Days of the New Split Apart
In perhaps the most predictable rock & roll upheaval of the
year, Days of the New frontman Travis
Meeks has officially relieved his bandmates of their
duties. After months of persistent rumors, the prolific
nineteen-year-old singer quietly split from his cohorts shortly
before shuffling off to a Los Angeles studio with longtime producer
Scott Litt on Jan. 8, according to manager
Rick Smith.
The leading cause of band dissolution, “artistic differences,”
began to infect the Days of the New camp when Meeks first
introduced drummer Matt Taul, bassist
Jesse Vest and guitarist Todd
Whitener to the musical direction he had in mind for the
band’s sophomore album. That material — injected with lush
orchestration, Middle Eastern instrumentation and experimental
vocals — did not mesh with the band’s Metallica-esque
sensibilities, Smith says.
“When you hear the new music you will understand why these guys had
to split … it doesn’t rock towards that metal influence. It’s
more symphonic and those guys didn’t want to be limited by that,”
he says. “Those three will be fine … they are in the studio doing
their own thing and looking for a singer now.”
Meanwhile, Meeks is posing as the Axl Rose of a new generation —
retaining the Days of the New moniker and simply injecting new
musicians into the fray. “It’s more than a name to Travis — Days
of the New is a concept revolving around the image of the tree,”
Smith says. “It’s an evolving group of musicians headed up by
Travis.”
Just weeks after abruptly canceling a national tour because of
chronic vocal problems last November, Meeks began contacting
disparate guitarists, bassists and percussionists for his Days of
the New vision Part Two. Now, the boy from Louisville, Ky., has
amassed a supporting cast of seven or eight new musicians from
Texas, New York, Kentucky and elsewhere, all primed for his rock
re-birth.
That troupe, however, will not appear on the next Days of the New
album, due out early this summer. That untitled “sixty-six-minute
piece of work” is all Meeks. The fiercely independent frontman
began assembling his sophomore release while touring to support the
Days’ debut, laying down sequencing on a keyboard in the back of
Days of the New’s bus, Smith says. Following the cancellation of
the group’s tour last year, Meeks recuperated at his Distillery
Commons studio in Louisville, where he continued seriously working
on his opus of sitars, tablas and poetry. He emerged in late
December with twenty-seven new songs.
“This kid is happier than he’s ever been because there’s no
pressure on him at all,” Smith says. “It took canceling the last
leg of the tour and stepping back from it all to get there.”
For almost all of last month, Meeks and Litt polished the rough
edges on thirteen new songs, bringing in a female Celtic singer, a
seventeen-piece symphony and sundry instruments to complete the
sound. The track listing remains under wraps for now, however late
last year Smith said a few of his favorite new tunes included
“Walking in the Wound,” “Enemy,” “Bring Yourself” and “Best in
Life.” Regardless, the first single from the forthcoming album is
scheduled to hit radio around Memorial Day with the album and an
international tour to follow.
“He jumped from Led Zeppelin all the way to Physical
Graffiti with this one,” Smith says regarding the new Days of
the New project. “Anybody who thinks they know anything about
Travis Meeks, doesn’t know anything at all.”