Before forming Days of the New, Travis hooked up with his two friends Jesse Vest and Matt Taul. They played together in a band called Dead Reckoning. Soon, Todd Whitener joined and they formed Days of the New. Unlike most of today's rock music, Days of the New plays all of their music on acoustic guitars.
The band went on to record the song "Freak" for a local compilation cd and ended up getting discovered at a "Battle of the Bands" competition. The band was signed to a six album management deal with Outpost Records. They released the single "Touch, Peel, and Stand" which went on to set the record for the most consecutive weeks on the mainstream rock charts. They also released "The Downtown" and "Shelf in the Room" which also went on to become hits. They band then went on to go on a summer tour with Jerry Cantrell and Metallica. But rumors of a breakup were running wild.
Finally after months of speculation, Travis fired his band due to the fact that they're lack of creativity was holding Travis back from the musical visions that he held. Travis then spent a year recording and writng Days of the New II in his home studio in Louisville. The album is a brilliant collection of music that features orchestration and perfected song writing. The album brings you on a journey from beginning to end with each track bleeding into one another. The new album also saw a new tour and a new band line-up that features a female vocalist. Travis also has someone else playing guitar so he can be free with the microphone on stage. The single "Enemy" was the first release followed by "The Weapon and the Wound".
Well I first heard of this great band, in about early November of 97'. I was blown away, by Travis' amazing voice and the bands great musical talents. Of course I have to admit my first reaction to this band was that they sounded a lot like alice in chains. But as you get to know this band you begin to realize that the 2 bands are nothing alike.
I got the album for Christmas from my best friend, and I could not go through a day without listening to it since then. I love the great words Travis uses in his songs, I can really relate to them.....
I gotta admit, though I do not know much about these guys personal lives, but I do know that Travis has a 4 year old daughter and Matt has a 2 year old.....but check out the links I put down, cause those pages are absolutely great.....the info they give is really a lot more than what I can say......I guess I'm too lazy to write it into my page...hehehe
Anyways, in March I went to go see these guys in concert, and let me tell you.....it was probably the best night of my life. Me and my friend, went about 6 hours early, because we wanted to shop around, go out to eat, and stuff......so we arrived at the cabaret(the place they were playing) around 2:30 pm.....and decided to grab a bite to eat at the restaurant next door......then as we walked by the restaurant, I spotted this guy who looked exactly like Todd, and said to my friend..." Holy shit! I saw a guy who looked exactly like Todd!" and she took a look at him and thought the same thing! Anyways we walk into this place, and sit at the table next to his.....we were wondering aimlessly. He even looked at us like a billion times....
So, later on as we were eating, he went to go make a phone call.....we were going crazy...mostly in denial, thinking that what are the odds of meeting Todd in a restaurant!! He was about to leave, and my friend was convincing me to say something...but then his tour bus driver, and I think his manager, walked in and convinced him to stay and get desert. So he did...and we knew for sure it was him.....
About an hour later, as they were about to walk out, I said, "excuse me, are u Todd from days of the new?" and he said, "yeeeesss......" with a big smile on his face, and I just told him how we were wondering like crazy whether it was him or not, and he laughed and stuff, and we talked for about 2 minutes, because he had to leave, and that was that.
Later on we met up with a TV VJ and she wanted to interview us, because we were there so early.....but she said first she had to interview the guys.....After a little conversation with her, she asked us if there was anything we wanted her to give the guys to sign...so we said yah sure and we gave her our cd's.
It turns out that an hour later she walked out with Travis and Matt, and said, there they are guys! And they signed our stuff, and were so eager to grab a bite to eat...(I wonder why...)
We were first in line...Todd and Jesse walked in and out the door, while people were waiting.....
The show began with a shitty opening act, and when days walked on people went wild.....they played, freak, the down town, touch peel and stand, shelf in the room, where I stand, etc, etc........and Travis smashed his guitar at the end.....that was cool...but what sucked was that Todd threw a guitar pic, and it landed on my head then jumped off, and people went nuts trying to get it!! That was pretty funny.....
After the show, we had some time to spare, so we walked in the back of the place to see if we could meet them again....well, we saw Todd, and he said" hey it's u girls again!!" and we took pics, and laughed talked about their next tour, how long he's been playing guitar, etc.....it was really cool:)
