The multi-platinum album from Scottish rock band Travis, The Invisible Band, is set to be reissued to celebrate its 20th Anniversary. The deluxe edition features the original album remastered by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer Emily Lazar, all the original B-sides and a selection of completely unreleased demos, live sessions and alternate takes— to be released December 3rd on Craft Recordings. The band have today premiered “Swing,” a previously unheard early working version of their UK top 3 single “Sing,” listen now here.
A special limited-edition 20th Anniversary box set features the material across two CDs and two 180-gram heavyweight, ultra-clear vinyl LPs, cut at London’s Air Studios. The set includes an extensive book with unseen session photography, handwritten lyrics and essays from the band plus contributions from the original producer Nigel Godrich.
The Invisible Band will also be reissued on standard black vinyl, available for the first time on the format since its original release. A limited green vinyl pressing is available via independent record stores, as well as a 2-CD standard edition.
The band have today also announced The Invisible Band in Concert tour across North America and the United Kingdom in April/May 2022. This marks the first time the seminal album will be played in full, plus material from 2020’s 10 Songs and more from the group's extensive catalog of hits. Tickets for the UK dates are available now; existing tickets to UK dates remain valid. The US tour general on-sale is this Friday, 8th October here
Frontman Fran Healy says, ‘The Invisible Band is 20!! I hadn’t listened to the whole album for a while. It’s a lovely piece of work from the big singles like “Sing” and “Flowers in the Window” to “Afterglow” and “Last Train”. It sounds great at 20! We’re also taking it on the road. We’re really looking forward to playing live again’.
Now certified 9x Platinum in the United Kingdom, The Man Who’s success may have seemed impossible to build upon, but when it came to crafting a follow-up, Travis’ natural composure became their greatest asset.
Andy Dunlop (guitar) recalls, ‘Making the first post-success album is never going to be easy. Suddenly pressures and expectations sit on the shoulders of an already creatively challenging process. But things shouldn’t be easy, and all the best things very rarely are’.
Returning to the studio with The Man Who’s co-producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck, Paul McCartney), Travis crafted a near-perfect 45-minute album praised by Q magazine for having some of ‘the best and most fully crafted’ songs of their career to date. Neil Primrose (drums) says ‘Recording at Ocean Way Studios, seeing what LA had to offer while staying at the Chateau Marmont have left strong memories’.
Lead single “Sing” remains the band’s highest-charting single in the UK (No.3), while its follow-ups, “Side” and “Flowers in the Window,” saw the band consolidate their indie-pop formula, helping The Invisible Band to match its predecessor’s No.1 position in the UK album chart, while taking Travis into the US Top 40 and Top 10 in Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Italy and Norway. Dougie Payne (bass) says, ‘from a distance of 20 years, lovely memories do come back’.
On getting to revisit the album with a tour, frontman Healy remarked " To support the re-issue of The Invisible Band on vinyl on its 20th birthday we are bringing it all back home... well, home to where the album was recorded, with a tour of the US. It's been such a long time since we toured America. We cannot wait to get out there and play the album live. I was asked the other day what the gig would be like. I said "Imagine taking your album out and placing it on the turntable and suddenly all the lights go out and the wall of your living room opens up, and there is Travis, playing it live, for you, with beautiful lights and stories and then once we play the album we throw in a bunch of hits. Then the wall closes and you think damn, I burnt my dinner" Like I said we can't wait. The Pandemic has been hard for all musicians so this will be a tour to remember."
Visit TravisOnline.com for ticket information and tour dates.
