Album Notes

Travis Harvey, vocals
Jesse Owen Astin, lead guitar
Justin Sudduth, rhythm guitar
Chadwick Rodgers, bass
Tony Belser, drums


THE STORY

Out on my own for the first time in my life
I'm really scared/ There's no place left to hide

- from "Blame"

"A lot of the songs on Silver Spoon were inspired by our visits to big cities - New York, London, the time I spent in L.A.," says Travisty Theory front man Travis Harvey, who calls tiny Flora, Mississippi, home. "Those experiences were real eye-openers. There's such a major difference between those places and where I grew up."
Travis spent his early years in Lafayette, Louisiana, but moved to Flora as a teen. With a population of roughly 1,500, Flora is 17 miles from Jackson, Mississippi, where Travisty Theory rhythm guitarist/pianist/co-songwriter Justin Sudduth grew up. "Flora is a real country town," Travis explains. "A lot of people are involved in farming and livestock, and it's pretty conservative. We'd always go to Jackson if we wanted to do something."
Bassist Chadwick Rodgers and lead guitarist Jesse Owen Astin are from Memphis and Jonesboro, Georgia, respectively. Drummer Tony Belser is a native of Salina, Kansas. And though the band was forged in the big city of Atlanta (of which Jonesboro is a suburb), Travis says Travisty Theory is pretty much based in Jackson. "Up north, when we were touring in Wisconsin and Michigan, we found a lot of people had preconceived notions about Southerners," he notes. "We're not even a Southern-rock band, but sometimes you get the attitude that we're all hicks."
In fact, the boys of Travisty Theory are more sophisticated than some of their hometowns would suggest. But Silver Spoon is nonetheless permeated by Travis' fish-out-of-water experiences in the brave new worlds he encountered after leaving Flora. "Out on my own for the first time in my life/ I'm really scared/ There's no place left to hide," he sings with naked candor on "Blame." "One Small Step" reveals: "You can see it when you're in it/ But it only takes a minute to change/ One small step away." In "To Hurt And To Hurt Again," he confesses: "Destiny framed me/ Left me green/ For tinsel marquees ... In a Gramercy Palace." That song, among others, bears the stamp of New York's storied Gramercy Park Hotel, where the band passed some time writing, recording and taking in the city.
Another line from that track - "There's pen and paper/ Arrow marks of lovers left behind" - recalls a "New York heroine," the kind of exotic creature Travis and his mates consistently encountered on their travels. The singer says women connect many of the songs on Silver Spoon, Travisty Theory's debut album. "There are a bunch of different love stories or affairs - events involving a woman in some part of the world," he confirms. "The record captures the feeling of being from this sheltered outpost, and then going as damn crazy as I could possibly go."
"Better Than Money" spells it out in no uncertain terms: "It's better than money/ It's better than what others may call love ... And I see you/ I see you needing me/ And I need you/ To need me." "I Want You" pulsates with urgent desire: "I want you/ Wanna breathe you." Still, despite memories of one-night stands - and the surprisingly varied lessons learned - Silver Spoon is not all raw carnality; the listener can feel Travis' anguish when he pleads on "Hole In My Soul," "Take me or leave me alone/ There's a hole in my soul/ All regrets, empty space, all my own." This is clearly the story of a genuine love lost.
Likewise, the stand-out, Bowie-esque "At Any Price" finds him confiding: "At any price/ My doubt and pain/ My love of you or my fear of loving you/ It's one and the same." Says Tony of his decision to join Travisty Theory: "Travis has so much passion." Indeed, these deeply held emotions pour out of every song.
Speaking of Bowie, Travisty Theory distinguishes themselves sonically by mixing classic rock influences like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles - "At Any Price" fades out with a Sgt. Pepper-esque chorus of kazoos (a key contribution from producer Jesse James Dupree) - with obvious admiration for alternative rock bands like Smashing Pumpkins; it's no coincidence that Silver Spoon engineer Jeff Tomei worked on the Pumpkins' landmark Siamese Dream.
Long before Travisty Theory cranked out Silver Spoon at Dupree's Kennesaw, Georgia-situated Cock Of The Walk Studios, however, Travis and Justin were introduced by a mutual friend at a ZZ-Top show in Jackson. "After the concert, the three of us went back to Travis' house, and Travis and I wrote our first song together," Justin recollects. "I'd just started playing guitar, and he said he liked singing, so we wrote a song. It was called 'Bourbon Street Whore.' We hit it right off; we had that musical bond."
Says Travis: "When I was 15, a guitar teacher I had for a very short time bought me an R.E.M. record and used it to show me how songs are put together. So I started writing songs - I wrote terrible, terrible songs. I don't think I wrote a good song until I met Justin."
The two have no set way of working together, though Travis will say of their creative method: "We write on piano; we write on guitar. We'll be drunk as hell and just write. I drink vodka and he drinks scotch and we'll just go at it." By way of illustration, he volunteers: "When Justin and I wrote 'At Any Price,' it was 5:30 in the morning, and we were drunk. We wrote the song, lyrics and all, in about 10-minutes' time. We just nailed it. When we went into the bridge, we both went to the same note at the same time; there was no eye contact, no communication at all - we could have been in two different rooms."
Though this meeting of the minds was hard and fast, it was Chad who became the second permanent member of Travisty Theory; Justin initially put music aside for college. Chad met Travis through the guys in Piston Honda, another band who'd worked with Jesse Dupree. "Travisty Theory sounded like it had a lot of potential," Chad says. "One of my dreams as a musician is to be in a touring band, and I knew they were into that, so it seemed right." Never mind that Chad had not played bass in some time; he'd been fronting his own outfit on guitar. Picking the bass up again, he admits, "was not like riding a bike."
Enter drummer Tony Belser, who'd played on Jackyl front man Dupree's solo album, Foot Fetish. For his part, Tony had been playing bass in an Atlanta outfit called Modern Hero. So it was that Tony re-educated a grateful Chad on bass while playing drums for Travisty Theory. Every member of the band will quickly point out that Tony is the only "real" musician in their midst, by which they mean the only one with extensive formal training. "I went to music school," Tony says matter-of-factly. He played alto sax for years in addition to drums and later bass.
The last tenet of the Theory came in the form of Jesse Owen Astin - and none too soon. "We're not artsy guys," Travis says. "We were just a bunch of people who wanted to have fun. But we were writing songs and we felt we were getting somewhere. Then, when we started looking for a guitar player to do the record, we had people coming in and out - nobody would stay. We were practicing all day long, but I guess the environment was just too lose. Finally, Tony said, 'I remember this young kid I saw play about a year ago. He blew me away.' Reports Jesse (whose guitar work brings to mind Brian May and Pete Townshend, though he's also a fan of Elvis Costello): "I was in my first semester of college. It was, like, 'Should I quit school and join this band?' And the answer was, 'Yeah, I should.'"
After Jesse's arrival, that loose environment quickly tightened up. "Once we got into the studio, I had Jesse Dupree beatin' the hell out of me," Travis says, laughing at the memory. "He is very demanding when it comes to melody and lyrics. Jesse can sit down with a song and totally get inside of it - he's like a machine when it comes to crafting a song." Adds Justin: "Jesse Dupree's been a real big vocal coach for Travis, too; Travis has really developed as a singer."
The pay-off of having Silver Spoon in the can, graced by what Jesse Astin aptly calls a "big and beautiful" sound, is just one part of Travis' validation for taking that first "small step" away from home. Another is the palpable joy he takes in being onstage with Justin, Chad, Jesse and Tony. In a very real sense, he's gone from the opening lines of "4 A Minute" - "No Baptist sermons, please/ Lord knows I've had my share/ Everyone's got an opinion/ Small towns speak with stares" - to prowling the world's stages with his best friends beside him.
Among the bands Travisty Theory have played with are Lifehouse, Saliva, Oleander, Better Than Ezra, Revis and The Revs - and that's just whom they opened for in Ireland. "Better Than Money" has already gotten a strong response in Japan, so the Theory will be heading there this year.
Says Jesse of collaborating onstage with fellow axe-slinger Justin, though he could be any member of Travisty Theory speaking of any other: "Half the time onstage, I don't even hear what he's playing - I know him so well as a guitar player that I totally trust him to come up with something cool that's gonna sound great, so I don't even worry about it."
"We love playing live, and the band is tight as hell now," Travis says with no small amount of pride. "Because of that, we can really let loose, take off with it and jam. When we're home in Jackson, we have parties any chance we get, and we just play all night."
Travisty Theory's live work is showcased on the DVD "Volume & Velour" (packaged with Silver Spoon), which was filmed in Jackson, Atlanta, Nashville and at the band's home away from home, New York's Gramercy Park Hotel. It also boasts videos for "4 A Minute," "Better Than Money" and "To Hurt And To Hurt Again," as well as special features allowing viewers an intimate picture of the young men and music of Travisty Theory.
Justin has the last word on the band's live mix: "I'm a pretty relaxed player; I don't jump around or do cartwheels onstage. It's Travis who runs around a lot. Little Jesse [Astin] is a pretty rambunctious guy onstage. But sometimes I think the most exciting person to watch is Chad because you never know what he's gonna do. He's got all these original dance moves that are just terrible. And then there's Tony back there pounding it real hard. As far as the chemistry, I've been in a few other bands, just messing around, but I've never fit so easily into a group of people playing music. We don't even have to try; everything pretty much just goes unsaid. We do what we do, and it seems to work out every time."

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