backing vocals.
Even if you’ve never seen the band before, the wild carousing brass, ringing electric guitar, boisterous handclaps and whoops make it clear how amazing it must be to experience the band live. Friday is your chance! Don’t sleep on it. Or just wear your pajamas to the show. You’ll blend right in on the dance floor.
Opening the show is Northampton’s own Salvation Alley String Band, a sprawling band of a different sort, led by singer-songwriter Ryan Quinn and featuring pedal steel, mandolin and high lonesome harmonies from Brandee Simone.
Like Lyle Lovett & His Large Band, Chandler Travis makes both big, or large, sounds and more intimate music by dividing and recombining bands. Deep in Travis’s musical DNA – whatever ensemble he’s leading – is engaging playfulness, encyclopedic musical knowledge and a bold willingness to surprise even himself. His biggest band, so far, is the Chandler Travis Philharmonic – eight, nine or a dozen musicians or more, most garbed in unconventional finery, but all playing their butts off. His smallest, so far, is the Incredible Casuals, a rocking trio that played WAMC in May. The Philharmonic’s smaller mutation the Philharmonette doesn’t lack for power and goofiness – Travis opened comic George Carlin’s shows for 10 years – it’s just not as large.
On Friday, Travis leads the Philharmonette onstage at Caffe Lena (47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs), where they played in March. He’ll sing and play guitar and likely wear the weirdest things on the Caffe’s small, jam-packed stage. His musical accomplices/enablers are valet/singer Fred Boak (Danny Ray to Travis’ James Brown); Dinty Child playing accordion, guitar, mandolin and mandocello; bassist John Clark, saxophonist and clarinet player Berke McKelvie and trumpeter Yaure Muniz, fresh from a tour with the
Buena Vista Social Club. As usual, they’ll play whatever they like, possibly including serious but fractured lamentations from Travis’ solo album “After She Left” and new stuff from “The Chandler Travis Philharmonic Blows,” set for release later this year. As he promised/threatened before his March Caffe Lena show, “There may be sporadic outbreaks of jazz.”
Show time is 8 p.m. Admission is $16 in advance for members and $18 in advance for non-members, and $20 at the door.
The curiously named Chandler Travis Philharmonette is from Eastham, Mass. (Cape Cod) and led by the aforementioned Chandler Travis, who many know from cult band the Incredible Casuals.
The group is a fun-filled nine-piece “Alternative Dixieland omnipop band” born basically on a dare in 1996 at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, Mass., and have been dazzling audiences with zany sights and sounds ever since.
The band includes (according to its website) Rikki Bates (drums, party gown), Mark Chenevert (clarinet and tenor sax, muck boots), Dinty Child (mandocello, accordion, mandolin, vocals, paisley tights), Keiichi Hashimoto (trumpeterino, bunny ears), Bob Pilkington (trombone, tall hat), Phil Clements (keys, flights of fancy) John Clark (string bass, high ideals), Chandler Travis (guitar, vocals, bathrobe) and Fred Boak (vocals, valet).
From the sing-along party anthem “That’s What She Said,” bare-bones and raw, to the “I’ll Simonize your parents, if you don’t Simonize them first” straight-ahead Kinks, Replacements rock vibe of “Wireless,” or the lush “I’m Chandler’s Butterfly,” you know you’re going to have a good time.
