Travis share Raze The Bar single featuring Brandon Flowers and Chris Martin

10 May 2024, 15:39

Travis have enlisted Brandon Flowers and Chris Martin's voices on their new single. Picture: Steve Gullick/Press, Bryan Bedder/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images, Matt Jelonek/WireImage

By Jenny Mensah

Fran Healy has recalled how he got the frontmen of The Killers and Coldplay to appear on their latest track.

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Travis have shared their new single Raze The Bar, featuring none other than The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers and Coldplay singer Chris Martin.

The single is the next cut to be taken from the band's forthcoming album, L.A. Times, which is set for release on 12th July 2024.

The song, which is about the closure of the Black & White bar - a much-loved New York haunt for the band and many fellow artists, is available to listen to here:

Travis - Raze the Bar (Official Lyric Video)

Speaking about how he got The Killers frontman and the Coldplay singer on the track, Fran Healy revealed to NME: "I called up Chris, I was having a moment of ‘I ... don’t know how to order the record’. I’d listened to it too much. I had a running order but I needed some fresh ears so I called Chris and we drove up the Pacific Coast highway and listened to it.

"He had lots and lots of comments to make and he picked out that particular song Raze The Bar. He was like, ‘Oh My God it’s ... amazing’.

"So we go back to the house and he goes to the piano and he starts playing it. I was like: ‘You should sing on it’. He was like: ‘Yeah I’ll sing but you should get more people to sing on it as well’.

"So I called up Brandon and he was like ‘sure’. So the both of them came in and sung on it."

On the topic of the song itself, the Travis frontman said in a press release: "There was a great bar in New York City. It didn’t have a name but everyone called it Black and White on account of the black and white striped awning that hung over the entrance. They had poetry nights, great DJs, open mic nights. If you played a show at Irving Plaza or Webster Hall, chances are you ended up at Black and White till the wee small hours. One of the owners, Johnny T, looked after so many artists and bands over the years. If that bar could talk, what a story it would tell.

"During the pandemic, their landlord refused to negotiate a reduced rent and they had to close. So, in the middle of the night, they turned up with a truck and removed every single trace and fixture of the bar. Then they white washed the whole space so it could never be repeated. ‘Raze the Bar’ is a song about a fictional last night in the bar. Johnny is in there, Jack, Richard and Johnny’s brother and bar co-owner Chris. The cameos were almost an afterthought! I just called Chris Martin in a bit of a panic because I couldn’t figure out what the track sequence should be. When Chris heard it, he was like, ‘That song is the best thing you’ve ever written!’ And because he and Brandon Flowers both live quite near…"

Travis are supporting The Killers on their UK dates this year and Healy told The Chris Moyles Show about how he unwittingly inspired the Las Vegas band.

Asked how far back Travis go with the Mr. Brightside rockers," he replied: "A long time actually. Longer than I even know, because the first time we met was at Live 8, but he told me at Live 8 that when us and Oasis played in Las Vegas [...] it was one of these shows where all these young guys and girls came to and a lot of bands happened after that gig and The Killers were one of those bands.

"And Brandon was saying when they first started rehearsing, they covered (single) Side. It was one of their cover songs! So it goes back a very long way...."

Watch Fran Healy chat to Chris Moyles below:

How Travis & Oasis inspired The Killers

Travis' new album, L.A. Times, also includes the previously released single Gaslight, which is said to "mark the beginning of a bold new era for the band".

Travis - Gaslight (Official Video)

The release will mark the band's 10th studio effort, following Good Feeling (1997), The Man Who (1999), The Invisible Band (2001), 12 Memories (2003), The Boy with No Name (2007), Ode to J.Smith (2008), Where You Stand (2013), Everything at Once (2016) and 10 Songs (2020).

L.A Times is available to pre-order now.