Days of the New

Music wasn't a chosen profession for Travis Meeks. To hear him tell it, it was never a choice. Music was salvation - an exceptional world much more welcoming to him than the one around him growing up. Balancing the influences of Pantera and Guns n Roses with the exotic tones of The Doors and Dead Can Dance, Travis wrote music as a response to what he saw. In the acoustic guitar Travis found an earthy, percussive sound to match his already powerhouse voice.

One of his first songs, "Freak" was composed on the instrument while walking the streets of his Indiana hometown in the dead of night. In those dark hours, a purpose was found and a voice was realized: Days Of The New was born.

Follow up singles "Shelf In The Room" and "Downtown" were also top forty hits. Days Of The New's breakout success culminated in a tour with Metallica and Jerry Cantrell in the summer of 1998. But by the end of the year the impact of DOTN's trajectory had shaken the band irreconcilably, and the four men split ways. Meeks returned to his Distillery Studios in Louisville to complete DOTN's follow up to the Orange album, while Vest, Whitener, and Taul went on to pursue their own muses, eventually forming Tantric with vocalist Hugo Ferreira.

Days Of The New's Green album was released in August of 1999. Compared to visionary works by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Doors, the album was nothing if not epic and highly personal. Showcasing a musical scope barely hinted at on the Orange album, the Green album met with mild commercial acceptance even as critics recognized it as a "progress report from an artist in the midst of a head-spinning transition." (Rolling Stone)

Undaunted, Meeks assembled for the road tour an ambitious lineup to faithfully reproduce the sonic terrain of both albums, along with new material. Returning from tour and smarting from the effects of a complicated change in record labels, Meeks began work on a third album in early 2000 with drummer Ray Rizzo.

The first year of the millennium was anything but slow. Bassist Mike Huettig joined in the spring, making the band three strong. In June DOTN contributed "Rough Day" to the Heavy Metal F.A.A.K.K.2000 soundtrack and toured for the last half of the year. Shows with Creed, Def Leppard, Three Doors Down, and headlining dates featuring support from American Pearl, Diffuser, and Tidewater Grain took the band through the New Year. In November, Meeks came full circle with his roots, performing "The End" with the surviving members of the Doors for a VH1 storytellers special. The show celebrated the release of "Stoned Immaculate", a tribute album that includes a studio recording of the Doors and Travis performing Meeks' arrangement of Morrison's Oedipal opus. Days Of The New also contributed a reworking of "L.A. Woman" for the album that features Robbie Krieger on guitar.

By June of 2001, recording for Days Of The New's Red album was completed in Louisville. Producer Ron Aniello (Lifehouse) came to Distillery Studios to put what had been a year's worth of recording into crystal vision. The album also included tracks produced by Travis and Orange album alum Bill Klatt. Material on the Red album ranged from pieces written earlier in the year ("Die Born", "Hang On To This") to some of Meeks' first compositions ("Words", "Fighting W/ Clay"). The expanse of the Green album was still represented in orchestral interludes and the use of sitar and strings on songs like "Giving In" and "Never Drown." But the Red album also peaked with high voltage rock that can only come from a band firing on all cylinders. On stage, the unit was four strong with the addition of guitarist Chuck Mingis, a hero in the Louisville music scene.

Fast forwarding to 2004…the past several years have been both challenging and turbulent for Travis, experiencing a lack of support from his former record label, Interscope, and battling with personal demons. However, during this time, there has also been tremendous growth in the song writing and musical compositions Travis brings to DOTN. In the latter half of 2003, Travis went out on the road for a number of solo shows that helped him honor his fan base by playing small venues and giving his audience an intimate glimpse into his musical soul and hints of the upcoming album.

The next album, known as Purple, is well on its way – several dozen tracks have been recorded in pre-production with just Travis and his guitar, highlighting the maturity of his playing style and evolution of the DOTN sound. The task of signing with a new record label still remains, as well as choosing which songs will be on the album.