As the 1990s wound down, listeners who had never witnessed Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, or Nirvana in concert turned toward fresh acts modeled in a similar vein, among them Days of the New. Formed originally in Charlestown, IN, the band later moved its base to Louisville, KY, where singer, guitarist, and songwriter Travis Meeks served as its driving force from the outset. Still in their teens, Meeks assembled Jesse Vest on bass, Matt Taul on drums, and Todd Whitener on guitar. The quartet’s predominantly acoustic approach immediately evoked Alice in Chains’ quieter outings—Sap, Jar of Flies, and Unplugged—while Meeks’s vocal style and lyrical tone recalled both Layne Staley and Jim Morrison. Former R.E.M. producer Scott Litt took notice, signed the group to his fledgling Outpost imprint, and helmed its self-titled 1997 debut. The record quickly gained traction among MTV viewers through the singles “Touch, Peel and Stand” and “The Down Town,” prompting the band to spend the summer of 1998 supporting one of its own heroes, Metallica.
Tensions among the members surfaced during that tour, and breakup speculation soon followed. Shortly after the dates ended, the rumors proved accurate when Meeks dismissed all but Taul. Days of the New’s second self-titled album arrived in 1999; despite Meeks’s efforts to craft an expansive work featuring choir, orchestra, and large-scale arrangements, it underperformed commercially relative to its predecessor. In 2000 Meeks joined the surviving members of the Doors to perform the band’s classic “The End” for VH1’s Storytellers series and recorded a studio version that later appeared on the tribute collection Stoned Immaculate: The Music of the Doors, all while continuing to prepare material for a third album. Released in 2001 and again self-titled, that record incorporated progressive-rock flourishes. With Meeks remaining the sole original member, the project stood revealed as, in essence, a solo vehicle under the Days of the New name.
