Biography
From the outset of his musical journey, Chandler Travis has approached every venture in bar band, rock & roll, new wave-influenced power pop, and eclectic jazz-influenced big band idioms with an irrepressible smirk and a sly appreciation for absurdity, ensuring that none of his output registers as mere comedy. Rather than a parodist or stand-up performer, he functions as an unapologetic smart aleck, and in many respects stands as Massachusetts' counterpart to R. Stevie Moore.
Raised in the Cape Cod community of Eastham, Massachusetts, Travis entered the vibrant Boston music circuit in the late 1960s, beginning with a teenage garage outfit originally called the Good Fairies that soon adopted the name St. James Infirmary once the original moniker’s connotations became clear. In 1969 the guitarist and songwriter connected with fellow local musician Steve Shook to launch Travis Shook & the Club Wow, an informal ensemble that performed throughout Boston venues for several years until comedian George Carlin discovered their blend of rough-edged, R&B-tinged rock & roll and growing emphasis on verbal wit and musical humor; Carlin promptly engaged the pair as his regular opening act, a role they maintained into the early 1980s. During that period the group issued only a single album, 1973’s The Essential Travis Shook and the Club Wow, on their own puckishly titled imprint Just Like Real Records, with songwriting and instrumental contributions from several members of cult favorites NRBQ, whose paths would later become closely linked with Travis’s own.
By 1981 Travis and Shook concluded that the Travis Shook & the Club Wow format had reached its natural limit; adding drummer Vince Valium (also known as Rikki Bates) and guitarist Johnny Spampinato, brother of NRBQ’s Joey Spampinato, they established the Incredible Casuals. The new ensemble leaned toward a poppier sensibility reminiscent of the post-punk guitar-jangle bands emerging from scenes such as Athens and Hoboken, releasing the Summer Fun, Let’s Go EP in 1982 before delivering their debut full-length, That’s That, in 1987. True to the band’s name, the follow-up, Your Sounds, appeared on the regional indie Sonic Trout only in 1991, with the third album, It Is Balloon, arriving in 1996; by then the group had shifted to part-time status after Johnny Spampinato assumed the guitar chair in NRBQ following Big Al Anderson’s departure in 1993.
As the Incredible Casuals tapered off, Travis finally embarked on a solo path with the eclectic, Van Dyke Parks-like Writer-Songsinger in 1992, which included guest contributions from Shook and David Greenberger. The restrained, largely serious folk-jazz pop outing Ivan in Paris followed in 1998 and proved an atypical yet accomplished successor; that detour led almost at once to the creation of the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, an eight-piece ensemble featuring a complete horn section. Their first album, recorded in 1998 and initially slated as Her Stewardess Suitcase, ultimately emerged in late 2000 under the revised title Let’s Have a Pancake.
Also in 2000, Travis revealed that his own CD-R imprint, Iddy Biddy Records, would issue 26 previously unreleased titles that year; ultimately 22 appeared, encompassing live and studio material by the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, the Incredible Casuals, and Travis Shook & the Club Wow, distributed at performances and via the Sonic Trout site. In 2009 he released the album After She Left. Travis remained active in 2011 with his side project the Catbirds, issuing the EP Viborate, followed by the Catbirds single “Gonna Keep Drivin’” in 2012.
Raised in the Cape Cod community of Eastham, Massachusetts, Travis entered the vibrant Boston music circuit in the late 1960s, beginning with a teenage garage outfit originally called the Good Fairies that soon adopted the name St. James Infirmary once the original moniker’s connotations became clear. In 1969 the guitarist and songwriter connected with fellow local musician Steve Shook to launch Travis Shook & the Club Wow, an informal ensemble that performed throughout Boston venues for several years until comedian George Carlin discovered their blend of rough-edged, R&B-tinged rock & roll and growing emphasis on verbal wit and musical humor; Carlin promptly engaged the pair as his regular opening act, a role they maintained into the early 1980s. During that period the group issued only a single album, 1973’s The Essential Travis Shook and the Club Wow, on their own puckishly titled imprint Just Like Real Records, with songwriting and instrumental contributions from several members of cult favorites NRBQ, whose paths would later become closely linked with Travis’s own.
By 1981 Travis and Shook concluded that the Travis Shook & the Club Wow format had reached its natural limit; adding drummer Vince Valium (also known as Rikki Bates) and guitarist Johnny Spampinato, brother of NRBQ’s Joey Spampinato, they established the Incredible Casuals. The new ensemble leaned toward a poppier sensibility reminiscent of the post-punk guitar-jangle bands emerging from scenes such as Athens and Hoboken, releasing the Summer Fun, Let’s Go EP in 1982 before delivering their debut full-length, That’s That, in 1987. True to the band’s name, the follow-up, Your Sounds, appeared on the regional indie Sonic Trout only in 1991, with the third album, It Is Balloon, arriving in 1996; by then the group had shifted to part-time status after Johnny Spampinato assumed the guitar chair in NRBQ following Big Al Anderson’s departure in 1993.
As the Incredible Casuals tapered off, Travis finally embarked on a solo path with the eclectic, Van Dyke Parks-like Writer-Songsinger in 1992, which included guest contributions from Shook and David Greenberger. The restrained, largely serious folk-jazz pop outing Ivan in Paris followed in 1998 and proved an atypical yet accomplished successor; that detour led almost at once to the creation of the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, an eight-piece ensemble featuring a complete horn section. Their first album, recorded in 1998 and initially slated as Her Stewardess Suitcase, ultimately emerged in late 2000 under the revised title Let’s Have a Pancake.
Also in 2000, Travis revealed that his own CD-R imprint, Iddy Biddy Records, would issue 26 previously unreleased titles that year; ultimately 22 appeared, encompassing live and studio material by the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, the Incredible Casuals, and Travis Shook & the Club Wow, distributed at performances and via the Sonic Trout site. In 2009 he released the album After She Left. Travis remained active in 2011 with his side project the Catbirds, issuing the EP Viborate, followed by the Catbirds single “Gonna Keep Drivin’” in 2012.
Albums
Singles
