Days of the New

“I can’t really remember a time in my life when I wasn’t playing, writing or working on something to do with my music,” says Travis Meeks, the 18-year-old frontman of the Louisville, Ky.-based band. “I’ve always lived music 24 hours a day and never really cared about much else. Sometimes that was a problem, but it’s turned out to be a blessing.” Having spent their formative years in working-class Charlestown, Ind., Travis, bassist Jesse Vest and drummer Matt Taul grew up faster than most, developing a resolute maturity heard in the strains of their impulse music. The three hooked up with guitarist Todd Whitener after moving to the more musically sympathetic environs of Louisville. Whitener’s intricate leads provided a fitting counterpoint to Travis’ intense lyrical journeys. “We’ve always wanted to do stuff that was really wild, stuff that pushed people’s imaginations,” says Travis. “But it’s not like we go out of our way to be weird or anything. I think people can relate to our songs.”

Days of the New was recorded at Nashville’s Woodland Studios in late October and early November 1996. Days of the New and producer Scott Litt quickly found a groove that enabled them to preserve the raw characterizing songs like “What’s Left for Me?” and “Touch, Peel and Stand.”

“People always ask me how a 17-year-old can write the kind of things I do, and I never really have an answer for that,” Travis confesses. “I can only write from deep inside, about things that have happened to me, things that haunt me. You change in some ways as you grow older, but what’s inside never really changes at all.”