Travis Frontman Fran Healy's Solo Debut Gets Paul McCartney's Magic

Travis frontman Fran Healy has revealed how he managed to land former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney as guest bassist on his debut solo album.

Talking to Spinner about said LP, called 'Wreckorder,' Healy explains, "I'd written this song, 'As It Comes,' one of my favourites on the record, and it didn't have a bassline on it.

"And I thought, who would be the best bass player? Who could I get that would make Dougie [Payne, Travis bassplayer] go, 'Woah! That's okay, you got him, he's good,' and I thought, 'McCartney!'"

Healy continues, "The other thing I thought was cool, is that no-one ever taps McCartney for his bass, and he is possibly the greatest living bass player.

"You listen to his basslines in the Beatles, and they're crazily complicated and Beethoven-esque, but no-one ever talks about his basslines because his songwriting eclipses it.

"I wrote to him and three weeks later, I got an email back, and it was like 'Hey Fran, I love the song.' And I was like 'Arggghhh! Oh my God, he loves my song!'

However, Healy says despite meeting on numerous occasions over the years, he'd not actually managed to go into the studio with McCartney.

Healy says, "Paul's kind of busy, so I sent the whole session to his studio in Sussex with instructions -- 'Please make this the best bassline you've ever played ever,' Ha ha I'm kidding.

"He did three takes and sent them back and I put the best one in the song, and it's brilliant!"

Healy explains that McCartney brought something to the track that was more special than he could ever have dreamt of too - he played his famous Hofner guitar from the Beatles' 1960s sojourn in Hamburg.

Healy adds, "It's the one that's on all the Beatles songs. So when you listen to any Beatles song, that's the same bass that's on my song! It's magic, that's just so cool. This is the thing about Paul McCartney, he knows that and he's so kind and sweet for doing that."

To say thank you, Healy decided to follow McCartney's lead and become a vegetarian.

Healy muses, "I've always wanted to do it, I didn't eat a lot of red meat, so I thought, let's do it. I thought it would be a nice thing to do and when I told him, at this gig in Berlin, he was totally bowled over.

"A few days later he sent me some Linda McCartney books with a little letter on the top saying, 'Hope this is enough to get you started, love, Paul'. The veggie lasagne is probably the best! Paul is on my Christmas card list now, yes, definitely."

Agreeing with Spinner that his decision to go solo was a 'seven album itch' [Travis have so far released six], Healy says that fans of his band won't be too confused by his new material.

He says, "The record is not a million miles from Travis, it's not techno, it has to have a timeless quality to the melodies.

"I'm not trying to be a robot in the Eighties to fit in with what's going on at the moment, 'cos that will change in the next six months into something different anyway. I just want to write good melodies."

Summing up the album however, he jokes, "It's amazing! It's to music like what 'Avatar' is to film, it's just mindblowing, haha."

'Wreckorder', which also features guest turns from Noah and the Whale fiddle player Tom Hobden and Neko Case, is out now.