Oops!

It looks like you don't have flash player 6 installed. Click here to go to Macromedia download page.

An Interview with Abby Travis
Posted: Saturday, November 18, 2006
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

Abby Travis is certainly an intriguing figure in the world of music, known as much for her enticing visual approach as her extraordinary musicianship. Bass player and chanteuse, she's also worked with some of the music industry's most renowned figures, making for a prominent resume: from underground industrial and punk rock sensations like KMFDM, Elastica, Gibby Haynes of The Butthole Surfers, and The Runaways, to more eclectic and sometimes mainstream fare with the likes of The Bangles, Beck, and even Spinal Tap. Her prowess not only as a bass player but also as a songwriter is best exemplified in her solo work, of which the latest example is her third album, GlitterMouth. Topped off with her trademark pinup model visual style, reminiscent of the Weimar Republic era that took place in Europe between World Wars I and II, her music is an intriguing blend of smoking jazz atmosphere and sensuous melodies, with blissful rhythms befitting a late night cabaret. Having recently opened several West Coast shows on KMFDM's Hau Ruck Zuck tour, Abby took some time to speak to ReGen about her unique visual and musical style. From her roots in the post-punk rock scene to her stance on politics and even touching a bit on her appearances in film and theatre, Abby shows us why she is deserving of the title, Diva.

GlitterMouth is your third album, and it was released more than five years after Cutthroat Standards and Black Pop. Why exactly the long gap between releases? What happened in between releases to make it take so long for the new album to come out?

Travis: A lot of it was trying to figure out what to do with it, like thinking of trying to get another label to put it out, and the process of figuring that sort of thing out. Procuring the funds, since I paid for everything myself to get it mastered, to get it manufactured, as well as doing a bunch of other work in the meantime, you know? Touring with other bands, and since I don't have any backup in terms of corporate support, it's not always easy for me to say, 'OK, we're on now.' There are other kinds of life restraints.

The last track on GlitterMouth is a remix of 'So Far Away,' from the last album. Why does this track appear on both albums? Does it fit into any kind of concept for this album?

Travis: That guy Lamont [Hyde] produced three other songs on the album. He produced 'Grace,' 'Roberto,' and 'La Petite Morte,' so it does fit into the album.

You've also been working with Kristian Hoffman for quite some time. Did he work with you on the first album?

Travis: No, he co-produced Cutthroat Standards, and he contributed to this album as well, and he plays in my live band.

What is the working relationship like between the two of you? How would you say your music would be different if not for Kristian's presence?

Travis: I think that my favorite thing about Kristian is that he's just an incredible arranger, particularly in that the stuff that he contributes to in background vocal arrangements is always better for it. He's a great string arranger, and he's kind of the only guy I trust to discuss lyrics and content with. He's got exceptional taste and he's a brilliant songwriter, so I feel comfortable talking about, like, 'Do you think this lyric stands on its own? Is it strong enough?' We can have those kinds of discussions without anyone getting defensive, because there's a lot of trust there. I know that when he makes a criticism of me, it's coming from a constructive place, not an ego-based place. And I admire his artistry. There are a lot of other people that I've been lucky enough to have gotten to work with that I might not ask their input on my content. 'Is this a strong enough chorus?' I might say, 'Please make up your own drum part, because you're the shit,' but I might not ask them for their input on the actual songwriting part. So he's really fantastic. We come from slightly different backgrounds. He's very much a power pop kind of guy, and I have a little more jazz, that sort of thing. But we both love glam and glitter rock, and he's also one of my best friends.

I actually was going to ask about his background, because it sounded like he came from more of a classical background.

Travis: No, he started by being in The Mumps with Lance Loud, which was an early kind of...I don't know if you'd call it a punk band, but they were a band that would play at Kansas City and that kind of stuff. And he's written songs for Klaus Nomi, and he's worked with Lydia Lunch and Ann Magnuson, and he has his own records out. He's worked with Rufus Wainwright. He's done a lot of stuff. He's a similar kind of musician; he does his own music as well, as do I.

You've worked with quite a few people over the years, and on GlitterMouth, you worked with Simon Raymonde of The Cocteau Twins. How did you come to work with Simon on 'Chase Me?'

Travis: I don't know. He contacted me on the Internet a few years ago, saying that he was going to make a solo album, and he wanted me to sing on it and collaborate. I don't know how he found me. He sent me the tracks via the post, and then I did the lyrics and melody over them and sent them back. Then he wound up never putting out a solo record, and I thought that song was killer, so I just wrote him and said, 'Hey, can I put that on my record?' and he said, 'Yeah, go ahead.' I've actually never met him in person.

So it was all done over the Internet?

Travis: Pretty much. I mean, we didn't do any recording over the Internet, but that's how we met. He's off in England somewhere, so it's kind of modern. I was flattered, because I love Elizabeth Fraser.

Also on GlitterMouth, you worked with Donita Sparks of L7 and Monique Powell of Save Ferris. They did guest vocals, right?

Travis: No, Donita played a guitar track, and Monique did guest vocals.

They're from more of a punk background. Was it difficult for them to adjust to your style of cabaret pop music?

Travis: No, because they played on 'Hunger,' which isn't really that cabaret. Donita did the wah-wah part, and I've always thought that Donita's got really great guitar sounds, so she came in and did the wah part for the stabs. And Mo is just a phenomenal vocalist. She can sing anything, that girl. So she graced me with her vocals doing the higher parts on 'Hunger.'

Of all the people you've worked with, how do you manage to adapt to so many different styles of music? You've worked with KMFDM, Spinal Tap, The Bangles, Jane Wiedlin, Beck, Gibby Haynes of The Butthole Surfers...do you ever have to adapt your style of playing to suit these people?

Travis: Absolutely! If I get hired to play bass in someone's band, then my job is to adapt my style of playing to their music. That's the point. So it's very much a part of being able to adapt to other people's visions when I'm in that role. In fact, it's essential, because that's my job. That's the point on a certain level.

Who would you say has had the most significant impact on you from a musical standpoint, of all the people you've worked with?

Travis: Probably my first band. When I was in high school, I was in a band called The Love Dolls, and we were kind of...I don't know what genre you would classify us as. When I listen back to the record we made, I think it's absolutely terrible. To me, it's just unlistenable horror. But the cool thing about that experience was there were sort of no rules, and we could figure it out, and it was kind of a garage band, you know? I was able to really develop my own style, although it was highly influenced at that time by Steve McDonald from Redd Kross, because the Redd Kross guys had gone and done some of The Love Dolls music for the movies, so I guess he was an influence on my bass playing, and obviously, he's very influenced by Paul McCartney, if you want to go that far and take that tree and spread some branches off of it. But I think in a lot of ways, I was lucky in my first few years that there wasn't a strong musical director type of person who was fathering me or telling me to play a certain way. I got to kind of develop my own thing, so I think that was pretty influential on me. I hope that makes sense.

What enticed you to play bass in the first place? Some people think it's the coolest instrument in the world, while others will say, 'Oh, it's just the rhythm section,' so what made you decide to pick up the bass as opposed to something like lead guitar or the piano?

Travis: Well, I play piano. I write all my songs on piano, and I've been playing piano since I was a kid, so I do play piano, although I wouldn't call myself a great pianist. My piano teacher when I was a kid always told me to play bass because I guess he would hear a lot of movement in my left hand, which is where the bass notes are on the piano. And then, I really just kind of happened into playing bass because I got asked to join my first band, The Love Dolls, and I hadn't really played bass before, but they needed a bass player. The guitar player liked my fashion sense, and figured that I would bring the average age of the band down by about five years, and at that point in the '80s, that was enough to be in a band before people took things really seriously. I just kind of had an affinity for it.

A lot of people say that you come from more of a punk background because of The Love Dolls. Would you really agree with that?

Travis: I think that makes sense when you look at the culture of punk, like the do-it-yourself ethic that I have, and I can be very contrary and very aggro, so I think that part of punk rock very much applies to me. But from a straight-up musical level, when people think of punk rock as a musical style, I don't think that's terribly accurate. I've always been really interested in melody and harmony, so if punk means being yourself and not waiting for permission to do your work, then I'm pretty punk. But if it means, '1-2-3-4!' then I'm not as punk. I think that people say that a lot because of the time frame in which I started playing in that band, and The Love Dolls were associated with what I consider post-punk, but nonetheless, people like to put umbrellas over things. And a lot of punks can play piano too. Not all punk rockers were people who couldn't play at all. There are certainly folks who went to art school or could play instruments.

Most of the time, punk was just really rock and roll. And coming from, as you say, a DIY way of doing things, and being the daughter of Alice Travis Germond (the Secretary of the Democratic National Committee), and having worked with KMFDM , do you ever find that politics play an integral role in the music you make?

Travis: Not a whole lot. I think that my politics that I express in my music are more personal politics. I think it's difficult to write a good political song without sounding trite. I think Bob Dylan's great at it. The Minutemen were great at it. I do have one grungy reactive kind of Kurt Weill thing that I wrote for Charming Leadership that hasn't been released yet, but it's not a motivating factor in my music. Thus far, my stuff tends to be either about love or existentialism or madness. I'm kind of more goth in my subject matter.

What exactly attracts you to the Weimar Republic style? You've had a very Marlene Dietrich kind of style going on for quite awhile.

Travis: It's just that that period of history is really interesting. It was just after World War I, before World War II, and the entire German economy was just completely fucking in the crapper. And because of that, society was sort of breaking down, which is part of why maybe Hitler was able to convince all these people to make a pretty lame 'That's who we're after' kind of thing. But I think in those kinds of times, it's often good for art. Crappy times are good for art. There was also a lot of decadence in a lot of places in the world, not just Germany. Paris in the '20s was incredible. New York in the '20s was incredible. There just was a lot of beauty going on, and stylistically, I am very attracted to that old time sense of aesthetics. And I also like, and this is a little earlier, I love Oriental style. I do draw heavily aesthetically on the early part of the 20th century, just because I find it beautiful. I like Art Nouveau. And then in terms of writing songs, I don't think they're purist renditions of Kurt Weill music. I think people just say that to categorize it. I never set out to write in 3/4 or 6/4 or 6/8. I just happen to gravitate towards that, and I have to actually often force myself to write in 4/4; it's just not natural for me to write in that time signature. And some of that could be a cultural memory. My ancestors are all either Russian Jews or German Jews, and that style of music for both of those cultures is in there, so maybe there's just some kind of thing embedded in my DNA that makes sense to me.

These days, a lot of music has been pretty dedicated to the common time of 4/4, so it's nice to see someone using different time signatures. I understand you did a few tour dates with KMFDM?

Travis: I'm not playing in KMFDM, I was opening.

Are you going on tour to support the album after that?

Travis: I would like to. I don't have that set up right now, but I very much want to do a whole national tour in support of this album. I don't have management or a record label, so it's difficult for me to do 37 jobs at the same time. So I very much want to hit the road, and I'm going to try to make that happen, but right now it's like, 'OK, I've got to go get ready for the shows next week.' I have to prioritize.

You've also had some minor roles in several movies over the years, the most recent one being The Black Dahlia (not the Brian De Palma version). How did you come to be involved in this film?

Travis: That was through David J (of Bauhaus), because he was doing some music for it and he wrote a song that he wanted me to sing, so I kind of reinterpreted this song that he did. And then, I guess, through that song, I'm only in the movie for maybe six seconds; it's very short, which is fine.

Now your music and your visuals have a classic atmosphere about them that seems very cinematic. Have you ever considered pursuing a serious film career?

Travis: Not really, no. I think that it takes a lot of work to do music, which is what I really love doing. I'd be really open to doing more acting, but the idea of showing up to like a million auditions a week at this point in my life doesn't make a lot of sense. I would love to be in more films, and particularly, it would be fun to get cast as not the singer. People come up to me and say, 'I've got this great idea!' Oh, that sounds like acting—not! You know? So that's why I've done some theater stuff, which is actually comedic, with a director named Justin Tanner, because he doesn't cast me as the 'singer,' although I always wind up singing a song in the play because at least that will go well. I do really enjoy that, but I think if you're going to do something really seriously, you have to work really hard at it, and I'm a musician first.