Pat Travers

[Chris]

Pat Travers – Friday, July 16 at 3pm

Pat Travers – Guitars, vocals, keyboards
Kirk McKim – Guitars, vocals
Sean Shannon – Drums
Rodney O’Quinn – Bass

Toronto born Pat Travers first played the guitar at age 12 after seeing Jimi Hendrix in concert. He found inspiration through Hendrix and some of the other biggest guitarists of the 70’s, including Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. Ronnie Hawkins invited Travers on tour with him after seeing him perform with a band called Merge. He moved to London and signed with Polydor and began work on his debut album. His self-titled debut was released in 1976 with Peter “Mars” Cowling on bass and Ron * on drums. The album contained several original songs along with a few covers, most notably Stan Lewis’s “Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights),” which is still one of his signature songs. Nicko McBrain joined Travers on drums and he released two albums in 1977, Makin’ Magic and Putting It Straight, which reached #70 on the charts. He then added Pat Thrall on guitar and Tommy Aldridge on drums to form the Pat Travers Band. This lineup released Heat in the Street in 1978, which just cracked the top 100 at #99. His big break would come on 1979’s Live! Go for What You Know, which became the bands first platinum album. “Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)” was finally released as a single from this album. The band kept the momentum going in 1980 with Crash and Burn, which reached #20 on the charts, spurred by the hit “Snortin’ Whiskey.” It went gold initially and years later went platinum. Unfortunately, Thrall and Aldridge would move on after the success of Crash and Burn and 1981’s Radio Active was poorly received. He was dropped from Polydor but sued the label, who relented and let him release Black Pearl in 1982. His last major label album of new material was 1984’s Hot Shots. In 1990, Travers signed with a small European label and released School of Hard Knocks. He signed with BBI Records in 1992 and has released several albums, both studio and live, with the label since then. Cowling parted ways with Travers in 1993. Travers has also worked with a variety of musicians, including drummer Carmine Appice, and the band Power Trio with drummer Aynsley Dunbar. He will be making his first appearance at Moondance Jam.

Billboard Hits
1979 Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights) #56 on the Billboard Hot 100
1980 Is This Love #50 on the Billboard Hot 100
1981 New Age Music #33 on the Mainstream Rock chart

Billboard 200 Album Chart
1978 Heat in the Street #99
1978 Putting It Straight #70
1979 Live! Go For What You Know #29
1980 Crash and Burn #20
1981 Radio Active #37
1982 Black Pearl #74
1984 Hot Shot #108

Did You Know?
Guitar Player magazine lists Live! Go for What You Know in their top 40 live albums of all-time.
Travers made the cover of Guitar Player magazine in January 1980.
Former member Tommy Aldridge played at Moondance Jam with Whitesnake in 2005.
He also was scheduled to play with Thin Lizzy last year before they disbanded and scrapped their tour.
“Snortin’ Whiskey” was featured in the 2004 movie Sideways.
Travers played on Extreme’s “Get the Funk Out.”
Former member Pat Thrall has worked with Asia, Meat Loaf, and Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes.
Former drummer Nicko McBrain went on to join Iron Maiden.
Travers has toured with Tom Keifer of Cinderella.
In 2001, Travers toured with the Voices of Classic Rock tour with Joe Lynn Turner and John Cafferty, among others.
Travers played the 1980 Reading Festival.


My Take
I knew who Pat Travers was before he signed to play Moondance Jam but I didn’t really know his music outside “Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)” and “Snortin’ Whiskey,” which I had heard sparingly on the radio. I purchased a greatest hits online that is really his main hits with a lot of covers, including the ZZ Top pair “Waitin’ on the Bus” and “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” as well as covers of Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd tunes. He even has a cover of “Black Betty.” For the most part he recreates these songs note for note with his signature guitar sound. While I enjoy these songs, I am missing out on more of his own catalog of songs but I will soon fix that by purchasing Live! Go For What You Know. Probably the song I’m looking forward to hearing most from his is “Crash and Burn.” He has enough of his own songs and does enough covers that he would be a great candidate to close the saloon. I doubt that will happen but it would be fun to watch him perform on such a small stage. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, I am ecstatic that Moondance has decided to sign national acts for the 3pm slot, especially since the festival is now 3 official days. He has the name recognition to play a later slot and we are lucky to have him at 3pm.

Videos – Live unless noted
“Hooked on Music” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vjDZAocnkc
“It Makes No Difference” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b97nzDAH ... re=related
“Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5IS45jT ... re=related
“Snortin’ Whiskey” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHndQF3N ... re=related
“Crash and Burn” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w3bZRd1 ... re=related
“Black Betty” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gstmUkpo ... re=related
“Snortin’ Whiskey” studio - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a71k9aw1LPg
“Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)” studio - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBf1e6WW ... re=related